system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: If wars are so good for industry in the US, why does the stock market tank when we're about to start one?

I've seen this happen with Libya, Syria, and any time the US gets involved in the middle east. Rumors of intervention cause the stock market to drop, and pulling back causes the stock market to rise.
gpt
War is only good for the economy in that way when it causes the government to spend massively and pump money into the economy. Putting the entire country and economy on a war footing during WWII did that.  Going to war on a small scale while cutting taxes and trying not to affect the wider society at all does not. 

To paraphrase John Ralston Saul, if we want to get those economic benefits, we'd best get down to *seriously* blowing things up. Which is of course a completely insane position if meant seriously...