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by oh_sigh
2037 days ago
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This doesn't seem to refute any kind of point made by Ike or OP. It's quite possible for a military-industrial complex to exist and it only generates a bunch of little rich people(20-100M), since the government spreads its patronage out over a large section of the population instead of tech which concentrates wealth into single individuals. If one person is reaping most of the rewards, it's easy to knock down the system. If a lot of people are benefiting a little bit, you'll have far more supporters for your policies. |
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The real questions about the military industrial complex are:
(1) Are we producing the right systems for today's defense environment? (hard to say)
(2) Are we doing this cost effectively for the country? (not at all)
(3) Is the structure of the industry healthy to best achieve 1&2 without being subject to regulatory capture / corruption? (It's an oligopoly of rent seekers with a revolving door between the gov't and industry, so very likely not)
Whether it makes people rich is beside the point. The question is whether it makes us safe at a fair price. It doesn't seem like you can say it does so.