Happy holidays from Military Media! There will be one last post this year on Friday, a small investigation into what home sales look like around military bases versus in similarly-sized metro areas; we look forward to picking back up over the holidays in the new year. 2024.

Today’s post is a roundup of our best-performing pieces. If you have tips, or would like MM to cover your business or profession, or you’re interested in contributing, reach out to adrian@contextvc.

THE BIG STORY

Best of 2023

Here are Military Media’s best-performing stories of 2023

Military launched just before the final quarter of 2023 — late August — and since then has racked up some pretty impressive stats. The goal was and is to create original content at the intersection of analysis and reporting — sober, fact-driven journalism that finds and evaluates emerging market trends and financial insights with the rigor and utility of a Wall Street Journal or Financial Times.

Here are the best 5 stories we published this year, in terms of how well they did online.

5 — The Pentagon’s Secret Weapon: Small Businesses. A great little piece about how the mighty Pentagon ultimately depends for raw materials on a vast and imperceptible web of contractors and subcontractors, many of which employ fewer than a dozen people and have been around for decades.

4 — A $68 billion training opportunity. When people think about the “military industrial complex” (as we’ve reported, itself a misnomer) they tend to envision factories. A substantial portion of the Pentagon’s needs revolve around training troops effectively and repeatedly to standard — and big money, very big money, is on the table to do so.

3 — Canceling investment in the U.S. Defense Industry. Reactionaries and pro-Russians (some of whom revealed themselves on social media in response to this story to spread their vile and anti-American screed) want to stop military aid to Ukraine. If they can block reinvestment in U.S. factories that would otherwise not pay for themselves, that’s a win-win.

2 — Understanding the VA Home Loan. Pretty straightforward piece about the VA Home Loan. Prompted a lot of discussion online and good conversation. One component of the article was how it failed to account for hot real estate markets such as that of today.

1 — Monopoly and Monopsony. The top performing piece of 2024 and my personal favorite was a piece looking at the concept of monopsony, or a market that is distorted when there is one buyer (rather than a monopoly, in which there is one seller), and how the Pentagon’s monopsony on the U.S. Defense industry has crippled our ability to build and produce the lower-cost end-items such as artillery ammunition on which our military (and any modern military) depends.

That’s it folks; been a good (if short) year! Looking forward to the next one with enthusiasm, curiosity, and a sense of adventure.

TOP READS IN MONEY & FINANCE

Stock ownership among Americans is way up — it’s nearly doubled since 1989. A big part of that recently has been no-fee trading online and via applications on smartphones.

With debt increasing, developed countries are increasingly looking to fund projects by raising tax rates.

If you owe back taxes for 2020 and 2021, this is your chance — the IRS is offering $1 billion in waivers to catch people up from pandemic pressures.

All airline voucher programs are not built equal.

TOP READS IN THE MILITARY & FOR VETERANS

Not everyone was left with a proverbial chair (health coverage) when the music (PACT Act) stopped (enrollment period ended). The VA’s hoping to change that.

JROTC an opportunity for the military to reach young men and women before they get turned off to the idea of service. Seems like a good idea.

Will a bold new study change how the USMC trains marksmanship?

Gamers stop posting classified documents to War Thunder challenge, part 3/?

A pernicious home improvement scam that seemed to target military homeowners in Clarksville, especially younger and lower-ranking homeowners.

TOP READS AROUND THE WORLD

What’s the best workout for one’s mental health? The workout one does regularly, multiple times per week.

Colorado Supreme Court rules 4-3 that Donald Trump cannot appear on its state ballot, and that write-ins with his name must be discounted. The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case and issue its own ruling on the subject soon.

Tylenol not linked to ADHD or autism, court rules.

But hemp gummies have been wreaking havoc.

HUMOR

Join the military or go to jail, judge tells member of Coast Guard (via Duffelblog).