NP? no war profits in this economy, no sir

[Doug Millison]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/11/25/national/25DEFE.html

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24 - Tom Ridge, the director of homeland security, likes
to say the home-front battle against terrorism is not just the business of
government but of business. Business agrees. [...] "In response to an
immediate crisis, this is all an appropriate unification for the national
good," said Gene Kimmelman, the Washington co-director for Consumers Union,
speaking of the cooperation between government and industry.

"It starts smacking of the military-industrial complex if it goes on for
too long and spreads beyond the immediate national need in responding to a
crisis," Mr. Kimmelman added.

Already, the troubled airline industry received a $15 billion bailout from
Congress after Sept. 11. The insurance industry is seeking assistance. And
in the name of strengthening the economy, some industries are seeking
special deals in the economic stimulus legislation that is pending on
Capitol Hill.

Mr. Kimmelman said he was concerned about industries using the crisis to
seek overly broad relief from regulation or antitrust laws and said it was
already happening.

He points to a section of a $3.2 billion bioterrorism bill sponsored by
Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Bill Frist,
Republican of Tennessee, that gives government the power for three years to
pre-empt antitrust laws for companies like drug makers. [...]