Author Archives: Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D
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Why Defense Stocks Are Going Up
May 22, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The defense sector has become a tale of two cities — or at least, two zip codes. If you live on Main Street where the defense plants and depots are located, things are looking rather bleak. Contracts are being delayed, [Read More...] -
Huntington Ingalls May Be The Safest Bet In The Defense Sector (From Forbes)
May 21, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) is the biggest builder of warships in the Western Hemisphere, and maybe the world. It was cobbled together from three previously independent shipyards in 2001 by Northrop Grumman, which spun it off ten years later. The [Read More...] -
Huge Northrop Grumman Stock Buyback Will Boost E.P.S. For Years To Come
May 17, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Defense contractor Northrop Grumman announced a major expansion of its ongoing share repurchase program yesterday, signaling that the company’s earnings per share (E.P.S.) are likely to increase for years to come despite softening demand from its federal customer. The company [Read More...] -
Blaming The Military For Society’s Problems
May 16, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Last week Air Force Chief of Staff Mark Welsh committed the cardinal sin of telling Senators the truth about a politically charged subject in an open subcommittee session. Welsh suggested that one reason the military has trouble preventing sexual assault [Read More...] -
The Bottom Line On Cutting Defense-Industry Compensation: You Get What You Pay For
May 15, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D For nearly 20 years, the federal government has used a formula to determine how much executive compensation it is willing to cover at its leading contractors. The ceiling is adjusted each year, and currently stands at $763,000. But critics of [Read More...] -
Army Move To Slash Warfighter Network Sows Confusion On Priorities
May 14, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Times are tough for the U.S. Army. After twelve years of fighting — the longest stretch of continuous combat in the Army’s history — its plans to rebuild are being shredded by across-the-board funding cuts. Desperate to protect soldiers in [Read More...] -
Budget Cuts Are Killing Military Preparedness (From Forbes)
May 13, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D Last month, Army Secretary John McHugh and Chief of Staff Raymond Odierno warned the armed services committees in the House and Senate that their service’s readiness is rapidly approaching a crisis state. Budget cuts have resulted in cancellation of new [Read More...] -
Gun Control Turns Into The Biggest Mis-Step Of Obama’s Presidency
May 10, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D In the aftermath of the December 14 shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School, it must have seemed obvious to Barack Obama that he needed to do something about gun control. He called it the worst day of his presidency, and [Read More...] -
The Air Force Is In Much Better Shape Than It Seems
May 9, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D The problem with the news is that it is always about what’s happening today. It’s almost never about underlying trends or larger meanings. So if you peruse the archives of major newspapers over the last few decades, you’ll find their [Read More...] -
Goure Nails It: China Can’t Compete At The Cutting Edge
May 8, 2013- Loren B. Thompson, Ph.D My colleague Dan Goure posted a commentary yesterday that captured the core weakness of China’s economy. Although Beijing can stimulate high levels of growth through subsidies and other market interventions, it can’t create the kind of agile, innovative business culture [Read More...]