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Military Bureaucracy, the F-35, and thePrice of Freedom

By Ryan McMaken Tuesday, June 17th, 2014

Back when I was an undergrad, I took a class called something like The !olitics o" #ational $e"ense%& This was not a class a'out international relations, 'ut a'out the 'ureaucracy 'ehind the (%)% Military% It was taught 'y a retired *rmy o""icer%

It +uickly 'ecame clear that all those chest thum-ing military enthusiasts who think the() Military is some kind o" well oiled machine helmed 'y 'rilliant minds li.e in ana'solute "antasy land% But you certainly don/t need to take a college class to "igure thisout%

The (%)% Military is, "or lack o" a 'etter term, an e tremely well "unded cluster " 3k% Itis characteri ed 'y in"ighting among the 'ranches, massi.e waste, 'ackroom deals "or"a.ored contractors, -olitical am'ition among the generals, syco-hancy, and e tremeshort term thinking% To the e tent that it was achie.ed military success 5it hasn/t won ama6or war in 70 years , success has 'een due to the ad.antage gained 'y the sheer.olume o" dollars that can 'e -oured into military hardware, thanks to the wealth

-roduced 'y an industriali ed relati.ely "ree market system%

The 'eleaguered ta -ayers, who already -ay through the nose "or all that militarye -ense, are then told 8 to add insult to in6ury that in addition to the huge sums they -ay

in "ederal ta es, that they should thank the thie.es who e tracted the money% That is, theta -ayers are lectured a'out how "reedom isn/t "ree& and that they should 'e thanking the () go.ernment "or 'eing so generous%

In "act, it is the military and its -ersonnel who should 'e getting down on their knees andthanking the ta -ayer "or making () military o-erations such low casualty a""airs% Thereason that the () su""ers so "ew casualties in com'at is that the () always has themilitary enemies massi.ely out gunned% It is not 'etter strategy or the alleged ra or shar-e""iciency o" well trained "orces% It is, in "act, the air su--ort, drones, armored .ehicles,limitless ammunition, and o.erwhelming wealth o" the military that makes militaryo-erations "ar less deadly "or *merican soldiers than "or anyone else% This in turn makes

endless militarism more -olitically -alata'le 'ecause it kee-s casualties, e.en in "ull 'lown wars, so relati.ely low%

The "act that it is all made -ossi'le 'y the the *merican worker, who sla.es away at hishumdrum 6o' to send a third o" his income to the "eds, is o" course totally ignored onMemorial $ay, 9eterans day, or the other o""icial days o" Re.erence Toward:o.ernment% ;e might also mention that when ta re.enue comes u- short, as it always

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does, the central 'ank can 'e relied u-on to make u- the di""erence, thus ensuring that thegusher o" "ederal money ne.er sto-s%

*nd what ha--ens to that money< Much o" it is wasted on worthless military gar'age likethe = >?, and on -olitically -ower"ul military contractors who -roduce such things, such

as @ockheed Martin%

In this .ideo "rom last year, !ierre )-rey, co designer o" the = 1A, e -lains how the = >?,which costs 200 million per plane , e ists "or no reason other than to s-end money on

-olitically well connected crony ca-italistsC

htt-CDDwww%youtu'e%comDem'edDm $)iw+M2nw

htt-CDD'astiat%mises%orgD2014D0ADmilitary 'ureaucracy the " >? and the -rice o" "reedomD

http://www.youtube.com/embed/mxDSiwqM2nwhttp://bastiat.mises.org/2014/06/military-bureaucracy-the-f-35-and-the-price-of-freedom/http://www.youtube.com/embed/mxDSiwqM2nwhttp://bastiat.mises.org/2014/06/military-bureaucracy-the-f-35-and-the-price-of-freedom/