The Mailing List: 5 Reasons Why the US Might Be Screwed

Call me a pessimist. Call me an angry liberal. Call me unpatriotic. Call me any derogatory term for a person upset with the direction our country is going in, but you can never call me uninformed. Our fair country, the United States of America, is knee-deep in a metaphorical pile of excrement, body parts, oil and missiles, and lately I've felt less and less optimistic about our state.

 
Sidenote: If there are any Feds reading this, please don't take this as anything more than an opinion. I'm just a blogger, not a terrorist...

1. We are engaged in three wars.

Between Afghanistan, Iraq, and now our newfound military front in Libya, the United States is spreading itself thin in terms of our armed forces. After 10 years and over $1 trillion spent on military costs, the 'War on Terror' has yielded next to nothing in answers for the 9/11 attacks, much less broken up any part of the new 'axis of evil' George Dubya duped the world into believing in. Imagine that. We've been at war for over a decade now, and still have nothing to show for it but dead soldiers and civilians, a U.S. funded puppet state in Afghanistan that's rife with corruption, and a loss of faith from the world community. Now that we've engaged Libya, and still have no plans to get out of Afghanistan or Iraq, I can only imagine the carnage that can ensue. Not to mention, the U.S. is on a fast track to conflict with North Korea. If we think the Middle East has some WMD's, then I'd hate to see what Kim Jong-Il has up his sleeve. Simply put, we've focused too much on the military over the last decade, especially economically, bringing me to the next point:

2. Our domestic economic policies aren't helping.

If there is any person whose opinion on finance and the economy I'm going to trust, it's got to be Warren Buffet. The man simply knows money. And guess what? Warren Buffet says the recession isn't over, and won't be for some time considering the steps our government is taking. Take a look around. Unemployment is still rampant and job creation is stalling. The amount of Americans filing for bankruptcy is still rising. Our national debt is still rising, while our GDP is stagnant. And the worst part? Our government is enacting policies that will probably add to our deficit.

If it's not the richest Americans getting tax cuts widening the gap between the haves and have-nots and turning the U.S. into a nation of classes, then it's our egregious military spending putting us in the hole and bringing us closer to nuclear holocaust. If it's not CEO's bonuses jumping 30%, then it's state governments attempting to block unions while not cutting their own pay. If it's not a RoboCop statue being erected in the economic wasteland of Detroit, then it's the government dragging its feet in a budget-saving health care plan. Our government blasts the country's spending habits when it spends its money on ridiculous things that don't serve to improve our nation, and instead set us back.

3. Dependence on oil is still the precedent.

Energy is what runs everything. Repeat that. ENERGY RUNS EVERYTHING. It runs our transportation, every appliance and piece of technology we use, and every resource we need, needs artificial energy to work. That said, our dependence on oil is sickening. Of all Western nations, we use the most oil while producing the least. Additionally, the world's oil reserves are set to be running low in the next 30-40 years, with the world reaching it's peak oil production in the past few years. That means the world, and more importantly the U.S., is going to have to find a new method of energy production. Ironically, we continue peddling money into oil subsidies and oil companies, rather than invest in sustainable energy. At this rate, we'll be in the dark faster than you can flip a light switch.

4. Our education system and infrastructure are failing.

If you're reading this, I'm going to assume that you're reasonably educated and can formulate a complete thought on paper without awakening the spirit of Mr. Ed. However, for a lot of American youth, that's not the case. Since 2000, the United States has fallen behind most of the industrialized world in reading and math, two subjects that we excelled at starting in the 70s. Additionally, we're at our lowest rate of college matriculation and graduation in over 30 years (you could blame the recession). No, I'm not saying the U.S> has become a nation of idiots, but we're getting closer to that title by the day. With even the SAT beginning to show signs of lower scores, it's obvious that something isn't going right in our schools as of late, which should seriously affect the country's future, and inevitably our ability to understand what's even going on in our country...

