So reads a quote from an arms industry executive in a recent Reuters article titled "At London arms fair, global war fears are good for business" about Europe's biggest arms show, the biennial Defence and Security Equipment International. You will probably be unsurprised to learn that Reuters does not name the war profiteer whose quote inspired their headline.

The article describes the way the war in Ukraine and brinkmanship in Taiwan is leading to surging profits for the military industrial complex, with the UK doubling its arms exports in 2022 and worldwide military spending expected to continue to rise by four percent each year for the next five years. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, European military spending rose 13 percent in 2022 alone, bringing total global spending to an all-time high of $2.24 trillion.

"We are extremely busy," an exaltant head of sales at an armored steel company tells Reuters.

War is good for business, and it's expected to get even better. The world's largest military contractor Lockheed Martin saw its stock rise by a whopping 37 percent last year?—?helped along by taxpayer-sponsored stock buybacks?—?and in a report titled "Lockheed Martin: Huge Growth Ahead", an investment analyst for AlmaStreet Capital predicted last month that Lockheed's massive profits will only continue to climb.