What is the price for selling another man's soul?

[IdaBriggs]

(Originally posted in GD: Politics, but being totally ignored -- sniff.)

In December of 2002, Halliburton stock (NYSE: HAL) was selling for $17.70 per share.

Today it is selling for $73.38 per share, for a total increase of $55.68 per share.

2,480 United States military personnel have been killed in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003.

That means that Halliburton stock has gone up approximately $0.0225 for each of our dead service personnel.

But, if one looks at their assets, one learns that the numbers are "different" -- for example, at the end of 2002, their TOTAL REVENUES were only $6.836 billion for a Net Income "loss" of -$998 million (or -$0.998 billion), while their REVENUES for 2005 were $20.994 billion for a Net Income "profit" of $2.358 billion year.

That means positive numbers (just comparing 2002 to 2005) of $3.356 billion, or $1,353,225.81 per dead soldier.

That is ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED FIFTY THREE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS AND EIGHTY-ONE CENTS per dead soldier.

Let's take a look at Bechtel. They are privately owned, so we can't get a stock price on them, but we do know that at the end of 2001, they were worth $9.3 billion -- but let us be fair, and stick to the "apples to apples" comparison.

At the end of 2002 (thanks to 9-11), they were worth $12.7 billion dollars; at the end of 2005, they were worth $18.1 billion dollars.

That means that between January 1, 2003 and December 31, 2005 the company increased in value $5.4 billion dollars, or $2,177,419.35 per dead soldier.

That is TWO MILLION ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY SEVEN THOUSAND FOUR HUNDRED NINETEEN DOLLARS AND THIRTY FIVE CENTS per dead soldier.

If we add just those two companies together, we find that selling the souls of our soldiers was worth --

$2,177,419.35 Bechtel
$1,353,225.81 Halliburton
-------------
$3,530,645.16 Total

Or for those who like to read, THREE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THIRTY THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED FORTY FIVE DOLLARS AND SIXTEEN CENTS per dead soldier.

These numbers can be wiggled up or down as pleases thee depending on how we factor in our Maimed and Mangled, and Mentally Destroyed. Either way, I certainly understand why its hard to get the rich to care about the cannon fodder, especially when their balance sheets are looking so nice.

After all, how many people would YOU kill for a couple of million dollars each?

NOTE: I'm not an expert at reading balance sheets, so if I've calculated something incorrectly, please feel free to correct it down thread. My sources are as follows:

Halliburton Stock Prices: http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=HAL&annual
Halliburton 2002 Annual Report: http://www.halliburton.com/ir/ar/2002/selected1.html
Halliburton 2005 Annual Report: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=67605&p=irol-financialInfo
Bechtel 2002 Annual Report: http://www.bechtel.com/PDF/2002GlobalReport.pdf
Bechtel 2005 Annual Report: http://www.bechtel.com/GlobalReport/2005/2005Report.pdf

[Joe for Clark]

1. It is the Eisenhower principle in the end -

We need to fear the military industrial complex - we really do.

Joe