Here is one baby that Americans should have aborted:
The Marshall Plan, and all of the baby Marshall Plans that followed, have been disasters for America because they were nation-building at its worst. A New Yorker article put the Marshall Plan in perspective both in 1947 and today. Critics in 1947 were right on the money.
In the past 16 years I tried to make the case against Marshall Plan Thinking in previous threads on different boards. Here is an excerpt from a USMB thread:
Incidentally, the Marshall Plan was designed to rebuild Europe in order to deal with the Soviet Union threat in Europe.
The Soviet threat in 1947 is where Marshall Plan advocates still fail to see the flaws in their thinking. I am not ashamed of engaging in a little Monday morning quarterbacking to point out those flaws.
First and foremost, the US had a monopoly on the atomic bomb. Threatening the Soviets with dire consequences if they opposed the Marshall Plan was shortsighted. The Soviet Union had no choice but to restrain itself because of the bomb. There was no need to check the Soviets with the Marshall Plan.
As you can probably tell, I am not a big fan of the Marshall Plan for many reasons. Topping the list: The Marshall Plan financed European Socialism. I can think of no result worse than the “unintended consequences” that came from the Marshall Plan. One of those consequences blossomed into European hatred and envy of America. Had Europe rebuilt without the Marshall Plan, I doubt if Socialism would have such a strong grip on today’s world.
Variations of the original Marshall Plan multiply in foreign policy think tanks outbreed rats in a garbage dump. Every political crisis, every charity hustle, elicits calls for another Marshall Plan, prompting the question:
Everything considered, was the original Marshall Plan a success?
Answer: NO. It was an abject failure for Americans. The significant factors were America’s political system at the beginning of the Cold War. The Soviet empire eventually imploded to be sure, but the implosion was caused by America’s military-might coupled with nuclear superiority, the Strategic Air Command, and nuclear submarines —— not the Marshall Plan.
NOTE: Stalin must have laughed himself silly watching the Marshall Plan pay for Socialism’s foundation in Europe while he concentrated on neutralizing America’s greatest advantage. Stalin had the bomb not too many years after 1947. Thanks, in large part, to American traitors in FDR’s administrations half of Europe was behind the Iron Curtain, and China had gone Communist. Oh yeah, Stalin was intimidated by the Marshall Plan. I doubt if Stalin’s plans for the world could have done any better if he had the bomb all along.
Aside from the dubious benefit the Marshall Plan provided in dealing with Soviet Communists, the Marshall Plan went the way of all historical events —— facts buttressed by opinions. Challenge an opinion and you get hit with a fact supporting the opinion. Frankly, I have nothing against opinions. This may come as a surprise to those who read my messages, but I have been known to have a few opinions of my own. My objection to the Marshall Plan is more than opinion alone.
For one thing, the Marshall Plan morphed into a blueprint for taxation curing all of the world’s ills. Let me give you two examples that are directly rooted in Marshall Plan thinking.
The tsunami that originated in the Indian Ocean is my first example. Indonesia was hit the hardest. Before the tidal wave receded then-Secretary General Goofy Annan was calling for money to rebuild the devastated areas. Of course, the money was supposed to go through the UN over a period of ten years (10 billion for openers). Goofy never mentioned the Marshall Plan, but there is no doubt that that is where he was coming from?
Earthquakes that devastated Haiti in 2010 is my second example. Billions of dollars were quickly collected —— and just as quickly disappeared down the rat hole without any beneficial results worth mentioning. Bill Clinton was up to his hips in that one. Apparently, Bill’s involvement with the Haiti rat hole did not harm the Clinton Foundation’s reputation.
It is no longer enough to jump in and help people in the days immediately after a natural disaster strikes, Marshall Plan thinking says that Americans must pay for the rebuilding, too. Go one step further and you will see that Marshall Plan thinking is being used to manipulate Americans into paying for improvements in everyone’s standard of living. In short: A global welfare state built on Socialist ideology.
NOTE: The Marshall Plan came about after a major war. The original Marshall Plan had practical military/political applications for the US. In just the last few decades charity hustlers jumped on the Marshall Plan concept and turned it into charity scams promising to rebuild the world. Transforming the reason for the Marshall Plan into touchy-feeling thinking in the hands charity hustlers does not provide one benefit that I can see.
Parenthetically, the American people fought and won the war. The federal government coordinated the war effort. In many respects they screwed up the peace to a large degree. They gave half of Europe to the Soviet Union. They lost China to Communism. They funded European Socialism with the Marshall Plan; and they handed America’s independence to the United Nation. Not a sterling record in my opinion.
Those now-Socialist peoples in Europe who benefitted from the Marshall Plan ripened into vehemently anti-American, UN-loving, zealots. Trading the oppressive Soviet Union for a Europe where most Europeans think Socialism is a good thing can hardly be called an unqualified success story. By combating the Soviet Union with the Marshall Plan the American taxpayer inadvertently financed Communism’s survival in Europe. And don’t you just love it that Putin is biting European Socialists on the ass.