5. Political engagement is down, while political ignorance is up.

According to Newsweek, Americans are becoming more and more politically ignorant, with more than 30% of Americans being unable to name our own Vice President, 44% unable to define the Bill of Rights, and 73% unable to identify why the Cold War was fought and 6% unable to circle our own Independence Day on a calendar. Excuse me? In this nation so hell-bent on patriotism and national pride, people have no earthly clue what's going on! No wonder they vote for legislation that hurts them financially, allow warmongering politicians to draw us into foreign conflict and listen to idiots like Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin spew misinformation. In the 60s, 70s and 80s our industrial might was enough to keep us afloat, because the rest of the world was simply playing catch-up. Now that the Internet has ushered in the information age, it's a necessity for the U.S. to know not only what's going on in our own country, but also the rest of the world... And we're failing terribly.

I won't sit here and say that I've lost all hope in our fair country. However, it's disconcerting to see so many ills in our country that are easily fixable with some smart leadership and engagement from our citizens. At the same time, with the way things are looking, a move to Canada might be just what the doctor ordered. They don't look like they're doing too badly. The U.N. seemed to think so, and I trust their judgment a lot more than the U.S.'s at this point...

Dear Warmongers

via Newser:

A $40 million prison sits in the desert north of Baghdad, empty. A $165 million children's hospital goes unused in the south. A $100 million waste water treatment system in Fallujah has cost three times more than projected, yet sewage still runs through the streets

As the U.S. draws down in Iraq, it is leaving behind hundreds of abandoned or incomplete projects. More than $5 billion in American taxpayer funds has been wasted _ more than 10 percent of the some $50 billion the U.S. has spent on reconstruction in Iraq, according to audits from a U.S. watchdog agency.

That amount is likely an underestimate, based on an analysis of more than 300 reports by auditors with the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction. And it does not take into account security costs, which have run almost 17 percent for some projects.

It's one thing to propose a controversial plan, have the plan not work, and then admit that the plan was a failure and did more collateral damage than you though. It's a completely different thing to propose a controversial plan, have it fail, then deny the problem and try to keep going the same way. Therein lies your plight, oh ye in support of the military proceedings in Iraq and Afghanistan. Now that the last of the troops are being withdrawn from Iraq, it is quite evident that a hell of a lot of money has been wasted since we started this war, and that most of it has gone into structures with no infrastructure behind them. In war you guys decided rather than focus on combat, to build hospitals, schools and public works projects. Over $5 billion worth of materials, manpower and planning went into projects that weren't even finished.

My real problem with this egregious waste is that the same people who were clamoring for war and revenge on terrorism (how can you plot revenge on an idea?) are the same people getting salty at the government for too much spending. Hey idiots, the last time I checked our country still has some serious infrastructure and administrative problems too. Not to mention, we're STILL up to our nostrils in debt from a financial collapse that your irresponsible war spending caused. Warmongers, you can't have it both ways. You can't waste our money abroad on a war that really had no point and then get mad that we're in a huge recession. And that's especially when you guys want to curb spending on the homefront. So you can do what? Start another war? Look, the whole 'war driving the economy' got played out after World War II and after we started outsourcing all of our industries. So if it's not driving our economy, but in fact sucking money out of our wallets, with few if any viable victories, why are we still at war? I'm not saying that the initiatives in place were bad ideas. I just think that for all of the hoopla about the war, there's finally substantive proof that the US initiative in Iraq was more or less the military running around the desert with their thumbs up their butts. Warmongers, it's not enough to have a good idea for something. You've got to be able to see it through, while being efficient and realistic. You can't half-ass something and be content with the drastic losses you incur simply because you don't want to be wrong. That's flawed reasoning at it's core. I'm not sure most of you will even have the wherewithal to see this report and realize your folly. Then again, most of you don't see a lot of stuff coming. *starts building nuclear fallout shelter for imminent war with China*

Dear Pentagon

PROLOGUE (if you can call it that): Before you get into the letter, make sure to check out 'The War Logs', a series of previously-classified military documents outlining many inconsistencies in what the government has told us, and what is really going on in Afghanistan and Iraq. - via The New York Times

Wait, wait, wait, wait.... Let me get this straight. We've been at war in Afghanistan for almost 10 years now, fighting off not only Al-Quaeda and the Taliban, thinking that the $1 billion in aid we sent to Pakistan was to help us against militants. Now, we find out that the Pakistani government has been underhandedly helping out those same insurgents we were trying to fight??? C'mon son... Something about this war has seemed fishier than Neffe's nether regions. I've thought that since 2001, and the leaks from Wikileaks proved my suspicions right.

