A couple of days ago, Israel was viciously attacked and the conflict is spiraling fast in some of the most horrific ways possible. It's expected that this war is going to draw in unprecedented military aid in the form of equipment from dozens of major Western countries, and of course, mainly the United States And in February 2022, Ukraine was viciously invaded by Russia in an ongoing conflict. and there are sadly 32 other ongoing armed conflicts around the world right now that you probably haven't heard of. and of course, hundreds of thousands throughout history.

And when you see all of the horrific consequences of these conflicts, the pain, the suffering, the loss of Lives Many ask the hard but necessary question of is there anyone or anything profiting behind the scenes It's common to say no one wins a war, but the truth is that some companies and individuals do actually win and they win quite a lot. I'm going to break down the companies and parties who make money when there are these conflicts going on. I'm not going to be breaking down any of the politics behind war or getting into the deeper details. Obviously, that is a topic that takes hours to really dive into, if not days and weeks.

My personal beliefs in this video are only going to go so far as to say that I strongly support Israel's right to defend itself and also, of course, support Ukraine's right to defend itself and hope that these conflicts end quickly and justly without so many more lives being lost. But this video is not about my beliefs and it's not about your beliefs. it's about who is making money in between these conflicts, what is going on, and why. You need to be informed on this.

Because it's a big stinking deal. So let's get right to work. In the beginning of 2022, the stock market sold off aggressive as a rough be Market that would last the entire year began. The S&P 500 would go on to dip nearly 30% to lows that year.

However, it was not. It was not a bare market for all companies. No, it wasn't. One sector was getting a lot of traction and people were getting rich quick.

In fact, as tensions at the border between Russia and Ukraine heated up the stocks of the biggest weapons manufacturers in the world like your lock heed, Martin entered a bull market that would lead to hundreds of billions of dollars of market cap being added across the industry. and on February 24th, 2022 when Russia launched its fullscale Invasion While Lockheed Martin stock started really skyrocketing, jumping nearly 25% in the span of a couple weeks, by just February 28th, it would be at a new all-time high for the company. In the coming quarters, it would continue to make new high after new high. Why? Well, it might be because L ke Martin's contracts with the Department of Defense make up nearly 70% of its annual revenue, and investors were speculating that those contracts were going to go up quite a lot now.

of course, folks, there's no denying, and it should not be surprising to you that there are sadly big profits in Wars. This is no secret, and over the last many decades, the US has been involved in dozens of wars and conflicts, both directly and indirectly. Whether it's by sending money and weapons to foreign countries or by directly employing boots on the ground, these conflicts have cost American taxpayers, trillions of dollars, and more importantly, cost many, many lives. So who actually profits from this, and what's the mechanism of which they profit? Well, let's talk about recent events: Often times when there is an attack on a non-nato country with close ties to the US like in is Israel or a Ukraine you'll have whoever the American President is come out and pledge, quote all appropriate means of support for that country and then the US proceeds to ship them weapons.

And while support again can make a lot of sense, it also creates this huge opportunity for profit for defense contractors and unjust profit. If you look at the conflict in Ukraine, for example, the Us alone has sent billions of dollars worth of weapons and equipment to name a few. They've sent 45 T72b tanks 186 ODS Bradley's almost 1,000 armored personnel carriers, 14 command vehicles around 1,000 mine resistant ambush protected Vehicles 2,000 Humvees 180 Howitzer artillery units 10,000 Javelin anti-armour system 7,000 tube launched missiles 20,000 Hydra 70 aircraft Rockets around 400 million rounds of various types of ammunition, 100,000 sets of body armor and helmets, over 35,000 grenade launchers and small arms and in fact, these are just a few of the bigger items that I've picked out. It would easily take an hourong video just to break the surface of what the US has sent over there.

in terms of heavy weap weapons and equipment alone, and this is just one Conflict for example. and again, I am not commenting on the conflict here. I Personally think Ukraine has a really big right to defend itself from this unjust Invasion right? But again, we're talking about the money behind it. What's going on in the United States I'm an American I'm looking at it from an American perspective as somebody who pays taxes in America and as somebody who is pretty upset with what he sees going on in Washington DC Now, how does military aid work? Well, The way this Aid works logistically is the US sends weapons from its own stockpile and then has to replenish it.

