War profiteering, the military-industrial complex and the deep state

Abstract

A war profiteer is any person or firm that makes unreasonable profit in times of war by selling weapons and other goods to warring parties and by indulging in other activities made possible by war. War profiteers include not only the arms trade and companies profiteering from the privatisation and outsourcing of the military, but also those extracting natural resources in conflict zones, financial institutions investing in arms companies and many others. It is believed that Nathan Rothschild was the greatest war profiteer of all time. The military-industrial complex is an informal alliance between a nation’s military and the military industry that supplies weapons. The deep state, or state within state, is formed by the association of elements of the government and top-level finance and industry that is effectively able to govern without reference to the consent of the people as expressed through the formal political process.