The lesson that should have been learned by now is this: Beware of Marshall Plans no matter what they are called today.
Border-less Business
Finally, no less of a “Republican” who endorsed the dirt bag in the White House, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, bragged about the Millennium Summit Account when he sweetened the pot with Marshall Plan Thinking:
In plain English the amount of money the American taxpayer pays is handed over to UN control.
If I’m interpreting Powell & Company correctly the US is buying a leadership role, with all of the responsibilities that that role encompasses, but the UN is still in the driver’s seat. Or should I say that the UN is a backseat driver? It seems to me that that is what the UN crowd has angling toward all along.
There is one undeniable fact about Colin Powell: No matter how you interpret his comments he is consistently in favor of a stronger UN. He said as much when he was secretary of state. I have never heard him say that he stands for America’s unconditional independence, or that he stands for private sector individual liberties.
Powell is no different than every other totalitarian that ever fed at the public trough. His core belief is that the product of all private sector labor is owned by the government and should be distributed by the government as the government sees fit. That totalitarian view was bad enough when Socialists were implementing it domestically through the tax code, it is going to be a lot worse globally. I can only wonder if Powell has any idea of the number of additional hours every working American will have to work for the UN every week to pay to implement another baby Marshall Plan?
President Truman upset most of the electoral predictions in 1948 by defeating Thomas Dewey. His unexpected rise to the presidency gave us seven years that were rather consequential and challenging at the same time.
One of them was the Marshall Plan, announced on this day in 1948:
One of them was the Marshall Plan, announced on this day in 1948:
April 4, 2016
We remember President Truman and The Marshall Plan
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
Blog: We remember President Truman and The Marshall Plan
We remember President Truman and The Marshall Plan
By Silvio Canto, Jr.
Blog: We remember President Truman and The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan, and all of the baby Marshall Plans that followed, have been disasters for America because they were nation-building at its worst. A New Yorker article put the Marshall Plan in perspective both in 1947 and today. Critics in 1947 were right on the money.
Even at the time, not everyone in the United States was convinced. “We are through being ‘Uncle Sap,’ ” Senator Alexander Wiley, of Wisconsin, declared. To Senator Homer Capehart, of Indiana, the Marshall Plan was “state socialism.” To congressman Frederick Smith, of Ohio, it was “outright communism.” Not to be outdone, Senator Joseph McCarthy, of Wisconsin, later called it a “massive and unrewarding boondoggle” that had turned the United States into “the patsy of the modern world.” The very fact of McCarthy’s denunciation could be taken as a powerful argument in the Plan’s favor, and it is tempting, at this distance, to see such critics as blinkered isolationists, partisan hacks, or incurable xenophobes. But a significant number of eminent economic historians - - notably, the British scholar Alan Milward - - have questioned just how vital Marshall Aid really was for Europe’s postwar recovery. According to Milward, recovery was under way well before the advent of the Marshall Plan, and reconstruction of damaged infrastructure was far advanced before the funds reached Europe. The program was also too small to have a significant effect on Europe’s capital stock. The total aid package was equivalent to less than three per cent of the recipient countries’ combined national income, and it represented less than a fifth of their gross investment.
Dollar Diplomacy
How much did the Marshall Plan really matter?
by Niall Ferguson August 27, 2007
Dollar Diplomacy - The New Yorker
How much did the Marshall Plan really matter?
by Niall Ferguson August 27, 2007
Dollar Diplomacy - The New Yorker
In the past 16 years I tried to make the case against Marshall Plan Thinking in previous threads on different boards. Here is an excerpt from a USMB thread:
Incidentally, the Marshall Plan was designed to rebuild Europe in order to deal with the Soviet Union threat in Europe.
The Soviet threat in 1947 is where Marshall Plan advocates still fail to see the flaws in their thinking. I am not ashamed of engaging in a little Monday morning quarterbacking to point out those flaws.
First and foremost, the US had a monopoly on the atomic bomb. Threatening the Soviets with dire consequences if they opposed the Marshall Plan was shortsighted. The Soviet Union had no choice but to restrain itself because of the bomb. There was no need to check the Soviets with the Marshall Plan.
As you can probably tell, I am not a big fan of the Marshall Plan for many reasons. Topping the list: The Marshall Plan financed European Socialism. I can think of no result worse than the “unintended consequences” that came from the Marshall Plan. One of those consequences blossomed into European hatred and envy of America. Had Europe rebuilt without the Marshall Plan, I doubt if Socialism would have such a strong grip on today’s world.
Variations of the original Marshall Plan multiply in foreign policy think tanks outbreed rats in a garbage dump. Every political crisis, every charity hustle, elicits calls for another Marshall Plan, prompting the question:
Everything considered, was the original Marshall Plan a success?
Answer: NO. It was an abject failure for Americans. The significant factors were America’s political system at the beginning of the Cold War. The Soviet empire eventually imploded to be sure, but the implosion was caused by America’s military-might coupled with nuclear superiority, the Strategic Air Command, and nuclear submarines —— not the Marshall Plan.
