As a general rule, no one really wins in a war. Every war has fallout both for the people fighting the war and those that try to keep the economy going or not on the front lines. There may be very good reasons to go to war, but unless the war is short, no one really wins.

In an article by Roni Rabin of the New York Times, Israel and Hamas are at war and Hamas is in the middle of the Palestine people. People have died on both sides, people have been displaced on both sides and normal life has been disrupted, more on the Palestine side, however this article focused on Israel.

Israel’ ‘s economy depends on tourism and it has come to a virtual standstill.

In a war, government spending jumps.

Israel’s technology sector has been the engine for Israel’s growth and accounts for almost half of the exports and 1/5 of the economic output according to the Israeli Innovation Authority. In Israel all men and women have to do military duties and then they are in the reserve. 350,000 reservists have been called up for duty.

Many customer orders were put on hold or cancelled outright. While the war is on, foreign investment or investors are waiting till the war is over. The Israeli Innovation Center has $100 million to support technology companies particularly startups that have lost funding.

The Bank of Israel has cut interest rates by a quarter point to 4.5% and the Governor of the Central Bank Amir Yaron expected more cuts in the future. The war will cause higher deficits and more public debt.

The government is planning to increase the number of foreign workers from 50,000 to 70,000 because of worker shortages. Workers from West Palestine have been banned from working in Israel.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, if your investments are located outside of the US, sometimes that is wonderful and sometimes it is not good. There are some companies than benefit from products to wars but for most peace is better for in war there is always a toll to be paid and it takes time afterwards to become normal again. What are the contiguity plans for your company?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.