Sure, and a counter to my claim is that we have a fully socialized system for the military (funded entirely by taxes), and that certainly hasn't stopped weapons

Sure, and a counter to my claim is that we have a fully socialized system for the military (funded entirely by taxes), and that certainly hasn't stopped weapons from being developed here at all, and it hasn't stopped us from giving these weapons to other countries as a form of diplomacy. The military industrial complex of course has its own share of many problems, but clearly having the price be reasonable for the average Americans is not one of them.