Here’s a question most of us never stop to ask: when the government spends money on “defense,” where does that money actually end up?
A recent report from Brown University’s Costs of War project lays it out clearly. Between 2020 and 2024, private companies received $2.4 trillion in Pentagon contracts. That’s more than half of everything the Pentagon spent during that period. Not on soldiers’ salaries. Not on veterans’ care. On contracts to private corporations.
And it gets more concentrated than that. Five companies alone collected $771 billion: Lockheed Martin, Raytheon (now RTX), Boeing, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman.To put that in perspective, the entire U.S. budget for diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and international development over the same five years was $356 billion. So five weapons manufacturers received more than double what the country spent on every form of non-military engagement with the rest of the world. Combined.
So what does this have to do with voting?
Those same companies spend tens of millions on campaign contributions and employ 950 lobbyists (up from 730 just four years earlier). That money flows to the politicians who then vote on the Pentagon’s budget. The cycle is simple: companies get contracts, use the profits to influence lawmakers, and those lawmakers approve more contracts.
When a candidate says “I’m strong on defense” or “we need to increase military spending,” it’s worth asking: strong for whom? Whose defense? Because the data tells us that $1 million in military spending creates about 5 jobs. That same $1 million in education creates nearly 13.
This isn’t about being anti-military or anti-security. It’s about following the money. It’s about asking whether the people we elect are making spending decisions based on what keeps us safe, or based on who funds their campaigns.
The question to sit with:
Next time you hear a politician talk about defense spending, ask yourself: are they talking about defending you, or defending the profit margins of five corporations?
That single question might change how you vote.
Source: “Profits of War: Top Beneficiaries of Pentagon Spending, 2020-2024,” Costs of War, Brown University & Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (July 2025).
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