Profiting from the Bush military industrial complex

mr. cohan's column shows how raw material sometimes should be tempered by analysis lest if give the wrong impression. when president clinton left office, he left with a recession underway and the stock market tanking. after the bush tax cuts were finally passed, the market (s&p)finally stabilized at around 850 and then started up.

I think it's o.k. to be a Democrat or Republican or anything else, as long as you have some common sense. Readers have to realize that Peter Cohan is an anti Bush / anti Republican fanatic. When Peter writes an article that mixes his political beliefs with his financial advice his brain malfunctions and he begins to suffer from temporary insanity. Maybe when election time comes around Peter gets so worked up that he forgets to take his medication. I hope he will get better now that the election is behind us.
Waldo, you are right in pointing out Peter's "W-Industrial Complex Index" as being pure propaganda. During the time span that Peter selected many other sectors did well, not just oil, gas, & defense. What about realestate? Emerging markets? gold, silver other metals and commodities? As far as individual stocks, Apple, Starbucks did quite well, Wal-Mart, GE not too good,(explain that?) also, as you pointed out Waldo, many sectors and stocks got hammered during 2001 & 2002, but have recovered tremendously since then. Was this the result of a G.W. Bush flip-flop? Peter's Index and article should be recognized as the propaganda that it is. It has no value and is not based on rational thought.

When this reader talks of Peter Cohan's brain malfunction, I invite him to look in the mirror as a brain washed Republican that he seems to be. The last crop of Republicans since and including Reagan have maskaraded all their policies towards swinging the wealth toward the wealthiest while slowly but surely ruining the middle class. Especially George W. Bush. Our reader should remember that the economy any economy is fed by the middle class, not on credit cards like recently, but on real wages. So, instead of minuscule tax cuts to the middle class and large ones to the wealthiest of wealthiest, George W. should have done it the other way around, and this way, the middle class feeds the economy and the corporations owned by the wealthiest and everybody is happy, contrary to what it is now, where the middle class is hurting and the Stock Market(mostly in the hands of the wealthiest) is going sideways, except for Oil and Defense stocks. This is how you see things when you do not have a Republican agenda brainwashed/hardwired in your head.

You make many good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.

If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armements”

The Pentagon is a giant,incredibly complex establishment,budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Adminisitrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.

How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the Sec. Def. to be - Mr. Gates- understand such complexity, particulary if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?

Answer- he can’t. Therefor he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.

From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.

This situation is unfortunate but it is ablsolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.

This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won’t happen unitil it hits a brick wall at high speed.

We will then have to run a Volkswagon instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.