TX's defense contractors' business booming (privatization of services)

[rainbow4321]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/military/stories/MYSA062705.1A.contractors.fce1062.html

As the war rages in Iraq, the Pentagon increasingly has turned to private companies to do work once reserved for soldiers and pilots, producing a defense contracting boom locally to provide everything from oil and food to aircraft parts and weapons research.

That makes San Antonio the second-largest military contracting city in Texas behind Dallas-Fort Worth, which had $12.7 billion worth of military contracting work in 2003, according to the Department of Defense. Houston came in third with $2.06 billion Overall, Texas received the second-most military contracts in the country, with $22.8 billion, behind California with $28.6 billion.

By outsourcing work to contractors, the military saves money as it shifts the cost of worker benefits, training and retirement to private companies, said Pierre Chao, senior fellow specializing in the defense industry with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. With contractors, the military also can scale its work force up or down easier, he said.

"The sheer economic and financial reality around the personnel costs involved with the military tells you that this trend is not going to go away," Chao said.

[blm]

1. Cheney set this up in 1991 when he was Sec. of Defense. This was their

long range plan of fully privatizing the military.

That's why I think they are gutting the military today by overextending them and refusing to update their safety equipment. They want a diminshed military and so companies like Bechtel, DynCorp, Blackwater and Halliburton will be rolling in the defense budget dollars to the nth degree.

[rainbow4321]

3. This is just so wrong..

Look at the quote in the middle of this...yeah, and as long as chimp is in office, there will always be a never ending war and money in these companies' pockets.


<from original article:)

On the smaller end of the scale, in an old boot factory on South Zarzamora Street, Reyes Industries has seen its business boom. Its workers make canvass canteen covers, ammunition vests and aluminum cots for the military.

"As long as there is a foot soldier, we will always have business," said Fernando Reyes, president of the company that bears his name.

The war on terrorism has boosted the contracts the Pentagon awards to San Antonio's 900 military contractors up 50 percent from 2000, according to Express-News research.

[Cassandra]

2. The plan is to take all taxpayer money...

and transfer it to Texas.

[TahitiNut]

4. Yep. Carpetbaggers and war profiteers.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3968405