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War! What Is It Good For? (Hint: These 4 Companies)
As GreenLeft.org's Peter Boyle explains, it is a sadly familiar story: More death, pain and terror for the many translates into large profits for giant weapons making corporations.
h/t @NineInchBlade
Led by Lockheed Martin, the biggest US defence companies are trading at record prices as shareholders reap rewards from escalating military conflicts around the world.
...
Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago-based BMO Private Bank, told Bloomberg: “As we ramp up our military muscle in the Mideast, there’s a sense that demand for military equipment and weaponry will likely rise... To the extent we can shift away from relying on troops and rely more heavily on equipment - that could present an opportunity.”
More money for the war profiteers - never mind the terrible human toll.
Remote "precision" airstrikes - such as the US and its allies - including Australia, are carrying out in Iraq and Syria today, have a record of inflicting huge civilian casualties as so-called “collateral damage”.
Marc Herold, a professor of economic development at the University of New Hampshire, did a comparative study of civilian victims of the West's war on Afghanistan. He said: “From 2006 to mid-2008, US/NATO aerial attacks killed 1,488 Afghan civilians with 1,458 tonnes of bombs, whereas between October 7 and December 10, 2001 US war planes dropped 14,000 tonnes of bombs resulting in 2,569-2,949 dead Afghan civilians (or 18-21 civilians killed per 100 tonnes of US bombs),” the Guardian reported in 2008.
The relative lethality for Afghan civilians (measured by the ratio of civilians killed per 100 tonnes of bombs) of NATO's close air support strikes far exceeds the lethality of the US strategic bombing of Laos and Cambodia, Herold calculated. And the lethality of US airstrikes in Afghanistan between 2006-2008 exceeded by far that recorded in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Yugoslavia, Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001.
For all its deathly toll, has US/NATO bombing in Afghanistan put an end to “terrorism” in that war-devastated country? No.
But that does not concern those who protect the wealth of the super-rich. War is good for profits.
The Bloomberg's share index for the four largest Pentagon contractors rose 19% this year, outstripping the 2.2% gain for the Standard & Poor’s 500 Industrials Index.
Bloomberg's Richard Clough reported that shares for Lockheed, the world’s biggest weapons maker, “reached an all-time high of $180.74 on September 19, when Northrop, Raytheon and General Dynamics also set records”.
Those four companies and the Chicago-based Boeing accounted for about US$105 billion in US military contract orders last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
War generates big corporate profits and 21st century capitalism now wages a permanent war in the Third World. There is no peace in sight while this toxic system remains in place.
* * *
It appears the transition from Fed-sponsored economic-support back to Military-Industrial Complex-support is almost complete...
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Absolutely nuthin'. Say it again!
2 words : Smedley. Butler.
War Is A Racket
You forgot Haliburton. Or has their turn at the trough expired?
“I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”
You forgot Hawaii and the Phillipines. Westerning and all that "big stick" stuff.
> accounted for about US$105 billion in US military contract orders last year
And that's less than TWO DAYS worth of QE. THINK ABOUT THAT! Really THINK ABOUT THAT!
John Perkins (Confessions of an Economic Hitman) is Max Keiser's guest in the latest episode (KR662)
John Perkins book was a great read btw.
Flacon, Thank you for the visual / spatial illustration. Astonishing.
Stackers, both you and the article are misusing the word Capitalism. We can't continue to misrepresent the word that means people trading freely with each other. From my post below:
Capitalism requires that people can trade freely with one another. We don't have that. People are stifled and squelched. Small businesses are being ground out of existence.
Maybe oligarchy would be a better description?
Language is important. Without it, we won't be human anymore.
Yes, but the top of the oligarch pyramid is the Debt Money Monopoly. Everyone else depends on them for money - politicians, governments, schools, churches, music industry, Hollywood, propagandistic "news" channels, everything.
Yeah, Liberty2012, there are no good labels for what happens after governments blatantly become the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, the biggest gangsters, which are the banksters.
