Militarism Continues Unabated

While a captain of a US Navy aircraft carrier is unceremoniously dismissed from his command for the audacity of caring about the health of his crew, other sections of the American navy is intent upon saving the war-mongers.

A U.S. Navy official told reporters that he will protect the profit margins of defense contractors by accelerating contract awards during the COVID-19 crisis.

“As individual suppliers and industrial operations deal with their local situation, they can do it knowing that they’ve got work ready to go … as soon as they’re ready to go at their capacity,” said James Geurts, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition.

The Department of Defense also released its Deviation on Progress Payments memo, which decrees that “once in contracts, the progress payment rate that contracts can get paid for will increase from 80% of cost to 90% for large businesses and from 90% to 95% for small businesses.” The measure is aimed at directing millions of dollars into the coffers of defense companies. Or, as DOD spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Andrews put it, it’s “an important avenue where industry cash flow can be improved.”

The “deviation on progress payments” memo won glowing praise from industry titans, including the National Defense Industrial Association and the Aerospace Industries Association with perhaps the strongest praise came from Lockheed Martin.

 Financial support mobilized to protect the bottom lines of companies like Boeing, Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. The Department of Defense  with the help of defense industry lobbying groups, have ensured that military contractor manufacturing sites remain open, even if it means putting workers at risk of infection,and that cash keeps flowing into the coffers of CEOs and shareholders. 

This support is going to an industry that is being deemed “essential” by the Pentagon’s own admission, and that the goal is to continue business as usual—i.e. maintain the U.S. military apparatus. That the armaments industry is  kept afloat at a time healthcare systems, and millions of ordinary Americans, are requiring urgent assistance, reveals a great deal about capitalism.

http://inthesetimes.com/article/22436/weapons-manufacturers-raytheon-lockheed-martin-essential-workers-military