https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/01/op-ed-war-is-a-good-time-for...
> "Continuing wars in Ukraine and Israel and Gaza, along with various simmering geopolitical hotspots around the world, could mean increased revenues for U.S. defense contractors, enhancing the allure of stocks in the aerospace and defense category."
However, the long-term problem in relying on military sales and LNG exports tu Europe for economic health is that these are not very productive activities, e.g. building a construction crane is going to have more positive downstream economic effects than building a tank will, as you can use it for infrastructure development, etc. This kind of behavior reflects investment capitalism's boom-bust cycle - a focus on short-term returns results in poor long-term planning, such as ending up in a permanent war situation out of economic necessity, which has never ended well in history.
Meanwhile, China's investment in high-speed rail and photovoltaics has made it the world leader in those sectors, so many countries will be turning to China for engineering & development work in the near future. Their state/private mixed socialism/capitalism model might also get new followers - it's demonstrably more stable and productive.