former British Secretary of Defense Liam Fox points out that debt is the single greatest security threat facing the Western world.
Against a background of increasing cooperation between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, the threat to the free world and its values – the rule of law, democracy and human rights – has never been greater in living memory. Yet a much more subtle and sadly self induced crisis corrodes our ability to confront our enemies.
Debt levels in the West, driven up by consumption and welfare that we cannot afford, means that our ability to raise defence and security spending to meet the level of the threat is seriously, if not yet fatally, compromised.
Last year the UK spent £105 billion on debt interest compared to just £65 billion on defending our country. We are not alone. In 2024 the United States spent around $882 billion on interest payments, overtaking the world’s largest defence budget of $874 billion. Recent policy decisions will likely drive the gap higher. This may explain the selective deafness in parts of Washington to the alarm call of the Russian threat. Given the huge potential cost of carrying on a new Cold War alongside Western allies, who for years have talked a great game with minimal action on defence spending, the US seems to have made a historically wrong call for partially understandable reasons.
. . .
The bigger threat ... is to the long-term stability of our financial system whose largest members are either unwilling to live within their means or incapable of it. In the UK, despite having a huge parliamentary majority, the Starmer Labour government has made it clear to international markets that they neither have the ambition nor the ability to reduce welfare spending and that, despite historically high tax levels, the debt will continue to increase. In France, the merest hint of financial restraint brings large sections of the population onto the streets making effective financial rebalancing almost impossible, while in the US President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is projected to increase the US federal deficit and national debt by around US$3.4 trillion over the 2025 to 2034 period.
The bottom line is clear. Living on the “never never” and pretending we have a right to an unearned standard of living is creating a level of national debt that not only threatens the next generation with a scorched earth economic legacy but is creating a national security emergency. The silent and deadly defence crisis unfolding because of our addiction to debt leaves us in a historically vulnerable position.
There's more at the link.
He makes a very strong case, IMHO. In command economies such as Russia, China, Iran, etc. the authorities can - by force if necessary - divert the resources of the economy to war production, and dragoon young men and women into uniform (shooting those who don't want to cooperate, to "encourage the others", as Voltaire put it). In the free world, we can't. If the public doesn't support the military, resistance would be largely non-viable. If we stripped bare health care, pensions, power generation, food distribution, etc. in order to prioritize military expenditure, our populations would revolt, particularly those who've become dependent on government handouts to survive. Even the prospect, not yet implemented, of military conscription has led to unrest in Germany and other European countries.
We are no longer a disciplined, united society. We are fragmented, divided, opinionated, each faction demanding that its interests be satisfied but no faction willing to subordinate its interests to the more imperative needs that confront us as a nation. That's what's caused our national debt in the first place, catering to special interests and voting blocs. Unless we change our attitudes as citizens and as a nation, nothing's going to change.
There's another question. Given the behavior and attitudes of so many Americans in "blue" states and cities, why should our armed forces die to defend them? They don't deserve it.
Peter
12 comments:
Debt is not replacing our children with foreigners.
"We are fragmented, divided, opinionated, each faction demanding that its interests be satisfied but no faction willing to subordinate its interests to the more imperative needs that confront us as a nation."
The greatest threat to the Nation is those other factions.
Spoiler alert: Nothing is going to change and things will go on until they can't anymore.
I will accept the label of coward by anyone who served, but your last two sentences are a key reason why I just could not commit to signing up for a career in the military. I saw those signs 25 years ago during the Clinton years in addition to the disaster in Somalia showing that certain places were not worth it. The political/social situation is even worse today than back then.
Why should my grandson go to war to defend the borders of Ukraine when our government won't defend the borders of Britain?
'they don't deserve it'
That's been one of the big things I've seen from over in Britain: "You've called me a racist, a this, a that, blamed every problem on me, and now you want me to die for you?"
Oh its no just that, but remember, a lot of us still remember the events leading to the current war in Ukraine and understand that Russia is not, I repeat, is not the aggressor. Which would make us joining the war, joining a war on the offensive side. A lot of people, myself included will not support this in any way shape or fashion.
