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Homeland Security has a construction project, and they put it out for bid. Three companies respond.
The Director responsible for making the decision looks at the three bids. The first bid is $100,000,000. The second bid is $115,000,000. The third bid is $900,000,000.
$900,000,00?!? Are they crazy? He can't believe anyone would submit something so out of wack with the others. He looks to see who submitted it - Halliburton? Cheney's company? Maybe he should look at it. Maybe he missed something. After all, they're a billion dollar company.
After carefully going over the bid, and the other two, he can't see any substantial difference. In fact, Halliburton's bid is exactly the same as the first one - almost word for word. He decides to call them so they can explain why they want $900,000,000 for the job.
"Is there anything different is your bid?"
"No."
"Are you proposing something new or more innovative than the others?"
"No."
"Are you using new materials or construction techniques?"
"No."
"Then why on God's green Earth do you think I should give the job to you when it's 8 times higher than the next nearest bid?"
"I absolutely guarantee that you personally will be satisfied with the result."
"But..but...HOW!?!"
"You give $900,000,00 to Halliburton, we give $100,000,000 to the first company to do the job, and we give $400,000,000 to you for - what 'consultation fees'? - how does that sound?"
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