by BouncingBetween
The military-industrial complex (MIC) is a well-known concept that describes the informal alliance between the military and defense contractors. Popularized by President Eisenhower, the MIC is a self-perpetuating force that makes war inevitable, as all sides of the equation benefit.
- Governments/militaries love war because they are able to enforce their might for whatever strategic objective they have, whether it be resource extraction, supply routes, or general empire-building.
- Defense contractors love war because it makes them nearly endless amounts of money from the sale of weapons, equipment, and other supplies.
- Financial institutions love war because they can make money off the entire operation, whether through loans to the government or investment of the aforementioned defense contractors.
If you’re not in the MIC, you’re on the receiving end of it. Whether as a citizen of a country being bombed or a citizen getting grifted by the government doing the bombing, the MIC depletes resources and destroys lives.
Not to be outdone, the drug war industrial complex mimicked this formula. Pharma, police, prison systems, banks, and drug cartels all benefit from the prohibition of drugs, while individuals not in this system are inevitably screwed over by it.
And now, in 2020, we are witnessing the birth of the pandemic-industrial complex (PIC). Public health officials, politicians, big pharma corporations, and other public-private partnerships (classical fascism) have colluded to create a monstrosity that will, yet again, destroy the life of any individual not directly benefiting from this alliance.
- Politicians gain exorbitant amounts of power during public health emergencies. Governors, mayors, and other executive officials use these emergencies to side-step normal modes of governing, gaining power they would never otherwise have access to.
- Similarly, public health officials and agencies also gain immense influence over political life, receiving nearly unlimited amounts of funding to combat the pandemic, as well as becoming a major factor in the decision-making process about who is deemed “essential” and who should stay open or closed.
- Big pharma companies, similar to defense contractors within the MIC, receive nearly unlimited amounts of public money to create treatments, vaccines, and testing procedures to help control the pandemic.
- Public-private partnerships, such as those between the government and the Gates Foundation or Clinton Foundation, are exponentially strengthened by a public health emergency. The Gates Foundation has been given billions of dollars for vaccine development/distribution, while the Clinton Foundation is being entrusted with helping to create an “army of contact tracers”, a force that will exist long after the pandemic has ended.
What all of this means is that, similar to the MIC, this newly-christened Pandemic-Industrial Complex has no motivation to ever end pandemic-life as we know it. Perhaps the media, government, and big pharma organizations will decide that COVID-19 is over at some point. However, there will inevitably be another pandemic that will arise, leading to perpetual lockdowns, perpetual contact tracing (total surveillance), and new vaccine/treatment financial boondoggles that further siphon public money into the PIC.
One must ask themself, what motivation do all of these entities have in ever moving beyond this “new normal” we find ourselves imprisoned within? The answer is: there is none. Those who are not in the PIC will (similar to the MIC and the drug war) be the losing party of the equation.
What power-hungry governor would ever want to have to deal with pesky legislatures in a pre-pandemic time? What public health official would ever want to fight for public funding or influence? What pharma giant or private foundation would ever give up the type of free public money being tossed around like it is now?
The PIC is one of the most all-encompassing, destructive forces that has ever been unleashed on a population. Sadly, if we do not stop this behemoth from continuing, it will consume our society until we are mere prisoners of it.
Disclaimer: This is a guest post and it doesn’t necessarily represent the views of IWB.