kewlkewl12 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

to do what? prepare food? clean laundries?

willwkrueger (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Cheney has been idicted! for ties to the growing prison industry in the private sectore naomi klein talks about in her book shock doctrine

zo1dberg (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Wow, what inspired you to come up with such an original comment?

mrbadguysan (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I think you're wrong, and I'll tell you why. These contracts are for a myriad of things, ranging from laundry for bases in Iraq to Diplomatic Security. The problem is that many of these contracts are being awarded to the same players: Black Water, Haliburton, etc...These companies then subcontract the work. Cronyism can flourish in this climate. The thing is, is that the government has the capacity to do these jobs, but has failed to do so under the guise of "Keeping Government Small."

rcroton (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

IF America wanted to drive down costs, then they could stop with the contract bidding wars. I'm sure that would translate to the regular hardware production...then again, you may not get the best product or return. One thing to do would not be to cave to pressure groups and lobbyists, like in the Airbus/Daimler-Boeing contracting scandal. And then, it's not as much crony capitalism, it's protectionism- something Klein advocates!

steampunkx (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Demand or not, defense contractors are asking for too high a price and the US government is paying it regardless of the consequence. You can't gauge "crony capitalism" based on the sheer number of contracts. It's all about who benefits from the purchase.

LeGioNoFZioN (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

Naomi dishonest again.

rcroton (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

I'll make a point and perhaps say that 1) this explosion in contracts is probably because of military demands and 2) the vast new number of contracts in-fact probably means that crony capitalism has lessened. Observe that in a military-industrial complex like Klein seems to invent single contracts will cover many many things. More contracts probably means more companies are being dealt with, not less, if anything.

tcn131313 (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

republicons did this,, goes back to a contract on america 1994,.deregulation,starve the beast..they caused the great depresion,@problems now.there against,Franklin D. Roosevelt,the new deal .how do people like it,every industry is having trouble ,auto delfie,airlines food-ecolie selimela lead in toys baby food mine dsasters the fox is watching the henhousein are goverment-fda-epa-fcc ect.... vote dem or nader any one but reb. on the 4th

dmgcricket (November 30, 1999 at 12:00 am)

When are we going to Impeach Bush and Cheney for crimes against the government and it's people??????