Richard Eskow: For Wall Street It's "Peace On Earth"

Goodwill Toward Remington. Despite an epic of gun deaths, the river of gun cash never stops flowing. If you follow that river upstream you'll see that the source lies very close to Wall Street, and the river's mouth speaks with the voice of politicians, whose campaign fundraising is undoubtedly taking place even on this supposedly holy day for most of them. "Tis the season to be lobbied. "More than 50 firearms related companies have given at least $14.8 million to the National Rifle Association, Bloomberg News reports, and that's just the money we know about. The NRA spent nearly $25 million in the last election cycle alone. True to form, the NRA's chief said this week that we need more guns in the schools to end the killing of our children. That's like spreading a flu virus to stop an epidemic, but Wayne La Pierre did his job. Everyone is talking about how crazy he is. Noone is talking about how crazy we are for tolerating this situation, or how immoral our corporate class is for financing it. Wall Street's investments extend beyond the manufacturers themselves, to the NRA, and to all the other groups supporting the NRA's nihilistic objective, the total elimination of any and all controls on even the deadliest weapons. That includes ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council, which foments the "Stand Your Ground" reign of terror, that so effectively distracts millions of Americans from the true source of their anxiety and hardship. It's working. As we reported after another gun tragedy this year, "Firearms and ammunition sales rose 45 percent between 2009 and 2010 alone." The tragedy of Newton has been great for business all around the country. Just look at a sampling of headlines we've seen in the last week: "Tucson Gun Sales Surge After Newtown" (Arizona Daily Star). "New Hampshire sets record on background checks for gun sales after Newtown shootings" (Nashua Telegraph). "Local gun dealers see sales increase after Newtown tragedy" Indianapolis local television). Somebody's making money from these tragedies. But who?