If you think about it the Republicans are kind of the kings of the welfare state - only their welfare does not benefit the poor - it is corporate welfare and welfare for wealthy friends and supporters.... more below
Take a look at Blackwater - if the no bid contract they received from BUSHCO is not a form of welfare then you must believe a pig can fly with a cow on its back.
After all, Blackwater is not just any security company in Iraq; it is the leading mercenary company of the US occupation. It first took on this role in the summer of 2003, after receiving a $27 million no-bid contract to provide security for Ambassador Paul Bremer, the original head of the Coalition Provisional Authority. Since then, it has kept every subsequent US Ambassador, from John Negroponte to Ryan Crocker, alive. It protects Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice when she visits the country, as well as Congressional delegations. Since its original Iraq contract, Blackwater has won more than $700 million in "diplomatic security" contracts through the State Department alone.
I am trying to find the exact # but prior to Iraq no bid contract their profits were not even a fraction of this perhaps a few hundred thousand.
Halliburton, Dead Eye Dick's company has also profited exorbitantly from their no bid contracts in Iraq and the amount and nature of their fraud is obscene. An example:
Even food and laundry services are cause for suspicion, according to former soldiers interviewed in the film. For example, the outspoken former U.S. Army National Guardsman Sergeant Millard says that KBR, which operated Army mess halls in Iraq during his service there, refused to implement a 24-hour serving schedule, even though it might have deterred mealtime attacks by insurgents. He also criticizes KBR’s handling of soldiers' laundry. "[The contractors] get $99 a bag, for a bag of laundry that I could wash at home for three dollars. And everything still feels grimy," he says, adding, "If you don't know KBR, you've never been to Iraq."
War profiteers have mad a killing (literally and figuratively from this fiasco and form them there is no reason for an end to this as it would hurt their bottom line - what do they care that some working class kids and Iraqi civilians will suffer - they will have their Christmas bonuses so their families are obliviously happy!
Excerpts from a excellent article Link to ending war for profit
The Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy has done important research in this area. Here are some of the more disturbing facts: CEOs of defense contractors are paid more in four days than a general earns in a year; since September 11, CEOs at top defense contractors have received annual pay gains between 200 percent to 688 percent; between 2002 and 2006, the seven highest paid defense contractor CEOs made nearly $500 million
Many of the CEOs profitted from stock options as their companies’ stock prices soared with the increased revenues from the Defense Department.
and even scarier still than their blood profit motivation is their access to highest seats of government...
Companies like Halliburton/KBR and Blackwater are only the tip of the iceberg," Anderson says. "We now have contractors conducting intelligence background checks, processing Freedom of Information Act Requests, writing the President’s daily brief, helping run prisons like Abu Ghraib, etc."
I am going to update this diary later.....
Love to hear your thoughts on Rethuglicans and Welfare!!