Weapons and Luxury Goods: The Two Dynamic Sectors of the Global Economy

Essentially, while global poverty contributes to under-consumption by the large majority of the World’s population, the driving force of economic growth are the upper income markets (deluxe brand names, travel and leisure, luxury cars, electronics, private schools and clinics, etc). The global cheap labor economy triggers poverty and under-consumption of necessary goods and services.

The two dynamic sectors of the global economy are:

1. Production for the upper income strata of society.
2. The production and consumption of weapons, namely the military industrial complex.

Neoliberal policy is conducive to the development of a global cheap labor economy which triggers decline in the production of necessary consumer goods. In turn, the lack of demand for necessary goods and services triggers a vacuum in the development of social infrastructure and investments (schools, hospitals, public transportation, public health, etc.) in support of the standard of living of the large majority of world population. The global cheap labor economy alongside the restructuring of the global financial apparatus creates an unprecedented concentration of income and wealth which is accompanied by the dynamic development of the “luxury goods economy”. (Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Bernard Arnault, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg being cases in point) A third major sector (department) in the contemporary global economy is the production of weapons, which are sold worldwide, largely to governments, but also to anyone who bids to buy, including those labelled as “militants” and “terrorists” (Weapon sales by the West to ISIS and Kurd militants are prime examples, not to mention rogue states such as Israel and India). This sector of production in the US is dominated by a handful of large corporations including Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Black Rock, Northrop Grumman, British Aerospace, Boeing, et al.

While neoliberal policies require the imposition of drastic austerity measures, the latter apply solely to the civilian sectors of government spending. State funding of advanced weapons systems is not the object of budgetary constraints. In fact, the austerity measures imposed on health, education, public infrastructure, etc., are intended to facilitate the financing of the war economy, including the military industrial complex, the regional command structure consisting of the 1000+ US military facilities around the globe, the intelligence and security apparatus, not to mention the development of a new generation of nuclear, cyber (AI-driven) and space weapons which are the object of a three trillion dollar allocation by the US Treasury to the US Defense Department. This money ultimately trickles down to the so-called defense contractors, which constitute a powerful political lobby.

As stated in the beginning, the reproduction of this global economic system is dependent upon the growth and development of two major sectors (departments): the Military Industrial Complex and the Production of High Income and Luxury Consumption. High income luxury consumption for the upper social strata is combined with the dynamic development of the weapons industry and the war economy. This duality is what generates exclusion and despair. Every “movement” presently pretending to fight the status quo is a farce. The “people’s movement” had been hijacked. The “antiwar movement” is defunct. The “civil society organizations” which have all the appearances of being “progressive” are, in fact, creatures of the system. Funded by corporate charities linked to Wall Street, they form part of a politically correct “Opposition” which acts as “a spokesperson for people at large”. But who do they really represent? Almost all of the “partner NGOs” and lobby groups which frequently mingle with bureaucrats and politicians serve to deflect the articulation of “real” social movements against the “New World Order.” The philosophy of “neoliberal paradigm” is the focus of their attention, yet the broader issues of stopping war and causing the West to contemplate on regime changes in their own backyard are never addressed. Ironically, the programs of almost all NGOs and people’s movements rely heavily on funding from both public (government-backed) as well as private foundations including the Chatham, Rand, Rockefeller, Ford and McCarthy foundations, among others.

Sadly, there is no integrated anti-globalization anti-war movement in the West today. Dissent has been compartmentalized. Separate “issue oriented” protest movements (e.g. environment, anti-globalization, peace, human rights and climate change) are encouraged and generously funded as opposed to a cohesive mass movement. But when they protest against the Israeli genocide in Gaza, they are quickly shut down.

Finally, this web of deceit and destruction, can only be broken and dispelled through the criminalization of war, the closure of the weapons industry and the repeal of the gamut of neoliberal policy instruments which generate poverty and social inequality. There is a dire need for galvanizing a cohesive and revolutionary mass movement in order to make that happen.

Source: Adapted from an article by Prof Michel Chossudovsky; Global Research (https://www.globalresearch.ca/)

About the author: Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research.