NOTE: Stalin must have laughed himself silly watching the Marshall Plan pay for Socialism’s foundation in Europe while he concentrated on neutralizing America’s greatest advantage. Stalin had the bomb not too many years after 1947. Thanks, in large part, to American traitors in FDR’s administrations half of Europe was behind the Iron Curtain, and China had gone Communist. Oh yeah, Stalin was intimidated by the Marshall Plan. I doubt if Stalin’s plans for the world could have done any better if he had the bomb all along.
Aside from the dubious benefit the Marshall Plan provided in dealing with Soviet Communists, the Marshall Plan went the way of all historical events —— facts buttressed by opinions. Challenge an opinion and you get hit with a fact supporting the opinion. Frankly, I have nothing against opinions. This may come as a surprise to those who read my messages, but I have been known to have a few opinions of my own. My objection to the Marshall Plan is more than opinion alone.
For one thing, the Marshall Plan morphed into a blueprint for taxation curing all of the world’s ills. Let me give you two examples that are directly rooted in Marshall Plan thinking.
The tsunami that originated in the Indian Ocean is my first example. Indonesia was hit the hardest. Before the tidal wave receded then-Secretary General Goofy Annan was calling for money to rebuild the devastated areas. Of course, the money was supposed to go through the UN over a period of ten years (10 billion for openers). Goofy never mentioned the Marshall Plan, but there is no doubt that that is where he was coming from?
Earthquakes that devastated Haiti in 2010 is my second example. Billions of dollars were quickly collected —— and just as quickly disappeared down the rat hole without any beneficial results worth mentioning. Bill Clinton was up to his hips in that one. Apparently, Bill’s involvement with the Haiti rat hole did not harm the Clinton Foundation’s reputation.
It is no longer enough to jump in and help people in the days immediately after a natural disaster strikes, Marshall Plan thinking says that Americans must pay for the rebuilding, too. Go one step further and you will see that Marshall Plan thinking is being used to manipulate Americans into paying for improvements in everyone’s standard of living. In short: A global welfare state built on Socialist ideology.
NOTE: The Marshall Plan came about after a major war. The original Marshall Plan had practical military/political applications for the US. In just the last few decades charity hustlers jumped on the Marshall Plan concept and turned it into charity scams promising to rebuild the world. Transforming the reason for the Marshall Plan into touchy-feeling thinking in the hands charity hustlers does not provide one benefit that I can see.
Parenthetically, the American people fought and won the war. The federal government coordinated the war effort. In many respects they screwed up the peace to a large degree. They gave half of Europe to the Soviet Union. They lost China to Communism. They funded European Socialism with the Marshall Plan; and they handed America’s independence to the United Nation. Not a sterling record in my opinion.
Those now-Socialist peoples in Europe who benefitted from the Marshall Plan ripened into vehemently anti-American, UN-loving, zealots. Trading the oppressive Soviet Union for a Europe where most Europeans think Socialism is a good thing can hardly be called an unqualified success story. By combating the Soviet Union with the Marshall Plan the American taxpayer inadvertently financed Communism’s survival in Europe. And don’t you just love it that Putin is biting European Socialists on the ass.
The lesson that should have been learned by now is this: Beware of Marshall Plans no matter what they are called today.
Border-less Business
Finally, no less of a “Republican” who endorsed the dirt bag in the White House, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, bragged about the Millennium Summit Account when he sweetened the pot with Marshall Plan Thinking:
If fully funded by Congress, MCA would provide the largest increase in U.S. development assistance since the Marshall Plan. By 2006 it would represent an increase of 50 percent over our core development assistance funding level in 2002. From 2006 onward, we would invest $5 billion per year in the MCA. Our funding for existing development assistance programs, which now comes to more than $10 billion annually, will continue to rise.
The Millennium Challenge Account: "Aid for the Enterprising"
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Op-Ed
Washington Post
June 10, 2003
The Millennium Challenge Account: "Aid for the Enterprising"
Secretary Colin L. Powell
Op-Ed
Washington Post
June 10, 2003
The Millennium Challenge Account: "Aid for the Enterprising"
In plain English the amount of money the American taxpayer pays is handed over to UN control.
If I’m interpreting Powell & Company correctly the US is buying a leadership role, with all of the responsibilities that that role encompasses, but the UN is still in the driver’s seat. Or should I say that the UN is a backseat driver? It seems to me that that is what the UN crowd has angling toward all along.
There is one undeniable fact about Colin Powell: No matter how you interpret his comments he is consistently in favor of a stronger UN. He said as much when he was secretary of state. I have never heard him say that he stands for America’s unconditional independence, or that he stands for private sector individual liberties.
Powell is no different than every other totalitarian that ever fed at the public trough. His core belief is that the product of all private sector labor is owned by the government and should be distributed by the government as the government sees fit. That totalitarian view was bad enough when Socialists were implementing it domestically through the tax code, it is going to be a lot worse globally. I can only wonder if Powell has any idea of the number of additional hours every working American will have to work for the UN every week to pay to implement another baby Marshall Plan?
