During the past few decades it is estimated our country has spent trillions (with a t and an s) of dollars fighting wars and terrorists in many countries throughout the world. Mathematically, 1 trillion dollars is equivalent to 1 million dollars spent 1 million times, and do not forget the “s” above.
Wealthy individuals who have “stock” in the various components of warfare (industry, bombs, bullets, planes, supplies, etc., just keep accumulating more and more wealth. As an example, just before I moved to SLO County, I was speaking with a real estate agent. Out of curiosity I asked him about the occupation of the new owner a house that just had sold for $6 million. His reply, “He sells canvas to the military.”
Meanwhile, here in America we are: losing the war on hunger as one out of every six children go to bed hungry at night, losing the war on drug addiction, losing the war on poverty, losing the war on …
Is this a great country … or what? I think it’s the “or what.”
Jim Aprato
Cayucos
This article appears in Volunteers 2018.
Thank you for this article, Jim. I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment, “or what.” We are losing the war on social justice — on human equity, no less — so that the forces of hegemony maintain and amass even more power and money. A lot of people need to stop entertaining themselves to death and wake up to the reality behind their tv curtains, or the casualties will begin to multiply exponentially.