War is NOT an economic stimulus, that is a terrible myth. War can ONLY hurt the economy and destroy wealth, anyone who says otherwise should be ignored due to their lack of economic understanding. War is a perfect example of the broken window fallacy which goes something like this... A child throws a rock through the window of a bakery, people then claim that this is good for the economy since it means the glazier now put to work making a new window for the baker. This is the part that is seen. But of course this is not the whole story. The baker has to now buy a replacement window, meaning he has to divert resources that might have gone to a tailor but instead goes to the glacier. SO instead of have a new suit, all he has is a new window. The suit doesn't get made now, meaning the tailor has lost out (though he doesn't know it) and society is now poorer by one suit. This is the unseen. Resources were used to make the glass that should never have been used if it were not for the vandal, so society is made worse off.
Now lets look at war. War is basically a gigantic stone destroying not just a window but entire cities. Wealth must then be spent to rebuild the cities after war as opposed to if the war never happened society would still have the cities intact but the wealth would be spent on other things, like cars, boats, clothes, investments etc. Resources during a war are diverted to building bombs and tanks which do not make society wealthier. Metals and labor that may have been used to build a bridge or skyscraper are now used to build a bomb. The bridge and skyscraper are a benefit to society and make society wealthier by improving productivity and efficiency and serving the needs of the market, the bomb on the other hand serves no purpose but to destroy bridges and skyscrapers and destroy wealth by blowing things up or preventing productive production from every taking place. Of course war also kills human beings which besides being terrible on its face also means a net economic loss as it reduces the total labor productivity in the market, destroys the knowledge base in society and creates smaller markets than before.
So please don't ever think that war is somehow good for the economy, it may be good for those in the munitions industry but it is bad for the economy and society as a whole and can only destroy wealth, never build it.
