The "benefits" of outsourcing... (our MBA President at work!)

Report: Iraq contracts have cost at least $85B
By KIMBERLY HEFLING, Associated Press Writer
12 Aug 2008
WASHINGTON - Military contracts in the Iraq theater have cost taxpayers at least $85 billion, and when it comes to providing security, they might not be any cheaper than using military personnel, according to a report released Tuesday.

Our MBA President, with infinite faith in - but zero (0) understanding of - private enterprise, continues to screw US... to the benefit of the contractors, and to the detriment of our country.

As many previous posts have noted, private enterprise is NOT inherently "efficient". The legitimate goal of private enterprise is to MAKE MONEY. Whatever it takes. (This is not intended as an indictment of private enterprise! Making $$$ is not inherently bad.)

If there is a true market, this desire to MAKE MONEY can drive efficiency. If there's no market, but no-bid, no-risk, no-oversight contracts, private enterprise has no incentive to even provide the services contracted!

The Iraq fiasco is replete with no-bid, no-risk, no-oversight contracts. See, e.g., Parsons, KBR, Blackwater. (The Blackwater folks likely won't stick around if the SOFA agreement now being brokered makes them subject to Iraq laws. ... and they're currently apparently not subject to U.S. law!)

Examples? Laura Bush's heralded Children's Hospital in Basra (abandoned after spending $50Mn on the failed project). W's state-of-the-art prison (abandoned after spending $40Mn on the failed project). The financial atrocities have been well-documented elsewhere (see, e.g., Robert Greenwald's Iraq for Sale).

In some perverse way, I'm just pissed I couldn't figure out how to make millions off the war!

Stop the madness!