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There Might Be a Financial Crisis, But the World’s Arms Dealers Are Doing Just Fine
- Text size
Frida Berrigan
Alternet
September 30, 2008
The CEO of a weapons manufacturer has plenty of chances to rub elbows with deputy secretaries of defense, officials from Homeland Security, retired military personnel, and the best and brightest of the defense establishment almost any week of the year.
One such opportunity occurred at the ComDef 2008 conference, which wrapped up at the National Press Club in Washington on September 3. Sponsored by weapons giants like Boeing, Raytheon, and BAE Systems, the day-long conference was organized around the theme of “Defense Priorities in an Age of Persistent Conflict.” It featured presentations from a Navy undersecretary, a deputy director at the Pentagon, several weapons manufacturers, and defense representatives from France, the Netherlands, Canada, and elsewhere. With this high-powered lineup, the conference probably delivered on the promise of its catch line: “Where the international defense cooperation community gets down to business.”
Next on the calendar in mid-October will be the Women in Defense National Conference at the Crystal Gateway Marriott near the Pentagon. Sponsored by consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton, the conference includes a panel on the “National Security Priorities in the Next Administration,” moderated by a Lockheed Martin vice-president. Foreign policy advisers from the McCain and Obama campaigns will be on hand and — in a nod towards inclusiveness — representatives from Bob Barr’s and Ralph Nader’s campaigns have been invited. The closing reception is sponsored by Lockheed Martin, and Booz Allen Hamilton is picking up the tab for the “Breaking a Glass Ceiling” dinner featuring retired Air Force Major General Jeanne Holm. And then, who would want to miss flying south for the winter? The Defense Manufacturing Conference at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Florida in early December offers military industry executives the chance to soak up the rays and address the question: “Are we ready to provide affordable warfighting capabilities?”
One of the persistent themes of these and many other weapons industry conferences is the looming concern that the military budget — which increased by two-thirds between 2001 and 2008 — can’t keep spiraling upwards forever. ComDef 2008 frames it like this: “persistent warfare is eroding the capability of our armed forces and hard choices will need to be made … It is increasingly unlikely that more money will be found for defense.” Last year, the Women in Defense conference addressed this issue with a panel titled “Shaking the Money Tree: Funding National Defense,” moderated by a vice-president for programs and budget at Lockheed Martin.
Shaking the Money Tree
Lockheed Martin stands head-and-shoulders above its competitors as a professional tree-shaker. Between 2001 and 2008, the company saw its contracts from the Department of Defense jump nearly 130%, from $14 billion to $32 billion. In a stagflation economy, their profit margin is more than healthy. The Bethesda-based company reported a 13% increase in profitability for its second quarter — from $778 million last year to $882 million this year.
The weapons industry’s concern about belt-tightening notwithstanding, the military budget is likely to continue its dramatic growth. The Defense Department’s base budget, which does not include funds for nuclear weapons or the $12-billion-a-month “global war on terror,” has grown by nearly 70% — from $316 billion in 2001 to a request for more than $515 billion for 2009’s fiscal year (which begins in October). Despite the fact that these figures represent close to what the rest of the world combined devotes to the military, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain has adopted reducing military spending as part of his national security plan. In fact, as both of them talk about modernizing the military for the 21st century and expanding the size of the armed forces, the billions add up.
So the weapons industry’s alarm bells are ringing prematurely and the future — particularly in foreign weapons sales — looks very bright. Take Lockheed Martin, for example: The company, which is springing for the floral arrangements at the Women in Defense conference next month, has more than $10 billion in proposed or recent weapons deals with foreign nations. The biggest deal could be worth $7 billion (that’s a lot of gladiolas and irises for Women in Defense) to Lockheed Martin. The United Arab Emirates is interested in the company’s THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) system. The mobile truck-mounted system is designed to intercept incoming missiles targeted at sites such as airfields or populations centers.
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September 30th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
Haha more guns for everyone!
September 30th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
did you see the amero is now for sale http://www.amerocurrency.com/ looks to me like everybody that sayes this site is bulls--- should go take a look at this and eat there words
September 30th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
The Arms dealers have been doing fine in the US for over 200 years.. they stepped it up around 1900 and been going full speed ever since..
What is new?
War materials are “good business”.. nothing like expending a “product” to justify replacing it frequently.. The old “Supply and demand” thing… Make war material.. start war…. use war material… ask for more GVT money to build new war material for GVT soldier/sailors.. and on and on and on…. Closed sircle ..and maintaining the Tragedy of the Commons among humanity.. War is “Good Business..”
They should find every GVT official ..elected and contractor who own stocks in such agencies and hang them..
September 30th, 2008 at 8:26 pm
George Post #2.. I would like to research your claim. Do you have any references or sites you can post with links on here for myself and anyone else to see?
Thank you…
September 30th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
thats pretty foolish to make that many guns and weapons … what if??? who knows where they go??
