The absence of proper accounting procedures at the U.S. Department of Defense is only the proximate cause of the continual scandals in defense contracting. Until the scope of the U.S. government’s geopolitical ambitions and hence the scope of its military activities are drastically reduced, little opportunity will exist for making its system of military-economic fascism less rapacious and corrupt.

Robert Higgs is Retired Senior Fellow in Political Economy, Founding Editor and former Editor at Large of The Independent Review.
Defense and Foreign PolicyDefense BudgetFederal Budget PolicyTaxes and Budget
Other Independent Review articles by Robert Higgs
Fall 2019 Pressure-Release Valves in Participatory Fascism
Winter 2018/19 Two Worlds: Politics and Everything Else
Fall 2018 Against the Whole Concept and Construction of the Balance of International Payments
[View All (62)]