Is the war in Iraq bad for the US economy?

No

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by Ted Sherman

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If you're familiar with the "Orphan Annie" comic strip, movie and Broadway show, you know about the Daddy Warbucks character. Have you ever thought of the meaning of his name? The big, bluff industrialist with a heart of gold for the little lost girl was created by cartoonist Harold Grey in the 1920s, the years following World War I.

During that war, as in every one before and since, there were clever businessmen who made tons of money ... war bucks ... from supplying goods and services to their governments. Thus was created Daddy Warbucks, whose enormous fortune came from providing the goods and services that equipped the doughboys who went off France to fight "the war to end all wars".

You may believe the current war is actually bad for the U.S. economy. It certainly is for the average citizen who is desperately trying to survive financially amid rampant inflation at the gas pump, grocery store and real estate market. It is terribly bad for the parents who must send their children into combat, and military families who may lose their father or mother as the killing continues.

However, if you can cynically consider the opportunities out there to make lots of bucks, it has to be a bonanza for those who profit from the war. The current controversy about the Blackwater private guard organization isn't just based on their opportunism to profit from the war, which is highly suspect, but primarily on their alleged indiscriminate killing of Iraqi civilians.

However, if you look into the statistics, they will serve as a typical example of making war bucks. The average Blackwater employee, the guy who carries the gun and protects VIPs and convoys, earns between $150,000 and $250,000 a year. A similar job in the US, although nowhere nearly as dangerous, pays from $35,000 to $50,000.

Of course, all Blackwater expenses, as inflated as they are, pale before the profits being made by manufacturers of weapons, vehicles, uniforms, aircraft, ships and the thousands of other expensive items and services needed to pursue the war. Most people involved in the transactions adhere to regular business practices, but examples of grossly excessive charges, under-the-table payoffs, bribery of foreign governments and outright thievery are as rampant in this war as they've been in every conflict and defense build-up since the 1776 US revolution.

"War is good for business" is quoted every day in 2007 A.D. in boardrooms and stock exchanges throughout the U.S. You can be sure the phrase was certainly said first by armorers and spearmakers way back in 2007 B.C. Sparta.

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