Is it just me but if the current VP and proponent of the war in Iraq was a former CEO of Halliburton, how can the no bid contracts awarded to that same company not raise eyebrows? There seems to be an inherent conflict of interests.
In a culture that corruption and greed is more of a norm than exception, it is just business as usual. People will be more surprised and raise eyebrows if a politician claim to be honest and is really honest.
Absolutely. Anyway, which companies would offer such services in the middle of a warzone? None, because Haliburton has been doing it for 40 years since Vietnam. Back then LBJ's wife had a major stock interest in the company. So yeah, "business as usual" produces publicly funded monopolies.
Doesn't it just scream "war profiteering"? How is it acceptable that those we trust to make decisions to go to war are allowed to profit from going to war? Where's the checks and balance?
I guess so. It just makes me angry, I just want to go around and shake people. It is like they don't even care about their country. I love this country and it kills me to see what is happening.
Obama is your check and balance in the Senate. Ain't he doing a grand job? If you haven't read "War is a Racket" by Major General Smedley Butler, I advise you do. It's not very long.
Your country has changed. More than 20 years ago, Colonel North got in trouble right or wrong, for breaking the law to serve his country. Today the same actions will not even raise an eyebrow, even if some one to do it for his own profit. I think some movies are interesting because these movies either emphasis a change in the society or because they change the people's conceptions of morals. Wall street was such a movie when Michael Douglas said: "Greed is Good". In the movie he paid the price (Hollywood still needed that good guy to win) but many Americans excepted his words and that is the dominant culture of USA today.
The no bid contracts did raise eyebrows, but the eyelids got too heavy and soon closed. Truth is there aren't too many companies in the world logistically capable of doing what Halliburton does. [cynical answer]stocks, dude... everyone's riding the gravy train[/cynical answer]
Because they have a government protected monopoly. If there was bidding on the contracts, and the contracts were awarded on the merit of the bids, you would see investors put capital into companies in this industry and create more competition. A chicken or the egg scenario. But bottom line, all contracts should be bid upon.