maybe you need to buy and plant seeds and fertilize and water them.
I know economics and politics are intertwined to the nth degree, but the correct solutions to economic problems will be fairly independent of politics imho. i.e. if the best solution is employed, both sides to the political spectrum will lay claim that it was their idea -ggg-
I'm no economist, just an engineer. Your review seems like a good précis of the last depression and the potential solution to such a problem.
Maybe the "pump priming" Keynesian economics advocated really only works while you keep feeding gas. If you want longer term results, maybe you need to buy and plant seeds and fertilize and water them.
I would just add that the "seeds" do not just have to defence contracts. They can also be projects that identify and solve the causes of wars. The water problem in the Middle East is a good example. We could be halfway to identifying and fixing that by now. America is famous for getting things done when the crapola was flying. It's efficiency and organization during WW2 was legendary. There are current issues already identified that could do with some of that effort..
(follow posts back to suggested solution to Iraq electric supply problem)
Message 19149280
I have also read of problems where there is a heavy bias in allocation of contracts. I know there is a war on etc, but we are supposed to be looking for peace, not stirring up a new war. One could argue about best use of USA taxpayers’ money. My argument is that includes the total cost of bringing the war to an acceptable solution. Haggling and bargaining with all effected parties is necessary imho.
In conclusion, my lil 'ol thread has had some great inputs recently of which I'm grateful. Maybe I need to update the header a bit. Looks as if we have some ideas being thrown around -g-
Thank you.
pb
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timesonline.co.uk
Arab mobile operators barred from bidding for Iraq network
From Ben Smalley in Dubai and Dan Sabbagh in London
MOST Arab and European telecoms companies have been barred from bidding for lucrative contracts to provide mobile phone services in Iraq.
A clause in the bid document, limiting companies where a government has a big stake, effectively tilts the tender process in favour of US and British firms, including Vodafone and the recently disgraced WorldCom.
So far, it is US companies that have dominated the general contracts awarded as part of the postwar reconstruction of the Middle East country. In April the US construction giant Bechtel was named as the prime contractor in rebuilding Iraq. Halliburton, the oil services group once led by Dick Cheney, the Vice-President, won the job of reconstruction of the oil fields.
Despite once describing the tender process as an “open competition”, Iraq’s ruling Coalition Provisional Authority, which is conducting the auction, states in a bid clause: “No government shall directly or indirectly own more than 5 per cent of any single bidding company or single company in consortia.”
The mobile telephone licences are among the most profitable contracts to be offered. During Saddam Hussein’s rule, mobile phones were banned to all but senior officials who were hooked up to a special network.
The contract clause rules out the two companies keenest to win one of the three regional licences on offer. Last week Batelco, of Bahrain, and MTC, from Kuwait, opened up unlicensed services in Baghdad, only to close them after warnings from the provisional authority that they were in breach of the law.
Both companies have substantial state shareholdings, as does almost every main telecoms group in the region. Europe’s second and third biggest operators, T-Mobile and Orange, are also controlled by companies in which a government is the largest investor.
Rashid Al-Snan, regional operations manager of Batelco, said: “I don’t know what they are trying to do with this strange condition, but this is not an open competition.” The company is forming a bid consortium to get around the rule.
US and British phone companies do not have government shareholdings, although it is unclear if they will bid. Vodafone said yesterday it was “considering its position”.
A potential bidder is WorldCom, which now trades under the name MCI. It is currently providing a private mobile service to US military personnel in Iraq, even though it does not operate mobile networks anywhere else in the world.
Although the state of the Iraqi economy is very fragile, the falling cost of equipment makes it feasible to create a profitable mobile network with as little as 100,000 customers. Earnings could grow substantially over time if significant numbers of Iraq’s 17 million population sign up.
The licences are to be granted for an initial duration of two years, although there is the possibility of renewal and extension countrywide. Bidders for the licences are due to meet coalition officials at a conference in Jordan today |
