Undercurrents Stirring

Someone said, "Our government is even more ingenious. The secret to economic revival is finding some unlucky bastard to declare war on, or at least creating the appearance of declaring war. Starting with the military-industrial sector, the domestic economy will take off like it has stepped on the accelerator.

"Because the military-industrial sector gets the biggest share, its employees can all benefit one way or another. Then, when those people buy everyday goods or luxuries, they stimulate other industries as well. It is a chain linked ring by ring."

"Hey, speaking of which, I bet you don't know where the government gets the money it spends procuring from the military-industrial sector."

A young man said, "Isn't it tax revenue?"

"Wrong. The real answer is borrowing."

"But when national debt is repaid later, isn't that still paid with government tax revenue?"

"You're young, so you probably can't see how the game is played. In fact, the Federal Reserve, whose shareholders are banks and financial conglomerates—"

It was not a government agency, which was why when Donald Trump later wanted to replace the Federal Reserve chairman, he could only "suggest" it rather than order it. In the end, all he could do was decline to renew the appointment when the term expired and let the chairman retire with dignity.

"—created a system that ordinary people find difficult to understand. The way this system handles national debt involves operations too complicated to fully explain. In short, it prints money!"

"But printing money can cause an inflation crisis."

"That is why we need vast amounts of cheap foreign resources to balance it out. In other words, the oil to be seized from Iraq, or other spoils of war, will fill the gap created by borrowing for the war."

Someone said earnestly, "That is not