Dwight Eisenhower coined a term which today has been heralded and protested in our recent history. “The Military Industrial Complex” is an idea that the government and our modern military industry companies are intimate with our government. So much, that it is clear enough our government profits from going to war. In recent years 2003, companies like Lockheed Martin, which consider themselves close with the government, had stock increases of over 33%, achieving a net value of 33 billion dollars. Modern warfare requires the cooperation of many companies and resources today, providing work and money for multitudes of companies. Yet the Military industrial complex was not started in 2003, and it cannot be so easily undone. The question is this; How and when did the American military industrial complex first arrive, and if we are so adverse to it, then how do we stop it?
War profiteering and this phenomenon are not the same thing however. War profiteering is not due to the governments enticement, rather people just take advantage of the situation, ei purchasing food at low prices, smuggling them into a warzone and charging outrageous prices. This sort of behavior has been observed throughout human and American history, but can we point to the one moment that the government joined in?
A lot of evidence points towards WW2. While perhaps the government did not desire to be so benefited by the human misery, there became a huge incentive for weapons manufacturing to take the lead of industry. Governments began their intimacy here I believe, and with the rocketing success of this effort, lead the government to want to hold on until future wars.
The Korean War happening only a few years later, and Vietnam after that.
Wars have just been occurring in rapid succession, and these companies pockets have been filled with the governments money and assurance. So if they are such a part of our country, and benefit to our economy, how can we overcome it?
The military production is what brought America out of the depression, and it’s what we are now so heavily reliant upon, so is the answer to begin relying on something else? What does America produce thats better than war? Most of our essential resources are imported, and the rest are not large enough to encompass our huge need for sustainability.
Part of the WWII era economic boom was the Marshall Plan, which granted war torn countries free resources. If the main objective is to stimulate manufacturing, could we not simply support deteriorated countries instead of directly involving ourselves in wars?
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