Pentagon, can you FINALLY admit, that this 'War on Terrorism' isn't working?

SIDENOTE: Anyone notice that when America goes to war against something that isn't a specific country or entity of countries, it doesn't work?? (see: war on drugs, war on terrorism, Prohibition)

Since 2001, after the September 11th attacks, over $3 TRILLION have been spent on defense and military intelligence, operations and planning. That's right: over $3,000,000,000,000 for these specific purposes (if my knowledge and research is correct):

1) To find weapons of mass destruction.
2) To find Osama bin Laden, his weapons of mass destruction, and figure out his role in 9/11.
3) To completely destroy the infrastructure and governments of Afghanistan and Iraq under the facade of democracy building, while embarking on a monumental oil rush.
4) To finish George H.W. Bush's beef with Saddam Hussein.

Okay, so 3 and 4 get scratched because that's not what 'good' Americans do, and because a federal agent would snipe me in my apartment window otherwise. Pentagon, what does that leave as our goals from this decade-long endeavor? To find WMD's and Osama bin Laden. Hmmmmm... The last time I checked, we still haven't found as much as a tommy-gun we didn't know about in Afghanistan or Iraq. In fact, most of the weapons in those countries, we brought in. Also, the last I checked, bin Laden was still shacked up, chilling, in some region we don't know exists. The last guy who got close to him wasn't even with you guys, and you arrested him! What do those facts, along with the recent unearthing of these 'secret' military reports tell me, Pentagon? They tell me that the administrative systems in place to regulate our military spending SUCK. They tell me that military spending in general is too great compared to the returns. They tell me that our troops are over in the Middle East fighting for things that might not exist, and to find people who can't be found. They tell me that George Dubya had his head up his ass when he was planning this with his people. But most of all, they show ridiculous inefficiency and huge divides in our military systems, including the Armed Forces and CIA.

Why is it that our military was so naive entering this war? I mean, did you really think you'd be able to simply storm these countries, take down their leaders, convince their people that your way was best, convert them to democracy, and then everything be peachy? I can tell you one thing: no country is going to embrace your ideals, much less if you're killing civilians and causing complete social upheaval. You're like the dumb bear who smacks up the beehive hoping to get honey, not realizing those bees aren't just going to fall asleep and let you get your fill, Winnie. This isn't the playground, where you can pick on the little guy and not expect repercussions on your side. This is war... and a severely underestimated one, at that. That we're finding out about so many inaccuracies on your side isn't as much a surprise as the biggest one: the whole Pakistani spies aiding insurgents thing. That's just sad... $9 billion worth of sadness. And to think, we've been in a recession this whole time. So much for war profiteering helping the nation stabilize. Word to the Great Depression and World War II...

Dear CIA

For once, the papers aren't blowing it out of proportion...

via Newser:

Alleged deep-cover Russian spy Anna Chapman may have been following in her father's footsteps, says her British ex-husband. The Russian-born beauty "told me her father had been high up in the ranks of the KGB," Alex Chapman tells the Telegraph. "She said he had been an agent in 'old Russia.' Her father controlled everything in her life and I felt she would have done anything for her dad. When I saw that she had been arrested on suspicion of spying it didn’t come as much of a surprise."

Her father, Vasily Kuschenko, was "scary," says Chapman, who met the Russian diplomat when the couple visited Zimbabwe. "He didn’t trust anyone. He asked me why I had chosen a Russian bride and asked what business I had in Russia, and I said none." Kuschenko is now a high-ranking official in Russia's Foreign Ministry, according to unconfirmed reports in the Russian press. British intelligence agencies are trying to discover whether Anna worked as a spy during the years she lived in Britain.

