Stock Prices for Weapons Manufacturers Rise Sharply After Paris Attacks

By John Vibes

A recent report by journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out stock prices for weapons manufacturers sharply increased just after the terrorist attacks in Paris last week. Greenwald was following the tip of Brooklyn journalist Aaron Cantú, who posted screenshots for the  recent stock performances of major weapons contractors on his Twitter page early Monday morning:

On Monday, nearly as soon as the markets opened, stocks for weapons manufacturers began to soar — Raytheon, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and Thales saw increases in a day that was rather calm for the rest of the market.

As Greenwald pointed out in his report, “The markets could barely wait to start buying. The Dow overall is up today only .12 percent, making these leaps quite pronounced.”

It seemed that the whole world knew immediately after the attacks that more war was on its way, and these rising stock values appear to substantiate the case. This week, various European countries, along with the United States, have promised more military action in the Middle East, despite the fact Western military intervention over the past decade created this mess to begin with.

Billions of dollars in tax money is spent every year so militaries can wage wars across the planet and there is an unspeakable amount of money to be made by the people who sell weapons and ammunition to countries at war. Arms dealers and weapons manufacturers never take sides, but are always happy to take billions of dollars from opposing nations in every war so they can destroy each other.

In fact, it could be argued that the financial incentive created by both the weapons industry and the plunder of foreign resources, is what drives governments to war to begin with. In fact, a recent study proved that resource-rich nations are 100 times more likely to have a foreign power intervene in their internal conflicts.

There is a ton of money made in this industry, which is perhaps why people spread the popular myth that “war is good for the economy.” However, it should be obvious this industry isn’t good for anyone economically, aside from perhaps politicians and weapons manufacturers, as countless people are killed and untold damage is done to property — creating a situation where the economy will end up less profitable because less people are working, creating, and becoming entrepreneurs.

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