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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
12. Gawsh. That's twice what NASA's entire budget for 2013.
Thu Mar 1, 2012, 04:21 PM
Mar 2012
A slashed budget.

From your outstanding article, lonestarnot:



The top Pentagon contractors, like death and taxes, almost never change. In 2002, the massive arms dealers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman ranked one, two, and three among Department of Defense contractors, taking in $17 billion, $16.6 billion, and $8.7 billion. Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman did it again in 2003 ($21.9, $17.3, and $11.1 billion); 2004 ($20.7, $17.1, and $11.9 billion); 2005 ($19.4, $18.3, and $13.5 billion); 2006 ($26.6, $20.3, and $16.6 billion); and, not surprisingly, 2007 as well ($27.8, $22.5, and $14.6 billion). Other regulars receiving mega-tax-funded payouts in a similarly clockwork-like manner include defense giants General Dynamics, Raytheon, the British weapons maker BAE Systems, and former Halliburton subsidiary KBR, as well as BP, Shell, and other power players from the military-petroleum complex.

Last year, in a piece headlined "Washington's $8 Billion Shadow," Vanity Fair published an exposé of one of the better known large stealth contractors, SAIC (Science Applications International Corporation). SAIC, however, is just one of tens of thousands of Pentagon contractors. Many of these firms receive only tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Pentagon every year. Some take home millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of dollars.

Then there's a select group that are masters of the universe in the ever-expanding military-corporate complex, regularly scoring more than a billion tax dollars a year from the Department of Defense. Unlike Lockheed, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman, however, most of these billion-dollar babies manage to fly beneath the radar of media (not to mention public) attention. If appearing at all, they generally do so innocuously in the business pages of newspapers. When it comes to their support for the Pentagon's wars and occupations in Afghanistan and Iraq, they are, in media terms, missing in action.

So, who are some of these mystery defense contractors you've probably never heard of? Here are snapshot portraits, culled largely from their own corporate documents, of five of the Pentagon's secret billion-dollar babies:

CONTINUED...



Gee. Companies like:

MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings Inc.
DRS Technologies, Inc.
Harris Corporation
Navistar Defense
Evergreen International Airlines


And a heckuva lot more.



Talk about welfare...

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

k&r, always good info Octafish ! nt steve2470 Feb 2012 #1
Thanks, steve2470-san! Privatized Intel is Oh-So-Social. Octafish Mar 2012 #5
Kick & Rec! jannyk Feb 2012 #2
This information makes live tours of an 19th-century sausage factory seem fit for pre-schoolers. Octafish Mar 2012 #6
Half a trillion dollars a year dedicated to breaking stuff and killing people FarCenter Feb 2012 #3
While most everyone I know doesn't mind paying taxes to make the USA a better place... Octafish Mar 2012 #11
Remember these bastards? lonestarnot Feb 2012 #4
Gawsh. That's twice what NASA's entire budget for 2013. Octafish Mar 2012 #12
Hey, Sandy Skoglund photo! Hissyspit Mar 2012 #19
Her work is remarkable. Octafish Mar 2012 #34
Welfare kings! Bastards know exactly about that best welfare state. lonestarnot Mar 2012 #23
Corruption Touched CIA’s Covert Operations Octafish Mar 2012 #33
Throw mo money, throw mo money! lonestarnot Mar 2012 #45
George Carlin was right - we are a war like people. Initech Mar 2012 #7
Mr. Carlin was a living Buddha. Octafish Mar 2012 #20
K&R Hell Hath No Fury Mar 2012 #8
''He who excuses himself, accuses himself.'' -- Gabriel Meurier Octafish Mar 2012 #22
And in related news ... bananas Mar 2012 #9
GOP Spies at Work on Us ... as in 'We the People' Us. Octafish Mar 2012 #10
+1 woo me with science Mar 2012 #17
K&R woo me with science Mar 2012 #13
Oil, Media, and War Octafish Mar 2012 #25
Kick woo me with science Mar 2012 #14
US 'draws up secret charges' against WikiLeaks' Julian Assange Octafish Mar 2012 #28
Always a DURec from me... bvar22 Mar 2012 #15
WikiLeaks Goes Inside Corporate America's Wannabe CIA Octafish Mar 2012 #29
He sure is something!!! n/t greytdemocrat Mar 2012 #39
Kick woo me with science Mar 2012 #16
Was Carol Lam Targeting The White House Prior To Her Firing? Octafish Mar 2012 #18
Lam had a few irons in the fire before she was fired hootinholler Mar 2012 #24
Wow! Sampson Admits He Made Call To Silence FBI Complaints Over Lam’s Firing Octafish Mar 2012 #31
Dusty Foggo’s Girlfriend, John Rizzo, and the Salt Pit Octafish Mar 2012 #32
It's an odd knot hootinholler Mar 2012 #38
K&R....n/t unkachuck Mar 2012 #21
Blogging About WikiLeaks Could Get You Fired Octafish Mar 2012 #30
you're welcome, Octafish....excellent piece....n/t unkachuck Mar 2012 #37
k&r! nt. wildbilln864 Mar 2012 #26
''Trusted Former CIA Cronies'' Octafish Mar 2012 #27
per Smedley Butler..."War is a Racket" nt wildbilln864 Mar 2012 #43
Interesting as always. Quantess Mar 2012 #35
Goss Knew Foggo Shared A Girlfriend With Russian Spy, But Hired Him Anyway Octafish Mar 2012 #36
K&R raouldukelives Mar 2012 #40
'Shadow CIA' buys state secrets for cash via Swiss bank accounts... Octafish Mar 2012 #41
Kick Thanks for the "light" reading Agony Mar 2012 #42
Wikileaks Release Suggests Stratfor Inside Info Plan with Goldman Sachs Exec Octafish Mar 2012 #44
warm and fuzzy kick G_j Apr 2013 #46
Manning the new age truth polynomial Jun 2013 #47
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