Radical, "TARGETS" seems to be an adequate label under the circumstances.
Why dose'nt ZH giove us a heads up on these profit making opportunities? Disgusting!
You're already supposed to know about them. Lockheed Martin (airplanes) and Raytheon (cruise missiles) at least should come quickly to mind when there's an air campaign starting up.
All the heads up you need is a list of the top 10 pentagon contractors and a rumor of war. If there is a choice of a cheap effective weapon and an expensive ineffective one (with giant pieces of shit preferred) you know which one they'll pick.
Once these corporations fully automate all war machines, I expect the Generals will find some reason to strap soldiers on the top of them. VA benefits are expensive and (so far at least, with the exception of some high tech new limbs), the corporations can't profit from them.
Skynet is fully automated. And is self-aware. Nowhere to hide.
Nah, life insurance policies are too expensive.
At $200,000+ dollars per soldier being paid out, it would be easier to just dissolve a majority of the armed forces.
They'll send the marines and army vets home, let them go nuts after they run out of money, and then get the police to shoot them all.
No benefits need be paid, and it isn't any different from what happened during Hoover's administration.
Second ‘blood moon’ of tetrad linked to Israel prophecy Oct 8th: 2000 dead in Gaza since first
<p>http://wtfrly.com/2014/10/05/second-blood-moon-linked-to-israel-prophecy...
It looks like Halliburton is just into oil now. They spun off their war division (KBR) in 2007. KBR was Cheney's playground.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KBR_%28company%29
Long LMT. Short CCL.
Debt just doesn't create itself. That is why the bankers use their servant government to do it!
Maybe the key to ending war is if everyone went out and bought a Tesla on credit?
(Sad that you can actually even make that argument.)
BTFD
(Burn The Fucker Down)
pods
Burn it.
Thirded......
Soundgarden
Burning the average citizen down is the plan, so you will not be disappointed.
That's more like it! Dick 'Chainey' shoudn't n be the only winner!
ebola is good for business too
GSK, LAKE, etc..
So who's going to the first hacker to reprogram these drones to hit these uber rich fucks and do the world a favor?
http://privat.bahnhof.se/wb907234/killuav.htm
Probably isn't much of a step to land it and so forth if one was so inclined.
spark gaps FTW!!!
are you Iranian? anyway I upped you one
Even if you jam a satellite, there are probably contingencies to control the unit from another satellite, aircraft, or revert to an autonomous homing routine.
Gosh progressives, just think of the corporate taxes being reaped by .gov ;-)
In Ireland.....
Yeah, I disown them.
Yeah no shit. Looks like the terrorists hit the right spot that's fer sure!
"That's where the real terrorists reside"! Love the daily Ebola "feed" from CNPsyhcoC. Hello! McFly! The outbreak is killing doctors!
Maybe we should ask the local hospital staff how they feel greed and germ are coming together here. "Right to the point whee only the poor people pay their taxes."
I'm seeing the World War II deficits but...sorry...not feeling the WWII love here. "Some Cities just had to be annihilated" again?
lol...we ebola'd some folks.
"Well, I'm very sorry, Mr President, but the West African petri dish simply got out of our control.
Well, yes sir, we can see if those genetic markers work as well as we'd thought they might.
Yes sir, we just bring some more of them into the country. Disperse them about in the major cities.
Well, yes sir, it would place the African and Middle Eastern descent at greater risk. That's what the markers were for, sir, as we'd explained.
Yes sir, glad you like the idea, being consistent with your Cloward Piven strategy.
What's that Mr President?
Oh no, sir. You were born in Hawaii. You're not at greater risk, sir"
<humbly bowing>
Vutures, roaches and maggots love war.
not neccessarily insects and birds
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by John Donne
.
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory were.
As well as if a manor of thine own
Or of thine friend's were.
Each man's death diminishes me,
For I am involved in mankind.
Therefore, send not to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for thee.
War, what is it good for?
