To Win the War… Buy the Bonds
To help finance the enormous costs of World War II, the United States government issued war bonds to the American public. The various releases of these patriotic bonds were accompanied by “Bond Tours” – traveling pep rallies that featured politicians and celebrities waving flags to help sell them.
The largest of these affairs, the Seventh Bond Tour of 1945, raised over $26 billion. To help put that number in perspective, consider that there were 160 million people in the US at the time. That means the dollar investment per US citizen was roughly $162, or about $1800 dollars in modern day spending power! Do you suppose those people had a clear idea about what they were fighting (and paying) for?
In a capitalist society, the mandate for war should only come from the people and their voting dollars. The process is unbelievably simple, capitalism at it's most basic: the public sees a real and coherent threat (in this case Hitler and the Japanese) and they pay to have it eliminated. It wasn’t America’s uncommon valor, or God’s will that won World War II. It was American investment backed wholeheartedly by the American people.
What does a government do to raise money for a war if there is no clear public backing? When the true reasons for letting bullets fly are obscure, based more on special interests than national security?
They don’t ask us for it directly, that’s for sure. They take it after conferring amongst themselves. They use their incumbency to justify their actions. Since the Iraq war started in 2003, Congress has allocated somewhere in the neighborhood of $470 billion to the effort. Every one of these dollars has been reluctantly squeezed out of the nation’s coffers by oil-based special interest groups who wrap themselves in the American flag and use convenient terms like “spreading democracy”.
Perhaps there could be an American victory in Iraq (which, I suppose, would mean the elimination of every single insurgent and the building of a Starbucks on every other street corner). But it would take the true financial backing of the American people. The Average Joe would have to be willing to pledge a large chunk of his monthly income to see the Stars and Stripes flying over Baghdad. And unless we clearly understand why we’re fighting, that’s never going to happen.
How many of you would show up at an Iraq War Bond Tour (without a basket of rotten tomatoes)?
The largest of these affairs, the Seventh Bond Tour of 1945, raised over $26 billion. To help put that number in perspective, consider that there were 160 million people in the US at the time. That means the dollar investment per US citizen was roughly $162, or about $1800 dollars in modern day spending power! Do you suppose those people had a clear idea about what they were fighting (and paying) for?
In a capitalist society, the mandate for war should only come from the people and their voting dollars. The process is unbelievably simple, capitalism at it's most basic: the public sees a real and coherent threat (in this case Hitler and the Japanese) and they pay to have it eliminated. It wasn’t America’s uncommon valor, or God’s will that won World War II. It was American investment backed wholeheartedly by the American people.
What does a government do to raise money for a war if there is no clear public backing? When the true reasons for letting bullets fly are obscure, based more on special interests than national security?
They don’t ask us for it directly, that’s for sure. They take it after conferring amongst themselves. They use their incumbency to justify their actions. Since the Iraq war started in 2003, Congress has allocated somewhere in the neighborhood of $470 billion to the effort. Every one of these dollars has been reluctantly squeezed out of the nation’s coffers by oil-based special interest groups who wrap themselves in the American flag and use convenient terms like “spreading democracy”.
Perhaps there could be an American victory in Iraq (which, I suppose, would mean the elimination of every single insurgent and the building of a Starbucks on every other street corner). But it would take the true financial backing of the American people. The Average Joe would have to be willing to pledge a large chunk of his monthly income to see the Stars and Stripes flying over Baghdad. And unless we clearly understand why we’re fighting, that’s never going to happen.
How many of you would show up at an Iraq War Bond Tour (without a basket of rotten tomatoes)?
posted by J. Bovenizer | 1:31 AM
2 Comments:
For my money it shouldn't be called a War at all. Then maybe "Armed Militia Iraq Intervention Bonds" would sell like hot cakes!
This is great info to know.
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