We hollowed-out democracy, set our planet on fire, and made war the business model

Between 2020 and 2024, the U.S. government funneled $2.4 trillion in Pentagon contracts to private corporations—54% of the Defense Department’s total spending. Just five companies—Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman—took in $771 billion.

Meanwhile, the entire budget for diplomacy, development, and non-military humanitarian aid was $356 billion. The math is stark: Washington invested more than twice as much in weapons manufacturers as in tools for peace.

This isn’t an accident. It’s the result of a system designed to prioritize profit over strategy. Even after the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, military spending didn’t shrink—it shifted. The new justification? China. The new revenue streams? Ukraine and Gaza.

The Pentagon’s so-called “pacing threat” of China has kept budgets bloated, but the real money has come from elsewhere.

Since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. has sent $65 billion in military aid, most of it buying weapons from the same handful of contractors. In just one year after October 2023, military aid to Israel hit $18 billion, funding the bombs dropped on Gaza.

And then there’s Europe. Fear of Russia has driven NATO allies to spend over $170 billion on U.S. arms in 2023 and 2024 alone. Unlike aid to Ukraine or Israel, these sales are paid for by European governments, but the profits flow to the same U.S. firms.

Silicon Valley’s Military Pivot

The defense industry’s biggest shift isn’t just about traditional weapons makers. Tech companies—once reluctant to work with the Pentagon—are now fully embedded in the war economy.

• Palantir, Peter Thiel’s data analytics firm, holds a $618 million Army contract for AI-driven targeting systems.
• Anduril, founded by Oculus creator Palmer Luckey, secured $642 million from the Marines for anti-drone tech and is developing autonomous submarines for the Pentagon.
• SpaceX, despite Elon Musk’s past resistance to militarizing Starlink, now dominates military satellite launches and is angling for Starship defense contracts.

Even Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are cashing in, splitting a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing deal.

The arms industry doesn’t just sell to the government—it shapes policy. In 2024, defense contractors spent $83 million on campaign contributions and employed 950 lobbyists. Nearly half of all members on key defense oversight committees in Congress take money from weapons makers.

The revolving door spins faster than ever. Former Pentagon officials now flock to venture capital firms investing in military tech startups.

Ellen Lord, once the Pentagon’s top acquisitions official, joined a VC firm focused on defense contracts. “There’s panache now with the ties between the defense community and private equity. But they are also hoping they can cash in big-time and make a ton of money, too,” she admitted.

Think tanks aren’t immune.

A 2025 Quincy Institute study found that the top 50 U.S. think tanks received $34.7 million from weapons manufacturers between 2019 and 2023.

The Atlantic Council led the pack with $10.2 million from contractors like Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin.

The Cost of Dysfunction

While contractors thrive, actual military performance lags. The F-35, plagued by delays and flaws, has cost taxpayers $1.7 trillion over its lifespan. The Sentinel ICBM program is $37 billion over budget. The Navy’s Littoral Combat Ships were so flawed that half were decommissioned early.

And yet, Congress keeps approving record budgets. The 2025 defense bill hit $1.06 trillion—nearly double what the U.S. spent in 2000, adjusted for inflation.

Who Benefits?

Not soldiers. Not taxpayers. Certainly not civilians in conflict zones.

The real winners are the executives and shareholders of Lockheed Martin (CEO pay: $25.8 million in 2024), RTX ($23.4 million), and Northrop Grumman ($21.6 million).

The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed—to ensure that no matter who’s in the White House or what wars are waged, the money never stops flowing.