How does the threat of a war with Iraq affect the economy?
Uncertainty is huge in terms of the economy and my business. It is the enemy of growth, but a lot of this is already built in. The Iraq and the Middle East issue has been out here for some time now. War is inflationary and certainly causes a difficult time in the economy. Q: There’s a sense that since the world economy is so beaten down, a war would make it even harder to bounce back quick. A: I certainly agree with that. Economic investments have to change. It will change everyday life. A war will be hard to contain. People are concerned about how widespread it gets. An economy that’s moving toward the service sector…can get uprooted in a second. That will further hit the tech sector, which hasn’t seen the bottom yet. Even in my micro world, if we were spending $20 million in technology a few years ago, I’m spending $10 million now. And if everybody does that, we haven’t seen the bottom yet. However, in our business, now is the time for expansion — and we’re exploring a few small a
