For a relatively paltry investment – chump change, really – the military-industrial complex hauls in boatloads of cash. It's nice work, if you can get it. The problem is that the rest of us pay, in the form of taxes, to subsidize this politically powerful new class: an America that isn't producing anything all that useful, except for bombs and subprime mortgage securities, is growing poorer as a result of their labors. Every dollar locked up in the dead end of military equipment, which cannot be used except for a single, rather limited purpose, is one less dollar that is invested in productive capital, i.e., an investment that expands the private market, creates non-government jobs, and generally increases the level of well-being in our society.
In effect, the military-industrial complex lives very much like a vampire, draining the life's blood from the productive sector and reducing the availability of capital investment where it's really needed. Our foreign policy massively misallocates the distribution of wealth in our society and pumps funds into areas that are not productive, while starving those sectors that would benefit the civilian economy.
