By John Vibes at thefreethoughtproject.com
Major defense contractors celebrate mass murder and terrorism, boasting that it is good for their bottom lines.
Palm Beach, CA – At a Credit Suisse conference in West Palm Beach this week, representatives from major defense contractors spoke to their investors about how well business was going in these times of global war. Representatives from top firms like Raytheon, Oshkosh, and Lockheed Martin were in attendance, in somewhat of a celebration of the escalating conflict in the middle east and Africa.
Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Bruce Tanner gave a speech openly praising the “indirect” benefits that defense contractors would see as a result of the war in Syria. A portion of his speech was captured on audio by someone inside and shared widely on the internet hours after the conference.
In the audio that was captured, Tanner discussed the many recent troubles in the Middle East, with an escalation of conflict in Syria and Turkey. He pointed out how these conflicts would lead to increased sales for their company.
Tanner said that the increased conflict would cause “an intangible lift because of the dynamics of that environment and our products in theater.”
According to the Intercept, during another speech at the conference, Wilson Jones, the president of the defense manufacturer Oshkosh, said that “with the ISIS threat growing, there are more countries interested in buying Oshkosh-made M-ATV armored vehicles.”
Raytheon Chief Executive Tom Kennedy also joined in the informal celebration, saying that his company was seeing “a significant uptick for defense solutions across the board in multiple countries in the Middle East.”
“It’s all the turmoil they have going on, whether the turmoil’s occurring in Yemen, whether it’s with the Houthis, whether it’s occurring in Syria or Iraq, with ISIS,” Kennedy added.
In addition to the growing wars, the contractors also celebrated the fact that the defense sector was recently granted a $607 billion budget by the government.
“Our programs are well supported [in the budget]. We think we did fare very well,” Tanner concluded.
A recent report by journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out stock prices for weapons manufacturers sharply increased just after the terrorist attacks in Paris last month. Greenwald was following the tip of Brooklyn journalist Aaron Cantú, who posted screenshots for the recent stock performances of major weapons contractors on his Twitter page.
Defense industry stocks this morning following Friday night’s attacks in Paris: pic.twitter.com/8a35RcpPJ6
— Aaron Cantú (@aaronmiguel_) November 16, 2015
You can listen to the leaked audio from the conference below:
Absolutely disgusting, all weapon manufacturers and bankers should along with politicians who support war should be made to fight on the front line, instead of celebrating, they’d see first hand how their profits are made, how destructive their weapons are, and how good their decisions are. When they’ve killed each other, we can execute the victors as terrorists and return to peace.I WISH!
Paul, there has never been peace on Earth, and never will there be Peace on Earth. Sorry to break your bubble. Please put your life in reality of what is truly happening.
of corse you are right, but that doesn’t mean people should stop working toward something better. one of the best arguments against violence, hatred, destruction, and tyranny is how obvious it is. A fight, car wreck, tire fire, and riot are all orders of magnitude more noticeable than a helping hand, generosity, open honesty, or peace rally. this obviousness allows intelligence to at least attempt to find solutions. blind optimism is unwise, but seeking answers to difficult questions with applicable action is a worthy pursuit.
*course
Actually you are wrong.
Ryan, you read too much into a book of fantasy. We can live without war. I do not need to perpetuate war cuz some myth filled, superstitious book says so.
Ahhhh such a no-can do outlook on life. With thinking like this you’ll acheived nothing
Alright. It’s time to pull a fight club… Blow up all the banks.
yes!
This is a grand idea. Then go straight to helping the people who need it. traiding for the things we need, only surviving on the things needed to stay alive. But rid of all the greed and evil thats destroying our lives. A restart can sound crazy and scary as hell, but thats only because you are so used to these people controlling your lives. You need to realize the gravity of this active destructive and demented businesses we are controlled by. These people are insane and evil to the core. We need to rid of them.
Good Job, spending 607billion on weapons while thousands of veterans are waiting for healthcare