Hate Crimes IV

Excess spending, futile meddling and always, always more war...

(Source: Getty Images)

Bill Bonner, reckoning today from Poitou, France...

…the American people are the ones who choose their government by way of their own free will; a choice which stems from their agreement to its policies. Thus the American people have chosen, consented to, and affirmed their support for the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians, the occupation and usurpation of their land, and its continuous killing, torture, punishment and expulsion of the Palestinians.

~ Osama bin Laden, explaining why it was okay to target civilians

Our beat is money, not politics. The connection is obvious. Spending on public policy hate crime (aka ‘war’) is out of control. Dan reports that total public debt increased $274 billion – this last weekend. Total US debt crossed the $33 trillion mark a month ago; now it is headed to $34 trillion. A trillion here…a trillion there…pretty soon, you can expect bankruptcy, defaults, inflation, political chaos…and war.

Asset values, generally, will fall. Bonds will once again become “certificates of guaranteed confiscation.” And the US will…slowly, and then all of a sudden…sink into banana republic, sh*thole status.

Is there any way to change course?

What You Pay For

As Milton Friedman put it, ‘you get what you pay for.’ And the biggest single item of discretionary federal spending pays for war. ‘Tis a pity, because Americans get little value from their wars. But rather than pull the plug on excess spending and futile meddling, America’s leaders – its elites – want more.  

A border war between Russia and the Ukraine? A hundred billion US dollars…and weapons…are on their way.

Another flare-up in the fight between Arabs and Jews? Send the Sixth Fleet…and see how it might get involved.

What? We are running out of money? We’re bumping into a ‘debt ceiling?’ The US government faces a shutdown?

This is no time to count pennies – this is war!

How do ‘hate crimes’ become public policy…and how do the elites benefit? (Dan reports that an ETF of America’s arms suppliers is up 6%...just this week). And how can an advanced, degenerate empire possibly turn away from inflation and war? 

People are people. Sometimes good, sometimes bad; always subject to influence.  From time to time they are bloody bastards. The job of the elite to restrain them.  Statesmen help them see “both sides” of the conflict. Judges listen to witnesses for the prosecution as well as the defense. Priests remind them of the two choices waiting for them – Heaven and Hell. And a wise Council of Elders recalls the errors of the past, introduces question marks…and urges caution.

But when elites become corrupt and incompetent, when the elders drool and forget their own names, the question marks disappear. People take sides, usually without any knowledge of what is really going on.

A Time to Kill

On video screens all over the world, we see pictures of dead children. Surely there’s only one side to this story, as Karine Jean-Pierre says. The Palestinians are evil. No further discussion needed. “Finish them,” says Nikki Haley, apparently calling for genocide. “Eradicate them” say columnists and opinion mongers all over the West, seconding the motion.

But wait. So far this century, for every Jewish child who died at the hands of terrorists…at least 10 Palestinian children have been killed. Does it really make sense to add more? Is that the civilized thing to do?

“Every Hamas terrorist is a dead man,” Netanyahu said at a late-night briefing. “There is a time for war and a time for peace,” said opposition leader Benny Gantz. “Now is a time for war.”

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant vowed to “wipe them off the face of the Earth.” 

What about the collateral damage; surely it will include scores of children? Already, according to a group called Defense for Children, here’s the body count:

GAZA UPDATE: 447 Palestinian children have been killed by Israeli airstrikes in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health. Nonstop Israeli airstrikes forced our field researcher to relocate his family four times yesterday & DCIP has been unable to confirm additional fatalities.

Isn’t that enough? Apparently not.

Putrid and Appalling

Osama bin Laden said it was okay to kill enemy civilians. The Allies killed 25,000 men, women and children in the bombing of Dresden in 1945. Harry Truman was responsible for another 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

Who are the bad guys? How can you tell?

Don’t ask. Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar threatened companies that choose the wrong side:

"As this conflict unfolds, I remind businesses that my office maintains a list of companies that boycott Israel.”

Jewish employers are threatening retaliation too. Fortune:

Bill Ackman wants Harvard to name the students blaming Israel for the Hamas attacks so that he and other CEOs don’t hire them by accident

Some dear readers think we should throw away the question marks too. Many want a condemnation of Russia, China, Iran, Hamas…white supremacy…sexism…global warming deniers…vaccine doubters…and so on.

But here at Bonner Private Research, our aim is not to shape the human clay…nor to judge it…but simply to observe it, and draw whatever lessons we can.

And what we notice is that societies lurch and stumble forward. Most of the time, people get along tolerably well—giving and getting amongst themselves. But once in a while, often stretched out over many decades, a conflict or creed festers…and then erupts, putrid and appalling.

And then, caution, prudence, dignity, generosity, kindness, and solvency...all disappear.

Not a pretty sight.

Regards,

Bill Bonner