The Elite Get More Elite

Washington’s Deeper, Richer & Murkier Swamp

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 we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. 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 alone more than the net income of all United States corporations. Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, 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. 

From Republican President (and former five star general) Dwight David Eisenhower’s televised farewell speech to the nation, January 17, 1961.

It no secret how it works. Spread your military bases and your military manufacturing contractors and subcontractors into as many congressional districts as possible – Democrat and Republican – knowing that all appropriations bills emanate from the House of Representatives. Make sure that the military gets first crack at the money, making sure that “national security” is embedded in the minds of every American and their elected representatives. So what if the United States now accounts for almost 40% of the global military budget, more than the next seven biggest spenders combined? $719 billion!

Even as just about every major new weapon system soars vastly beyond even the most inflated going-in budget, even as military tactics and challenges change dramatically, we are saddled with incumbent mega-powerful (campaign-contributing) military vendors who just want to keep that military money flowing into their coffers. Playing close to the bone with legal holdbacks on employing former senior military officers, the ranks of the military industrial complex are filled with ex-admirals and generals with consulting or better offered to former elected officials. It stinks!

Donald “Swamp Thing” Trump administers a much more sinister military industrial complex today. While there certainly are more than enough plants and military bases to pepper a rather dramatically large number of Congressional districts, what has changed is the growing concentration of power in some of this nation’s largest defense contractors. The rich are definitely richer. Trump loves giving money to those who do not need it, taking it away from those who are desperate for it. It’s gotten worse over the years:

“The year was 1989. The Pentagon was under the command of President George H.W. Bush and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. And aviation giant McDonnell Douglas Corp. was riding high as the top federal contractor, grabbing 4.6%, or $9.15 billion, of all federal contracting dollars. The next two largest contractors, General Dynamics Corp. and General Electric Co., raked in about 4% and 3.4%, respectively.

“Thirty years and many acquisitions later, Pentagon spending has grown far more top-heavy… Today, Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing — which bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997 — together reaped almost 15% of total U.S. government contracting dollars in fiscal year 2017, according to the most recent federal numbers. The two aerospace giants are the only makers of fast combat jets in the U.S. and are the dominant players for military transport aircraft.

“The concentrated power of big defense companies became an issue two years ago when longtime Boeing executive Patrick Shanahan was confirmed as deputy secretary of Defense. Then in December, President Trump named him to serve as acting Defense secretary.

“After a monthlong ethics investigation into allegations that Shanahan promoted Boeing while slamming rival Lockheed Martin, particularly in discussions about its F-35 fighter jet contract, the Pentagon’s office of inspector general concluded Thursday that Shanahan ‘did not promote Boeing or disparage its competitors.”

“We did not substantiate any of the allegations,” the report said. “We determined that Mr. Shanahan fully complied with his ethics agreements and his ethical obligations regarding Boeing and its competitors.’… Shanahan is considered a leading candidate for permanent Defense secretary…

“The question of possible favoritism toward Boeing had also been raised by some when the U.S. Air Force, in its 2020 budget, made a surprise request to purchase F-15X fighter jets, an update of that company’s fourth-generation jet. The Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps have all made major commitments to the F-35, Lockheed Martin’s more advanced and pricier fifth-generation fighter.

“The inspector general report said the Pentagon’s mix of fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft was a decision made by former Defense Secretary James N. Mattis before Shanahan’s confirmation to the department. A Defense official told trade publication Defense News that the decision was bolstered by concerns about keeping ‘multiple providers in the tactical aircraft portfolio.’

“But there was no contract competition based on a set of defined requirements — the way business typically works in the industry, said Richard Aboulafia, aviation analyst at market analysis firm Teal Group…‘It’s a duopoly structure business with a lot at stake,’ he said of fast combat jet manufacturing. ‘It’s amazing that no one considered the optics here.’” Los Angeles Times, April 28^th. That Social Security and Medicare are running out of money or that the Trump Administration is trying to use the courts to kill the Affordable Care Act with nothing to replace it? Hey, those programs are for the little guys, and Donald Trump doesn’t represent them!

              I’m Peter Dekom, and history is rife with failed governments (remember Sparta for starters the Soviet Union more recently?) that overspent on their military and ignored their people; are we next?