The boomers in congress might have a hate-boner for Russia, but that is their problem, and well if they want that war so much, they can bloody well go volunteer and die in the mud in place of a Ukrainian who was dragged off the street to die for that puppet Zelenski.
No, the Western Governments have absolutely F-ed things up to the point where there is no point in going to war. The US is now borrowing more money to pay solely for interest than it takes in, in taxes. The EU is likely worse. These governments have openly insulted, and did everything to spite and replace the white men who's homelands these are, and now expect us to fight for them in a war of aggression against another country who as far as my lifetime has never caused me any offense or given me any reason to go to war with them.
No the boomers wanting this war can go F-themselves.
Lastly to make a point perfectly clear, we are in no position to fight a peer power. The so called generals are still fighting the last war. They apparently think that the latest battlefield will be fought primarily with airplanes and ships. Has anyone else seen the combat footage of the drone warfare? Its a lot more advanced than I think anyone in congress really understands.
Then you have those lunatics talking about how we can produce huge numbers of weapons. They are so far out of their damned minds it would be funny if they weren't trying to drag us into a war.
We require materials to be shipped to us to build stuff, as we have little to no internal lines of supply. A lot of our mines were closed, and those same Boomers shipped the manufacturing off overseas. You want to build lots of stuff quick, you know what you need? Manufacturing and resources from mining.
But it gets better. A lot of what we use today isn't something you can simply retool a factory into producing in a week or two, and then a few months later be building in the thousands. Oh no, a lot of it will require specialized machinery and specialized parts. Have fun trying to retool shortly after a war is declared.
After all, this isn't WWII, the oceans are no longer the massive barriers they were. We won't get weeks or months. We will likely get hours before someone tries to cripple the country with missiles. It doesn't even have to be nukes, an EMP would effectively cripple the country, or a few well placed missiles could basically shut down the hubs of the country's logistical network which would lead to rioting and starvation.
No these absolute morons need to shut the hell up and retire. My stars, they make the old Nobility of Europe look positively sane and competent by comparison.
- W
I think you are cheering for a sports team, in which the home team is described as different and better than the away team, despite playing the same game by the same rules.
In the command economy of the USA, the authorities can - by force if necessary - divert the resources of the economy to war production, and dragoon young men and women into uniform (shooting those who don't want to cooperate
If the public in Russia, China, Iran, etc. doesn't support the military, resistance would be largely non-viable.
This. Debt, jobs, the 'economy,' and the fake GDP are irrelevant if you no longer have a heritage people and nation.
You know, I'm slowly starting to doubt the viability of the nation-based sociopolitical structure in the current world. The reason is that the concept of "nation" was basically a construct defined as "a body of people united by common descent, history, culture, or language, inhabiting a particular area or territory", a construct that was pushed through sociopolitical activism from the 18th forward, and the viability of the concept was propped by the "national liberation" movements (in the Old World and colonial wars) and "enemy of our nation" platforms.
Now however, due to a combination of factors, primary being the high workforce movement, the catastrophic drop in the credibility of the political class, de erosion of authority of the government and the increasing discrediting of the journalistic dialog most people tend to return to the structures that still maintain credibility (though also experiencing problems), namely the family/clan structures. Thus the increased nepotism and corruption, the decreased focus on national or even regional problems versus the clan interests and so forth.
Add to that the systemic crisis we experience and the probability of a new global conflict as a means to reset the sociopolitical structures suddenly look more probable, especially since the political class lacks the will, motivation and knowledge to resolve systemic problems.
The future looks bleak, I'm afraid...
Can't afford self-defense? Two options. (1) Wage wars of conquest on weaker adversaries and confiscate what we need to defend ourselves against the near-peer opponents. (2) Lose and be destroyed.
Picking a war with a Russia or a China, and there won't be any trench warfare at the front. The missiles and drones will fly everywhere. War without any fronts. And military or civilian will be an irrelevant distinction.
The true cause of most of the Government debt is fraud in one form or another. Blaming the working class for the crimes of the elites is just misdirection. Until there is movement to claw back those ill gotten gains, I will not support the Kleptocracy.
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