The military-industrial complex is a consequence of privatization. Since the defense industry is 100% private, capitalistic corps with 1 customer, they have no

The military-industrial complex is a consequence of privatization. Since the defense industry is 100% private, capitalistic corps with 1 customer, they have no reason to innovate or compete on prices. They can, and do, extort the government for as much money as humanly possible. That wouldn't be possible if those entities were simply nationalized. But since the gov is a customer, and them a producer, and the gov NEEDS the thing, and only the private sector can give the thing, it's a money bath. Of course it's really full circle, because while the industry is private it's actually funded entirely by taxpayers. Because the customer is the government. So the corps have a strong incentive to be as inefficient and greedy as possible, and you actually pay for that.