MaoMagazine: The WTC & The Market Crash

And so the markets fell. And how. The synthetic news is full of the "pain" and upcoming "certainty of recession" (CNN). But a recession for whom? Surely all of us right ? We're all in this together right? Wrong.
Take Raytheon for example. Let us have a look at their own blurb. "Raytheon Company provides products and services in the areas of military and commercial electronics, communication and information systems, aircraft surveillance and intelligence systems, technical services, and missile and aircraft manufacturing. Raytheon customers include the…defence and military aviation markets."
They make those super effective U.S. cruise missiles, just like the ones that were supposed to kill Bin Laden the last time. The fact that one missile ended up landing intact in Pakistan ("a gift from allah" according to the Pakistan military) and Osama Bin Laden was untouched means nothing. The fact that their cruise missiles ended up missing Kosovo, `whoops`, and landed instead in Macedonia and Hungary is also irrelevant. These are the war profiteers. Before the crash they were a big fish in a big pond. They are now a much bigger fish in an ever-contracting pond. Pop the motherfucking champagne!
Their stocklisting (RTN) on the S&P500 has jumped like a frog on speed. Good speed too. The day before the attack on the World Trade Centre Raytheon were trading at a year low of $23.9. It made Raytheon a company whose Market Cap (total value) was around $8.589 billion. At the close of trading on Wall Street on Thursday 20th September, after three days of huge losses for the rest of the market, Raytheon closed out at a share valuation of $32.58 with a market cap of $11.679 billion. Wooo boy! $3 bn in a week. Now that's an investment.
Lockheed too have had a bonkers old time. "Lockheed Martin Corporation is a diversified enterprise that primarily researches, designs, develops, manufactures, and integrates advanced technology products and services. The Company's businesses span space, telecommunications, electronics, information and services, aeronautics, energy, and systems integration. Lockheed Martin operates worldwide."
Lockheed build all sorts of electrical systems that help missiles fly…er…to their target. Well quite near to them anyway. One year ago they were trading at a paltry $27.25 per share. Now it is $42.46 a share. The close before the attack had the Lockheed Martin Group (LMT) at around $38.00 a share. Okay, they haven't quite been able to keep up with Raytheon but $1.94 bn in a week ain't too bad.
But at the same time, as we can all see, the market size has shrunk. Whilst the rest of them have been selling off in no uncertain terms the likes of Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have seen their dominance of the markets re-asserted. This is after all a world built on oil, arms and drugs, the three multi-trillion dollar trades.
Some defence companies like Boeing who have `public exposure`, (as opposed to just military/defence exposure. They don't just get money from enormous government hand-outs), have seen their shares fall. But like Boeing, they have been quick to act. Boeing announced lay-offs of "20,000-30,000" people in the week and they were keen to point out that "at the same time, the company is working to apply its extensive capabilities in intelligence gathering, communications and space, as well as military aircraft and missiles, in the war against terrorism."
In other words they got out a big Stars and Stripes and waved it around saying `hey we're military and we've sacked all these people` in order that "these actions will enhance the company's ability to maintain its solid financial position, strong liquidity and premier debt ratings." Sweethearts.
Meanwhile, back in reality, all those little investors, your Mums and Dads, Aunties and Uncles, have seen their share `portfolios` crushed. Life savings have been smashed. Opportunities for the little man have evaporated. Businesses will go under. People will be chucked out on the street. All in the name of the `free market`.
But even here corporations cannot abide playing by the same rules as ordinary Americans (or other nationals). They demand taxpayer handouts. The airlines this week asked for $5bn in subsidy. They asked for extra help (more money) for redundancy payments. Yes, that's right. They want money from the taxpayer (including their employees) to pay for the redundancies of the taxpayer. `Right you're sacked! Now cough up and we'll give you a redundancy payoff`. Then, as if their collective cheek could get no higher they asked for a suspension of all tax-gathering from their corporations. Can you imagine if ordinary people asked for the same?
But then this comes from US airline companies who pay so badly that many of their staff receive benefits. This comes from the companies whose almost non-existent security led to the attack happening in the first place. And it is non-existent because security costs money. BBCs Newsnight laid the blame squarely at the door of the airlines. "A security guard will often be on the minimum wage with no benefits. Turnover of security staff at Boston airport was 300 in the last year. The minimum time to x-ray a bag is 12 seconds in Europe, in the USA it is five seconds."
Of course it pulled back from asking whether or not they should help pay for the disaster they aided through their penny pinching incompetence. And penny pinching they are. Even pilots, as reported by Michael Moore, qualify for food stamps in some airlines.
And so, the markets fell. Well, kind of. Because they will be back, headed up by the arms industry and subsidised by the taxpayer. So once again, but this time perhaps more transparently than ever, we see the free market for what it is. A subsidised playground for the elite and a multiple layered disaster for John Doe. And they deserve better.

arch/ive/ief (2000 - 2005)