No Crisis Is Immune From Exploitation under Bush -HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

[Ichingcarpenter]

By HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON- WSJ
August 6, 2008; Page A15
Tucked away on the Cayman Islands sits Ugland House, an unassuming, nondescript building of modest scale and size. However, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), this five-story office building is home to more than 18,000 corporate entities, nearly half of which have U.S. ties.

In the past few years, the number of corporations flocking to places like the Cayman Islands to evade U.S. taxes has exploded. One of these companies, former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, has used offshore tax havens to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in federal taxes. To no one's surprise, instead of cracking down on KBR, the Bush administration has rewarded the company in April of this year with a 10-year, $150 billion contract in Iraq.

There appears to be no crisis, tragedy or disaster immune from exploitation under the Bush administration. The examples of the waste, fraud and abuse are legion -- from KBR performing shoddy electrical work in Iraq that has resulted in the electrocution of our military personnel according to Pentagon and Congressional investigators, to the firing of an Army official who dared to refuse a $1 billion payout for questionable charges to the same company. In another scam, the Pentagon awarded a $300 million contract to AEY, Inc., a company run by a 22-year-old who fulfilled an ammunition deal in Afghanistan by supplying rotting Chinese-made munitions to our allies.

But the fraud and waste are not limited to the war. In the weeks after Hurricane Katrina, for example, FEMA awarded a contract worth more than $500 million for trailers to serve as temporary housing. The contractor, Gulf Stream, collected all of its money even though they knew at the time that its trailers were contaminated with formaldehyde.

While touting fiscal responsibility, President Bush and his administration have lined the pockets of political cronies like Halliburton and Blackwater.>>>>> snip


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121798030763715107.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries


Good show Hillary

[anonymous171]

1. BUT I THOUGHT THAT WE LOWERED THEIR TAXES SO THAT THEY WOULD PAY THEM!?

After all, everyone knows that corporations only dodged taxes because they were too high. They totally would pay their taxes if we lowered them to a sensible rate. :sarcasm:I hate Reaganomics soooo much.

[tularetom]

2. Hillary is getting with the program

but I'll bet Bill cringes when he reads that.

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. Excellent. Rec'd.

She hits the fundamental heart of Bush corruption here, the exploitation of tragedies like 9/11 and katrina to line their pockets. She also points out the insanity of awarding taxpayer dollars to contractors who don't fucking pay taxes. Superb.

[Frances]

4. Hillary is really smart and she would have made a great

President.

I think that Obama will lead the country in the same direction that Hillary would have. It's just that I think Obama will be able to get more people to follow his lead.

And thanks Hillary for your support of Obama.

[Hamlette]

5. k & r

[SeaLyons]

6. K&R

Excellent...

[EC]

7. Shouldn't there be some conflict of interests here since

Papa Bush is on the board of KBR?

[pnwmom]

8. K & R. n/t

[Maven]

9. K/R