| August 30, 2013 | | | | |  | | | The Americans Are Coming! | | | - Losing track of the conjunctions surrounding Syria…
- Save your newspapers and jot yourself a note: The day the American empire went down the tubes approaches…
- Plus, if you like Ike, we poke around the canker sore festering on the books of the U.S. budget, outline three stocks that have rocketed up over the past year and plenty more!
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| | | | | | | In the past, these types of stocks soared 12,428%… 20,381%… AND EVEN 55,000% from massive Pentagon spending
And on Sept. 1, The Pentagon is set to do it again with the launch of Plan X and more than $16.1 billion in new military spending. Spending that could easily send one small group of stocks through the roof. Not since World War II have investors had an opportunity to grab astronomical once-in-a-lifetime gainslike these from military spending. Click here to watch this stunning video presentation on the Pentagon's Plan X. | | | | | | | | Peter Coyne, watching a defining moment in U.S. history unfold...
 | | Peter Coyne | "The president has no constitutional authority to take this nation to war against a nation of 70 million people unless we are attacked or unless there's proof that we're about to be attacked. And if he does, I would move to impeach him." -- Sen. Joe Biden, 2007
Let's pick up where we left off yesterday -- in the Middle East.
It occurred to us this morning that no one ever notices when conjunctions change. They slip by undetected. For example, when did the decision to bomb Syria go from "if" to "when"? Just kind of happened…
[Cellphone vibrates.]
"AP Breaking Mobile Update (1:02 p.m.): U.S. government has 'high confidence' Syrian government used deadly chemical weapons."
We don't know what that means. But we believe it's likely that a U.S. strike on Syria could take place before the weekend's over.
Here's the stage: Congress is on vacation. If they were in town, they wouldn't declare war, as seen in the United Kingdom. When David Cameron brought the Syria strike to a vote, they said go play in traffic. And the U.N. Security Council won't pass a resolution to sanction action, because of Russia and China. So looks as if the U.S. will go it alone. Yeehaw!
Meanwhile, the Syrians are stocking up on canned foods and shouting, "The Americans are coming!" And in no way does this situation end well for any party involved.
The next few days could be historic. The U.S. is worn-out, both militarily and financially. We can't quantify it… but fewer people seem to like us around the world too. This is an exciting time! Declines of empires happen only once every couple hundred years or so.
Jot down what it is you are doing… Save your favorite newspapers... Half a century from now, historians could be using Syria as a marker for the end of American hegemony.
While you're appreciating the times, banks will be battening down their cyberhatches. They're expecting a cyberattack in retaliation to a U.S. strike. If the U.S. goes to war, so too do the banks.
The hacker group the Syrian Electronic Army (SEA) has been tweeting taunts in anticipation of a U.S. strike…
But "many analysts predict that Syria and its allies will avoid a direct conflict with the United States" reports Reuters, "and opt instead for an 'asymmetric response' aimed at Western vulnerabilities -- terror or cyberattacks..." Iranian hackers have been launching cyberattacks against U.S. banking websites for over a year.
"It's hard to know what SEA's capable of at this time, but we should never underestimate the capability of people who want to do damage to our country," former Sen. Byron Dorgan told RYOT.com "The power grid system is not very robust or strong" in the U.S., he said. Mr. Dorgan doesn't think the grid could stand up to a serious cyberattack.
The Pentagon doesn't think the U.S. could withstand a major cyberstrike either. At least that's what we infer from their latest program. If you're just joining us this week, it's called "Plan X." (Why "Plan X"? We don't know… Ask the Pentagon, it's their name.)
Simply put, it's the record-setting cybersecurity spending spree that's about to take place. The Pentagon will spend $16.1 billion in contracts retrofitting its cyberwarfare capabilities.
Our own Byron King has been cataloging it every step of the way. He's spent months and countless hours reading and highlighting declassified documents as he's able to get his hands on them.
