"War is a Racket"

Bellicose theater in Venezuela reminds me of U.S. Marine Major General Smedley Butler.

The U.S. military’s blasting of suspected drug running boats in Venezuelan coastal waters—over 2,200 miles from the U.S. mainland—reminded me of Major General Smedley Butler.

At the time of his death in 1940, he was the most decorated Marine in U.S. history. During his 34-year career, he fought in the Philippine–American War, the Boxer Rebellion, the Mexican Revolution, and World War I.

However, at some point after World War I, he began to have grave doubts about his profession. Over time, with study and reflection, he concluded that he had NOT spent his life fighting and killing for the American people, but for special interests in New York City and Washington.

As he memorably stated it in his 1935 book, War is a Racket:

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

Though war is indeed profitable for the financiers and industrialists who champion it, it is invariably a disaster for a free citizenry. As James Madison remarked in a 1795 pamphlet:

Of all the evils to public liberty, war is perhaps the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops every other. War is the patent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes. And armies, and debts, and taxes, are the known instruments for bringing the many under the dominion of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds are added to those of subduing the force of the people! No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.

Nevertheless, U.S. government propaganda for waging wars abroad—thousands of miles from the American homeland—ALWAYS works.

If laughably crude propaganda doesn’t work, one can always resort to a false flag attack or allow a planned attack to happen to justify the war.

Blasting suspected drug runner boats in Venezuelan coastal waters on the grounds that they are being piloted by “narco terrorists” strikes me as a new nadir of theatrical silliness.

I know, I know, the CIA has discovered all kinds of new intel and informants, and they all sound very persuasive. What kind of patriotic American citizen would doubt that Pentagon is telling the truth about a foreign military operation? Smedley Butler, for one.

My brother emailed me this morning to report that he was recently in Trinidad and was impressed by the robust security that was evident in the Port of Spain. He learned that the island nation of 1.5 million has struggled with endemic substance abuse, mostly marijuana. Some cocaine is smuggled in from Venezuela for further transnational shipment. According a report published on the U.S. State Department’s website, most of the cocaine transiting through Trinidad and Tobago is eventually shipped to Europe.

If Smedley Butler were alive today, he would certainly raise the suspicion—and call for an investigation—that this latest bellicose theater in Venezuela is being driven by Wall Street players who see the nation’s oil reserve —the largest proven on earth—as collateral for a fresh round of credit expansion.

The ONLY growth story that Wall Street can now offer is A.I., but it’s hard to see how A.I. companies can continue driving the Nasdaq ever higher while continuing to operate at a substantial loss.

OpenAI is currently burning over $10 billion per quarter. Moreover, in order to fulfill the great promise of A.I., the United States is going to need to produce a LOT more power. Goldman Sachs recently estimated that the U.S. will need to produce 50-100 gigawatts (GW) of new capacity by 2030 to meet A.I.’s growing demand. The higher end of this scale exceeds California’s current total power generation capacity of 86 GW.

This is why Bill Gates recently announced that he’s no longer too worried about global warming. The wind and solar scam is not going to cut it if Microsoft is going to realize a return on its significant investments in A.I.