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This post in its way is a tiny correlative to Pope Francis' attacks on capitalism as capitalism (read: crony capitalism) currently exists in the world as well as his attack upon the system of capitalism in itself when divorced from a higher moral accountability. If there is a "lay" critique of capitalism that focuses on its chief mechanism and defect, the only one still in print in my opinion is by Major General Smedley Butler of the US Marine Corps.
(Unknown to most U.S.A. citizens is that this general single-handedly thwarted a fascist plot to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt according to most historians. There are now books and YouTube videos aplenty about this episode, but there is none I feel I can endorse. You, dear reader, are free to search for yourself if you so desire.)
"War is a Racket" by Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler is a book that demands reading again if you have read it before. It also bears reading for the first time if this text and its author are new to you. What Maj. Gen. Butler could not fully know was the way in which the USA's intelligence operations would sew war and create fanatics to spread warfare in order to 'achieve our goals'. One can only imagine what this great Marine would write of the USA, capitalism, Wall Street, and the business of warfare today.
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