Tomgram: Nick Turse, Back to the Future with The Complex?

Once upon a time, Detroit was known as "the arsenal of Democracy" because the city's big three automakers converted so quickly from turning out civilian vehicles to producing the tanks and trucks that "helped win World War II" (and then "lent their technology to aircraft and ship manufacturing" as well). Now, the same three companies are simply beggars. Whether they are capable today of transforming themselves, as an Obama administration might wish, into an "arsenal for a green future" is certainly an open question. TomDispatch regular Nick Turse, author of the groundbreaking book The Complex on the militarization of American daily life, recalls a Cold War era in which many corporations producing the big-ticket items of the consumer economy turned themselves into literal arsenals, churning out weaponry of every sort. Now, with that consumer economy on the skids, he wonders whether civilian companies may again opt to become "arsenals" for the Pentagon. Tom

A Recipe For Corporate Success in Tough Times?

SaladShooters, Adult Diapers, and Tactical Ammo
By Nick Turse

Is it possible that one of the Pentagon's contractors has a tripartite business model for our tough economic times: one division that specializes in crock-pots, another in adult diapers, and a third in medium caliber tactical ammunition? Can the maker of the SaladShooter, a hand-held electric shredder/dicer that hacks up and fires out sliced veggies, really be a tops arms manufacturer? Could a company that produces the Pizzazz Pizza Oven also be a merchant of death? And could this company be a model for success in an economy heading for the bottom?