War is a Racket
Besides that being a good book, I thought this old article was interesting. Notice these were put on the market around the time the money supply was greatly increasing at the behest of central (cartel) banking? Nothing is by coincidence I suppose. Do the math and you'll see that the amount paid in interest is several times the face value of the bonds to be redeemed. Would the public support wars as easily if they weren't allowed in to profit? Would corporations if they weren't allowed to charge surplus pricing to governments, NGOs, contractors, etc....?
The astute monetary student will also notice that the public is not truly profiting. They are simply encouraging inflation through apathy to poor financial decisions based upon their own short-term outcomes.
Consider: A wise financial manager will not simply hold debt on the books because he/she can simply pay interest on the debt. The manager will strive to retire the debt as soon as feasibly possible, or at least some here and some there as opportunities arise.
Only in inflationary and government spending is this sort of thing truly feasible (there are always exceptions to the rule--so spare me). Since the government is essentially holding it's own debt (if you are in debt--someone else is holding it: a bank or a credit card company, etc.). So it decides on the rate to pay in interest (you do not get this luxury on your debt). It finances this interest on the debt now in one of two ways: Inflation or Taxation.
Now, inflation is basically a hidden tax due to the increase in the money supply, and usually this increase in the money supply is do to governmental/quasi-government monetary policy. So the REAL difference between it and taxation is you do not know you are being regulated into paying it. In other words, your anesthetized to it.
Add in your 'profits' from investing in the debt for guaranteed interest payments, and you are now economically incentivized to support such a system!
Truly insidious in my outlook.
Just some thoughts.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/oct/31/uk-first-world-war-bonds-redeemed