Our Future Economy Could Be Linked To The Military

In a day and age where our economy seems unable to fully recover from our great recession, it is time to rethink what is in store for our future. Americans finally seem resigned to the fact that many of our major corporations have relocated overseas and we are destined to lose jobs to China and India due to their much larger pool of available cheap labor.

Consequently, it is important for our economic future to rethink where future jobs will thrive and accept that we may need to rely on a much larger influence from our military for providing Americans with a variety of available jobs. With President Obama admitting the bulk of the responsibility for establishing peace in the Middle East falls on the United States, we have an opportunity to cash in on our superior military. By becoming the “police force” of the free world, we can exploit the military deficiencies of other nations and use a much larger military than we currently have to serve as a military presence in nations unable or unwilling to protect their own self interests or the interests of friendly outside nations.

Perhaps, rather than investing less of our GNP in the military, we might be wise to invest more into it. Other than Russia, no other nation in the world comes close to the four percent of our GNP that we invest in our military. In fact, we come close to out spending all other nations on the planet in the amount we presently spend on our armed forces.

It has become clear that American companies can not afford to pay a large work force the low wages it needs to produce the type of goods we love to consume at an affordable rate. Raising the minimum wage will only cost jobs and add to our unemployment rate so we may be better off allowing those companies to pursue cheaper labor elsewhere.

But with the Middle East in a state of political and religious chaos, Russia making waves in the Ukraine, and our border leaking like a sieve, it may be wise to invest more in the areas of defense, anti terrorism, and border protection. As it is now, we do not have enough man power available to meet the demands in these areas so it only makes sense to begin investing them, both via the government and private sector.

Technology whizzes are desperately needed to keep us ahead of the rest of the world on the military front so we should be pushing to hire more college grads on this front rather than paying them to make more video games for our children. We will continue to need newer and more diverse drones that can be employed to protect our interests both abroad and on our border. More sophisticated weapons from a workable “Star Wars” defense system to even smarter and more powerful bombs will allow us to become a military employed by nations like Saudi Arabia rather than selling them weapons that may fall into the hands of the wrong people and be used against us. Wouldn't it make more sense to trade Middle East oil for American provided protection instead of selling arms for oil?

By allowing other nations to outsource their protection to the United States, our military will have a much greater need for manpower which creates jobs for a variety of people with anywhere from low to high skills. Yes, we will need more people on the front lines in other nations but we will also need specialty trained men and women with the skills that keep our equipment running, supplies flowing, and medical needs met. Again, many of the young men and women who are unable to find work in their fields of study will now be needed to apply their skills while employed in the armed forces. Doctors, teachers, psychologists, physical therapists, pharmacists, maintenance mechanics, and scores of others will be needed by expanding the role of the U.S. Military.

Expanding our military will also weaken the power of people like Vladimir Putin. As it is now, Russia's economy can not handle spending four percent of their GNP on their military and be vibrant. It was our country's ability to spend so much on our military that brought an end to the cold war because Russia could not maintain our spending rate while keeping Russians employed. The headache we have in the Ukraine today goes away when the Putins of the future know if they invade a neighboring nation they will be matched up against a much stronger and far better equipped military than they face today.

This also renders the UN Peace Keeping Forces useless, which is what they have been for decades. No longer will a country have to turn to a dysfunctional governing body for help when they can turn to the United States. Who would you rather have protecting your nation from an enemy invasion, the UN or the United States?

Finally, there is our border. Like it or not, we can no longer protect our border and keep out terrorist threats with any degree of certainty. Border patrol agents claim they are lucky if they nab thirty percent of the people trying to enter illegally. If I am ISIS, I chomp at the bit over those figures. An increased investment in border protection, airport security, and coastal surveillance will provide Americans with much needed jobs as well. What good is it to have the strongest military in the world if we can not keep the enemy outside our borders?

We all know that need equals jobs and if the government opens many of these defense/security/anti terrorism jobs to the private sector, it will create competition. Competition in the work force allows for less wasteful spending and greater efficiency than we currently see when the government runs everything. It will stimulate our economy in a way never before done and allow us to no longer dwell on the jobs we see going overseas. It can create an economy built around our providing a much needed service to nations all over the world much like oil provided nations in the Middle East.

Americans will only be able to remain consumers of more products than any other nation in the world if they are able to afford to purchase cars, boats, electronics, and the endless number of toys we devour. That requires jobs that provide the worker with a stable income and job security which can only happen in fields that are needed. Nations need protection now more than ever and there is no reason why nations like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Ukraine, and countless more can not hire a nation like ours to do for them what they may be unable or unwilling to do for themselves.

It may well be time to rethink our place in the world's economy. We will no longer be a provider of cheap labor and goods. We can not afford to become a nation of haves and have nots and expect to thrive. We have to find a way to create much needed jobs that provide a valuable service to not just Americans, but to people all over the world.

President Obama is right when he says no other nation in the world is equipped to take the lead on matters of protecting and preserving peace in the world. Why not make that a focal point of our economic turn around?