Prior to listing the top 100 government defense contractors, Washington Technology adds an interesting subtitle "Companies evolve as government priorities change". Public choice economists have long observed the ways in which markets will change to accommodate the preferences of the country's most powerful consumer, namely, the government. Certainly the tremendous increase in military expenditures and the drastic economic stimulus packages have stimulated more than just the economy.
What the government spending spree has also stimulated is the profitability of rent-seeking behavior. If bailing out banks and businesses has acquired the status of a "national interest", then it might just be more profitable for banks and businesses to court the government's money over the citizen consumer's. With the power to tax and print and now even bail out, the US government should be at the top of every entrepreneur's most wanted customer list.
- Everyone's favorite aging environmentalist, T. Boone Pickens (a.k.a. king of the windmill infomercials) has a vested interest in taking energy production in a new direction.
- "Lockheed Martin spent nearly twice as much on lobbying during the first quarter of 2009 as it did during the previous three months as it aggressively campaigned to save key weapons programs ahead of a budget shakeup in April. Lockheed — the Pentagon’s biggest contractor by sales — spent $6.41 million during the first quarter, up 97% from the prior quarter’s $3.26 million". (Hat tip with curtsey to The Public Choice Capitalist).
