1)The American people/taxpayers and their progeny. They pay the cost of the unpopular war and provide the funding for maintaining “elected” govts friendly to corporate investment abroad with arms and bribes.
In this case, the vast majority of the Afghan people (but also true of the people of every country we’ve “helped” into “stability”) who have lost their lives and livelihoods and will benefit little from any development of their resources.
The looters:
Corporations with their interests in acquiring control of resources and profiting from their development along with the war profiteers.
Their friendly (to themselves) representatives (armed and funded by an unwilling electorate) charged with maintaining “security” for corporate interests.
Who came first, the chicken or the egg?
What is your solution, o’ wise one? The people already have the choice in who they elect, so if anyone is to blame it is the ones you are concerned about getting screwed over. They essentially are screwing themselves.
And just so you understand: Oil companies pay taxes. Lots of them including royalties. In Alberta up to 40% of gross sales come right off the top and then the company pays taxes on the rest. By the time you start pumping gas into your car there are even more taxes. Governments make out like bandits.
Both the pentagon and Obama say there is nothing there that is not already in public knowledge. But they do talk about drone failures and the surface to air missile that took down helicopters. That was big in Afghanistan for the Russians. When we got them for the Afghanis the war was too expensive and difficult to win for them.
Except that is how we do business. The GE fine is a drop in the bucket for the huge reconstruction programs they got. Halliburton, Blackwater and the hundreds of other got paid big and much of the work was not done. The pentagon seems to have misplaced 9 billion dollars of the construction money.We have soldiers getting electrocuted from poor and dangerous work we paid for. The embassy is an enormous waste . Our fine corporations subcontract to companies that use slave labor . This is the face of America that the people of countries we occupy see every day. Their electricity and water don’t function. The educated people in Iraq fled and there is not enough expertise to keep things running.
And when they get caught they get fined. You can whine about what you think is standard business practice by the evil corporations, but someone being prosecuted for such actions means we think it is wrong. It is up to you to ensure your politicians enforce the laws and tighten them if need be.
What you are saying has nothing to do with corruption, but everything to do with incompetent bureaucrats who don’t know how to monitor the work of their contractors. So, sue the contractors for the breach and fire the bureaucrats for being the incompetent boobs they are. This has nothing to do with bribes and everything to do with fulfilling a contract.
‘Incompetence’ or ‘misinformation’ is the bullshit govt excuse for corporate corruption every fucking time. (Bush was “misinformed” about WMDs.:p) When they get caught, the incompetent get a “nice try” and the corp get’s a slap on the wrist every time. If those corrupt Iraqi’s made off with $1.5 g, what do you think GE took away?
Uzi, you are either an idiot or a troll. Since we don’t allow trolls here, … .
Yeah, sorry I don’t buy into your every corporation is evil and by extension because they are run by people every person is evil crap.
No the idiots here are you and gonzomax who believe such tripe. I thank dog (and I’m an atheist) that you guys aren’t in charge of anything. We’d be back living in caves if you were.
That is a terrible argument. Perhaps you should rethink it. Corporations are run without ethics and morals. They are supposed to only think of profits. that is by design. People don’t run corporations, they just continue the policy of making money any way they can get away with it.
It is the law and regulators who hold them responsible. It is supposed to be the government too. They are theoretically supposed to remove the charters of corporations that damage the country. They of course do not. The regulators get in bed with them and get big paying jobs when they leave the government. the system that is supposed to control them has been corrupted.
We would not live in caves. We would actually have something you have probably never seen, competition. Competition is what drives innovation and lowers prices. Oligarchy is what raises it. We allow companies to merge and but up their competition ,resulting in less and less free trade and more restraint of trade.
You were not around when gas companies competed. There were lots of gas companies fighting for your dollar. We got green stamps ,silverware, or kitchen products if we filled up at their station. They used to have price wars, where competing stations undercut each other throughout the day in price. But once you buy up your competition, you can find the maximum price the market will bear. that is what we have across America now.
I was wondering about this today. Could an individual citizen build a little gas pump in his yard, and buy his/her fuel in bulk, thereby cutting out the middleman at the gas station? Would/could the savings outweigh the money you’d have to pay protecting it? [/hijack]
And since guys like you are in charge, most of the world will be living in caves (if they’re lucky) when we run short of cheap oil which we are in the process of doing thanks to guys like you, idiot.
88% of the world’s oil production is controlled by governments, just in case you didn’t know. A big portion of that is OPEC, a state sponsored group that controls oil prices. So, really, your beef is with governments, not corporations.
The reason oil and gas for your car is so expensive is the amount of taxes your government takes from you, more so than from the cost of production. While it is harder to find easy sources of oil, less traditional sources, like the oil sands in Alberta, are coming on stream. The longer they run the cost of running them becomes lower. Due to innovation, improvements, and because the cost of the facilities has been recouped.
But, I’ll bite. How do you think someone like me causes ‘your’ oil to be more expensive? For example, shouldn’t you be blaming the Chinese and Indians for increasing the wealth of their citizens thus allowing them to be able to afford cars, rather than drive ox-carts? Yeah, I’d bet you’d like us all to be driving ox carts so that you can bitch about the high cost of feeding them and the corruption of the hay manufacturers. Idiot, indeed.
I must say, given the source, a ‘progressive’ corrupt politician and corporate shill in blackface, I suppose he’s giving the American People the choice of putting in some hard time abroad or leaving Iran to the contractors.
Without private and corrupt contractors, there is no Afghanistan or Iraq.
Stock Portfolio & Tracker - Yahoo Finance Most oil companies make more money than many nations GNP. You are getting dumber every post. But I guess you just don’t know . that is sad.
Competition is good for the consumer. Can you follow that much? Controlling the market is how corporations raise the profits, cut down on R & D costs, and innovation . Eliminating competition allows them to squeeze the consumer, who has no choices. One gas station is as good as another. No difference. I come from a time when there were differences. Quit the stupid ox cart comments. i want to go back when we competed. that is capitalism. That is something you probably think you are for, but are arguing against in the throes of ignorance.
He SHOULD just say it. His “loyal” opposition is trying to paint the whole fucking mess as his war.
As for me, I want to know where the fuck Bin Laden is and why he isn’t dead yet. Other than that, fuck Afghanistan, get our ass out of there.
I’m tired and not in the mood for any fine points, logic or debating, so just