And how does it replenish it? Well, It of course, uses expensive defense contractors to replenish it. The Pentagon for example, recently signed yet another new $2.3 billion contract with Loed Martin who is the top maker of the Munitions that the US has provided to Ukraine. It also has and is on track to sign more and more contracts with Raon Boeing General Dynamics and North Rob Grumman. and this increase in war on a global stage is driving huge, huge profits for the sector.

Now in March Earlier this year, the Pentagon announced its single largest budget ever, and now almost half of it will go to the country's defense contractors. And what? What's crazier is that as countries around the world have sent weapons to help, Ukraine American Companies have also benefited the most from that. In fact, the US has the largest share of global arms export, some 40% now. So the biggest defense contractors are benefiting massively, even outside of the US's own increasing defense budget.

And boy is that International Market a booming Market. According to the business research company, the Global Defense Market has grown from 535 billion to 577 billion between 2022 and 2023 alone, and the Boom is likely to continue with the industry size. Expect it to cross 700 billion by 2027. Now, why why would they expect it to boom that much? And they're expecting it to boom that much? Because they are expecting massive outbreaks of War.

When do weapons making companies make the most money when there's more and more conflicts and more and more war now? of course, we live in a supposedly free market economy, and that is mostly true. and if the government is going to rely on the private sector for its defense manufacturing, well, it's going to make sense that the major defense manufacturers are going to make some profit. That makes sense, right? You're using Private Sector. You got to play by the private sector rules.

People got to get paid, right? That's how it works. But the question is, how fair is the private sector playing here? Or is there some corruption going on? with the US supplying billions of dollars of Munitions to Ukraine and growing tensions in the Taiwan straet, Some Pentagon generals are sounding alarms about the dwindling supply of Us weapons at a time when the cost of replacing them is skyrocketing. What can only be described as price gouging by Us defense contractors and there are endless amount of allegations that suggest that the government is not getting a good deal. A recent 60 Minutes program earlier this year uncovered how the US is paying defense contractors a whopping whooping $400,000 for $25,000 missiles and is being price gouged for planes, submarines, missiles, and other equipment as well.

Here's a clip from a former high-ranking Pentagon official on just one item: a 60 Minutes investigation is exposing price gouging at the Pentagon and you would be hard pressed to find a better example than this. This bill is a an oil pressure switch that NASA used to buy. well. Their oil switched with all of the cabling cost $328 This oil switch we paid over $10,000 for it.

There's another example of where Apache helicopters on the battlefield in Iraq weren't able to fly without a certain valve and Trans Diim had taken over the manufacturer of that valve and proceeded to hike the price of the valve by 40% And if that wasn't bad enough, they then later increased it substantially more and when the pent complained, guess what? the Pentagon was simply forced to cough up some money. So the big scary Pentagon that is supposed to be the strongest in the world command the strongest forces in the world is bowing down to the Monopoly that defense contractors have. So explain to me: why can't the Department of Defense just step up to Trans Di and say no, we're not going to pay that because we don't have another source for a lot of the spares that they provide right now. they are the literally only game in town in in order to make, uh, an aircraft fly.

Uh, so we're at their Mercy Does that make sense to any of you? No, it is very concerning to me. contractors see that they can do this. They are the ones that hold the power. So it's not really a a true capitalistic Market because one one company is telling you what's going to happen.

