Help me understand this.

There's the cost that the employees pocket, and then there's the share that the shareholders pocket, right? Doesn't "margin" represent the latter?

100% of the money ends up going to people.

It’s not like you get to the end of the chain and trade a fistful of dollars with the ingot of aluminum itself.

Sure, the concept of money is only meaningful / valuable to humans.

But isn't there a conceptual difference between the "owners" of the Tomahawk factory vs. the people who are actually putting the missiles together?