Originally Published in Madras Courier
Editorial Note
War creates opportunities to generate profit for some of the world’s largest corporations. The Industry based on destruction and ruin keeps the American economy alive.
On January 17, 1991, as American cruise missiles struck Baghdad, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose. Within hours, defence stocks rallied. Raytheon, maker of the Patriot missile, saw its shares climb by roughly five per centas television networks broadcast footage of Scud interceptors over Saudi Arabia. The Gulf War had begun, and Wall Street had already priced it in before the first shots were fired.