Pork
and Piggy Banks: U.S. Defense Contractor Campaign Contributions and
Political Influence -- Multiple
Resources
- A quote...."Total U.S. Department of Defense prime contracts
increased from $144.6 billion in FY 2001 to $294.9 billion in FY 2006,
a 103.9 percent growth, according to a report by William D. Hartung and
Frida Berrigan of the World Policy Institute. The five
largest—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics,
and Raytheon—
received
a total of $84 billion in defense contracts in FY 2006."
Check out
Halliburton's 1,325.2% percent increase in government contracts from
2001-2006 !! - mpg
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War
Profiteering and the Concentration of Income and Wealth in America
posted
04-13-07 - A quote...."Critics
of the recent U.S. wars of choice have long argued that they are all
about oil. "No Blood for Oil" has been a rallying cry for most of the
opponents of the war. - It can be demonstrated, however,
that there
is another (less obvious but perhaps more critical) factor behind the
recent rise of U.S. military aggressions abroad: war profiteering by
Pentagon contractors. - Frequently invoking dubious
"threats to our
national security and/or interests," these beneficiaries of war
dividends, the military–industrial complex and related businesses whose
interests are vested in the Pentagon’s appropriation of public money,
have successfully used war and military spending to justify their
lion’s share of tax dollars and to disguise their strategy of
redistributing national income in their favor."
The
Economic Impact of the Iraq War and Higher Military Spending - PDF
- or in
HTML
A quote...."There has been relatively little attention paid to the Iraq
War's impact on the U.S. economy. It is often believed that wars and
military spending increases are good for the economy. This is not
generally true in most standard economic models. In fact, most models
show that military spending diverts resources from productive uses,
such as consumption and investment, and ultimately slows economic
growth and reduces employment."