Manufacturing War

The other day I started reading Chalmers Johnson’s book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire . I hope to blog about it as I go through it, chapter by chapter. I’m half way through the first chapter, so I’ll report in when I get done. But so far, what’s amazing to me is that this book was written before September 11th, 2001. He practically predicted that fateful day.

This morning on my way in to work, I listened to a podcast of an interview with him. In it, he discussed all sorts of topics pertaining to foreign policy, empire, war, and the economy. What grabbed me most was an observation he made about the fact that while our manufacturing base has been eroding over the past X number of years, to the point where many major industries are now based overseas, the manufacturing that is left here in America has become increasingly concentrated in meeting the needs of the military.

Talk about converting your economy into a war machine!

I don’t think that bodes well for the long-term prospects for America, when our entire manufacturing base is devoted to death and destruction.

Listen to the podcast here.

The interview was about an accompanying article written by Johnson. You can read that here.