[thechat] Opinion on War

[Ben Dyer]

At 04:15 PM 1/27/2003, you wrote:
>At 03:34 AM 28-01-03, Ben Dyer wrote:
>>Because nothing helps the economy like a good, old-fashioned war.  At
>>least, this is what I presume to be his train of thought.
>
>But wouldn't that be more for people like Mcdonnell Douglas and Lockheed
>Martin?
>
>How does war create more jobs in web development, for example?

Lockheed Martin needs web sites, too, no? :)

Honestly, I don't think this logic applies anymore.  It worked in World War
II when the U.S. was coming out of the Great Depression and had a sudden
and immediate need for thousands and thousands of Sherman tanks,
halftracks, M1 Garands and the like.  Suddenly, we needed steel for tanks
and ships, rubber for jeeps, wood for planes, uniforms and food and boots
and bullets and parachutes for soldiers, etc., etc.  Plus we need people to
build those things, sew those uniforms, mine for iron ore, etc.  Then these
people have more money for food and toys and radios and what-not.  It's
Capitalism 101, really.

Nowadays, it takes so long for new weapons to make it through committee
after subcommittee and reams of red tape and years of testing, that even
the most prolonged modern war would be shorter than most military program
timetables.  And the other things we have enormous stockpiles of.  The
military is not about to run out of MREs or bullets or F-16s anytime soon,
for example.

--Ben