Capital's War Machine: How the Military-Industrial Complex Profits from Global Instability

As we close another year of escalating global tensions and militarisation, it becomes essential to examine who truly benefits from the perpetual state of conflict that defines our contemporary moment. A recent analysis of market trends reveals the stark reality of how capital flows toward instruments of violence while communities worldwide face systemic oppression and marginalisation.

The Golden Rush: Wealth Hoarding in Times of Crisis

Gold prices have reached unprecedented heights, surpassing $4,500 per ounce, reflecting not economic stability but rather the profound instability of a system built on extraction and exploitation. This surge represents more than market dynamics; it embodies the hoarding behaviour of the privileged classes who seek to preserve wealth while global debt balloons to $346 trillion.

The recommendation for a "10% weighting" in gold investments reveals the fundamental disconnect between financial elites and marginalised communities who cannot afford such luxury hedges against systemic collapse. While investors diversify into precious metals, BIPOC communities, migrants, and other vulnerable populations bear the brunt of economic precarity.

Deconstructing the Defense Industrial Complex

The celebration of Lockheed Martin's $65 billion revenue exposes the grotesque profitability of militarisation. This military-industrial behemoth exemplifies how corporate interests align with state violence, perpetuating cycles of oppression both domestically and internationally.

President Trump's signing of the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which accelerates spending on missile defense and AI systems, represents a continuation of imperial projects that prioritise technological dominance over human welfare. These "multiyear contracts" ensure sustained profit flows to defense contractors while communities lack access to basic necessities like healthcare, housing, and education.

The Trillion-Dollar Delusion

The so-called "Golden Dome" missile defense system, with costs potentially exceeding $1 trillion, epitomises the absurdity of military spending priorities. This astronomical figure could address climate justice, provide universal healthcare, or support reparations for historically marginalised communities. Instead, it flows toward space-based weapons systems that serve imperial interests.

The participation of "hundreds of companies" in these proposals reveals how deeply embedded the military-industrial complex has become within the broader economy, creating dependencies that perpetuate militarisation as a economic necessity rather than a policy choice.

Mobility Privilege and Infrastructure Investment

The focus on airport traffic and TSA screening numbers, while seemingly mundane, reflects broader questions of mobility privilege. The ability to travel freely remains unevenly distributed, with migrants, disabled individuals, and those from marginalised communities facing systematic barriers to movement.

The billions invested in airport infrastructure contrast sharply with underinvestment in accessible public transportation that serves working-class communities. This disparity reinforces existing hierarchies of mobility and access.

Tariffs as Tools of Economic Violence

The implementation of tariffs, described as the "largest since World War II," functions as regressive taxation that disproportionately impacts working-class families and communities of colour. These policies, while framed as protective measures, ultimately serve to maintain existing power structures while imposing additional burdens on those least able to absorb increased costs.

The potential $168 billion owed to businesses if Supreme Court challenges succeed reveals how corporate interests remain protected even when policies fail, while marginalised communities receive no such safeguards against economic hardship.

Toward Systemic Transformation

These market trends illuminate the urgent need for fundamental restructuring of our economic systems. Rather than celebrating profit margins built on violence and extraction, we must centre the voices and needs of marginalised communities in reimagining more just alternatives.

True security cannot be achieved through military spending or precious metal hoarding, but through addressing root causes of inequality, dismantling oppressive systems, and building solidarity across communities facing systemic marginalisation.

The path forward requires rejecting the logic of capital accumulation that treats human suffering as acceptable collateral damage in the pursuit of profit. Only through such fundamental transformation can we hope to achieve genuine justice and liberation for all.