Through his research, Byron's crossed enough defense contractors off his list. He's gotten it down to a handful of defense companies. These are small firms… and a $16.1 billion injection would catapult them to the big leagues. We're talking about becoming movers and shakers in the military-industrial complex.
In today's episode of The Daily Reckoning, we revisit President Eisenhower's dire warning 52 years ago. We won't spoil it… but it wasn't heeded, and as result, the military-industrial complex has become a festering canker sore on America's budget.
We're talking about the Boeings and Northrop Grummans. As we outline below, each of their stocks have skyrocketed. And the firms that will receive contracts through "Plan X" will rocket even higher. The opportunity is urgent, however… the Pentagon assigns these contracts this Sunday. That's in just two days. It's also when we're pulling our information offline.
We've made the details available for free for Daily Reckoning readers. But because this is sensitive information, we'd like to keep it between us. So we ask you to simply initial this confidentiality agreement. There's no purchase necessary, and you don't need to give any personal info. Simply click here, initial the form to say "my lips are sealed" and we'll send you straight to our research, free of charge.
After you sign your agreement, be sure to read on below...
| | | | | | | Is Your Retirement on Track?
Even if it is, you should take a look at this. My friend Thompson just released an exclusive video describing how to fund a retirement in as little as 30 days! The idea might be a little crazy, and it's certainly not for everyone, but it's definitely worth checking out. | | | | | | | | The Daily Reckoning Presents
| | | | Investing and War Prophets | | | | by Peter Coyne | | | On a Tuesday night, 52 years ago. President Dwight D. Eisenhower appeared on TV sets across America. Three days later, he would leave the Oval Office to John F. Kennedy.
It all happened very fast. No one was prepared for the grim prophecy Eisenhower would tell that night in his farewell address.
"My fellow Americans…" he began.
"Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well.
"But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense," he continued. "We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations…"
"In the councils of government," he warned, "we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
"We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together."
Bull's-eye.
In 1961, the words "military-industrial complex" probably sounded nuts. But writing in 2013, I can say with confidence that an alert and knowledgeable citizenry is far more absurd. Back when Ike made his address, defense spending was about $350 billion in today's dollars. Today, it's over half a trillion dollars.
In order to keep the money flowing, the Pentagon has pursued a policy of "brass creep." Case in point: During World War II, there were 30 ships for every admiral. Today there are 973 generals and admirals. There are more admirals than there are ships.
Huh?
Many top brass have cohorts of chauffeurs, chefs and secretaries. Some have runway-ready private jets. Still others get motorcade escorts and mansion homes. The cost of the benefits to each top officer works out to roughly $1 million. One general, Kip Ward, used his staff and military equipment to take his wife shopping and send her on taxpayer-funded vacations.
What do these generals do?
One retired U.S. army colonel, Jack Jacobs, says many are "spending time writing and defending plans with Congress, and trying to get the money." They're essentially lobbyists, but on the Pentagon's payroll.
Ah… America's pastime: petitioning government.
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The U.S. spends over $235 billion per year on armaments. Our country specializes in weapons making. Of the top 100 grossing armament firms, the U.S. is home to the top 47. Go figure, war is profitable.
Lockheed Martin is the largest defense contractor, followed by Boeing and Northrop Grumman. Take a gander at each over the past year… Business is a-boomin'!
Think these guys want a say in Congress? You bet.
I haven't looked, but I bet Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, doesn't have to worry about filling his campaign coffers.
Relatively speaking, the defense industry doesn't spend as much lobbying and campaign money as, say, Big Pharma and the insurance industry do. But the contributions the defense industry makes are extremely targeted on specific members of government.
But that's just the beginning of the incest. Many defense contractors contribute to the Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee. Say the Pentagon holds a panel on the future of military aviation to have an informed perspective. Boeing sends in a few "experts" to weigh in. What do you think they say?
"Um… We think aviation should be the primary focus for the Pentagon in the years ahead."
No kidding…
And when the legions of generals and admirals retire from military service? Guess where they land jobs?
