Why is there no maximum wage?

[Seshmeister]

The argument is that they made money from albums then.

[Nitro Express]

After the fall of the Soviet Union we didn't need the big war machine. The thing is bankers make more money off of war than anything else and they just couldn't let it go. The US transformed from a manufacturing economy to a war economy due to being a major supplier for the allies during WWII and the cold war. Even our space program was a military operation. At least with the cold war beating the Russians on a technological standpoint in space generated some positive results. Chasing the boogie man in the middle east not so much.

[Nitro Express]

The argument is that they made money from albums then.

One problem is the venues have gotten more greedy. It used to be you just paid rent but now they want a percentage of the merchandise sales and ticket sales. I once owned some commercial real estate. If the property taxes went up or the utilities or insurance went up, I just had to tag that cost onto the next lease. The tenants would complain but in reality I wasn't making more money and sometimes less but I had to pass the cost on. Someone is making a bigger cut but the question is who. I think today there are more middle men getting their beaks wet.

[Seshmeister]

I would say the mercenaries are a very very small group.

No one seems to know but the Pentagon said it was over 30 000 in Iraq from Blackwater alone some people say it peaked at 100 000.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1599682,00.html

Even more recently they are still getting fucking massive contracts from Obama outsourcing the military.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20008238-10391695.html

[baru911]

The pilots thing has been going on forever here too, no one objects to that in fact it was comforting back in the day to know that there was a good chance the guy flying your plane had been trained to deal with all sorts of shit in the military.

My complaint is the use of mercenaries that they have already trained by the US government which is an entirely different thing.

Ummm, the people that you refer to as "mercenaries" are contractors. Generally, they are people who gained a specific skill set while in the military. Are they trained with our tax dollars? Sure, but a cook is trained by US tax dollars. They were trained to do a specific task while in the military before they left it. You know, on the job training. Do you draw a line between an EOD team leader who leaves the military and uses the skills he was taught on your local PD to disarm bombs and the team leader who leaves the military and works for a security firm? I do not see a difference between either except for the money one of them makes and the location they do it in. Both are using the on the job training skills they were taught to do the same thing after they leave the military. They render explosives harmless.

Believe it or not they are a large % of people employed by security firms that are in a support role. Also, the larger security firms employ pilots, and ground crews. Most contractors work security details for the Department of State, and a large number are training police departments. They are NOT on the front lines laying the hurt down on whomever the "bad guys" are in a specific theater. The firms serve a very specific role that the US government cannot do by itself any longer.

Just our of curiosity what do you think contractors do? If you think they are out engaging "targets" that is NOT the case.

[Nickdfresh]

Ummm, the people that you refer to as "mercenaries" are contractors.

That's called a euphemism. Contractors or not, whether they work for "security companies" or "war companies", they're still providing the same function as mercenaries have in the past...

Generally, they are people who gained a specific skill set while in the military. Are they trained with our tax dollars? Sure, but a cook is trained by US tax dollars. They were trained to do a specific task while in the military before they left it. You know, on the job training. Do you draw a line between an EOD team leader who leaves the military and uses the skills he was taught on your local PD to disarm bombs and the team leader who leaves the military and works for a security firm? I do not see a difference between either except for the money one of them makes and the location they do it in. Both are using the on the job training skills they were taught to do the same thing after they leave the military. They render explosives harmless.

Under the previous administration (read Rumsfeld), the U.S. military got away from training cooks and spent far much more money paying civilain "contractors" for that task in order to free up an all-volunteer and understrength military to invade other countries with a far higher level of political expedience...

Believe it or not they are a large % of people employed by security firms that are in a support role. Also, the larger security firms employ pilots, and ground crews. Most contractors work security details for the Department of State, and a large number are training police departments. They are NOT on the front lines laying the hurt down on whomever the "bad guys" are in a specific theater. The firms serve a very specific role that the US government cannot do by itself any longer.

Just our of curiosity what do you think contractors do? If you think they are out engaging "targets" that is NOT the case.

There are also a large number of cunts in 'security contractors' that act if they are gods on earth and can do whatever they want and actually undermine the mission of the military (in Iraq, for instance) of winning the hearts-and-minds leading to very public friction with organizations like the U.S. Marine Corp towards the end of the war...

[baru911]

That's called a euphemism. Contractors or not, whether they work for "security companies" or "war companies", they're still providing the same function as mercenaries have in the past...

Hey, thanks for the English lesson!

….Under the previous administration (read Rumsfeld), the U.S. military got away from training cooks and spent far much more money paying civilain "contractors" for that task in order to free up an all-volunteer and understrength military to invade other countries with a far higher level of political expedience...