--TOLSTOY
"Peace Sells but Who's Buying?"
- Megadeth
Then Dave became a born again Christian and donated to Santorum. Life goes in circles.
A Christian neocon metalhead. And I thought I've seen it all.
oooh, 2nd mistake...1st was leaving Metallica.
I believe he was "voted" out of Metallica.
Oh, about ...say... 40% of the population in the United States of Amnesia.
If the defense contractors were real patriots, they should pick up that slack of the VA. With all those record profits, just think how many prosthetic limbs they could buy. That is if they really gave a shit.
It's because they don't give a shit.
Wave the Flag. God bless the USA.
....and banksterz.
Here is a REALLY long interview.....
But after the first 1/3rd, it really hits home.
War is an industry.
Same as Gov is an industry. There is profit in killing (for some)...
What happens when you're hired by MIC to track the "bad guys" Swiss bank accounts? Well, it's ok as long as you do not stir the pot and send the info to EVERY congressperson and Senator. Should you be foolish enough to do that you get two years in the gray bar motel.
Want to know why Holder is calling it quits? It ain't about Fast and Furious boyz and girlz...it's much bigger than that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo8Xm46s62I
A 3 hour video??? Are you fucking NUTS????
If I have a spare 3 hours to watch videos, they're gonna bit a lot more interesting. Like some trashy websites show if you have a credit card.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d8C4AIFgUg
An old Motown classic by Edwin Starr says it all, "WAR"
Great song, but I prefer this Motown chesnut, give it a try, I'll bet you know it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9poCAuYT-s
Nuke Boeing HQ! And when you're finished with them...
Northrop Grumman. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, BAH, Leidos, CACI and finish with the biggest warhead on Academi!
P.S.
Just make sure that that cocksucker Erik Prince is in his office when you "detonate" the warhead!
You forgot Langley, DC, and the NSA datacenter in Utah.
YOU forgot Nato HQ and Tel Aviv.
Capitalism requires that people can trade freely with one another. We don't have that. People are stifled and squelched. Small businesses are being ground out of existence.
Maybe oligarchy would be a better description?
Language is important. Without it, we won't be human anymore.
Corporatocracy.
THIS IS THE REAL WARRRRRRR.
THE DUTCH ISLAND IS KILLING US.....AND THE DUTCH ISLAND WANTS TO KILL EVERY GOYIM.
we will kill them as we always have.
V. The Government’s Use of the Maiden Lane III Transaction to Funnel AIG Assets to AIG’s Struggling CDS Counterparties, to the Detriment of AIG and Its Shareholders, Both Illustrates the Government’s Control and Represents an Abuse of that Control.
In or around October 2008, AIG was facing increasing collateral calls from its CDS counterparties under the CDSs based on claims that the value of the underlying CDOs had fallen below a certain threshold. AIG had the option of attempting to resolve its liquidity crisis by negotiating with its CDS counterparties for the modification or termination of the CDSs in exchange for cash payments, including through the threat of a bankruptcy filing. In the fall of 2008, however, the Government decided to create a special purpose vehicle (“SPV”) designated Maiden Lane III that would resolve AIG’s obligations to its CDS counterparties by purchasing the CDOs underlying the CDSs at par value, despite the facts that AIG was under no obligation to do so and that the counterparties were willing to settle for less. The creation of Maiden Lane III was an inefficient and unnecessarily costly alternative to the other options at the Government’s disposal, including a guarantee of the CDS contracts.
In addition, the Government, which undertook to negotiate with AIG’s counterparties to cancel the CDS contracts, caused AIG to overpay for the termination of its CDSs. Under Maiden Lane III, the AIG counterparties received essentially par value – that is, the notional, or face, value – for their CDOs (or close to par value after certain expenses), even though the Government (or AIG, if it had been permitted to participate in the negotiations) would have been able to obtain substantial, meaningful, and appropriate concessions from the CDS counterparties.
