Robert Reich: Admitted & Professed Communist. www.RobertReichSaysWhereAreMyQuaaludes.com<http://www.robertreichsayswherearemyquaaludes.com/>
On Sun, Oct 31, 2010 at 8:55 PM, Tommy News <[email protected]> wrote: > > http://www.opednews.com/articles/Halliburton-and-the-Upcomi-by-Robert-Reich-101029-29.html > > > > October 29, 2010 at 15:14:00 > > Promoted to Headline (H2) on 10/29/10: Permalink > Halliburton and the Upcoming Election > > > > > > SAVE AS FAVORITE > VIEW FAVORITES > By Robert Reich (about the author) Become a Fan (11 fans) > For OpEdNews: Robert Reich - Writer > > Next Tuesday Americans will be deciding whether to hand over even more > of our government to corporations that have been plundering America -- > such as Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citibank, Wellpoint insurance, > Massey Energy, and Halliburton, the giant oil services company. > > Not every large corporation is irresponsible, of course, but > plunderers that get away with it gain a competitive advantage over the > more responsible, and thereby lead a race to the bottom. > > Case in point: The staff of the presidential commission investigating > the BP oil spill has just revealed that Halliburton executives knew > the cement it was using to seal BP's Deepwater Horizon oil well was > likely to be unstable but didn't tell BP or act on the information. > > In a letter to the commission's seven members, the staff found that > the failure of the cement was a key factor in the blowout that caused > millions of barrels of crude oil to escape into the Gulf of Mexico. > (Not the sole factor, of course; most of the blame for the disaster, > says the staff, still rests with BP and Transocean, the company BP > hired to drill the well.) > > Halliburton has not sat out this election. Last May, as Congress began > investigating its role in the disaster, its political action committee > made 14 contributions -- 13 to Republicans and one to a Democrat. Many > were involved in the investigation; others had responsibility for > overseeing oil drilling in the Gulf. It was the biggest donation month > for Halliburton's PAC since September 2008. > > Halliburton, in case you've forgotten, is not exactly a model citizen. > It has evaded U.S. taxes and export bans through foreign subsidiaries; > admitted to bribing foreign officials (a subsidiary paid $2.4 million > to a Nigerian government official in exchange for favorable tax > treatment); conceded in an internal memo (leaked to the Wall Street > Journal) its cost controls for government contracts in Iraq were > "antiquated" and its procurement "disorganized; was found by Pentagon > auditors to have overcharged estimated at $27.4 million for meals > served to American troops at five military bases in Iraq and Kuwait > (in one camp billing for an average 42,000 meals a day but serving > only 14,000). > > The list of Halliburton's crimes goes on and on. And yet, somehow, > Halliburton goes on piling up profits. How? Because of its deep > connections to Washington. > > Dick Cheney hadn't had any experience in the oil business when he > became Halliburton's CEO in 1995. But he did have experience in > government -- as George H.W. Bush's Secretary of Defense. And those > military ties were invaluable to the company. Under his reign, > Halliburton rose from 73rd to 18th on the Pentagon's list of top > contractors, and the money garnered from government-sponsored agencies > (such as the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the > Export-Import Bank) soared from $100 million in the five years prior > to Cheney's arrival to $1.5 billion a few years after. > > As vice president to George W. Bush, Cheney made sure Halliburton's > stunning performance would continue (Cheney continued to receive > checks from the company). According to congressional inquiries, > Cheney's vice presidential office was instrumental in forcing the > Environmental Protection Agency to remove sections on climate change > from reports in 2002 and 2003 (a process Christine Todd Whitman, then > the E.P.A. administrator, subsequently described as "brutal.") The > Bush-Cheney administration also sought to control or censor > congressional testimony about climate change by federal employees, and > tampered with other reports in order to inject uncertainty into the > climate debate. > > Which brings us back to the Deepwater Horizon blowout. Halliburton's > executives knew the cement it used to seal the well was filled with > mud -- but Halliburton said nothing presumably because doing the job > correctly would have cost too much. And, hell, Halliburton is in > business to make money. > > Halliburton isn't on the ballot next Tuesday, but it might as well be. > > http://robertreich.org/ > > Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the University of > California at Berkeley. He has served in three national > administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President > Bill Clinton. He has written twelve books, including "The (more...) > > The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the > author > and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors. > > > Contact Author > > > > -- > Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. > Have a great day, > Tommy > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
