How much did the military spend yesterday? $566 million

The biggest contract awarded yesterday was not procured competitively because the government has regulations that allow it to pick winners and losers in what should be competitive markets. General Dynamics benefited from Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1(a)(2)(iii) and snagged a nice half-billion-dollar contract for “lead yard support and development studies and design efforts related to Virginia class submarines.”

(We missed a few days this week but the October to-date totals include those missing days.)

Yesterday's breakdown:

BAE: $8,309,050 (1 contract)
Boeing: --
Booz Allen Hamilton: --
General Dynamics: $434,370,635 (1 contract)
Lockheed Martin: --
Northrop Grumman: $84,919,003 (2 modifications)
Raytheon: --

October to-date totals:

BAE: $74,660,118
Boeing: $7,892,950
Booz Allen Hamilton: $0
General Dynamics: $434,370,635
Lockheed Martin: $239,693,331
Northrop Grumman: $208,169,003
Raytheon: $11,954,744

---

Below are the contracts awarded by the Defense Department
October 11, 2019
totaling $566,271,874

Recent record daily spending: $10 billion on September 27, 2019

Navy - $460,519,785

General Dynamics Electric Boat (Groton, CT) $434,370,635
Space Ground Systems Solutions (W. Melbourne, FL) $17,082,880
Rolls-Royce (Indianapolis, IN) $9,066,270

Army - $68,928,081

Northrop Grumman Systems (Huntsville, AL) $60,619,031
BAE Ordnance Systems (Radford, VA) $8,309,050

Defense Logistics Agency - $36,824,008

Northrop Grumman Systems (El Segundo, CA) $24,299,972
Belleville Shoe Co. (Belleville, IL) $12,524,036

This information is provided to highlight just how much taxpayer money is spent, per day, to enrich companies participating in the military industrial complex. The idea that our economy requires a governmental redistribution of wealth from individual taxpayers to large corporations that are friendly and well-connected to government came from the Keynesian argument for demand “stimulus” -- that our economy's health depends on higher and higher levels of spending. For this reason, personal saving is discouraged and often penalized by the government. But because individuals still tend to follow personal incentives to save, the Keynesian argument remains in effect: that government should spend money the public is reluctant to spend through tax-and-spend policies. Its spending primarily enriches the military industrial complex, including the big seven: BAE, Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Raytheon.