Why is it that when one goes looking for trouble, something completely different hits them? America's been at it's war on 'terrorism' for almost 10 years now. We've spent well over $650 billion on the military and even more on 'intelligence,' mainly from you, the CIA. The war has failed... terribly. We've pretty much destroyed two countries and lost a lot of favor in the world, all while putting ourselves in crippling debt. And all that while, there were (alleged) spies living among us? It might be a little too early to jump to conclusions, yet the irony of the situation is hilarious. You're not even smart enough to sniff out the security breaches in the country, yet are halfway across he world trying to regulate. The fact that the alleged spies were from Russia brings up Cold War parallels, which is eerie. There may very well be unfinished remnants of the Cold War just waiting to be unearthed, much like this. Maybe you should have been intelligent enough to have had some intelligence on shady characters like Anna Chapman. Overextending one's reach never does the job, and you guys are on a different continent. This whole 'Russian spy' situation is looking like it's going to be much bigger than we think. Do yourselves a favor. Make sure the homefront is safe before we do anything abroad...

Dear US Armed Forces (re: Warlord Funding)

You mean to tell me, those tanks, full of soldiers, guns and Western ideals need protection?? From who?

via The Washington Post:

The U.S. military is funding a massive protection racket in Afghanistan, indirectly paying tens of millions of dollars to warlords, corrupt public officials and the Taliban to ensure safe passage of its supply convoys throughout the country, according to congressional investigators.

The security arrangements, part of a $2.16 billion transport contract, violate laws on the use of private contractors, as well as Defense Department regulations, and "dramatically undermine" larger U.S. objectives of curtailing corruption and strengthening effective governance in Afghanistan, a report released late Monday said.

The report describes a Defense Department that is well aware that some of the money paid to contractors winds up in the hands of warlords and insurgents. Military logisticians on the ground are focused on getting supplies where they are needed and have "virtually no understanding of how security is actually provided" for the local truck convoys that transport more than 70 percent of all goods and materials used by U.S. troops. Alarms raised by prime trucking contractors were met by the military "with indifference and inaction," the report said.

It's funny that we're still at war, even though we still have no clue where Osama bin Laden is, and are being outdone by single men armed with nothing but samurai swords. It's even funnier, though, when the same people we're supposed to be fighting against are secretly getting aid from us. US Military, it's been almost 10 years since we started this war on terrorism. Though we've found and killed Saddam Hussein (for what reason, we still don't know), this war has cost us thousands of lives, the respect of the world community and billions and billions of dollars. Those dollars could definitely have been spent elsewhere (ie: healthcare, education, bailing us out of the recession), but instead are getting pumped right back into Afghanistan (where the war started) for protection! Really, Armed Forces?? You're paying insurgents and warlords for protection of convoys, when you guys are supposed to be protecting us? If that's the case, I might have to pick up a samurai sword myself, because I certainly don't feel safe.

This reminds me of the first Iron Man, when Tony Stark found out Stark Industries was selling their weapons to terrorists as well as the government. You, as the military aren't much different. Though you're not handing over Jericho missiles and heavy firearms, you might as well be. As much as $1.6 billion of the $2 billion you just give away is heading straight for the insurgents' wallets. If that isn't double dealing then I don't know what it is. Numerous political pundits have called this war on terrorism, this generation's Vietnam War, and for good reason.

1) We have no clue what we're doing there. At this point, our troops are fighting just to be fighting, not for any ascertainable or remotely achievable goal.

2) If the war was that serious, we would've accomplished whatever goal we set out to. Let's be honest, Afghanistan & Iraq are biddies compared to our military infrastructure. We could blow those countries up by pushing a button. That's not to say we should (I don't support the war, anyway). That's to say we've been misappropriating our time on something not worthwhile.

3) It's slowly bleeding our economy dry. I don't know if you guys noticed, but unlike World War 2, this war isn't helping us out. In fact, its taking a whole lot away. What's worse is that when the troops do come back, that's a hell of a lot of young Americans who won't have jobs anymore. I guess we could always start charging other countries for protection like the Afghans are doing.

Face it, Armed Forces, this war is about as useful as a front door made out of paper. We'd have been better off trying to find gold on Mars or researching stem cells, or... ANYTHING but this war. And to turn around and pay insurgents to do what you should be doing is just disgraceful. Hell, I might have to hire some insurgents to protect me, if you guys take this letter the wrong way. I'm not too worried though. If the war and your search for Osama are any indication of your effectiveness, you shouldn't be finding me for a while...