rant · moment 7 of 16
The Military-Industrial Complex, TARP, and the Pentagon's Missing $5 Trillion
from Many Feathered Bird · #68
Audio-only archive episode — no video to seek.
3 minTim goes deep on the permanent war economy, the revolving door between defense contractors and government, the 2008 TARP bailout figures, and the staggering unaccounted-for Pentagon spending, tying it back to how his parents' generation grew disillusioned watching this unfold.
- 21:20The revolving door between defense contractors, the financial industry, government, and consulting firms shapes the military-industrial complex.
- 21:42TARP started at a trillion-dollar ask, dropped to 700 billion when that seemed impossible, and still barely passed on the first try.
- 22:01The Pentagon lost five trillion dollars in the five years before the financial crisis and can't account for it.
- 22:27Understanding the military-industrial complex requires looking past ideology to see how the State Department functions as a weapons sales operation.
- 22:41The U.S. arms countries, brokers deals between them, and advises them on profiteering strategies.
- 23:12American military training institutions like the School of the Americas taught foreign generals counterinsurgency and torture techniques.
- 23:34Tim's father came of age in the 1960s when people understood how corrupt the draft and military system were.
- 23:57Tim's father knew people with low draft numbers who were sent to war while he got a high number.
Pentagonmilitary-industrial complexTARPUniversity of the AmericasState Department