Does the US Military Economy Help Workers?

US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in a speech on April 17, 2024, insists Americans should be grateful for the billions of dollars (60 billion, the latest “giveaway”) in funding for Ukraine, Taiwan, and Israel because the money, according to Mr. Austin, goes into the pockets of US manufacturers for increased weapon production which [supposedly] creates new jobs.

But does it?

First, jobs in the weapons industry decreased from 3.2 million in 1980 to 1 million today, during the same time that the sector has received near record governmental funding. Where did the money go if it did not create jobs? One significant outlay was to hire lobbyists. “Weapons makers have spent $2.5 billion on lobbying over the past two decades, employing, on average, over 700 lobbyists per year over the past five years, more than one for every member of Congress!” Only 700 jobs were created from that $2.5 billion.

Another common use of this funding is to buy back company stocks to inflate their stock price and to hand out bonuses to management and shareholders. When the government awards a contract to a manufacturer, that money is funded up front, even before a viable production plan is approved. Even though long start-up times are common in production plans and implementation, this money is immediately available to the manufacturer. The workers receive nothing.

Workers in the weapons industry are subject to wage theft and other fraudulent practices, which is unparalleled in other industries. Government contractors are required by law to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) and the Service Contracts Act (SCA).

The Raytheon Company is an example of the rampant corruption in the weapons industry.

They will pay over $950 million to resolve the Justice Department‘s investigations into: (i) a major government fraud scheme involving defective pricing on certain government contracts. (ii) violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing regulations, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

In late 2020 the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) directed the Department of Defense (DOD) to agree with the Acquisition Innovation Research Center (AIRC) to produce a report reviewing:

• The integrity of the defense industrial base
• Contractor behavior that violates the laws, including fraud and other negligence or misrepresentation
• The successful or unsuccessful use of remedies, such as suspension and debarment.
  
  

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report for fiscal years 2014 through 2019 stating that the Department of Labor (DOL) completed 5,261 investigations among the Department of Defense contractors. Sixty-eight percent of those investigations found:

• $224 million in wage theft.
• $73 billion in other fraudulent activities.

Almost 14 billion dollars were stolen each year.

It was noted in the 2020 GAO report that the Department of Defense continues to award contracts to companies cited for willful or repeated fair labor standards violations. The Report cited only 60 debarments, (1.68% of violating contractors) resulting from SCA violations.

The enforcement of statutory debarment under the Service Contract Act (SCA) is fundamentally broken because so few firms are debarred.

The lack of credibility and integrity from the defense industrial complex can only be rectified by oversight governmental regarding corporations‘ refusal to:

• conduct the transparent accounting
• eliminate abuses in their lobbying activities
• stop exploiting the US Government‘s failure to monitor the revolving door between non-elected government officials and the private defense contractor sector.

Former defense Secretaries of Defense from the Trump and Biden administrations include:

• James Mattis (board member at General Dynamics)
• Patrick Shanahan (executive at Boeing)
• Mark Esper (head of government relations at Raytheon) and
• Lloyd Austin (board member of Raytheon Technologies)

In summary, “[The] …militarized sectors of the economy enjoy perpetual increases in funding while human needs go unmet. Reducing the military budget helps increase funding for other forms of security such as healthcare, education, clean energy, and infrastructure – while also increasing employment nationwide.”

The Hidden Costs of Shoring up the Weapons Manufacturers‘ International Assets

The costly infrastructure of military bases around the world props up the industrial-military complex of the US war economy. The US military provides bases overseas to protect US corporations‘ assets, including appropriated local resources in addition to backing foreign governments (regime change) beneficial to US policies. It is impossible to determine the actual cost to American workers, as the Department of Defense has failed to pass the last six financial audits. This alone is government maleficence and is a crime against the American people and our soldiers, who, by their presence in foreign lands are forced to participate in regime change and in protecting US corporate assets.

While over 750 military bases in 80 foreign countries are helping weapons manufacturers and subsidiary corporations reap in profits, the US workers bear the full cost of these installations through taxes and loss of jobs. Since 2021, due to off shoring jobs, consolidation, and automation, 1.9 million fewer workers (a 64% drop) work in the US Defense Industrial Complex.

The US has stricter laws regarding environmental contamination than most of the countries where US bases are located, and have taken advantage of this situation until recently, and are now dealing with foreign government complaints about environmental damages. However, even our American bases have begun issuing complaints to the American Air Force Engineering Center who oversee environmental issues and their resolutions, such as severe water contamination.

Maintaining bases is only the tip of the iceberg. The major impact is the US Government’s foreign policy of “Forever Wars.” Until that policy is defeated, the forward momentum of more wars will continue.

The Department of Defense (DOD) issues publications from the various outlining armed future forces plans and schedules for future military engagements; the most horrific plan being the invasion of Taiwan in 2027, (on the assumption that China will begin aggressive moves Taiwan).

“This Navigation Plan drives toward two strategic ends: readiness for the possibility of war with the People‘s Republic of China by 2027 and enhancing the Navy‘s long-term advantage. We will work towards these ends through two mutually reinforcing ways: implementing Project 33 and expanding the Navy‘s contribution to the Joint war-fighting ecosystem.”

“Project 33 is how we will get more ready players on the field by 2027. Project 33 sets targets for pushing hard to make strategically meaningful gains in the fastest possible time with the resources we influence. Project 33 targets are:

• Deliver a quality of service commensurate with the sacrifices of our Sailors
• Train for combat as we plan to fight, in the real world and virtually (i.e., hackers, ‗NETOPS‘, ‗INFOSEC‘, ‗OPSEC‘, etc.)