The Government also required AIG to execute releases waiving all claims (known or unknown) against the counterparties arising out of the credit default swaps that were canceled through Maiden Lane III for no additional consideration: AIG obviously had no need for a release of potential claims that might have been asserted by the counterparties, which by virtue of what they had already received (or would receive in the proposed transaction) could not possibly have claimed injury either then or in the future.
Moreover, the Government structured Maiden Lane III such that:
•
AIG contributed $5 billion in equity and approximately $32.5 billion in previously posted collateral, while the Government made a last-in, first-out contribution of $24.3 billion;
•
The Government’s contribution would be repaid in full, but AIG would only be repaid for its $5 billion equity contribution, not the $32.5 billion in previously posted collateral, before any “residual interests” were to be distributed;
•
The Government would receive two-thirds of any residual interests, or profits, after repayment of equity, while AIG would receive only one-third, even though AIG had contributed $37.5 billion (or three-fifths) of the $62.1 billion paid to the counterparties; and any residual interest proceeds received by the Government would not be credited against AIG’s outstanding balance under the Credit Agreement.
In this way the Government depleted the Company’s resources in order to confer an unjustified benefit on other foreign and domestic financial institutions, which the Government wanted to help but could not assist more overtly and directly for political reasons. Despite being largely based on the self-serving assertions of FRBNY and AIG’s CDS counterparties, at least two governmental reports3 have recognized FRBNY’s actions represented a “backdoor bailout”
Note by ERASMUS: The Backdoor bailout refers to the ($62.1 billion - $37.5 billion = $24.6 billion) paid to GOLDMAN SACH and and CREDIT SUISSE!!!!! They got paid twice!!!!
of the CDS counterparties because the Maiden Lane III transactions effectively transferred tens of billions of dollars, including $32.5 billion in collateral previously posted by AIG that was never paid back to the Company, to the counterparties. After repeated attempts to conceal the nature and extent of this “backdoor bailout” in AIG’s SEC filings, continued pressure from government agencies and Congress prompted public disclosure of certain CDS counterparty information in a March 15, 2009 press release which showed that AIG counterparties received over $62 billion from Maiden Lane III.
The nuance and sophistication of the anti-war crowd here is striking in its ignorance and superficiality. To be 100% anti-war, one must be 100% narcissistic, a state of being easily attainable in this remorselessly self-centered utopia we call the USA. To be 100% anti-war, one must also be 100% subjective/emotional (aka, anti-rational). Oh, how very, very, very terrible and horrible war is. I fear my lipstick factory making my darling shade of gloss will be converted into a munitions factory.
Of course, if one is a Buddhist, then being 100% anti-war is OK, even though it is impossible to be a narcissistic, anti-rational Buddhist, and thus unnecessary to rely upon the state of one's narcissism and rationality.
War is sometimes OK, and sometimes even mandatory. To preclude war is to live in a utopian fantasy with other 4-year-olds.
O.K. livefreediefree, what are your ideas regarding how to operate better murder systems doing death controls after the development of weapons of mass destruction?
Reality is and facts are. WWII was good. Korea was good. Nam was bad. Reagan's police actions were good. Our support of the mujahadin in Afghantistan was good. Kuwait was good. Afghanistan was good. Iraq was good.
Remember: The highest civilian death toll (ie, 5K to 25K) due to WMD was Saddam's use of chemical weapons against the Kurds. If Saddam used WMD's, he had WMD's.
Then we have the Senate report -- the final one -- on WMD's in Iraq, where, in an appendix, it stated that all high-ranking members of Saddam's gov't said the same thing: The UN inspection regime was so effective that Saddam decided to destory his cache of WMD's, and reconstitute them once sanctions were lifted. If you're a student of history like I am, the UN was very close to lifting those sanctions but then 911 happened.
Yea, "Bush liked; people died" is about as sophisticated as the anti-war crowd gets.
you forgot about quakers, hutterites, ...
you mean 4 year olds such as yourself, lol
It's posts like this that make me wonder who around here has worn a uniform and carried a rifle for the government... and who hasn't.
