Ben Freeman talks about President Trump’s friendship with Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson and what it means for the military-industrial complex. Trump likes to boast about keeping businesses—particularly those related to military industries—open and hiring in the United States, but Freeman explains the reality that these companies do not create any net jobs at all. Scott references David Stockman’s “Great Deformation”, a concept describing the unseen effects on the economy when politicians interfere. For example, rust belt voters see the concentrated effect of a factory in their town staying open instead of going overseas, but nobody notices the marginally increased prices all over the state or the country because an inefficiency was allowed to persist. The same is true broadly of our taxes, which take away a little bit from everything and show up in big projects that people view as beneficial without considering the cost.

Discussed on the show:

• “The Military-Industrial Jobs Scam” (Antiwar.com Original)
• The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America
• “Once More, with Feeling: Our System Is Not Socialism, but Participatory Fascism” | Robert Higgs (Independent Institute)
• “US: Lockheed Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” | The Scott Horton Show (scotthorton.org)

Ben Freeman is director of the Foreign Influence Transparency Initiative with the Center for International Policy. Read his work at AntiWar.com and follow him on Twitter @BenFreemanDC.

This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Kesslyn Runs, by Charles Featherstone; NoDev NoOps NoIT, by Hussein Badakhchani; The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Tom Woods’ Liberty Classroom; ExpandDesigns.com/Scott; and LibertyStickers.com.

Donate to the show through Patreon, PayPal, or Bitcoin: 1KGye7S3pk7XXJT6TzrbFephGDbdhYznTa.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download