American Prestige E237 - Inside the American War Machine w/ Ben Freeman and William Hartung
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Feb 17, 2026 Ben Freeman, director at the Quincy Institute who studies defense spending and arms sales. William Hartung, senior fellow and critic of U.S. military spending and the defense industry. They map how Pentagon budgets balloon, how U.S. weapons saturate global conflicts, and how contractors, lobbying, think tanks, and entertainment shape perpetual war.
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U.S. Dominates The Global Arms Market
- The U.S. supplies about 40% of the global arms market and sells to over half the world's countries each year.
- Dozens of recipient regimes are non-democratic and U.S. weapons appear in a majority of global conflicts.
The Big Five Shape Defence Spending
- Five prime contractors (Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, General Dynamics, RTX) receive roughly one-third of Pentagon spending.
- They dominate major platforms while smaller firms and defense-tech firms fill specialized niches.
Failure Is Often Rewarded In Procurement
- Contractors rarely face real consequences for failed systems and instead receive more funds to patch problems.
- The procurement system effectively rewards costly overruns and underperforming programs.
