Looks like president Bush is in a negotiating mood and may be preparing for a more "can-do" type conversation with Congress. I was discussing corporate financial reporting with a colleague when I saw this story, which made me wonder whether there was a proper accounting of the war on the part of the government. I know the war is "off budget" and just lurks in the shadows of Washington D.C. while contributing to our national debt and ever increasingly having an inflationary effect. But is there a proper accounting?

This seems eerily familiar. Was it not Enron that in recent years fell from grace (once the 9th largest public company) because, in part, it juggled its books when the numbers did not look favorable? Strangely, it too had many "off budget" items not properly accounted for, hidden from shareholders -- are we not shareholders in our nation?

Like Enron, we find ourselves falling from grace. Not to be to bleak about the subject, but it concerns me that if the true figures were known to the public in a way they could relate to, we might lose more people to heart failure and depression than our military has lost to date fighting in Iraq. See: National Priorities Project Cost of Iraq War Notes and Sources for some figures and discussion on the subject.

I'm fascinated with the list of 2006's 100 top prime contractors released by the Department of Defense. Earlier, I blogged about the top 10, none of which took me by surprise. As I browsed the rest of the list, though, I found a number of companies I hadn't considered as defense contractors. I noted particularly how dependent our military is on petroleum to carry out its mission.

• #26 FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) -- $1.3 billion
• #29 BP PLC (NYSE:BP) -- $1.2 billion
• #30 Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) -- $1.1 billion
• #31 N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandsche (Shell) -- $1.1 million
• #34 Kuwait Petroleum -- $1 billion
• #39 Korea Agriculture Cooperative -- $760 million
• #49 Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- $640 million
• #50 Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) -- $636 million
• #52 Cardinal Health Inc. (NYSE:CAH) -- $635 million
• #58 Government of Canada (EH) -- $542 million
• #60 Johns Hopkins University -- $525 million
• #61 Battelle Memorial Institute -- $519 million
• #66 Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. -- $494 million
• #70 The Bahrain Petroleum Company -- $478 million
• #80 Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE:PG) -- $362 million (including $13 million to Millstone Coffee and $5.6 million to Sunny Delight)
• #91 Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE:TSN) -- $335 million
• #98 Pepsico Inc. (NYSE:PEP) -- $287 million
• #99 Unicor/Federal Prisons Industries Inc. (DJNT) -- $283 million

I highly recommend checking out the full list. Consider how changes in our war status might effect the prices of your stocks.

As unpleasant as it may be to consider the business of war, the War on Terrorism has had a significant impact on our economy. The Defense Department today released figures showing which companies are garnering the largest portions of the military spending to support both the war and ongoing operations.

The Pentagon's Top 10 Prime Contact award winners for 2006 are:

1. Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), $26.6 billion, up from $19.4b in 2005.
2. Boeing (NYSE:BA) $20.3b, up from $18.3b in '05.
3. Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC) $16.6b, up from $13.5b.
4. General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) $10.5b, down from $10.6b
5. Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) $10.1b, up from $9.1b
6. Halliburton (NYSE:HAL) $6.1b, up from $5.8b
7. L-3 Communications Holdings (NYSE:LLL) $5.2b, up from $4.7b
8. BAE Systems (BAESY) $4.7b, down from $5.6b
9. United Technologies (NYSE:UTX) $4.5b, down from $5.0b
10. Science Applications Int'l (NYSE:SAI) $3.2b, up from $2.8b

The full report can be found here.

Oshkosh Truck Corporation (NYSE: OSK), which develops specialty vehicles for military and other commercial purposes, is hedging its future. To this end, the company is writing a check for $3.2 billion to buy out JLG Industries Inc. (NYSE: JLG), which develops aerial work platforms and telehandlers (basically, the equipment helps workers access machinery for construction and maintenance work).

During the past year, JLG posted about $2.3 billion in revenues. In fact, the company is growing at a rapid clip of 20% to 25% per year and is a market leader in North America and Europe.

The deal looks good for shareholders of JLG. The $28 offer represents a healthy 35% premium from the stock's closing price of $20.75 on Friday. Although, it is still below the company's 52-week high of $32.49.

For Oshkosh Truck, the deal looks good too. That is, JLG's addressable market – i.e., nonresidential construction – looks particularly bright on a global, long-term basis.

While Oshkosh Truck has made a variety of acquisitions over the years, the deal for JLG will certainly move the needle. The combined company will have $6 billion in revenues and 13,000 employees. What's more, there should be lots of cost synergies.

Back in the mid 1990s, Oshkosh Truck was in shambles because of the end of the Cold War. In other words, the company doesn't want to be too dependent on military spending – and it looks like JLG is a smart choice.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and operates InvestorOffering.com.