US56708810. I served my 2 year during Nam but not in Nam. Since you brought the point up, only those who served in the military can be anti-war.
The current systems are what happens after one adds murder and fraud to "capitalism," because nobody guards the guardians, since enough of the people can be fooled enough of the time to vote for the politicians that are puppets of the banksters, while the only real job that those politicians have is to perform for the masses of muppets, in ways which continue to fool enough of the People enough of the time ... so the vicious spirals of the funding of the political processes can continue to create the conditions where the profits from frauds can be reinvested in more frauds, through the established systems of legalized lies, backed by legalized violence.
One of my favourite phrases for the current political system is calling that a RUNAWAY FASCIST PLUTOCRACY JUGGERNAUT. However, that phrase needs qualifications too, since the main "wealth" of the plutocrats is the ability to create the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts, which frauds are enforced by governments, as a kind of legalized counterfeiting, i.e., the greatest achievement of organized crime capturing control over the powers of governments, so that the powers of "We the People" are effectively privatized, and used to rob those People blind.
There is no doubt that the currently entrenched system IS oligarchical. However, that label is not sufficient to describe the deeper levels of the ways that the methods of organized crime were systematically and persistently applied to capture control over the government, by means that simultaneously turned most politicians into traitors, and most of We the People into Zombie Sheeple.
In terms of biomedical metaphors, the monetary system has become a totally metastasized cancer, which has spread so thoroughly that there are no treatments that would not kill the society that is suffering from that disease. The degree to which the government of the USA has become almost totally based on legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, appears to have made America a terminally sick and insane society. The original banksters that made and maintained those systems have been too successful, for too long, while they have gradually degenerated from being metaphorically like top predators, to being parasites that are killing their host.
There is no good public language to describe the paradoxical social situation that exists after a democratic republic's rule of law has been degraded for over a Century, until the system as a whole has become almost inconceivably crazy and corrupt. The debt slavery systems have generated numbers which have become debt insanities. There are NO mathematically feasible ways that anything inside the MAD Money As Debt system can fix its problems within its own frame of reference. Since enough of the People have become Zombie Sheeple, there are no good grounds to doubt that will continue to automatically get worse faster.
Although its seems practically useless, I have found it necessary to try to develop new ways to use the English language, to attempt to describe the paradoxes regarding what happens after the history of the FUNDING OF THE POLITICAL PROCESSES (including bribery, as well as intimidation, backed up with paying for politicians who could not be bribed or intimidated to be assassinated) have captured control over the public "money" supply, and thereby effectively privatized the power to rob, through the symbolic means of government enforced financial frauds.
The leverages gained from being legally allowed to make "money" out of nothing as debts have ratcheted up and UP to be able to dominate the funding of all other social institutions, such as the schools and mass media, so that there are in place vicious spirals which make sure that enough of the People are brainwashed to believe in bullshit, and thus, it gets ever easier to fool enough of the People, enough of the time, with even bigger lies, while the potential to back up those lies with more violence is also amplified.
There are no good labels for what happens after the idealized "free market" protected by the rule of law, becomes taken over by the covert operations of a de facto "free market" in fraud and murder, which dominates the political processes, until the point where the control over the government is almost completely captured by private interests, and yet, enough of the People have become such incompetent political idiots that they not only do not understand that, but moreover, have been conditioned to not want to understand that. Any politicians that might be able to champion the interests of the People against the plutocratic oligarchy are discredited and destroyed, before they could accomplish anything significant, because the established systems are too decayed, so that one can not trust the vote counting, nor the courts, etc. ...
Americans are trapped inside of a sophisticated social slavery system, whereby the language that they use to discuss that has become almost totally dominated by the biggest bullies' bullshit world view. We are living inside of a Bizarro Mirror World, where everything appears proportionately backwards and distorted, because the REALITIES are the best organized gangs of criminals having so completely captured control over the government, while doing that simultaneously required enough of the People became incapable of being effective citizens, because their whole lives, for generation after generation, took place inside of the established systems of legalized lies, backed by legalized violence, which rewarded people for agreeing with bullshit, while those systems punished people who did not agree with bullshit.
