Ideals of the 1960s Have Been Extinguished Worldwide

My country feels that money spent on weapons of war and armies is money wasted... security must be secured through the collective and effective strength of the UN... We seek a welfare state and not a warfare state... 

If independence and freedom are not to be empty slogans then we must continue to spend as much of our resources as we can on fighting the only war that matters to the people--the war against poverty, ignorance, disease, bad housing, unemployment, and against anything and everything which deny dignity and freedom to our fellow man. 

-- S. Rajaratnam's September 21, 1965 speech to the United Nations after Singapore's recognition as an independent country 

Chua Beng Huat on weakening of social welfare ideals since 1970s

What happens when trade agreements and the ability to transport your country's products to another country are linked to security agreements and weapons purchases? Today, Singapore's largest budget item is defense spending, and men are required to serve in the military. 

Chua Beng Huat

According to the pacifist Jehovah's Witnesses, an established religion, as of December 2018, Singapore has imprisoned nine of their members over their refusal to serve in Singapore's military. 

In other news, Singapore's foremost living intellectual, Kishore Mahbubani has written, "Happy societies are also more resilient societies. We have had a happiness deficit for some time." (Opinion, The Straits Times, 12 July 2014, from Can Singapore Survive? (2015), pp. 108) 

Singapore will certainly survive, but will Singaporeans be as proud as they were in 1965? Will they be as happy or as honorable as LKY's generation? 

Bonus I: from Kishore Mahbubani's Can Singapore Survive? (2015)

Bonus II: 

Defense Wins Games

From today's WSJ (6/25/09), "American Kids Flunk Basketball 101," Michael Beasley laments his lack of defensive prowess:

[A]s concerns build about his...rough transition to the NBA, last year’s No. 2 overall pick, Michael Beasley of the Miami Heat, finally conceded a fundamental flaw: No one, at any level in his basketball career, had asked him to play defense. And especially not in AAU. “If you’re playing defense in AAU, you don’t need to be playing,” he says. “I’ve honestly never seen anyone play defense in AAU.”

AAU stands for Amateur Athletic Union, a national youth basketball circuit. When I coach youth basketball at the local community center, I emphasize defense. Whoever plays harder defense gets more minutes if I have a vacancy. I also reward kids who play defense by praising them every chance I get. Defensive drills are fairly simple. I call them "rebounding and hounding" drills.

No one teaches kids defense anymore, even though you can't win games without it. Michael Jordan was voted defensive player of the year in 1988, and also racked up nine NBA All-Defensive First Team honors. The San Antonio Spurs recently won several titles with their hard-nosed defense. The Boston Celtics didn't win any titles, not even division titles, until after 1957--exactly when defensive stud Bill Russell started suiting up for the team. Defense is key to winning in basketball. The Phoenix Suns have found this out the hard way--although they would score 120 points on a regular basis, they haven't been able to win a title in recent history.

Beasley is talented, but his doesn't seem to have the killer instinct necessary to play defense. He's more of what I call a "pretty boy" player--content to shoot easy baskets and not sacrifice his body for the sake of a play. The opposite of the "pretty boy" mentality? Dennis Rodman and Chris "Birdman" Anderson.

America's Defense Spending

Military-industrial complex, anyone? President Eisenhower is rolling in his grave.

Source: The Economist

Hat tip to http://nahnopenotquite.com/

Federal Budget Outlays

The Epoch Times had a good chart showing what the federal government projected it would do with our taxes in 2007:

http://en.epochtimes.com/news/7-4-15/54114.html

Social Security is the largest outlay, with 21% of our taxes going there. Next up is Defense, with 19%. Obama may reduce defense spending to shift more taxes towards infrastructure spending. Doing it this way would allow him not to raise taxes.

Defense hawks may disagree with any decrease in defense spending, arguing that it would cause a decline in domestic security. I do believe terrorists will hit the United States again, but much of the current defense spending is on major projects, like stealth fighters. Meanwhile, port security is inadequate. Consider this simple, low-tech scenario: a terrorist pays two dock workers to put an unmarked package on a ship. The dock workers will be told they are transporting drugs and will be paid a few thousand dollars for their discretion. In reality, the box would contain a major bomb or chemical weapon. The bomb doesn't even have to be inside a box. The terrorists could place a bomb inside an imported car, major appliance, or some other product that has many electrical components, making the bomb harder to detect.

Rather than focus on large-scale projects, such as the next generation of aircraft, which always seem to run over cost, the U.S. should shift more money into intelligence work. More specifically, Obama should hire more workers to 1) supervise America's major ports (e.g., Los Angeles, Miami, etc.); and 2) more effectively monitor the contents of packages before ships on-load and offload them. I realize modern ports have automated systems, but having more hi-tech automation doesn't necessarily lead to higher security.

If you're interested in reading more about Obama and defense spending, here is an interesting article:

http://www.cfr.org/publication/17793/