October 1st, 2008 at 12:47 am
f---in’A!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Get em’ while you can!!!!!!!!!!! BuLLLs--- “IS” coming to your community soon!!!!!!!!!!!! f--- It…It’s On!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! “All Mother f---in’ “HAIL” Thermal Expansion!!!!”
October 1st, 2008 at 12:49 am
2legit ..Seriously.. each and every war is where they go.. French soldiers in WWII were killed with more French manufactured bullets than anywhere else..
Please do a little research.. a book. WAR IS A RACKET” by a Marine..Smedly Butler..it is feee on line…
Wars are designed to stimultae economies.. the problem is.. the countries borrrow for wars and never manage to “quite” recover….
October 1st, 2008 at 1:07 am
Lock/Load 08′!!!!! “All HAIL Thermal Expansion!!!!!!!!!!!
October 1st, 2008 at 3:43 am
#2: that figure doesn’t surprise me…actually I would guess more…a great deal more, since most economies have zionist jews controlling the purse strings ie., the illegal Federal Reserve bank in the USA that by deception such as false flag operations, manipulate wars. 911 is a great example!
October 1st, 2008 at 4:22 am
Great web site: http://www.WarIsARacket.com
October 1st, 2008 at 8:53 am
the elite are scared to death of us…… craigslist now requires a phone verification to post on there politics page(the agents got to them) … so if you live in denver I suggest you use westword.com and go to the backpage section to repost these great stories alex is putting his neck on the line to bring us……. spread like fire /// if you know of any other forums/post sites please list them on here ….please repost at least 1 infowars story to another site everyday…. because we need more than me and you to win this thing….god bless americans …. god have mercy on the elites soul(if they have one)
October 1st, 2008 at 11:39 am
Could someone please inform us whether or not Post #2’s “ameros for sale” is real or not. I went to the site, but can’t figure out whether or not it’s a joke or not. Thanks.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I just looked at it and I cant tell for sure if the site is genuine or not.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Hey, thanks alot for your time. It’s got to be fake.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:23 pm
BECAUSE OF THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND THE INTERNATIONAL BANKERS , THE VALUE OF THE DOLLAR IS GOING DOWN AND SOON CURRENCY WILL BE DESTROYED. IT IS WRITTEN & FORETOLD THAT ONE DAY IN THE NEAR FUTURE,….IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE THE UNITED NATIONS & THE CENTRAL BANKERS WILL BECOME SO POWERFUL THAT THEY WILL HAVE ALL OF THE G8 COUNTRIES DISMANTLE ALL RELIGION . “BABYLON THE GREAT” ALSO KNOWN AS: THE FALSE RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD; WILL NO LONGER BE A PART OF MANKIND’S WAY OF LIFE. THIS TAKEOVER WILL MARK THE BIBLES FORETOLD “GREAT TRIBULATION”. FOLLOWING THE GREAT TRIBULATION WILL MARK ARMAGEDDON, WHERE PEOPLE WILL SUDDENLY WITNESS SO MUCH EXTRATERRESTRIAL PHONOMENA SIMILAR TO THE EVENTS OF THE GLOBAL FLOOD. THERE WILL BE A JUDGEMENTAL GLOBAL EXECUTION OF ALL WICKED ONES ON PLANET EARTH. ITS ALSO WRITTEN PEOPLE WILL REALIZE THIS IS NOT OF SOME TERRORIST ATTACK OR AN ALIEN TAKEOVER..THIS IS AN ACT OF GOD. FOLLOWING ALL OF THIS GOD’S KINGDOM WILL BE ESTABLISHED, WHICH WILL PUT AN END AND CRUSH ON ALL OF THESE KINGDOMS OF THE WORLD FOREVER. THIS KINGDOM WILL STAND TO TIME INDEFINITE & THIS KINGDOM WILL BRING BACK THE ORIGINAL CONDITION OF THE PLANET WHERE IT HAS BEEN IN WHEN ADAM AND EVE WERE CREATED. THERE WILL BE NO MORE DEATH, SICKNESS, FAMINE, CRIME,GLOBAL WARMING, WARS, POLLUTION, AND THE PEOPLE WHO SURVIVE WILL LIVE FOREVER IN THIS PARADISE EARTH. THE EVENTS THE WORLD IS EXPERIENCING RIGHT NOW SUCH AS EARTHQUAKES, FAMINES,WARS, POLLUTION, DISEASE, & CRIME ARE PROOF WE ARE IN THE LAST DAYS. TO FURTHER PROVE, THE CENTRAL INTERNATIONAL BANK AS WELL AS THE UNITED NATIONS THIER GOAL IS A ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT AND ELIMINATION OF ALL RELIGION TO ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE. SO TO THE PEOPLE WHO ARE READING THIS RIGHT NOW …,HOPEFULLY UNDERSTAND WHERE THIS WORLD IS HEADED TO AND HOPEFULLY IS READING THIER BIBLE AND LIVING BY GOD’S REQUIRED RIGHTEOUSS STANDARDS AND PRINICIPLES.