The established corporatocracy, operating through the financial systems of the Military Industrial Governmental Complex, is based on what are euphemistically called "legal fictions," which are actually systems of legalized lies, that have been building at an exponential rate for several hundred years. Gradually, the legal fictions that corporations are "persons" has transferred to them more real rights and freedoms than flesh and blood human beings. Meanwhile, the ability of big banking corporations to make "money" out of nothing to gamble with, has resulted in those legal fictions becoming orders of magnitude greater than the lives of flesh and blood human beings. After any group in a society starts to get away with frauds against everyone else, then the LEVERAGES that they increasingly enjoy and can exercise get amplified to astronomical SIZES!
The established systems of globalized electronic fiat, backed by the threat of the force of atomic bombs, are based on the maximum possible frauds and deceits, while those systems are operated by the best professional liars and hypocrites that money can buy. The American people have become the victims of the most scientific brainwashing that there has ever been, from cradle to grave, for generation after generation. The publicly significant opposition groups are controlled, so that they continue to also operate inside of the biggest bullies' bullshit world view. All the way around, American society has become so totally dominated by lies, backed by violence, that there are no good labels, and no widely understood use of the English language to describe that situation, since it is profoundly PARADOXICAL to have the government blatantly become the biggest form of organized crime, controlled by the best organized gangs of criminals, whose successes were predicated upon enough of the people being tricked by that enough of the time.
DEBT SLAVERY,
BACKED BY WARS BASED ON DECEITS,
HEADING TOWARD
DEBT INSANITIES,
PROVOKING DEATH INSANITIES ...
I discussed the history of warfare,
and what it was "good for," in my
comment on this previous article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-04/sun-tzu-and-cost-war
Sun Tzu And The Cost Of War
The oldest book on the Art of War SHOULD be seriously studied. The most important things it stated was successful warfare is based on deceit, and spies are the most important soldiers. THAT APPLIES TO HOW THE RULING CLASSES HAVE WAGED WARS AGAINST THE PEOPLE THAT THEY RULED OVER! The history of Neolithic Civilization was social pyramid systems, based on backing up lies with violence. The domestication of animals and plants was first and foremost the domestication of human beings, or "human farming" as social slavery systems. Those have become more sophisticated social slavery, as the ways that the financial systems are based on enforced frauds, whereby private banks make the public "money" supply out of nothing as debts, which system the government forces itself and everyone else to operate inside of, AND, the public military operates its death controls through the maximum possible deceits, such as how the 9/11 events were a spectacularly successful inside job, false flag attack, that started more genocidal wars, while preparing the way to impose democidal martial law.
ENOUGH AMERICANS HAVE ALREADY DEGENERATED INTO ZOMBIE SHEEPLE BEING FLEECED TO EXHAUSTION, WHILE SET UP TO BE SLAUGHTERED, THAT THERE ARE NO GOOD REASONS TO BELIEVE IT CAN BE STOPPED. Wars based on deceits worked GREAT to advance the debt slavery systems. That has happened so much, for so long, that it has become a runaway feedback loop, like a enormous social storm, as a hurricane that MUST blow through! It is too late to stop the debt insanities from provoking death insanities.
nature laughs last
That's what the wise man is afraid of.
was a reply to you on 'sun-tzu' and then saw this post of yours. Funny, I was just TALKing about 9:11, storms and hurricanes...
YES 'New Languages'
Has any class action lawsuit ever been filed against the USA? for war crimes wrongfulldeath or of their dirty bombs?
That day I will line up in court and cheer and clap till they throw me out. Armies should a be protection for homelands. The USA is the aggressor......................for the want of control and for Greed. The snakes head needs to be severed from the body......We are Bleeding.
Wasn't this the original title for "War & Peace"?