A huge portion of the Defense money is going back to the American economy by buying weapons and military equipments from defense companies where millions of American workers are directly or indirectly related to that segment of our economy.
Yes I'm sure a "huge" portion of that is paid to the workers.
Lockheed Martin
Executive Compensation
Chairman, Former CEO: Vance D. Coffman
Total Cash: $3,560,000.00
Total Compensation: $19,034,951.00
President and CEO: Robert J. Stevens
Total Cash: $3,371,442.00
Total Compensation: $12,643,350.00
Executive Vice President, Aeronautics: Dain M. Hancock
Total Cash: $1,610,669.00
Total Compensation: $6,108,023.00
Executive Vice President: Robert B. Coutts
Total Cash: $1,576,169.00
Total Compensation: $5,626,271.00
Executive Vice President: Michael F. Camardo
Total Cash: $1,375,538.00
Total Compensation: $5,024,517.00
Senior Vice President: Frank H. Menaker
Total Cash: $1,463,177.00
Total Compensation: $4,781,693.00
Former Vice President: Albert E. Smith
Total Cash: $1,496,669.00
Total Compensation: $4,775,695.00
And this is not a diatribe against corporate CEO's making big bucks. Your premise that this defense money that is funneled into the U.S. economy benefits ordinary people is I think a little naive.
I'm going out on a limb here, but it might be better for the economy, if Uncle Sam just didn't take as much out of the taxpayers wallet and then we wouldn't need to pump the money that it just took back into the economy???? Seems a little circular to me.
Smaller government used to be a plank in the conservative platform, I guess not anymore. Viva Las Vegas baby, let's throw away some money. I'm hearing Yankee Doodle in the background already.
And the vast, vast majority of these defense contractors are hard-working, honest, and very effective. When I toured the Lima, OH tank factory last year, I was impressed by the incredible level of technology they are bringing to the new weapons-making processes.