GolfHos

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-kbr-war-profiteers-feb21,1,5231766.story?page=1


 >:(

Privatization of defense firms is criminal anyways IMO.  No surprise they do criminal things. 

Every company in the world will offer gifts, freebies, bribes, or all of the above, for large contracts.  Its not pretty, but its life.  But because government personnel took them and then fraudulently approved invoices - its all the evil private firms' fault?  Thats misplaced anger folks.

I've been offered all sorts of stuff in my career (never a bribe though) - and I'm just the 'recommendation guy', not the guy that signs the deals.  The guys that sign the deals - they get the golf outings, the trips to the trade shows, etc.  But we have still (almost) always made the right choice for the firm.  We're all too collectively accountable for success to let something like that pass, several checks and balances, etc.  The guy was right - they downsized themselves right into trouble - let too many run unaccountable.

Isn't profiteering like the 3rd oldest profession?

you must be joking. it's all crooked so we should just chalk it all up to business as usual? yes the private company is equally at fault. anyone who thinks any different is seriously warped. everyone is at fault from the oval office down to the first guy at the bottom that looks the other way when something just doesn't smell right.
is anything about this war above board?
 i think not. from the V.P. who used to be the CEO of the company in question on this no bid contract on, this whole deal has smelled bad right from the start.

how do you suppose Xhainey became the CEO of haliburton in the first place? there is nothing in his history that even remotely suggests that he was in any way qualified for the job other than HIS TIES TO GOVERNMENT. this prosecution should start in the oval office and work it's way through the pentagon, halliburton, KBR, and the rest of the 143 subsidiaries.

there has been more shady dealing since this guy got in office than we will ever know. to say that one of HIS companies is in no way at fault and blame it on the government is naive at best and laughable at worst.     

The government was in complete control of what it did with its money.  Its far from naive, and certainly not laughable, to say that the government played huge role in the corruption.

But far be it from me to interrupt a good emotional rant with a little bit of reason.  Perhaps I'll just stay out of aske's P&R posts from now on and let everyone have their pity parties  ::)

hobbit's post aside (which i will need a completely different forum length limit to adequately reply to  ;) )   let's not also forget how much it sucks that the people in the power/etc  ...  know how all this works, get the 'insider trading' news early, then either buy in/sell out   leaving the average joe to both pay for it with wasted tax $  as well as in the market not profit off of it, or worse, lose $ based on it.
 

oh comeon now,...even I want you to stick around in them  ;)  though we disagree on just about everything it seems ,  hearing all sides / views on a topic is what makes for knowledge to be spread and  ideas to be generated and advanced.     

so, ignoring (for now) the argument about who is more at fault, and individuals/specific companies...  and that it's universal...

let's ask the (to me) more important question-  HOW TO STOP IT! ?


for example, in this situation, the defense industry subcontracting/logistics support etc... in general, especially at times of war-instances like this:

should the individuals involved with these heinous offenses be charged with treason?

would that be enough to help stop practices like these in the future?

the system is broken, plain and simple. the back scratching and bribing has gotten to the point of no return which is exactly what my point was. the good old boys club is raping the common citizenry at will. they don't even bother to do it behind closed doors anymore.

 which was exactly my point with Xhainey. here's a guy who spent his whole life in the government in one capacity or another, then leaves and and becomes the ceo of a fortune 500 company even though he is no more qualified for the position than i am. not to mention the fact that he and his wife were sitting on the boards of a half a dozen fortune 500 companys at the time he hooked up with shrub incorporated.

and what do you know, the company that he was at the helm of is the major benefactor of the ill advised quagmire that we will be paying for for the rest of our grand children's lives.

so what do you do? ban anyone from the government from moving to the private sector? not very likely. we have reached the point where the major corporations own this country just like Carlin says in the video that seamus posted in the Carlin thread. they own the politicians at every level above local. the system is beyond repair. everyone moving into government is looking for the payoff. the payoff used to be the lifetime pension and health care, we were much better off then. now it has reached the point of total corruption. there are no checks and balances. the companies are supposed to police themselves. who the  *fudge* came up with that plan? sign me up. this quote is priceless,

excuse me while i go throw up.
28 billion in invoices and only 1 million in suspected fraud or error?  ;)