So if it's not a capitalistic system, what is it? It's a Monopoly Monopoly So in my view, and I think that a lot of these allegations show pretty clearly that the defense contractors are ripping the US taxpayer off and this is becoming more and more relevant as the US needs to send more and more military aid abroad Now of course many of these military contractors will say they are simply charging Market rates, but the truth is in a monopoly. The company itself, the company that has the Monopoly holds all the power to set the price and Military contracts are making so much money because largely largely because they have a monopoly over Key Parts and materials. If nobody can compete, how do you set a market price You just to set it yourself, You look at one of the M1 A1 Abrams the US promised to send 31 of to Ukraine How much do you think Each of those cost $100,000 $500,000 $1 million. No, each of them cost over $10 million when including training and upkeep.

And who can provide a tank of this caliber? Really just one company? And again, I Think it's great that we have companies that can create such extremely reliable and effective products, but at the same time, what is the proper price? Who knows, Because these companies basically have a monopoly and the more waren conf that happens around the globe, the more these companies are going to be selling them like candy. Now you may ask. Okay, Charlie but if the government is getting overcharged for military equipment, why doesn't someone do something about it? Well Well for starters, the top 20 recipients of defense company donations are some of the most prominent politicians on both sides of the aisle including Senate Majority, Leader, Chuck Schumer and chair of the House Armed Services Committee. Mike Rogers Adam Smith Another high ranking member in the House Armed Services Committee is also a major recipient of Defense Contractor spending.

And you may be asking yourself, Armed Services Committee: what do they decide on? what role do they have? Do they decide on how many blueberries to put in your oatmeal? No folks, they don't. They help decide on who gets contracts. But folks, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, many times if politicians do defense contractors's bidding, they end up getting a hugely lucrative job after their tenures.

A recent report called Pentagon Alchemy How defense officials passed through the revolving door and pedal brass for gold found some really revealing. Trends It discovered nearly 700 instances of former high-ranking DOD and other government officials now working at the Top 20 Defense Contractors quote: Top Defense contractors hire hundreds of former government officials, most as lobbyists. As of 20121, There have been 672 instances in which former government officials Military Officers members of Congress and Senior legislative staff were found to be working for the top 20 defense contractors. Big defense contractors hired the most revolving door lobbyists and stocked their boards with former government officials Boeing Hired the most former government officials 85 which includes six as high ranking Executives two as board members and 77 as registered lobbyists Ray Theon Hired 64, three as board members, one as a corporate executive, and 60 as registered lobbyists GE General Electric Hired 60 revolving door lobbyists.

These examples shed light on the frequency with which defense contractors use the revolving door to hire former higher ranking government and military officials into senior executive or board positions. and they can be real lucrative folks. Real lucrative If you're government official and you're deciding on what to do and whether or not to back a defense contractor. Well, you got to be thinking what's going to happen after after you lose your next election or after you get out of office? what's going to happen? Well, you're going to get a lucrative job, you're going to be able to buy that new Porsche and you're going to be real happy now.

I Know what you're thinking Charlie What is the point of going into? Congress If you can't sell out and get a lucrative private sector job after, Fair enough I Guess. But you could see how this is a big sneaking problem and this is something that we've had warnings about for decades. but it just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. And you need to be informed on this issue so that you can help stop it.

and you can vote for people that want to stop it. On January 17th, 1961 President Eisen How gave a famous farewell address and warned the American public about the potential dangers of what he famously called the military-industrial complex. He expressed concern that this complex might gain unwarranted influence over the councils of government and push for higher and higher spending. While today, the US military budget is about twice what it was when Eisenhower gave that speech adjusted for inflation and today, many wars around the world are fought by proxy, which makes it even easier to get massive contracts for defense contractors since you no longer have to convince the American public to actually send Americans to war, which would be much, much harder to swallow of.

So it's safe to say that Eisenhower was not just correct in his warning, but that it's gotten way way way worse than he's ever expected. So anyways, folks, I wanted to give you this breakdown so that you understand the economy, the business behind War and what you need to know about it. If you appreciate videos like this, make sure to hit that ravishing like button and subscribe and we will see you in the next video.