Destination Iraq: Construction Equipment Boomtown!

A lot of money can be made working for the multinational companies that will be there. This in turn can have the effect of creating new jobs here in the U.S. Not only will there be a lot of construction workers, but there will also be a need to provide services to the construction workers. For every one construction worker, there could be 10 to 15 support workers needed. Fast food restaurants are an obvious service that would be provided.

That means a huge need for trucks, semis, tractors, cranes, earth movers.

Where is the money going to come from to pay for this.............construction boom

Seems to me that there has been construction and boom going on in Iraq for about 20 years now!

Halliburton has been building excellent living quarters for the troops, except for the showers, which kill people.

explain

Google: Troops killed in showers.

Check: Mike Hunt's NEC Code Forum.

I should have posted it as my humble opinion, as the truth is lost when it gets political.

Also KBR is no longer a subsidiary of Halliburton.

My apologies.

Still, the bottom line is, people where killed.

That's interesting, but not exactly what I was getting at. I was referring to the schools, police stations, and fire depots that keep getting blown up by terrorists as soon as they open. Contractors in turn simply build another building which they are happy to do since it means that they get paid for the job twice.

Looks like a great place to dump off old used machinery--its just gonna get blown up anyway.

at some point the price of scrap steel can be a small fortune.

Yup a lot of money can be made by destroying a county's infrastructure and then rebuilding it.
Del

true, and it can come down to, who's pockets are getting filled?

Now, now, let's be nice. I thought we weren't going to trash Obama and big business.

Yes, just ask the English how much money they made after doing just that to Germany after WWII...

Dunno, we have only just (within the last 5 years) paid back the USA for money the 'gave' us in lend-lease during WWII.

Below is an extract from the Guardian (May 2006)

"Britain owes its survival in the second world war to many causes. A standard list might include the bravery of our Battle of Britain pilots, the leadership of Winston Churchill, the resilience of the people - and the sacrifices of the Red Army. But there is little doubt that Britain would not have survived without lend-lease either.

Between March 1941 and September 1945, the United States' lend-lease programme transferred some $48bn worth of war material to other nations, the largest part of it (worth some $21bn) to Britain. This was an enormous sum, nearly equal to an entire year's UK gross national product. But it came at a price and the Americans drove a hard bargain. At one point Washington pressed for the transfer of the British West Indies in return. Though that proposal fell through, Britain did agree to give up the rights to and royalties on innovations such as radar, antibiotics, jet aircraft and nuclear research to the US as part of "reverse lend-lease". And when the war was over, the Americans handed in their bill.

Britain has been paying off our lend-lease bill in annual instalments ever since 1950. This week the Treasury confirmed that the last payment of £45m will be made by the end of this year. Lend-lease was an extraordinarily far-sighted American move - hardly "the most unsordid act in the history of any nation", as Churchill described it. But it was also the price of our survival. Repayment of debt may be unfashionable these days. But if ever a debt deserved paying it was lend-lease."

I think the winners from WWII were pretty self evident.
Rationing only ended in Briatin in 1954...
Where were the post war economic booms?
Which countries prospered most?

Draw your own conclusions.

Del

You are still alive and speaking English, just thank god for that and move on.