MIM Notes 187 June 1 1999

War Demands More Militarization of the Economy

by MC12

The war against Yugoslavia is deepening the 
militarization of the U.$. economy. There is an 
open rush for military contracting money going 
on among the four major military companies and 
their boosters. So, as Clinton asks Congress for 
more military money, "A move is afoot in 
Congress to cloak a longstanding military and 
industrial wish list in the mantle of a 
readiness emergency to scare the American public 
into opening its purse."(1)

There is a lot of easy money to be made. 
Lockheed Martin, the biggest military contractor 
in the country, has had stock increases of more 
than 15% from late March to early May (despite 
flopping a big satellite program). Lockheed 
produces the F-16 and F-22 fighter jets, plus 
Titan rockets and the Aegis Navy combat system. 
Raytheon, which produces the cruise missiles 
used so much in the war, had a 25% increase in 
stock value from mid-March to early May, as did 
Boeing, whose military subsidiary is McDonnell 
Douglas. General Dynamics, producer of nuclear 
subs, Navy destroyers, and tanks and armored 
vehicles, is also up more than 30% since mid-
March.(2)

Stock prices go up when investors think the 
company has prospect of more profits in the 
future. These companies benefit not just from 
the use of current weapons, which were already 
paid for in most cases, but from the prospect of 
more war in the future.

One analyst wrote recently that:  "The 
Congressional Budget Office and the General 
Accounting Office have warned for several years 
that current levels of defense spending could 
not support the military in the future at its 
current size, with its current level of 
infrastructure and its planned modernization 
programs. The nation could avert the crisis 
either by reducing its expectations for the 
military's role and size or by increasing 
defense budgets."(1) With the current war, it 
looks a lot like the first choice is not as 
likely as the second:  more militarization of 
the economy.

Every time there is a demand for more weapons, 
it increases the pressure to develop new weapons 
systems, and the previous generation of weapons 
goes on the market among the puppet states, as 
reflected for example in the recent buying binge 
of fighter jets in the Middle East.(3)

The economic agenda of these companies is tied 
to the political agenda of the military and its 
leaders. Recently, Gen. Richard Hawley, the head 
of Air Combat Command, made explicit public 
remarks to the effect that "the Air Force has 
been sorely strained by the Kosovo conflict and 
would be hard-pressed to handle a second war in 
the Middle East or Korea." He "told reporters 
that five weeks of bombing Yugoslavia have left 
U.S. munitions stocks critically short."

Hawley's remarks were no doubt deliberately 
timed to spur the Congressional debate on 
military funding that Clinton launched with his 
request for more money. Military leaders have 
been saying for a while that the Pentagon 
doesn't get enough money to be prepared for two 
regional wars, as they are supposed to be. "If 
another military crisis were to erupt in the 
Middle East or Asia, Hawley said "reinforcements 
are still available." But he added: ''I'd be 
hard-pressed to give them everything that they 
would probably ask for. There would be some 
compromises made."

Hawley stressed quality as well as quantity, 
arguing that two new fighter jets under 
development, the F-22 and Joint Strike Fighter, 
are sorely needed. That means it's time to sell 
out stocks of today's fighters to the puppet 
states, and start firing up defense production 
for new equipment - all good news for the 
defense contractors, and music to the ears of 
imperialist warmongers everywhere.(4)

More than ever, today's military contractors are 
giant, integrated companies that are not 
completely reliant on single weapons contracts. 
So Boeing owns McDonnell Douglas, and Lockheed 
Martin is doing everything from selling fighter 
jets to installing red-light runner detectors in 
Washington, D.C.(5) The new $28.5 million 
contract for traffic surveillance equipment is 
paid out of the money they collect from traffic 
tickets. (How's that for introducing a profit 
motive into the business of state repression?)

The imperialists never have enough weapons on 
hand to fight all the wars they might have to 
fight. They need the militarization of the 
economy so they can throw everything into war 
production should it become necessary. So the 
current round of militarization reflects their 
long-term thinking, that there are more wars, 
not fewer, on the horizon.

Notes:
1. Cindy Williams in the Washington Post 29 
April 1999; p. A33.
2. Stock price info from Yahoo.com.
3. See MIM Notes 184, 15 April 1999.
4. Washington Post 30 April  1999; p. A01.
5. May 3 PR Newswire.