Are You a 9/11 Loser Or a 9/11 Winner?
Most people in America and around the world (especially the Muslim part, heh heh) are bigloserswhen it comes to 9/11/01 -- from the 3,000 who actually immediately lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks to the 8,000 killed coalition troops to the hundreds of thousands of Islamically inclined people killed for one reason or another in the terror wars. Then there are all the other innumerable losses, from families torn apart by immigration raids to the complete erosion of privacy in the United States and U.K. to the bankrupting of what had been the world's richest nation through a combination of corporate profiteering and full-time warmongering propaganda. But some people -- remember, corporations are people -- have done very, very well in the 10 years of 9/11.
The September 11, 2001 attacks have been a symbol of many things and many causes, but like the lavish, flag-draped rebuilding of the site, it has also been a vehicle for enrichment. From corporations to politicians to government officials to nonprofits to the security industry to publishers to the health industry (not to mention the incidents of outright fraud over the years), many people have found ways to profit from one of the nation's biggest disasters. 9/11 has created an economy all its own.
"The intersection of 9/11 and money is a busy intersection," says retired New York City firefighter Kenny Specht.
Glenn Corbett, a professor of fire science at John Jay College, active in a range of 9/11 issues, puts it this way: "Lots of people have got their hand in the till. A lot of people and a lot of companies have made a lot of money off of 9/11."
How much money? Nobody knows and the article, which is actually a shitty article, doesn't say. But, lots! [ Village Voice ]
From time to time the right wing nutz tell us "Freedom isn't free" - meaning, heating the Pentagon by burning $100 bills is just fine with them.
Using 9/11 to make money appears to have started on 9/12. Read &quot;Mr. Smith Is Dead&quot; <a href="http://dnipogo.org/fcs/spar..." target="_blank">" rel="nofollow noopener" title="http://dnipogo.org/fcs/spartacus_mr_smith.htm">http://dnipogo.org/fcs/spar...
Folks in Congress stuck their hands into the trough up to the elbows just as fast as they could. They raided the Defense Department maintenance and repair budget to bring the bacon home to their districts, and it cost the lives of American service men and women.
We sent the National Guard to Iraq with re-manufactured Viet Nam-era rifles. Here in Alameda they had drives to gather toothbrushes, toothpaste, tea and lemonade for the troops. We went people off to war without the stuff a reasonable parent includes in their childrens&#039; kit for summer camp.
Body armour? Who needs it? Manufacture Hummers without sufficient protection? Why not?
It&#039;s a disgrace, and if there is one thing we can learn on the 10th Anniversary of 9/11 it is there are jerks out there ready to make a buck from the blood of heroes.
Curses.