Finally! Some Good Economic News

Sure, the U.S. economy faces stagflation, with retail sales struggling and inflation rising at its fastest rate in almost two decades. Foreclosures have jumped by 55 percent, and banks are in danger of falling like dominoes. Automakers are reeling and jobless rolls are swelling.

Let's pause for a moment and focus on what right with the economy.

Guns. Bombs. Fighter jets.

Homebuilders and carmakers may be tanking, but tank factories are humming. Arms sales brokered by the U.S. government are on track to jump by 45 percent this year, to $34 billion, a Pentagon official said Wednesday at ComDef 2008, an international weapons-industry conference in Washington.

"Our program is growing by leaps and bounds," said Jeanne Farmer, principal director of the programs directorate at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

The agency, a branch of the Department of Defense that brokers government-to-government arms sales, booked sales of $23.3 billion in fiscal year 2007, which ended last September, and $21 billion in fiscal 2006.

Farmer said revenue would continue to grow. "In the current environment, everybody needs everything right now," she told Reuters. "We do expect to continue to have large, large sales."

The biggest buyers this year include Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, and Iraq. The biggest sellers are Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, and Raytheon.

by Mark Stein