{"id":90947,"date":"2026-03-15T08:38:02","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=90947"},"modified":"2026-03-15T08:38:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T08:38:02","slug":"who-wins-from-this-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/03\/15\/who-wins-from-this-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Who wins from this war?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FT has an article<\/a> this morning that notes:<\/p>\n

US oil companies stand to receive a windfall of more than $60bn this year if crude prices maintain the levels they have hit since the start of the Iran war.<\/p>\n

Modelling by investment bank Jefferies estimates American producers will generate an extra $5bn cash flow this month alone following a roughly 47 per cent rise in oil prices since the conflict began on February 28.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trump is, of course, arguing that this is good for the USA because he equates high corporate profitability with well-being for the people of the country. As is usual for a neoliberal, he is ignoring issues around distribution.<\/p>\n

Oil companies are not the only beneficiaries of the war. As Reuters<\/a> has reported.:<\/p>\n

\n
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration said it used $5.6 billion in munitions during \u200bthe first two days of strikes against Iran in \u200ca report provided to U.S. congressional committees, a source familiar with the information said on Tuesday.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Members of Congress, who may soon have to approve additional \u200bfunding for the war, have expressed concern that\u00a0the conflict\u00a0\u200bwill deplete U.S. military stocks at a time when \u2060the defense industry was already struggling to keep up with demand.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Killing innocent civilians is an expensive business. The likely additional funding noted is expected to be at least $50 billion.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
And then there are the AI companies. We know that Palantir is deeply embedded in the military in both the USA and the UK. Anthropic may be in dispute with the Pentagon right now, but it will be gaining nonetheless.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
All those companies that profit from delivering destruction are winning from this war, as are all those entities that can charge additional, monopoly-supported prices as a result of the shortages it is creating.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The cost is, then, enormous. The gain can be identified with the usual neoliberal financial elite. The question is, who suffers the consequences?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Here, the list could go on forever, and includes:<\/div>\n