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Originally Posted by fatty
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Brag
I find that investing in things that go boom is not exactly good business.
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Speak for yourself man. If you bought stocks in Lockheed Martin the first day of trading after 9/11, your portfolio would have almost tripled in value by the end of 2007 (trading at 44.20 Sept 21 2001, trading at 110.48 Dec 21 2007). Similar trends can be observed in all other major defence contractors. |
Somebody pointed out that if you'd invested $1,000 in Enron stock, your investment would now be worth about $23. On the other hand, if you'd bought $1,000 worth of beer, the empties would now be worth about $60. 'Beer economics', ya gotta love it.
Seriously, the point is that while the armament industry is profitable for the investors in those companies, societies as a whole would be better off if the money was invested in schools, hospitals, etc. Don't get me wrong - defence spending is a very necessary evil and there is nothing more expensive than an army that is not
quite good enough, but it's an overall loss to society. I hope my greatgreatgreatgrandchildren have to look up my profession in a dictionary.