What would Eisenhower say today? Probably, "I told you so you, idiots!" (No, Eisenhower had more decorum than that.)
He forecast his dour prediction in 1953. Again, Eisenhower, this time speaking to the American Society of News Editors:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.
"It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."
As a freshman in college, I remember scratching my head at the military trade-off they taught us. "Guns or butter," they said.
I understood it… but I thought it was a poor choice. To really drive it home, it should be "Guns or feeding the homeless." Or "Guns or a college education." Or "Guns or cancer research." Doesn't that pull your heartstrings a little more?
The bottom line: If you're making a bomb, you're not making something else. I don't know what that something should be… But I'm confident you could think of few things better than a bomb. And that means that for every dollar spent on a bomb, you're made poorer, in the final sense.
Is there a policy fix to all this? No. The whole friggin' thing is screwed. And sooner rather than later, too.
But who cares about a fix? Policy wonking is messy, ineffective and not something we're concerned with. We're concerned with showing you how to preserve your wealth. Then helping you make your wallets fatter. Or simply sharing ways you can fortify your retirement savings to last you through the rest of your life.
And the military-industrial complex is the place to accomplish all three of those goals.
Maybe you loathe the defense industry, conniving lobbyists and the politicians, staffers and servicemen that keep the revolving door spinning. But the system offers you a way to build your own wealth better than most other industries.
Why?
Because defense spending is all telegraphed ahead of time! Take cybersecurity, for example. That's the new big thing. We've started to call the digital ether the "fifth domain of war" after land, sea, air and space.
"The CIA and NSA have launched aggressive new efforts to hack into foreign computer networks to steal information or sabotage enemy systems," reports The Washington Post, "embracing what the budget refers to as 'offensive cyberoperations.'" The details came from the latest Edward Snowden leak.
Apparently, NSA and CIA spending on intelligence has surpassed adjusted Cold War intelligence spending. The amount spent was $52.6 billion. That was part of what's called the "black budget," so you couldn't have known ahead of time or made an investment.
But for other types of cybersecurity contracts you can. And looking back at the big three's stock charts above, you can image how profitable piggybacking on them could be. It's as simple as following the money. And you can start today with little effort.
In two days, the Pentagon will be kicking off a tidal wave of spending on cyber security: $16.1 billion in defense contracts will be awarded to firms who will retrofit the Department of Defense with the world's finest cybersecurity capabilities.
They've blandly named the program "Plan X." (The Pentagon isn't known for its creativity.)
In fact, our resident military expert Byron King has been poring over reams of declassified government documents outlining the programs figures and objectives. In terms of investing in the military-industrial complex, this is uncharted territory.
Never before has the Pentagon spent this much on bolstering its cybersecurity infrastructure. And never before have we gotten the ground-floor scoop on how you could carve out a hunk of those billions for yourself. Byron's told us that based on the documents, he's created a shortlist of companies that could turn every $1 invested into $550 (that's not a typo).
But because of the sensitive government nature of this information, we have to play it safe. All we ask is that you sign this confidentiality agreement. It just requires your initials stating you won't broadcast Byron's information with anyone else.
There's no purchase necessary and we don't require any personal information.
Simply agree not to share the info and you'll be taken to a Web page for free. There you can read Byron's research on where the $16.1 billion is going.
I'll just reiterate two things: The Pentagon awards the first contracts in just two days, so if you want to get in, now's the time. Come Sunday, Byron's information is being pulled offline.
Second, without agreeing to keep the info under your hat... we have to block your access -- again, just to play it safe on our end. Simply click here to sign the confidentiality agreement and view Byron's information.
Regards,
Peter Coyne
for The Daily Reckoning
| | | | | | |  Peter Coyne received his degree in economics and political science from Loyola University Maryland where he studied under the Austrian economist, Tom DiLorenzo. Before joining Agora Financial, he worked in Congress for Dr. Ron Paul until he retired in 2012. | | | | | | | | | BE SURE TO ADD dr@dailyreckoning.com to your address book.
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