They ought to just rename it back from the Department of Defense to its old name, the Department of War....

Or they can go all 1984, and call it the Ministry of Peace

http://youtu.be/WTHv4exE5eI

http://youtu.be/wK1MOMKZ8BI

These guys have far better reasons to protest, better organization and certainly a more articulated platform:

http://improveverywhere.com/2007/07/24/redheads/

The largest reason that WWII boosted the US economy which took us out of the Great Depression was the demand for goods in Brittain and other allied nations. The US being so far away from the war and having the manufacturing base which existed here in the 1940's, was able to supply that demand and profit greatly in the process. It put previously unused factories back to work and created millions of jobs in the process.

The wars going on currently are not the same. They are not being fought on the same scale and are being fought primarily by the US, not other nations. They do not demand such a large scale of goods that boost the economy significantly.

It's my belief that even if a war broke out today that the US was not involved in (lol), and created a large scale demand for goods it would not be the US supplying those goods. Hell, the US doesn't even supply it own manufactured goods anymore. A significant percentage of total consumables can be produced elsewhere and shipped thousands of miles less expensively that it would be to produce the same things in your own hometown.


Bonus post

Wall Street indifference to protests:

http://www.nytimes.com/...p;ref=business&src=me

ya, I agree Nuketonr; any wars today that are big enough to increase demand for manufactured goods to a WWII level will most certainly bring more economic devastation to the global economy than the good an increase in demand would bring

realistically, pakistan/india/china are the only places where a "major" war is even possible. probably over water or Kashmir.

the only other wars that could cause demand won't happen anymore...
-russia's not going to roll its troops into europe
-china and russia have too much to lose by fighting over any territorial issues that may still exist
-japan knows it'll get smoked by china without the US basically fighting the war for them; again both have too much to lose
- the biggest threats the US (and north america in general) has are rogue attacks from nations it could crush with a 4 day airstrike campaign
- the only people who want to attack europe want to do it terror-style
- any wars in africa + south america + the pacific rim wouldn't be anything on a global scale

gotta love wars to sell stuff . by my bushells