War Is Still Good Business

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

One of the first economic lessons that I ever learned was printed on a protest button.  The 1960's counterculture slogan said simply, "War is good business, invest your son."  Today we are a more open and inclusive society, ostensibly willing to invest our daughters with equal fervor.

War has broken out in Europe this week, and while it is far from our shores and is unlikely to pull American youth into harm's way, it is, nevertheless, a conflict that directly involves thousands of Americans who have friends and relatives in Ukraine.  This is an especially difficult time for them and their families.

While Ukraine and its people struggle to maintain their individual and national freedom against Putin's totalitarian regime in Moscow, one winner is already evident:  the arms industry.

The US stock market, a massive indicator of our nation's overall economic health, has been on a downward slide for several weeks, and the constant talk of war in Europe seemed to be contributing to the market's steady slippage.  Then this week when the war actually got rolling, the stock marked hiccoughed and belched a few times and finally roared back to life.   

Russia engaged in a full attack on Ukraine on Thursday and the market fell dramatically, then had some serious second thoughts late in the day, and wound up making modest gains.   And then yesterday, Friday, the last trading day of the week, the market went nuts and had one of its best days ever.   American investors smelled the profits of war and they were consumed with a lust for those profits, never mind the bloodstains.

The DOW rose 834.92 points yesterday, or 2.5 percent.  The S&P 500 was up 95.95 points or 2.24%, and the tech-heavy NASDAQ  rose 221.04, or a modest 1.64 % (which is still a helluva good day).

It was a sweet day for Wall Street, and it was a honeypot for America's (and the world's) largest defense contractors.  Three of the five biggest merchants of death saw their stock prices rise by over four percent yesterday, one by more than three percent, and the final two each above a percent-and-a-half.

More specifically, the top five defense contractors saw the following growth in their value on Friday alone:

• Raytheon (RTX), which makes defense and aerospace systems, including missiles, had a $3.87 increase in the price of a share of its stock.  At the close yesterday a share of Raytheon was selling for $98.12 - a 4.11% increase over the closing price from the day before.
• General Dynamics (GD), a defense contractor that manufactures everything from private jets to combat vehicles, to nuclear submarines, had a $9.45 increase in the price of a share of its stock.  At the close yesterday a share of General Dynamics was selling for $227.96 - a 4.32% increase over the closing price of the day before.
• Lockheed Martin (LMT), a manufacturer of missiles, tactical aircraft, and aerospace products and defense systems, experienced a $6.81 increase in the price of a share of its stock.  When the marked closed yesterday a share of Lockheed Martin was selling for $395.71 - a modest 1.75% increase over the previous day's close.
• Boeing (BA), which makes aircraft, rockets, missiles, satellites, and telecom equipment, saw its stock rise $3.05 a share.  At the close yesterday, a share of Boeing was selling for $201.48 - for a gain of 1.54 percent.
• Northrop Grumman (NOC), a manufacturer of radar equipment and missile defense systems, experienced a rise of $15.75 in the price of a share of its stock.  When the market closed yesterday Northrop Grumman was selling for $409.67 a share - 4% over the previous day's close.

I support the struggle of the Ukranian people to hold onto their freedoms and way of life, but a core part of me, something formed in the social and political turmoil of the 1960's, wishes that that there was a way for them to be successful in their struggles without feeding the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned us about.

The United States of America - and its NATO allies - will do all in their power to support the Ukraine people in their war against the Russian invaders - including supplying them with many of the exceptional armaments manufactured by America's big war companies, and some of the equipment that the Ukrainians will go up against will have also been designed, manufactured, and sold by the same American arms merchants.

That's the way war works.  The bottom line is always the same.   Sons and daughters - on both sides -will lose, children will lose, humanity will lose,  and the financially comfortable will make money.  War, alas, is still good business.