War Profiteers

Is it more obscene to be war profiteers or to mention war profiteers?

Below are ten corporations who are not contributing to the John Edwards campaign. Out of idle curiosity, I checked the stock quotes of ten top (as in $20 billion annually down to $2 billion in annual government contracts as of 2004) defense contractors. I was surprised to see that Halliburton profits were up only 84% until I remembered they had spun off KBR in 2006. Doesn’t that mean Cheney’s company is really up about 300%? The rest of the economy, as represented by the DJIA, grew much more slowly than these friends of John McCain, Dick Cheney, and George W. Bush. As a technopeasant, I have not figured out how to tab in this blog, so on each line is listed Company Name, Stock Quote 1/10/2001, Quote 1/10/2008, and % change.

1. Lockheed-Martin 33.77, 108.54, 222%

2. Boeing 60.38, 80.52, 33%

3. Northrop-Grumman 43.03, 79.43, 85%

4. General Dynamics 35.00, 88.83, 154%

5. Raytheon Company 32.75, 61.41, 88%

6. Halliburton 19.66, 36.19,84%

7. United Technologies 36.12, 72.39, 100%

8. Computer Sciences 55.25, 41.45, -25%

9. Humana 14.38, 85.07, 492%

10. L-3 Communications 36.00, 106.81 , 197%

KBR 11/16/2006 20.75, 36.11, 74%

DJIA 11,000+ or -, 12,850, 17%