The Weapons Industry Is a Taxpayer Scam
Win Without War
(August 5, 2023) — Did you know you gave Lockheed Martin investors a cash gift?
Here’s the rundown: 71% of Lockheed’s net sales last year came directly from the US government. That means a HUGE share of Lockheed’s $7.9 BILLION stock buybacks, along with its dividends and appreciated stock value last year was funded by — YOU.
A bigger problem? It could happen again. Right now, as families across the country struggle to pay for gas, food, and rent, Congress seems dead set on continuing a broken status quo where people get left behind while the weapons industry makes out big.
But this fight is far from over. Win Without War is laser-focused on getting our priorities back in order to put the people first — and we’re not alone. Across the Capitol, lawmakers like Senator Bernie Sanders and Reps. Barbara Lee and Mark Pocan are working hard to END decades of sky-high Pentagon budgets and weapons contractor handouts.
So this is how we turn the tide.
Some argue that the TRILLIONS of dollars the weapons industry has made in the past two decades are for building weapons and systems crucial to national “security”. This isn’t that.
The reality is that Lockheed, General Dynamics, Raytheon, and the like are able to profit and pay their investors TENS OF BILLIONS each year because US taxpayers foot the bill.
Not for what it costs to make the bombs and battleships — but for what they skim off the top to make themselves richer. The Pentagon’s own research details how weapons contractors have recently cut back on research and development while pouring billions more into dividends and buybacks.
Weapons makers will fight tooth and nail to keep the death dollars flowing. That’s why, if we want a fighting chance at changing course we need to go even harder.
The good news? Our power is GROWING. We’ve already mobilized tens of thousands of activists to call on Congress to prioritize people over the Pentagon — and we’re just getting started. As we dig in, champions from across the Hill are joining in this fight, speaking out and introducing bills to rein in reckless spending on weapons and war. THIS is a moment we CAN upend the status quo — and we’ve got to SEIZE it. Are you in?
The trillions we’ve spent over the past 20 years weren’t funding a cure for cancer, combating the climate crisis, or solving homelessness. Instead of building a world where people across the globe feel safer, we’ve made a few people incredibly rich by building and buying more bombs that kill and drive instability and insecurity.
It’s high time that we stop paying the war profiteers dividends and start spending on the things that will improve peoples’ lives.
Thank you for working for peace,
Abbey, Eric, Sara, and the Win Without War team
