War. For most, that word has connotations of bloodshed, injustice, turmoil, or barbarity. But a small powerful few can only hear that word and think of one thing: profit.
While war profiteering may sound like a new plague of late-stage capitalism, the examples today are only echoes of what we’ve seen throughout history.
World War I was a prime opportunity for those who wished to profit. Originally, the United States declared neutrality in the war, but the powerful banker J.P. Morgan quickly wrote to the President saying “the war should be a tremendous opportunity for America.” While the US remained neutral and uninvolved, American bankers and merchants still did business with the Allied and Central nations, with a majority of about two trillion being invested in the Allied countries before the US joined the war. Some were appalled by this fact, such as Congressman Henry Volmer who declared that the US was acting as “the arch hypocrite among nations… praying for peace… and then furnishing the instruments of murder to one side only of a contest in which we pretend that all the contestants are our friends.”
In 1917, when Woodrow Wilson finally took a stance and called Congress to declare war, many questioned why the United States was adamant about joining a European conflict after years of isolationism. There was suspicion that Congress was influenced by corporate interests. So much was alleged by Senator Gerald Nye who chaired a special committee to investigate the decision to enter WWI.
Once officially involved in the war, every type of company leaped to get involved, seeing the same profitable opportunity as J.P. Morgan envisioned. But while J.P. Morgan said it would be tremendous for America, it was far more beneficial for companies alone. In 1935, General Smedley Butler, an ex-marine turned anti-war activist wrote an exposé on these dealings and declared war to be a racket – something conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many.
Butler looked behind the curtain of the contracts and profits between companies and the United States government. He first pointed out the exorbitant increases in profits companies saw after the US joined the war, writing “Does war pay? It paid them.” He showed many examples of skyrocketing profits, like Central Leather’s increasing 1,110%, General Chemical Company’s going up 1,400%, and International Nickel Company's passing over 1,700% during the war, which turned these companies into multi-million dollar corporations in just a few years.
The most shocking thing Butler discussed though, was how these companies were blatantly overcharging the American people. For example, Butler points to the leather industry which sold the government thirty-five million pairs of shoes when there were only four million soldiers, leaving over 8 pairs to a soldier and twenty-five million that went unused.
While Butler declared war a racket over a hundred years ago, the criticisms are still prevalent today.
Fraud and waste were rampant during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a 2011 report by the Commission on Wartime Contracting estimated the waste to be between $31 to $60 billion. As Afghanistan went on until 2020 those costs could only be expected to increase. In 2021, The Special Investigator General for Afghan Reconstruction reported that they issued 427 audits, and their criminal investigations resulted in 160 convictions.
Recent conflicts have brought worldwide military spending to the highest cost since the end of the Cold War, with the United States alone controlling an estimated 45% of the world's weapons exports. Despite the importance of regulating that power, The Department of Defense is not known for its well-managed books, being the only federal agency that is unable to pass an independent audit, and being unable to account for half of its assets in 2023. Since the government encouraged defense contractors to conduct anti-competitive behavior and merge in 1993, the five major companies left have monopoly power to routinely overcharge the government.
The wars we are facing today are devastating and depraved, a reality that is only exacerbated by a billion-dollar profit incentive. Politicians provide many reasons to support the conflicts we are involved in, to support the destruction, the deaths, and the other countless irreparable harms which they are so privileged to never be even tangentially affected by. It's easy to believe these wars are justified because such horrors need a greater purpose, but how much better off are we making the world? How much better off is Afghanistan after 20 years? How much peace will extremely militarizing countries create? War is not for our reasons, it’s not for us, it’s not for the people who die for it, it’s not for the people who fight for it– war is for those who profit from it.