Bankers as war profiteers

Financing wars by bankers is not a new enterprise, as it has been going on for the last two centuries, and probably many more centuries going further back. Banks have always profited from war because the debt created by them results in ongoing profit. Apart from direct lending to the government, banks benefit from war through other channels: they collect commissions by helping warring governments to sell war bonds, and they benefit by financing the war profiteers that provide goods and services to the military, the demand for which intensifies during warfare. Banks also profit by financing reconstruction following the end of hostilities and from the business opportunities arising in occupied territories. Still, flawed arguments are sometimes presented to support the proposition that banks hate war because they like macroeconomic stability.