RE: military overcompensation

[Lubaolong]

Originally Posted by mrsalty

Your mind must be a scary place to be, alone.

You are very delusional if you think the majority doesn't agree with me.

Originally Posted by mrsalty

My motivation to work is to survive.

My incentive is to pay my rent, put food on the table, and have enough left over to live a middle class existence.

Exactly. Under communism, everyone will have their rent paid and food on the table. Your motivation to work will no longer exist.

[Gandhi]

Originally Posted by Workers United

Re your paragraph one. But you are talking as if capitalism is this stagnant thing.

Capitalism is always trying to expand, which is why you have Imperialism, both in the vernacular sense and the Leninist sense of monopoly capitalism. By expanding I mean that the drive for profits always increases because of the competition, more capital is needed in order to expand and compete and capital is only accumulated by exploitation. Yes, but we aren't living in "minimal force" capitalism, we're living in global, monopoly capitalism, and as many have noted, it is a stage in the logic of capitalism, not an abberation. For this, troops are always needed to expropriate, and military production is key to expanding and seizing key regions and zones for resources and labor. People don't just give up their natural resources, it must be taken by force, killing, torture and terrorism.


Even if you look at a country like Mexico, they use troops to seize land from indigenous tribes to use for big Mexican and sometimes US Corporations. Troops for expropriation are a function of capitalism.

The Soviet Union failed and turn to capitalism. When I was making the example of a communist country, I wasn't referring to the USSR. The reasons for USSR's failures are multi faceted and complex and beyond the scope of this post.

My views on capitalism are based on what capitalism is. Capitalism is a system that runs on exploitation, destruction, war, and racism. There is no nice capitalism, and there is no disputing what capitalism is.

We don't live in a communist country or world. So of course I'd say that it is in process, keeping note of failures and good points of revolutions in the past century, by the way which is the first full century of Marxist theory.

Others brought up hoping that I will be flamed. Not me. and very few take my posts in a serious manner. Most do not even know the first thing about capitalism and communism yet they jump right in acting like experts on human nature.

How could I be calling it a stagnant thing? The whole point I have been making is that Market capitalism has many variants and therefore your generalizations about military troops being required for expropriation is false.

If we define capitalism as any system that has defined property rights and/or even makes minimal use of market mechanisms (ie the USSR as you defined it), then there are plenty of Capitalist countries that do not engage currently in what you call imperialism (using troops to steal oil as you define it). At the very least there are countries that do not "require" it for their market systems to work. That was my point. Now as to your thoughts on globalization (which unfortunately leads to somewhat of a digression and what really amounts to a list of disagreements),...

The often tragic clash of civilizations that we often ignorantly labeled as modern vs primitive existed before Capitalism. Globalization and market forces have rapidly accelerated them and its a black eye. At the same time Globalization has increased competition in many ways. Outsourcing is a fear to some US workers but is a benefit to many in India, and (arguably to the US as well). US multinationals face competition for consumers in there domestic markets from companies from Japanese, European, etc. etc.. Big companies face competition from upstarts, medium sized firms, etc, etc.The US, Canadian, etc, models allow for the free movement of people. As the transaction costs of moving continue to drop in this ever flatter world, countries and political systems face competition for people.

What's more, true free trade would benefit agriculture in the developing world at the expense of the developed (Communism is not the only system not to live up to its potential due to it being corrupted by power).

On another note, living in Canada, the Saudi Arabia of North America, I can assure you that technological innovation and scarcity of supply, combined with a market system gets the oil out of the ground without torture and rape. Again it is not a necessity of Capitalism.

If the failures of communism are more complex than I thought I would put to you that the same applies to the failure of modern western liberal democracies. I know Marx was a pivotal figure in terms of his attempt to find historical patterns through a sociological analysis. And I freely admit that I am no expert on Marx and have my own bias.

I have no doubt that you know more than me about the failures of communism and probably have some insightful takes on it, but when you take one countries actions and call them not just a result of capitalism, but the necessary result of capitalism, I think your analysis of capitalism is little more than trying to take a Marxist square peg and to fit it onto an ever changing hole.

As far as the flaming goes, you missed the point. Many times your flames have nothing to do with your beliefs/assertions. Its a necessary requirement of the WU style .

[evansusmc]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

You are very delusional if you think the majority doesn't agree with me.

Look at this thread again ass face, there must be a few pages you did not see.

[Gandhi]

Ttt

[younggunz]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

$24,000 is your taxable base pay. This doesn't include the free housing and food, or if you live off base, your tax free BAS and BAH. The 2nd engineering salary I provided is also for the Honolulu area average. Same location. Even if you look at places with lower paying BAH and BAS, there isn't a huge difference in the pay gap. Military members are paid more than they are worth IMO. No offense to anyone that is in the military or has served. I think a lot of jobs in the world are overpaid.

Most of my money was made dodging bullets....

combat pay, hazard pay, extended training and special duty pay...
I can't say it wasn't good money, but civi life is much easier..
You are paid well, and compensated for your work, but if you want a choice in housing, you're short.

[Bad Dog]

Originally Posted by Gregster

Well, I'm feeling free: you're an utter imbecile.

I enlisted in the Marines and served 4 years as a tanker; I have a Masters' Degree.

My father enlisted in he Army, served 31 years, got out as a Lieutenant Colonel. He has two Masters' Dgerees and runs his own business.

M brother is a career Marine, graduated from the US Naval Academy, a school you probably couldn't get into much less graduate from.

My cousin Pete joined the Army Reserves. Later went to West Point. He's a career soldier, standing by to get his silver oakleafs, and just got his PhD.

You, on the other hand, are a retard whose smug, asshat-ish attitude about the military being some refuse heap for stupid people who "can't cut it" either in college or in the "real world," combined with your stupidly naive comments about people being able to choose any MOS they want to avoid combat when anyone who's served knows you can ask for all the jobs you want, you will get sent to the job you a) are qualified for and/or b) are most needed by the service leads me to believe you never spent a day in uniform and are bullshitting abot your military cred to justify your bullshitting about what a great get-rich-quick scheme the military is.

Gregster via complete fucking knockout. FTW. I salute you Sir.

[Gandhi]

guys you realize this is an old old thread????

i was just having a chuckle

[JSN]

if the market decides an E-5 deserves 80,000$ a year and a duplex in hawaii, then fine.

[Lubaolong]

^^^ lol I suppose

[the1stmac]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

Yes, a perfect example. A military officer with a useless degree in basket weaving (that might only earn him $30,000/year on the outside) will retire making $150k a year in the military.

most officers get degrees in phycology sociology or something like engineering by the way. Officers and soldiers are not stupid people.

an engineer doesnt have to get worried about being shot, or their plane going down of which they have no choice of getting on.

Besides stop crying about an engineer not making enough they make more then enough