The government launched a preditory war of aggression on behalf of the corporations that control it. So, what's the solution? Vote for another corporate controlled political party? Put in a third party that is not influenced by the corporations? Thats not an option
On Aug 24, 1:21 pm, studio <[email protected]> wrote: > http://www.watan.com/en/feaute/611-sherwood-ross-chicago-.html > Who are Iraq war's winners and losers? > by Sherwood Ross > CHICAGO > Thursday, 20 August 2009 06:09 > > What follows is a brief look at some of the outfits that cashed in, > and at the multitudes that got took. > > “Defense Earnings Continue to Soar,” Renae Merle wrote in > The Washington Post on July 30, 2007. “Several of Washington’s > largest defense contractors said last week that they continue to > benefit from a boom in spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.” > > But war, it turns out, is not only unhealthy for human beings, > it is not uniformly good for the economy. Many sectors suffer, > including non-defense employment, as a war can destroy more > jobs than it creates. > > The general public suffers, too. > > “As President Bush tried to fight the war without increasing taxes, > the Iraq war has displaced private investment and/or government > expenditures, including investments in infrastructure, R&D and > education: they are less than they would otherwise have been. > > Stiglitz holds a Nobel Prize in economics and Bilmes is former > assistant secretary of the US Department of Commerce. They say > government money spent in Iraq does not stimulate the economy > in the way that the same amounts spent at home would. > > The war has also starved countless firms for expansion bucks. > > “Higher borrowing costs for business since the beginning of > the Iraq war are bleeding manufacturing investment,” Greg Palast > wrote in Armed Madhouse. And when entrepreneurs -- who hire > so many -- lack growth capital, job creation takes a real hit. > > We might recall too, the millions around the world who filled > the streets to protest President Bush’s impending attack on > Iraq and who have quit buying US products, further reducing > sales and employment. > > “America’s standing in the world has never been lower,” the > authors said, noting that in 2007, US “favorable” ratings plunged > to 29 percent in Indonesia and nine percent in Turkey. > “Large numbers of wealthy people in the Middle East – where the > oil money and inequality put individual wealth in the billions – have > shifted banking from America to elsewhere,” they said. > > Because the Iraq war crippled that country’s oil industry, output > fell, supplies tightened, and, according to Palast, “World prices > leaped to reflect the shortfall." > > What’s more, Palast pointed out, after the Iraq invasion > the Saudis withheld more than a million barrels of oil a day from > the market. “The one-year 121 percent post-invasion jump in the > price of crude, from under $30 a barrel to over $60, sucked that > $120 billion windfall to the Saudis from SUV drivers and factory > owners in the West,” he said. > > Count the Saudis among the big winners. > > The oil spike subtracted 1.2 percent from the gross domestic > product, “costing the USA just over one million jobs,” Palast > reckoned. Stiglitz and Bilmes said the oil price spike meant > “American families have had to spend about 5 percent more > of their income on gasoline and heating than before.” > > Last year, the Iraq and Afghan wars cost each American > household $138 per month in taxes, they estimated. > Count the Joneses among the big losers. > > Palast wrote, “It has been a very good war for Big Oil – courtesy > of OPEC price hikes. The five oil giants saw profits rise from > $34 billion in 2002 to $81 billion in 2004…But this tsunami of black > ink was nothing compared to the wave of $120 billion in profits to > come in 2006: $15.6 billion for Conoco, $17.1 billion for Chevron > and the Mother of All Earnings, Exxon’s $39.5 billion in 2006 on > sales of $378 billion.” > > Palast noted that oil firms have their own reserves whose value > is tied to OPEC’s price targets, and “The rise in the price of oil > after the first three years of the war boosted the value of the > reserves of ExxonMobil oil alone by just over $666 billion. > > “Chevron Oil, where Condoleezza Rice had served as a director, > gained a quarter trillion dollars in value…I calculate that the top > five oil operators saw their reserves rise in value by over > $2.363 trillion.” > > Who’s surprised when Forbes reports of the ten most profitable > corporations in the world five are now oil and gas companies – > Exxon-Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Chevron, and Petro-China. > > “Since the Iraq War began,” Matthew Rothschild, editor of The > Progressive wrote, “aerospace and defense industry stocks have > more than doubled. General Dynamics did even better than that. > Its stock has tripled.” > > Among the big winners are top Pentagon contractors, as ranked by > WashingtonTechnology.com as of 2008. Halliburton spun off KBR in > 2007 and their operations are covered later. Data was selected for > typical years 2007-09. > > 1. Lockheed Martin > 2. Boeing > 3. KBR > 4. Northrop Grumman > 5. General Dynamics > 6. Raytheon > 7. SAIC > 8. L-3 Communciations > 9. EDS Corporation > 10. Fluor Corporation > > --Lockheed Martin, of Bethesda, Maryland, a major warplane builder, in > 2007 alone earned profits of $3 billion on sales of nearly $42 > billion. > > --Boeing, of Chicago, saw its 2007 net profit shoot up 84 percent to > $4billion, fed by “strong growth in defense earnings,” according to > an Agence France-Presse report. > > --Northrop Grumman, of Los Angeles, a manufacturer of bombers, > warships and military electronics, had 2007 profits of $1.8 billion > on sales of $32 billion. > > --General Dynamics, of Falls Church, Virginia, had profits in 2008 of > about $2.5 billion on sales of $29 billion. It makes tanks, combat > vehicles, and mission-critical information systems. > > --Raytheon, of Waltham, Massachusetts, reported about $23 billion in > sales for 2008. It is the world’s largest missile maker and Bloomberg > News says it is benefiting from “higher domestic defense spending and > US arms exports.” > > --Scientific International Applications Corp., of La Jolla, > California, an engineering and technology supplier to the Pentagon, > had sales of $10 billion for fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2009, and > net > income of $452 million. > > --L-3, of New York City, has enjoyed sales growth of about 25 percent > a year recently. Its total 2008 sales of $15 billion brought it > profits > of nearly $900 million. Its primary customer is the Defense > Department, > to which it supplies high tech surveillance and reconnaissance > systems. > > --EDS Corp., of Plano, Texas, purchased by Hewlett-Packard in May, > 2008, had 2007 sales of nearly $20 billion. Its priority project is > building > the $12 billion Navy-Marine Corps Intranet, said to be the largest > private network in the world. > > --Fluor Corp., of Irvine, Texas, an engineering and construction firm, > had net earnings of $720 million in 2008 on sales of $22 billion. > > The good times continue to roll for military contractors under > President Obama, who has increased the Pentagon’s budget by 4 percent > to a total of about $700 billion. > --- > The military industrial complex is doing just fine. > It's nice to live in a police state where so many people care about > what you're doing, or make sure you have nothing to do. > I'm glad that President Bush Jr. was the Commander-In-Chief of our > armies > without having to be the American peoples President. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. 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