But Seriously--What's $8 Billion Dollars Between Friends?

I saw this over at The Angry Arab News Service and at Balta, respectively. The Financial Times notes Halliburton mismanaged at least $8 billion taxpayer dollars in the form of goverment contracts in Kuwait and/or Iraq.

It's good to know that the time honored practice of private business engaging in price gouging during wartime continues unabated. It helps me appreciate history all the more.

Here are a couple of examples:

A fifteen pound bag of laundry was cleaned for the low price of $100 dollars. Flat tires forced the abandonment of some trucks, which were billed to the government at $85,000 apiece (were these the "sailboat fuel" trucks?). No wonder they needed to be abandoned--the sailboat fuel leaked out of the tires!

I wonder if Cheney is beginning to worry about his pension.