Why We Keep Falling for War

Wars are consistently sold to the public on false or misleading pretexts, and the true beneficiaries are rarely the citizens asked to fight and pay for them but the politicians, financiers, and military-industrial interests who profit regardless of outcome. Statist ideology and nationalism condition people to accept these sacrifices, obscuring the reality that the state’s aims and the public’s welfare are rarely the same thing.

The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of Peter Schiff or SchiffGold.

I’m not predicting WWIII; I am certainly not calling for WWIII; I’m doing everything in my power to prevent WWIII and illuminate the causes, risks, and general results of future war. We are in a quasi-war with Russia, with Europe planning to fight. We are at war in the Middle East with no end in sight. We have stolen China’s oil source in Venezuela and threatened Denmark with our might. The last decade has seen the entire globe turn from firm allies and admirers of America to disgruntled partners and enemies ready to fight.

What we do know is that this pathway to war can easily result in war itself, and once Shakespeare’s “dogs of war” have been released, that chaos and destruction follows on a massive scale and political actors are incapable of stopping it. War is harmful and provides zero benefits to the population. It only provides benefits to some politicians, the military-industrial complex, the deep state, and the global power elites, including the big bankers who finance both sides, only to be paid back by taxpayers.