America's Defense Industry Has a Serious Problem

Go to https://surfshark.com/mcbeth and use code mcbeth at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN! Like my Intel Life shirt? Get it here: https://www.bunkerbranding.com/pages/ryan-mcbeth Does the Military-Industrial Complex actually exist? All data at: https://ryanmcbeth.substack.com/ A year and a half ago, I made a video arguing that it doesn’t, and I based that conclusion on market caps, profits, and lobbying data. That video is below: https://youtu.be/C2gIId1dpDs Since then, we’ve had wars in Ukraine, Gaza, and escalating tension with China. So it’s fair to ask: Did anything change? In this video, I re-ran the numbers using publicly available data from: * Defense News Top 100 * The U.S. Government’s System for Award Management (SAM) * Google Finance, Yahoo Finance, and OpenSecrets I look at: * Total contract dollars awarded to the top U.S. defense firms * Market capitalization compared to tech and pharma giants * Actual profits (or losses) from 2021–2024 Lobbying spend relative to other industries Spoiler: if there is a Military-Industrial Complex, it’s doing a terrible job of making money. The phrase sounds scary. It feels intuitive. It’s also a convenient villain. But when you look at the data instead of the vibes, the story falls apart, and the real problem becomes obvious: America’s defense industrial base isn’t too powerful. It’s too small. For uncensored video, check out my substack at: https://ryanmcbeth.substack.com Like my shirts? Get your own at: https://www.bunkerbranding.com/pages/ryan-mcbeth Want a personalized greeting: https://www.cameo.com/ryanmcbeth Watch all of my long form videos: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt670_P7pOGmLWZG78JlM-rG2ZrpPziOy Twitter: @ryanmcbeth Instagram: @therealryanmcbeth BlueSky @ryanmcbeth Reddit: /r/ryanmcbeth Join the conversation: https://discord.gg/pKuGDHZHrz Want to send me something? Ryan McBeth Productions LLC 8705 Colesville Rd. Suite 249 Silver Spring, MD 20910 USA