Does War Fuel the Economy ?

Since the 1960's have you ever watched our economic ups and downs. Have you watched when our economy thrives and when it sours. Have you ever wondered what was the driving force behind it.

Have you ever wondered about those people who write about conspiracy theories. About how the media portrays them as wild eyed, dope smoking hippies, who think that everyone is out to get them, (especially the government).

In 1967 the war in Vietnam was escalating, race riots were breaking out in many major U.S. cities, the Ku Klux Klan was terrorizing blacks in the southern United States, college students were protesting the war on campuses across the country. Distrust of the government was popular and on the rise.

Also in 1967, a major publisher, "The Dial Press", released a book, "Report from Iron Mountain". The book claimed to be a suppressed, secret government report, written by a commission of scholars, known as the "Special Study Group"(SSG), which was set up in 1963 and met at a secret underground nuclear bunker known as "Iron Mountain". The book also insinuated that the information had been leaked by one of the SSG's members.

One of the duties of the commission and outlined in the report, was to investigate into the problems that the United States would face if and when "world peace" should be established, on a more or less permanent basis.

To quote from the report: "It is surely no exaggeration to say that a condition of general world peace would lead to changes in the social structures of the nations of the world of unparalleled and revolutionary magnitude. The economic impact of general disarmament to name only the most obvious consequence of peace, would revise the production and distribution patterns of the globe to a degree that would make the changes of the past fifty years seem insignificant. Political, sociological, cultural, and ecological changes that would be far-reaching. What has motivated our study of these contingencies has been the growing sense of thoughtful men in and out of government that the world is totally unprepared to meet the demands of such a situation."

This book, is in language full of think-tank jargon, and is a boring read for most individuals. But it documents that the conclusion of the SSG concerning whether peace was possible, given the economic conditions of the world, was that the SSG decided that peace, "would almost certainly not be in the best interest of a stable society." War, they argued, was simply too important a part of world economy, and therefore it was necessary to continue a state of war indefinitely.

Also from the book: "War has provided both ancient and modern societies with a dependable system for stabilizing and controlling national economies. No alternate method of control has yet been tested in a complex modern economy that has shown itself remotely comparable in scope or effectiveness."

After the book's release, "Report from Iron Mountain" was on the New York Times bestseller list and was translated into 15 different languages. From the very moment it hit the streets there was controversy over it being real or a hoax U.S. News and World Report claimed in its November 20, 1967 issue to have proof and confirmation of the reality of the book from an unnamed government official.

Five years later the book was finally revealed as a hoax. In 1972, stating how the Pentagon papers and other documents about the Vietnam War "read like parodies of Iron Mountain", author of "Report from Iron Mountain" Leonard C. Lewin, confessed in the March 19th New York Times Book Review, that he had written the entire book, including that which was claimed to be official documents from the SSG commission report. It was listed in the Guinness Book of world records as the "Most Successful Literary Hoax".

But in the first paragraph I asked, have you ever wondered what drives our economy. Was the book "Report from Iron Mountain" really a hoax? Was the author Leonard C. Lewin pressured by our government, (BIG BROTHER), to make claims the book was a hoax? (And for those of you who don't buy into the Big Brother theory, that is a subject for a whole different article.)

Lets look at history since the book was published.

After the Nixon years and the comical short lived presidency of Gerald Ford, the democrats took over, and our economy was on the rebound in the late 70's. The democrats were riding the coat-tails of the republican war machine from Vietnam. Sometimes, the war-machine takes time to settle the economy and it isn't until after you see the beneficial effects. It is then that the party in power gets to take the credit. As you will see further into our history look.

Then came the "Hostage Crisis" and the down fall of Jimmy Carter. Ronald Reagan and his advisors see the opportunity and seize it. Exit the democrats and enter the republican war-machine again. Reagan wisely involves Kissinger and gets the issue resolved. But that leaves nothing to base the war-machine and gear up.

So, we go on a campaign to destroy communism. The USSR is our biggest threat, so we go on a campaign to make sure, we have the most nuclear weapons, the biggest armed forces, the most rockets, the largest supply of military equipment on the planet. The USSR tries to keep up, but fails miserably. Their economy crumbles, their union breaks apart, the Berlin wall comes tumbling down. Communism is defeated, of course our deficit is in the trillions and our grand children will still be paying off the Reagan years.

Now daddy Bush enters the picture, he needs to top Reagan, so we go after Iraq for the first time. Our economy is thriving.

We have technology that is giving us video gaming, personal computers, cell phones, medical advances all types of new and improved things that are making our society thrive. All technology that came out of the military - who do you think first needed video gaming. The military for simulator training, go into a tank simulator or an F-16 simulator, all it is, is a giant video game. PC's came out of NASA technology, as we had to be the first to reach the moon and beyond.

Then enters Bill Clinton, the democrats again get to ride on the coat-tails of the Reagan-Bush years. The economy still on the rebound continues to thrive, many in the 90's get rich. Dot-com companies start popping up all over, the world of the Internet starts to become part of daily lives. But that is all short lived, peace reigned too long. Towards the end of the 90's a lot of the new dot-com companies start to fold and fall apart. Clintons reign did not have a war so economy is back on the falling edge, morality is breaking apart with the Clinton/scandals, the republicans take the lead and hit moral America to seize control.

Bush Jr. enters the picture, and just part way into his presidency, September 11th 2001 happens. George Bush institutes our "war on terror" and set his sights where his daddy failed. Going against Iraq again. It seems to me that the perpetrator of 9-11 was Osama Bin Laden, not Sudam Hussein. Osama was thought to be held up in Afghanistan not Iraq. So where are these weapons of mass destruction that was claimed Iraq had?

Iraq is not even over yet and already we are looking towards North Korea and Iran as our next targets for the war-machine.

Since the 1960's look at what has happened in our society - our welfare system is one of the best in the world - our space program is more advanced than any other countries - and the United Nations authorizes elaborate disarmament inspection systems of third world nations.

The book "Report from Iron Mountain" also contained this; "(a) A comprehensive social-welfare program directed toward maximum improvement of general conditions of human life. (b) A giant open-end space research program, aimed at unreachable targets. ( c) A permanent, ritualized, ultra-elaborate disarmament inspection system, of smaller, weaker countries."

Hmmmmm - make one wonder !!!

The book also stated and recommended that: "the government could invent 'alternate enemies'. For instance, it could mobilize the population by scaring them with reports of extraterrestrial threats, massive global environment pollution, or an omnipresent, threat of weapons of mass destruction, dooms day threats".

Hmmmmm sound familiar???

Lastly, the book also makes the statement: "war' is virtually synonymous with nationhood. The elimination of war implies the inevitable elimination of national sovereignty and the traditional nation-state".

"Report from Iron Mountain", hoax, fiction as the author Leonard C. Lewin admitted. Or is it and has it been the blue print for our government. Something to make you say Hmmmmm ! Something to think about.

Just one man's opinion. As always, put the wind in your hair and keep the sun to your back. Be good and stay safe. Peace, Love and prosperity to all.

Frank (WOLF) Ball
Watchdog - Taking a BITE out of corruption.