Lockheed Martin’s ‘Got Their Fingers Everywhere’; Firm Costs Each U.S. Taxpaying Household $260 Per Year

January 4th, 2011

Fingers… or tentacles?

Via: Yahoo / Tech Ticker:

That’s been the key question asked of Wall Street’s biggest banks since the September 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, which sent shock waves through the global financial system and led to the worst recession this country has seen since the Great Depression.

But, there is another firm far from the circles of Wall Street for which that same question should be asked, says William Hartung, author of the new book Prophets of War. The subtitle of his book says it all: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex.

With $40 billion in annual revenue, Lockheed Martin is the single largest recipient of U.S. tax dollars. The company receives about $36 billion in government contracts per year. In 2008, $29 billion of that was for U.S. military contracts – a dollar figure 25% higher than its competitors Boeing Co. and Northrop Grumman.

What does that mean for you, the U.S. taxpayer? According to Hartung, each taxpaying household contributes $260 to Lockheed’s coffers each year!

Related: Prophets of War: Lockheed Martin and the Making of the Military-Industrial Complex by William D. Hartung

Posted in Economy, Elite, War | Top Of Page

3 Responses to “Lockheed Martin’s ‘Got Their Fingers Everywhere’; Firm Costs Each U.S. Taxpaying Household $260 Per Year”

  1. Eileen says:

    Don’t forget! Bechtel International (under different guises) now is the management and operating contractor for all of the US DOE weapons complex laboratories (except Sandia- Lockheed Martin).
    Then we have Northrup Grunman under contract with the Commonwealth of Virginia (largest DOD state besides California) and they had a hissy fit over giving control over to Weatherization?
    Give me an effing break.
    Oh wait, there’s another one of these Military Industrial Comlex wannabe owners who process the payroll for the entire FEDERAL Government. NICE.
    RACKET.
    ALL desires to be controlled by the military mafia. They about got it all. NICE.

  2. Kevin says:

    Ahh payroll services:

    http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2008/07/07/lockheed-lands-12b-tsa-payroll-services-deal.aspx

    Lockheed Martin Corp. will help manage employee payroll and other human resources functions for the Transportation Security Administration under a contract with a maximum value of $1.2 billion over eight and a half years.

    The contract consolidates workforce services that include recruitment and hiring, personnel and payroll processing, employee benefits, workforce management and help desk services that had been performed by three separate contractors in the past, TSA said.

  3. tochigi says:

    Lockheed has been in the business of bribing governments/ministers/officials worldwide for big military purchases since the 1950s. Italy, Japan, the list is neverending.

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