Made in Alaska

Before your next purchase of something that does not say “Made in Alaska” consider this. Not far from Ft. Carson, CO is a place called Camp Hale. Although most of us have heard of the Dali Llama it is my guess that many of us have never heard of it. Yet, from the 1950s to the 1970s there were three main camps for training Tibetans as CIA counter-insurgents. One was in the norther part of Saipan which was sealed off from the rest of the island. Another was a location on Okinawa, but the third main training camp was actually right here in a secret location in Colorado. Right here in America the CIA was bringing Tibetans over to train them to fight China. You knew about that, right?

In his book, The CIA’s Secret War in Tibet, James Morrison says about Camp Hale, p. 106, “Compared with the heat of East Pakistan and Okinawa, Hale was refreshingly brisk. Even in late May, the temperature dipped below freezing at night, and snow capped the surrounding mountains. ‘It looked and felt like Tibet.’” The Tibetans apparently loved it.

So what is the connection between Made in Alaska and a CIA Top Secret training camp? I know. It sounds like a stretch. My point is this: wars of all sorts, shapes, and sizes are going on all around us all the time, but unless it is carried as a lead story we will not know about it until our own house is on fire.

Although he was brief, Trump brought up our trade deals with China. He did not go into detail, yet what he said basically was that they were bad deals for the American people. He was bashed by the Media the very next day and called among other things a fear mongered. In either case, our annual trade imbalance with the People’s Republic is in the range of $360B USD. How much is that exactly? It is smaller than a house and bigger than a bread basket. In other words, it is larger than the entire GNP of Norway, but it is smaller than the total GNP of Switzerland. Add it up for just two years and it is enough money to build the largest navy in the history of the world. That is hyperbole, right?

Well, how much does a modern aircraft carrier cost? Once the owner of the largest navy in the world, they cost enough that Great Britain currently does not actually have even one in active service anywhere in the world. Two, however, are currently being built, but they are not yet in service. What I am saying is that one of America’s greatest naval allies does not even have one aircraft carrier in service. They cost too much. Currently, in the naval yard version of Sportsman Warehouse or Cabela’s’ Marine Fittings, they go for about $5B.

So let’s low ball the numbers. Take two years’ worth of deficit with China and divide a conservative $600B USD by $5B USD. The trade deficit for just two years could build a theoretical 120 modern aircraft carries in a world where the British Navy does not even have one. If we use the current suggested retail price for the one that is under construction for the RN, the Queen Elizabeth I, at $5B USD, and if Captain Cousteau was correct when he taught us that there were 5 oceans in the world, then we could fund 24 Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers per ocean. However, we are not currently as war with China, so we don’t have to worry about that, correct? Well, do not forget that Camp Hale factor.

When I first returned from living in Asia for 20 years as a private businessman my reentry shock was seeing the label “Made in China.” In fact, when I first saw it I almost feinted. Why?

Part of the answer is we have another “Camp Hale” that again nobody over here seems to know about. Remember that South East Asian country that we fought a ruthless war with for other 10 years? For the last 10 years Vietnam has been going to all the ex-Soviet Union Navy Garage Sales and buying up rusty submarines. They ship them home on freighters like so many crates of bananas and guess which country helps outfit them with communications and weapons systems, and then helps wiFi them with the Taiwanese and the Japanese navy? Hint: It is the same country with that $360+B annual trade deficit with China.

Sorry, but how can we have a trade deficit that is astronomical in scope with a nation that we are at the same time arming to fight? May I make a suggestion? Let’s make it in Alaska and buy it in Alaska.