The biggest threat to world peace is the NATO alliance, which the US controls and in which the US Congress and Presidency are complicit.

Congress abdicated:

• Their powers to declare war;
• Their powers to determine the monetary means for conducting and supporting wars;

Congress increased the powers of the Executive Branch by:

• Creating the Executive Emergency Power Acts; (which includes assets seizures, OPAC);
• Creating the ―extra-legal‖ exercise of Presidential Authority

US government foreign policy responsibilities are now in the hands of the National Security Complex of weapons manufacturers, energy monopolies, arms cartels, CIA, NSA, financiers, universities, and other US inter-agency committees, as well as US elected officials who all utilize NATO to conduct US foreign policy. This involves the exploitation of other countries‘ workers and resources, as well as creating a burden on all American citizens through inflation, the lack of jobs and housing, and deprivation of basic needs such as health care and food.

The Invasive Presence of Weapons Manufacturers in One State

Every state is beholden to Department of Defense (DOD) funding. Economies can rise or fall based on the extent to which a state has allowed their financial well-being to hinge on the vagaries of the DOD.

Arkansas, for example, is in 43rd place regarding DOD funding. The state hosts an arsenal of the United States Army:

“Pine Bluff Arsenal is one of nine Army installations in the United States that stores chemical weapons. The arsenal supplies specialized production, storage, maintenance and distribution of readiness products, and delivers technical services to the Armed Forces and Homeland Security. It also designs, manufactures and refurbishes smoke, riot control, and incendiary munitions, as well as chemical/biological defense operations items. It serves as a technology center for illuminating and infrared munitions and is also the only place in the Northern Hemisphere where white phosphorous munitions orders are filled.”

In Camden, Arkansas, a phosphorous weapons manufacturing and storage facility exploded in 2024, killing one person on the night shift and destroying a quarter of the facility.

Arkansas boasts that it is considered the third most gun-friendly state in the country. The top munitions manufacturers make their home here. Fiocchi, a global leader in defensive, target, and hunting ammunition, has a new ammunition primer manufacturing facility, expanding its operations presence in Little Rock. “Aside from our strong ties with the state and local governments, Arkansas has a highly experienced and energetic labor force to call upon.”

Companies that also call Arkansas home include Sig Sauer, Remington, Daisy, Walther, Nighthawk Custom, Thermold Magazines, Umarex, and Wilson Combat. “As a pro-second amendment state, Arkansas welcomes Firearms & Ammunition companies looking to start-up, expand, or relocate to the state.”

The U.S. Army is on a path to triple its monthly production of 155mm shells following the passage of supplemental the by Ukraine Congress, (2024) and Arkansas munitions manufacturing companies have received large governmental contracts. “With the supplemental that just thankfully passed last night, we‘ll be at 100,000 rounds by next summer (2025),” Gen. James Mingus said at an event hosted by think-tank CSIS. That‘s more than three times the 30,000 shells that the service‘s factories are expected to turn out this month, Mingus said, and will represent a six-fold increase since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

What is not stated is this program has taken over two years to develop; the manufacturers received funds to build their production capacity, unlike Russia which had ‗standby‘ factories ready to produce additional munitions.

Arkansas has three large bases, two air force bases and an army base. The Little Rock Air Force Base and The Ebbing Air National Guard Base is home to F16 and F35 Pilot Training Programs. New F-35A Lightning II fighter jets fresh off the manufacturing line will soon be based in Arkansas—but they are not for the U.S. Air Force; they are being sold to key NATO ally, Poland. In 2025, 900 Polish pilots will be the first international group to receive pilot training on the new F-35s in Arkansas.

“The reason most of our allies in Europe are getting on board here is the deterrence factor. If there’s 500 or 600 of these in Europe, that’s a huge deterrent to some of our arch enemies that live in that area … and in the Pacific to tell you the truth.”

In August 2021, shortly after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan following the United States military’s withdrawal, photographs and videos started circulating online that showed Taliban forces holding Americanmade weapons. An exact accounting of the military equipment currently in the Taliban‘s hands is not available, though one expert estimated that the total value was closer to $10 billion. In this war, “superior weapons capability” did not have any effect at all, in fact, the Taliban gained 10 billion dollars‘ worth of weaponry.

Given the US history of overselling the efficiency of its military equipment, the previous sentiments may be a bit grandiose for reality. In Afghanistan, the US perceived ―military superiority‖ was proven inadequate to win the war. CNN reported that the Air Force halted deliveries of Boeing aircraft on February 20 after trash and industrial tools — known as foreign object debris, or FOD — were found on board some planes after production was completed.

The future of Arkansas‘ economy, along with the other states, will be dependent upon constant wars. It can be extrapolated that 42 states, receiving more funding from the DOD and subsidiary governmental agencies will also be forced into supporting wars because their jobs will depend on them. This may be why protests for peace are ineffective due to the windfall profits for weapons manufacturers and for our elected capitalist officials and the fear of workers losing jobs.

Until all workers understand the dangerous and economically unsound direction being forced upon them by our war economy, which ultimately is unsustainable due to the push-back from other countries. Due to our capitalist government‘s insistence on forever wars, our country will continue to struggle for our basic needs, whether it be housing, health care, food, education, etc.