Since every periodical I'm partial to seems to be celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the "Summer of Love," I've recently been reminded of some of the music greats of that era, including Country Joe and the Fish.
So this morning as I read Renae Merle's "Armaments and Investments" article in the business section of The Washington Post a verse of "Feel Like I'm a-Fixin' to Die Rag" kept repeating in my head:
Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war a-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
Okay, ignore the "Viet Cong" part; the rest seems germane to the article. Merle writes that defense spending for the necessities of war like basic weapons and vehicles has eclipsed that put towards "$300 million fighter jets and robots."
Here's a snippet: "The Iraq war may be politically unpopular, but it has been a boon for the defense industry. Last year, the sector soared 27.7 percent, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index rose 13.6 percent. So far this year, the industry has gained 26.7 percent, compared with the S&P's 9.5 percent increase. Since 2001, defense stocks that make up the S&P Aerospace & Defense Select Industry Index have climbed 181.7 percent; the broader market is up 17.6 percent."
I knew it! Conspiracy theorists, muster on station.
Read the rest of the WaPo article here. (Free registration required.)
-- Ward
