The absence of patronage would be an interesting diversion after five hundred years of past practice on American soil.
If someone else was in the White House the pool of bidders would be the same. I will grant you that without the no-bid Iraq contracts Halliburton's pockets would not be as well-lined and therefore they would not be as well-prepared for this bid process as they were.
But as I said before, it is self-perpetuating that the rich get richer.
And I can imagine a situation where the Haliburtons of the world fund and mentor smaller emerging companies to do the same job and become self-sufficient, spreading the wealth. Isn't that the philosophy of organizations like the World Bank? (I may have the name wrong, but not the concept)
500 years of past practices doesn't mean it has to be that way for the next 500 years.
and here you have an area that will be economically impacted by this event for decades. can't Haliburton's companies write off the contributions they make to economically stimulate the rebirth of New Orleans?
Rest assured that Halliburton will write off exactly the amount that best benefits them come tax time, a practice which neither I nor anyone else who itemizes deductions have any right to gripe about.
As to mentoring emerging companies there might be a legitimate argument that by bringing subcontractors in under their umbrella the company is doing just that. The big guys fairly routinely use the small and emerging companies. They don't become persona non grata until on the verge of becoming a legitimate competitor.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stonebender
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-08 05:11 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-08 05:32 am (UTC)If someone else was in the White House the pool of bidders would be the same. I will grant you that without the no-bid Iraq contracts Halliburton's pockets would not be as well-lined and therefore they would not be as well-prepared for this bid process as they were.
But as I said before, it is self-perpetuating that the rich get richer.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-08 04:00 pm (UTC)500 years of past practices doesn't mean it has to be that way for the next 500 years.
and here you have an area that will be economically impacted by this event for decades. can't Haliburton's companies write off the contributions they make to economically stimulate the rebirth of New Orleans?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-09-08 05:52 pm (UTC)As to mentoring emerging companies there might be a legitimate argument that by bringing subcontractors in under their umbrella the company is doing just that. The big guys fairly routinely use the small and emerging companies. They don't become persona non grata until on the verge of becoming a legitimate competitor.