Welcome to 201k.com - A Commonwealth Perspective.

President Bush will give his "State of the Union" address on Tuesday, and the coverage -- pro and con -- will undoubtedly alight on a few pre-approved talking points.

We'd like our Poor Readers to consider something else while listening -- assuming they have the stomach to, which we don't:

The invasion of Iraq began on March 20, 2003. Below is a comparison of the stock prices of some top U.S. defense contractors for January, 2003 and January, 2007.

Halliburton
January 7, 2003: 9.16
January 19, 2007: 29.37

Lockheed Martin
January 17, 2003: 52.5
January 19, 2007: 97.27

Raytheon
January 27, 2003: 29.22
January 19, 2007: 52.30

Northrop Grumman
January 27, 2003: 44.2
January 19, 2007: 70.29

General Dynamics
January 22, 2003: 32.43
January 19, 2007: 79.53

United Technologies
January 22, 2003: 31.9
January 19, 2003: 65.18

L-3 Communications Holdings
January 23, 2003: 42.41
January 19, 2007: 82.20

In other words, a $250,000 investment in Halliburton in January, 2003 would be worth $801,582 today.

Bear this in mind as you listen to Mr. Bush promote his "New Way Forward" in Iraq.