Article

2006-10-14 Iraq

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by eltoroverde 2006-10-14 15:32|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Shouldn't this sport a Master of the Obvious graphic?

Gosh... whoda thunk it? Corporations that lobby the most in washington get the most lucrative contracts.

first revealing that Halliburton had received the most lucrative contracts of any company

I'm shocked! Shocked! I tell you to see a non-partisan company coming out right before an election to point out that Americans don't like war profiteering and that it names ONLY the boogy man Halliburton (controlled by the neocons and Cheney and pulls the puppet strings on Bush).

Non-partisan means that you don't push partisan buttons to make a point where there is plenty of blame to go around.

Posted by anon 2006-10-14 16:42|| 2006-10-14 16:42|| Front Page Top

#2 oops should read:
a non-partisan ~~company~~ Center.

We knew it was a fraud when they listed all the journalism awards. You only get those for extreme bias.

Posted by anon 2006-10-14 16:44|| 2006-10-14 16:44|| Front Page Top

#3 first revealing that Halliburton had received the most lucrative contracts of any company

It's easy to fisk this stuff. Lucrative means to make large profits. Public companies do not publish their profit or loss on individual contracts for the very good reason they do not want their competitors to know. Therefore, the writer does not whether any given contract is lucrative or not (assuming it's not a cost plus contract, which almost by definition can't be lucrative, becuase the profit margin is fixed).

Since the writer can not know whether any or all contracts are lucrative or not, to assert there is war profiteering is without foundation and ignoring he makes the claim without saying what consitutes excessive (profiteering means to make excessive profits).

Haliburton's overall profitability and return on assets are both 12%. I can't be bothered to Google norms for comparable businesses but I doubt Haliburton is too far from the average. 12% is about right for a fee for service business.

Twaddle peddled to the ignorant.

Posted by phil_b 2006-10-14 17:42|| 2006-10-14 17:42|| Front Page Top

#4 Thanks for the comments, anon. Sorry, meant to include a link to the trailer in original post.

http://iraqforsale.org/trailer.php

Posted by eltoroverde 2006-10-14 17:42|| 2006-10-14 17:42|| Front Page Top

#5 typical public works contracts assume 10% minimum profits for contractors, otherwise they won't bid your projects - too many bureaucratic headaches in reporting, EEO, etc.... This whiner's agenda is overriding his data

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-10-14 19:17|| 2006-10-14 19:17|| Front Page Top

#6 in addition: in a war zone, I would expect that the 10% (domestic) rule of thumb doesn't apply - too many risks - 20-30% would seem more in order

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-10-14 19:19|| 2006-10-14 19:19|| Front Page Top

06:16 Besoeker
23:57 anon
23:57 Zenster
23:56 Zenster
23:54 3dc
23:54 anon
23:52 Zenster
23:51 trailing wife
23:47 anon
23:45 Zenster
23:42 J.D. Lux
23:41 Zenster
23:37 Zhang Fei
23:35 Zenster
23:30 Shieldwolf
23:20 Zenster
23:10 Zhang Fei
22:54 Grunter
22:44 Ptah
22:40 Ptah
22:29 49 Pan
22:22 Frank G
22:20 DMFD
22:18 Frank G