Victor Davis Hanson: America’s resilience and its resources are not infinite. Can it still work?
There are repercussions when ideology governs policy or when we take for granted the basics of life to pursue its trappings.
Victor is 1,000% right about his concerns of the well running dry. For decade after decade the USA has been the bank and savior for the world. The amounts of money spent/given to other countries to bail them out is astronomical. I do not think there can be a realistic number put on the total it has cost the USA in the last 50 – 100 years.
Years of War Spending Peak Year of War Spending
Total Military Cost of War in
Millions/Billions of Dollars
War Cost %
GDP in Peak
Year of War
Total Defense %
GDP in Peak Year
of War
World War I 1917-1921 1919
Current Year $ 20 billion
Constant FY2011$ 334 billion
World War II 1941-1945 1945
Current Year $ 296 billion
Constant FY2011$ 4,104 billion
Korea 1950-1953 1952
Current Year $ 30 billion
Constant FY2011$ 341 billion
Vietnam 1965-1975 1968
Current Year $ 111 billion
Constant FY2011$ 738 billion
Persian Gulf Warb 1990-1991 1991
Current Year $ 61 billion
Constant FY2011$ 102 billion
Iraqa 2003-2010 2008
Current Year $ 715 billion
Constant FY2011$ 784 billion
Afghanistan/Otherac 2001-2010 2010
Current Year $ 297 billion
Constant FY2011$ 321 billion
Total Post-9/11—Iraq,
Afghanistan/Other 2001-2010 2008
Current Year $ 1,046 billion
Constant FY2011$ 1,147 billion
Many of these numbers are outdated, but gives us the picture. This does not take into account the human loss of life and suffering. For the most part with the exception of WW I and WW II; all we have come away with is AIR (nothing to show but a loss for our involvement).
I would suggest WW I and WW II, possibly Korea were necessities for the safety and security of the world. But the others to follow were deliberately started for profit. They could have all been fought more strategically and cost far less than they did.
It is just like the current disastrous predicament we are in in Afghanistan. To begin with; we had no business being there. Being that the USA wanted to pull out; it was not necessary to telegraph our intentions so our enemies could prepare an offensive. If a time had been set and kept under wraps until “D” Day, it would have gone a lot smother and with less causalities. The nightmare still is not over.
When was the last time we heard Russia announce their military moves??
Have all of the INTERVENTIONS the USA has made, most of which were against the other countries wishes, in the long run, did they make any difference in the way the foreign governments conducted their personal affairs. Answer is, HELL ON; so what was the purpose of getting involved; BUTT only for the BIG $$$$. Are these brutal countries right in the handling of their governments business?? Probably not; BUTT it is none of our concern.
When is the USA ever going to learn to clean out their closet and take care of their own before telling other people how to live.
I personally think that the USA is already on the tipping point in our collapse. The prediciments J J has gotten us into just may push us over the edge. We have one leg hanging over the cliff and the other standing on a banana peel.
Victor Hanson said: The result is the horrific mess of a premodern Taliban army routing the most sophisticated military in the history of civilization. We shudder when America begs premodern tribes not to murder our citizens whom we abandoned in full retreat.
I said it several times in the last few days. The supposed worlds most militarily advanced country with all of it’s sophisticated weapons got their ass handed to them by a bunch of rag-tag thugs that were defending themselves with, junk pick up trucks, brick and tree branches.
Folks; it is all about the $$$$. When we have politicians like Tricky Dick Chaney who said; I have no regrets; after the decisions he and his VP – GWB made; if that does not tell us how heartless, cold and calloused politicians can be, nothing else does.
4, 2014 — But former Vice President Dick Cheney has no regrets. “I believed in it then,” Cheney told Politico’s Mike Allen. “I look back on it now, it was …
Posted on 08/25/2021 by The Goomba Gazette
New concerns Taliban have seized US digital databases left behind
If the time ever comes (I do not see it) that the crooks are taken out of politics; then and maybe only then will the USA ever prosper once again. The greed, arrogance and stupidity of the politicians in this country is off the charts.
Can we even imagine how much further advanced we would be with all the $$$$ we pissed away in places we did not belong. At least – I said; at least, if we would have come away with a few victories, it would help ease the bleeding.
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