You’re right there were no cooks within the US military during the previous administration. None. Fort Campbell had and has ZERO US military personnel acting as food service specialist (92G’s) on the base. What reality are you living in? If you were referring to the locals that worked in the fast food restaurants inside the green zone then I would agree that US personnel were not serving food there for a time. However, you do remember why the locals were removed from those jobs and contractors were brought in? Something about troop safety concerns…Wow!

….There are also a large number of cunts in 'security contractors' that act if they are gods on earth and can do whatever they want and actually undermine the mission of the military (in Iraq, for instance) of winning the hearts-and-minds leading to very public friction with organizations like the U.S. Marine Corp towards the end of the war...

There are a large number of difficult people in every day life that act as if they are gods. Most politicians would fit into that category if you asked me. Winning the hearts-and-minds of the people didn’t end the conflict in Iraq. Paying people off and remembering that violence solves problems did. Also, hammering the people coming over the Iraq-Iran border caused a lot of the insurgency to lose its steam.

[Blaze]

blather.

Not only the support service being outsourced to civies, but also contracts are being awarded in questionable retirement packages to generals that then funnel the money straight out of the country. I know this because I have busted such.

[Nitro Express]

No one seems to know but the Pentagon said it was over 30 000 in Iraq from Blackwater alone some people say it peaked at 100 000.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1599682,00.html

Even more recently they are still getting fucking massive contracts from Obama outsourcing the military.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_16...-10391695.html

Yeah it's quite maddening. A lot of people hoped Obama would stop the neocon shit going on but he just kept rolling with it. The thing is our Federal Government has become so huge that various agencies run the thing. I often wonder if the president even knows what's going on. To be honest I think the last president we had that actually wasn't incompetent was Bill Clinton. I think Bush and Obama are just letting other people run the presidency. As far as the war bit goes, I think things have degenerated into just having wars to make money. There really isn't any other reason to be invading these countries. It's waging war itself that is the profitable bit.

[Seshmeister]

In simple terms if this was a movie does that not make the US and her allies, the baddies?

[baru911]

I am the Law. How dare you question me..

OK, you busted a few Generals who were dirty. Thank you for saving the taxpayers money. Have you ever worked and won a case against a civilian defense contractor, i.e., General Dynamics for fraud? I’m sure you have. It happens all the time. Companies and employees commit fraud everyday. From that we can conclude that there are dishonest/immoral people within society. However, stating that you have busted Generals in an attempt to taint an entire industry isn’t logical. Bad apples abound. Thank you for picking them off the tree of our society and making it healthier.

[BigBadBrian]

Under the previous administration (read Rumsfeld), the U.S. military got away from training cooks and spent far much more money paying civilain "contractors" for that task in order to free up an all-volunteer and understrength military to invade other countries ...

Never had a "contractor" cook serve me food in the Chief's Mess on the aircraft carrier I was on. Don't know of any cooks that had to go fight at the front, rifle in hand, either.

[Satan]

You should go and do some reading on the 'School of the Americas' one of the the most vile bits of US foreign policy ever...

Considering he's posted several times in defense of BlacKKKwater, I doubt the School of the Americas will upset him either.

[Nickdfresh]

Hey, thanks for the English lesson!

No extra charge...

You’re right there were no cooks within the US military during the previous administration. None. Fort Campbell had and has ZERO US military personnel acting as food service specialist (92G’s) on the base. What reality are you living in? If you were referring to the locals that worked in the fast food restaurants inside the green zone then I would agree that US personnel were not serving food there for a time. However, you do remember why the locals were removed from those jobs and contractors were brought in? Something about troop safety concerns…Wow!

I wasn't talking about "locals" or contractors, I was talking about military food service personnel that can do the job for far cheaper...

There are a large number of difficult people in every day life that act as if they are gods. Most politicians would fit into that category if you asked me. Winning the hearts-and-minds of the people didn’t end the conflict in Iraq. Paying people off and remembering that violence solves problems did. Also, hammering the people coming over the Iraq-Iran border caused a lot of the insurgency to lose its steam.

The insurgency only lost steam when the Sunni tribal leaders fell out with AQI and when the U.S. engaged the Sunnis. Of course violence is used, but it was applied far more surgically. What good did hammering people over the Iranian border do? They were allied with the awesome Shiite gov't we gave them...

[Nickdfresh]

Never had a "contractor" cook serve me food in the Chief's Mess on the aircraft carrier I was on. Don't know of any cooks that had to go fight at the front, rifle in hand, either.

Well, you were fed by seamen then...