(no subject)

[stonebender]

Just in case you were worried where were all that Katrina relief money is going. *cough*,

Comments

[smellybeast.livejournal.com]

Y'know, when people starting talking about rebuilding, I just *knew* this would happen. I predicted this days ago. Must be psychic or something.

[misanthropoid.livejournal.com]

It's self-perpetuating. Without the equipment, the cash, and the experience you don't win the contracts. Without the contracts you don't get financing for the equipment, you can't put up sufficient bond, and your people are rich in theory, poor in execution. Now KBR doesn't have all the equipment or all of the experience, don't get me wrong. They do, however, have more than their fair share of it and connections to sub out the remainder. More importantly they have the money to bond the job.

There are no overnight sensations in the world of disaster recovery so yes, the rich do get richer.

You'd prefer, perhaps that we just leave things in their current state?

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

I would prefer that not every appointment and many (if not all) decisions from this administration not drip with blatant patronage.

[misanthropoid.livejournal.com]

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.

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

They had this contract before Katrina. It's not like it happened today. That said, it doesn't make me happy, but it *is* part of an existing contract, as I understand it.

[clever-doberman.livejournal.com]

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?

[stonebender.livejournal.com]

True. It still bothers me and I was making an attempt at some dark humor.

[misanthropoid.livejournal.com]

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.