And with their inclusion in many ESG funds,* this is the best of all possible worlds.
From Asia Times, December 7:
In the now classic 1967 film The Graduate, protagonist Benjamin Braddock, being feted with a graduation party, is pulled aside by a friend of his parents. Mr Maguire says he has only one word for Ben: “plastics.” Then, using more words, Maguire tells Ben, “There’s a great future in plastics.”
Today it looks more and more like there is a great future in ammunition, which is in short supply in Ukraine and Russia, and in the United States and elsewhere in NATO. Although it’s open to debate whether the future in ammunition can indeed be called great (depends on how you define “great”), there is certainly a huge need out there, and there are profits to be made.
The widespread ammunition shortage has caught nearly all war professionals (planners, operators, analysts) by surprise. The Ukraine war is eating up available ammunition supplies at a huge rate.
Reportedly, the the Russians alone are firing off 20,000 artillery rounds a day. And, while we don’t have reliable numbers from the Ukrainian side, they are using their big guns so heavily that hundreds of them are being sent to Poland and elsewhere for urgent repairs.
Most of the NATO players are out of ammunition, or nearly so. The German Defense Ministry has said it could only fight a war for about a week because of supply and manpower shortages, while a German lawmaker in the know says the limit is more like two days.....
....MUCH MORE
Recently:
"‘We haven’t got this figured out just yet’: Pentagon, industry struggle to arm Ukraine"
"Ukraine Has Received Over A Million Artillery Rounds From The U.S."
*See: It Must Be Tough Being A Satirist These Days
With a Russian invasion right on its doorstep, Europe now finds itself discussing whether weapons should be listed as ESG assets, to grant them more favorable access to financing...
ESG Fund Bets Big on Weapons and Beats 98% of Peers
Meanwhile, the Vanguard ESG U.S. Stock ETF does have major military contractors in the portfolio but draws the line at cluster bombs and nuclear weapons.
