no War profits in this economy, no sir!

[pynchonoid]

Taken at random from the many, many examples
available:

Published on Friday, May 2, 2003 by the Guardian/UK
War Propels Exxon Profits to Record $7 Billion
by Terry Macalister 
ExxonMobil, the world's biggest privately owned oil
group and a target of street protesters, celebrated
May Day by reporting the largest quarterly corporate
profits in history at $7.04bn (£4.4bn).

The company, whose petrol stations around Europe are
subject to boycotts by StopEsso campaigners angry
about its stance on global warming, made £2.2m an hour
- double that of rival BP.

Crucial to the surge in profits was the rising global
price of oil, which averaged record highs across the
three-month period, buoyed by fears of a supply gap
due to the war in Iraq. [...]
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0502-06.htm 


http://www.rationalenquirer.org/features/portfolio/
The Perpetual War Portfolio is an evenly weighted
basket of five stocks poised to succeed in the age of
perpetual war. The stocks were selected on the basis
of popular product lines, strong political connections
and lobbying efforts, and paid-for access to key
Congressional decision-makers.

The bomb, bullet, and missile companies are doing
pretty good, too. Tens of billions of dollars have
been transferred from US taxpayers into the hands of
war profiteers since Bush launched his war on Iraq
alone.  Then there are the new industries that have
sprung up:


http://www.columbia.edu/cu/jtl/Vol_42_2_files/singer.html
War, Profits, and  the Vacuum of Law: Privatized
Military Firms and International  Law
P.W. SINGER

One of the most interesting developments in warfare
over the last  decade has been the emergence of a
global trade in hired military  services, better known
as the “privatized military industry.” The  businesses
in this industry, known as “privatized military 
firms” (“PMFs”), range from small consulting firms, 
comprised of retired generals, to transnational
corporations that  lease out wings of fighter jets or
battalions of commandos. These  firms presently
operate in over fifty countries. They have been the 
determinate actors in a number of conflicts, helping
to win wars  in Angola, Croatia, Ethiopia-Eritrea, and
Sierra Leone. Even the  U.S. military has become one
of the prime clients of the industry.  Indeed, from
1994-2002, the U.S. Defense Department entered into 
over 3,000 contracts with U.S.-based firms, estimated
at a contract value of more than US$300 billion. PMFs
now provide the logistics  for every major U.S.
military deployment, and have even taken over  the
Reserve Officer Training Corps (“ROTC”) programs  at
over two hundred U.S. universities; that is, private
company employees  now train the U.S. military leaders
of tomorrow. In fact, with the  recent purchase of
Military Professional Resources Inc., a PMF based  in
Virginia, by the Fortune-500 corporation L-3, many
Americans unknowingly  own slices of the industry in
their 401(k) stock portfolios. 
Perhaps no example better illustrates the industry’s
growing activity than the recent war against Iraq.
Private military employees  handled everything from
feeding and housing U.S. troops to maintaining 
sophisticated weapons systems like the B-2 stealth
bomber, the F-117  stealth fighter, the KC-10
refueling aircraft, U-2 reconnaissance  aircraft, and
numerous naval surface warfare ships. Indeed, the
ratio  of private contractors to U.S. military
personnel in the Gulf is  roughly one to ten, ten
times the ratio during the 1991 war. The Economist
even termed the conflict “the first privatised war.”
Private  firms will play similar roles in the ensuing
occupation period, as  well as added roles, such as
training the post-Saddam army, paramilitary,  and
police. Indeed, many of the firms with strong
footholds in the  industry, such as Bechtel and
Halliburton, gained the multi-billion  dollar
reconstruction contracts in part due to their prior
security  clearances. 
The rise of this new industry, however, raises a
number of concerns  regarding the relationship between
public authorities and the military  apparatus. Some
firms have committed severe abuses in the course  of
their operations and have been employed by
dictatorships, rebel  armies, terrorist groups, and
drug cartels. The hire of others has  led to a rise of
internal tensions inside certain states and even 
military coups and mutinies. Given the ultimate
importance of the  field in which they operate and the
potential for serious abuses,  a particularly worrying
aspect is that the industry’s position  in the legal
sphere remains ambiguous. While the industry includes
several hundred companies and over US$100 billion in
annual global  revenue, there still remain lingering
questions that apply not only  to its underlying
legality, but also to how international law’s  legal
protections and sanctions should apply to its
employees. [...] 



=====
http://pynchonoid.org
"everything connects"


		
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages!
http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail