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Halliburton Moving HQ To Dubai
theodp writes "Much-maligned defense contractor Halliburton is moving its corporate headquarters from Houston to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Dubai's friendly tax laws will add to Halliburton's bottom line. Last year the company earned $2.3B in profits. Sen. Patrick Leahy called the company's move 'corporate greed at its worst.' Halliburton, once headed by VP Dick Cheney, has been awarded contracts valued at an estimated $25.7B for its work in Iraq."
Honestly, given the companies past alleged illegal/unethical behavior, the first thing that came to my mind was.... "what is coming down the pipe that they are trying to avoid?" Specifically, by moving the corporate HQ out of the country, are they avoiding some potential legal action because of illegal or unethical corporate behavior? After all we do know about lots of no-bid contracts they were awarded, not to mention the overcharging of contracts and more. It should also be noted that Haliburton is trying to off-load KBR. But fundamentally, regardless of ones political bias, even if there is no forthcoming news of illegal activity, because this corporation has benefitted so much from contracts awarded by the US government, moving off shore to avoid paying US taxes is simply an additional insult.
P.S. Remember when Cheney refused to sell his Haliburton stock when appointed VP? He also resisted placing it into a blind trust and if I remember correctly, continues to receive compensation from Haliburton. Also, the content of Cheney's energy task force demonstrated that companies (Haliburton included) had direct input into the official federal energy plan, effectively allowing corporations to dictate US policy.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
Per Wikipedia (either as Dubai or as the United Arab Emirates).
Dog is my co-pilot.
What of data retention laws? It's more difficult to audit their paper trails when their HQ is in Dubai than if it were in New York. Minimum wage laws for the average janitor are probably a little more exploitable.
Heck, with all of the crap which has been going on lately, it may even be a security move: in that the execs may actually feel safer in Dubai from the revenge of the people they've ruthlessly swindled in the US.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
... contact
Does anybody know whether Vice President Cheney has purchased a home in Dubai yet? Between this and the Dubai Ports World deal, the GWB administration seems to be trying to set up a cushy job there for someone.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
This is from a company who's been dealing with Iran on a pipeline with a very thinly veiled subsidiary in the caribbean. Really, truth is more complicated and stranger than fiction.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
NPR says they aren't moving their headquarters, just opening up another one. This of course calls into question the definition of "headquarters," but there seems to be conflicting information. The linked article's alarmism is from yesterday, for what it's worth.
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Now, I'm going to take a chance on this that the information on NPR today was accurate, namely:
A second local "headquarters" will be set up in Dubai, and the CEO will reside there.
The current "headquarters" will remain in Houston, TX.
The Dubai office is to get closer to the action and get some PR separation from us dirty Americans
The corporation will still be registered, and taxable, in the US. Changes to the laws make offshoring more difficult, including needing to have 10% of the Halliburton workforce located in Dubai in order to swith their corporate tax liabilities out of the US. Given the size of Halliburton, that's likely not going to happen.
Finally, the major support contracts for the US military are held by a subsidiary of Halliburton which will be spun off as an independent US corporation next month.
Now, one final disclaimer: this is all from memory based on a short bit on te radio. Feel free to fill in the blanks and correct the errors (be they in my memory or by the reporting staff at NPR).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
I don't expect a bunch of slashdot liberals to understand this point, but HAL needs to move where the action is - where the kabling is going to made - and that place is Dubai.
/.
You can yammer on all you want about "ethics" and no bid contracts all you want, but the fact is this is a good business move and as a stockholder, I'm happy about it.
Did they move to avoid some prosecution? MAYBE. But if it's in the interest of protecting shareholder assets, then what would you expect them to do?
It's all about bling-bling,
time to move on and exploit another nation for billions of dollars and thousands of lives. They've done their job here, very well I might add, kudos. Looks like they'll looking at armies of other countries to do their dirty work.
And ruin the US economy? Half of the US budget probably goes through their grubby hands somehow.
Because there are a lot of DoD contracts that have to go to US companies free of any partially or wholly controlling foreign interest.
Or does Halliburton just not do that kind of work?
Anyone got any information?
"Tap into our extraordinary people, award-winning technologies, performance profiles, sustainability leadership and community involvement. Wherever you look, Halliburton has the energy you need!"
*hmm* community involvement indeed!
Acid House saves Souls
You forgot arguments. Please, try again.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
When I read this I thought to myself "boy that's a good one", thinking that perhaps it was linked off to theonion or some other site, but abcnews is more or less reliable... I would however like to read the full quote, anyone?
No, your lets needs an apostrophe; let's.
what's more sensible than an *oil company* relocating to the *middle east*? Dubai isn't just some random village in the middle of nowhere, it's a major economic hub http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubai
A lot of people have mentioned the Halliburton contracts in iraq, but Halliburton is spinning off it's military division anyway and is likely to be distanced from iraq. Aside from that, I don't think anyone at Halliburton takes the notion seriously that they will be sued when an ex-CEO is practically running the country... if they were ever afraid of that the abuses wouldn't have happened in the first place.
Also, a bunch of people have mentioned criminal charges. A lot of the problems with Halliburton, Halliburton can't really be held responsible, since the problems originated in the fact that we negotiated such crappy contracts with them. If you're contract has holes in it, you're pretty fucked when it comes to trial.
Maybe we should consider rethinking their contracts as we did the Dubai port management deals. Companies that are based outside the US are clearly not as favorable in terms of our security - at least in the eyes of congress.
Listen, I'm not a fan of Halliburton screwing over the American taxpayers. I'm also against their huge no-bid contracts.
But as Slate's "Explainer," well, explains, Halliburton "is still incorporated in Delaware and remains subject to U.S. law and taxes." The article goes on to say that Halliburton would have a hell of a time incorporating in Dubai, but moving its workforce overseas is not out of the question.
After all, 55% of the company's business comes from the Eastern hemisphere. This move makes perfect sense, given their long-term business plans.
PS: The company's defense component, KBR, is set to become its own company. Halliburton's new HQ should not affect KBR.
http://www.slate.com/id/2161652/fr/rss/
sorry but BS activist lawsuits, neg press, dems planned tax increase, etc... Look ppl its a damn shame that the worlds largest capitalist nation is driving its own jobs and workforce overseas through overregulation, taxes, and non existant legal reform. So what if you hate halliburtion/cheney/bush it wont be long before your job is moved overseas. Which for a bunch of geeks should be well aware of india and their tech outsource ways.
Never underestimate the logical power of sarcasm
They want the HQ to be closer to the majority of the fields they operate and to the bulk of their customers, which is Asia. Their main business is "oil services", mind you. And the biggest oil fields are around the Gulf...
Not sure, why all this is /. material, though...
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
its that you can build two headquarters, but thats usually when your first one is about to be overrun
And ruin the US economy?
please.. you have to be kidding me.. Haliburton is a small piss aint of the whole combined US economy. There are about 5 other companies who can easily take the role of Haliburton. As stated in previous posts, This smells of a Dick Cheyney scandal. Look at the way Cheyney is chastising congress today about their potential Iraq pullout plan. If we pull out, Haliburton loses LOTS of money, and so does he. (read the GP comment about him not letting his stock go, or in a blind trust when he became VP).. Only a year and a half left.. *shudder*
They're affiliated with spammers, too? It's all starting to come together...
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
Just goes to show you, multinational companies have no allegiance to any country.
Libertarian Leaning Political Discussion Forum.
thanks for your input, whatever it was suppose to be. and thanks for being one of those dumb fags who can't RTFA. you have no idea what you commented on and you have no idea on what the truth of the matter is. your ignorance is a glaring example of what's wrong around here.
next time try putting your political spin in your back pocket for about 4 minutes and read the article first, shithead.
And the reason why Slashdot is reporting on this is?...
It's one thing to cover major political stories here, but this is silly.
How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
In the interest of national security, no company based outside the US should be given any US defense contracts. Period. I bet the Democrats could get that passed as a law.
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
When we read histories of wars we often read about the actions and affiliations of governments and armies. Very rarely do we read histories of wars which contain detailed breakdowns of the actions and affiliations of business and banks during the same period.
Create debt, maintain debt, keep people in debt, work those people until they die of debt.
99% of everything else, from suicide bombers to international embargoes, is just PR (running interference, Kansas City Shuffle, sh*tter tennies) to keep the citizens from realizing how deep into debt their political representatives are selling them.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
They will likely use the threat of moving off-shore as a way to get some breaks from Texas.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
What is this, Slashdot or Daily Kos?
I realize that bashing the administration and anybody who's linked with them in any way is the "in thing" to do (thank you, Jon Stewart), but there are zillions of sites out there for posting and discussing this sort of thing. It's not tech, it's not fantasy, it's plain old generic business being posted for plain old political reasons. So why is it here?
I'm ululating in the street with joy as my wife dances in her burka.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
Maybe I just hang out too much with the anti-war crowd but the only explanation that really makes sense to me for why Bush decided to invade Iraq is that Bush had friends in the oil industry that wanted access to Iraq's oil.
Every other explanation for why Bush decided to invaded is inconsistent with other considerations.
Obviously, the Bush administration has given a lot of justifications for invading Iraq. None of the justifications make sense when I actually think about them in detail. Some people claim that Bush is just really stupid but I have a hard time believing that that's the case. After all, Bush was smart enough to get himself elected to USA president twice.
In the end, I have to conclude that Bush's decision to invade Iraq was really about Bush helping out his friends in the oil industry. What puzzles me is that so many people just accept Bush's other justifications - even congress. Do members of congress know Bush is lying but they don't think it's politically expedient to call Bush on it. What about the news media? Do they know Bush is lying but they figure it makes a better story to pretend he's not? What about the general public? Don't they recognize the inconsistencies?
And don't even get me started on the general public's support for massive deficit spending...
My connection to Halliburton is going to Iraq. No more $100/hour for fixing their Excel/Word macros
"When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
The US government should offer the advice that this move is not a good idea. If they leave any and all remaining assets (and any profits) will be taxed 500% for 10 years and ALL contracts will be canceled as they will become a foreign corporation and cannot have contracts that may/do have implications for national security.
To make things fair, these and more rules should be applied to any US company that leaves.
On another note, what does this topic have to do with the usual technology issues on Slashdot?
Modded "off topic"? I call BS.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Am I the only one wondering how in the world this got posted on Slashdot? This just seems like bait for a flame war. Granted, there's plenty of debate to be had on the issue--but this is Slashdot, how? Would it have made the headline if it were Nabisco?
It's hard to tell the cool to chill, my favorite hotel room has a view to an ill.
Islam forbids dancing. Ululating is, however, encouraged. Continue oh, Dhimmi.
Now this is a headline ! :)
Nothing could be further from the truth. To make matters worse, most politicians including the Commander in Chief appear to be incompetent!
>How is this "News for Nerds"?
No shit. I really dont get why so much politics show up on here; and haliburton they arent even a tech company.
Slashdot really needs posted story moderation.
"Story Voted -1 for USA centric"
"Story Voted -1 for not News for Nerds"
This isnt news for nerds, this is news for anti-capitalist tree-huggers
Woo hoo, some company's moving their headquarters.
The only reason this is news is because alot of people think haliburton is an evil company, and everything evil companies do is for evil reasons.
Either you trust your american justice system, or you dont.
If you dont trust your justice system, then haliburton is the very least of your worries.
If you do trust your justice system, then you can trust that if they DO break the law, they will be dealt with.
either way this isnt news for nerds.
Kyle
That move is the best example of Anti American practices in a long time. Owners of the company should be rescinded their American citizenship. If Mr. Cheney is still a shareholder, then his losing citizenship would mean he would no longer qualify for Vice President. So, no impeachment would be necessary, because the Constitution forbids non-Americans to participate in the American political process. Actually, this would be a legal move under the current law, because moving overseas for the purpose of evading taxes constitutes legal grounds for loss of American citizenship. All that is needed is an Attorney General with
the guts to enforce the current laws.
Smells like somebody's political leaning has more to do with what shows up here than what is news to "nerds". Perhaps News for Hippies would be a better slogan?
( o)|(o )
\___/
Interesting, so do some fundamentalist and evangelical churches in the US.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
Why is it greed for a company to move its headquarters to a place that will take less money from them in taxes? If the company can still do everything it needs to do for its shareholders in the new location, it would irresponsible for it NOT to make the move. The company's purpose is to maximize value for its shareholders, not passively sit around and hope to send more money to the U.S. government.
I know that a lot of people have accused Halliburton of wrongdoing on other issues, but this issue is completely unrelated to those charges. The previous charges seem to be a bit vague at times, and I don't have any opinion about them one way or the other, because I don't know the facts. But on the issue of saving money on taxes by moving an office, the company is completely justified in making the move. I would recommend any company do the same thing under similar circumstances.
David
Does anyone have anything to say about global warming? What does this mean in the long term on that? Or is it just knee jerk stuff here.
Well, Nabisco isn't owned or heavily influenced by any members of the current Executive office...
'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
Ever wonder what the whole world would be like if:
Cheney got everything he wanted (i.e. Caligula) AND
Bush became the Dictator he appears to be craving (i.e. Stalin) ?
"The mills of the Gods grind slowly..."
"This just seems like bait for a flame war"
Exactly. Post something you know will create controversy and watch your readership go up. No doubt many others saw Haliberton on their RSS feed and clicked the link just like I did to see what they where up to. This is a good story for the bottom line of OSTG. It's no different than how the nightly news operates. Comparatively, by comment numbers, this article has done much better than many of the other front page stories... Which is what really matters at the end of the day for the business folks at OSTG. If slashdotters hated Nabisco we would likely see stories about them too. Nabisco does not create controversy within the nerd population nor does it entice prolonged discussion, flame wars and the sort however.
I guess my question above is answered - a shill.
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Hello Palm Jumeirah!
This sig only exists because you are observing it.
I dunno, did Nabisco's management use its high-ranking government cronies to rake in billions of dollars in criminally-constructed no-bid contracts?
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Any article against the current US administration is instant front-page material. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just that it is.
Hmmm...wow, gee...imagine that. Moving to Dubai.
... *GASP!*... Oh, no! Say it isn't so!
Let's all find our surprised look.
Awk! Pieces of eight. Pieces of eight. Pieces of seven... ERROR: General Protection Fault. [Paroty Error.]
You don't understand. Halliburton is the Microsoft of the military-industrial complex! Wait, that's not it. No, Halliburton is the McDonalds of the military-industrial complex! No, wait... it's the Wal-Mart of the military-industrial complex! Ummm no... it's the Phillip Morris? RIAA? Clear Channel? Diebold? SCO? HASBRO?!?
All those evil corporations get mixed up on Slashdot, you know. If you mention one, you've really started a party.
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
Uh huh. And are they changing their name? Ahalibartan or something like that? Otherwise it's like Coca Cola trying to distance itself from its American image.
Loose lips lose spit.
As much as I enjoy political troll-flaming, I still wonder what this has to do with "News for nerds, stuff that matters"...
The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
What! And miss an anti-Bush anti-Cheny story? You must have not been here long! If there is ANYTHING anti-republican, or anti-American, IT WILL BE POSTED HERE!
actually, the reality is is that the discussion goes further.
"Won't this mean that there's the consequence where Halliburton is now with out any sort of obligation to actually do any of the work we tell them to do?"
"...so?"
Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
>> this is news for anti-capitalist tree-huggers
I concede that was going a little far.
I'm not arguing the morals of haliburton or the 2 people you mention.
I'm simply saying its not a slashdot topic.
Haliburton may very well be a bad company, and Cheney, Bush may very well be unpleasant people, I just didn't think slashdot was the place for discussing that topic.
Kyle
It's bad enough /. chose to run a story that's not for nerds and doesn't matter.
Actually, Sarbanes-Oxley would still apply as long as they are a publicly traded company on a US Exchange. I believe it only would cease to apply if they delisted from the NYSE and listed in an international market. The whole reason why fewer foreign companies are listing in American Exchange is that they'd be subject to SOX rules, even though they're located in another country.
From everything we already know about them, nothing should really surprise anybody anymore. There is nothing complicated or strange about any of it. It happens because it is allowed to happen, and that's really all there is to it.
Halliburton is getting out before a democrat Attorney General takes power. Thay have already taken the profits from millitary operations.
I just hope the next president re-highers all the good CIA people Bish fired, lets them deal effectively with Islamic terrorism, and sends people to kill the owners of this company.
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
You can't leave yet, we haven't even begun the investigations! The subpoenas, the political face-time--the WINDFALL PROFIT TAXES!!!
Gee...wonder why they'd want to leave?
If you've never been modded as "flamebait" or "troll," you've never tried to argue a minority viewpoint here!
...don't offer an opinion until you are out of your teens and actually have a clue about what the fuck you are talking about. Thanks in advance.
Your one saving grace is that your last point is correct; the story deals with nothing technologically worthy of being on Slashdot. Just another political circle-jerk.
Oddly enough, this is probably a very good move for the quality of what Haliburton does. Getting your guiding officer closer to the conditions on the ground should help with getting problems fixed. Even if he's not all that interested in making things perfect, he should at least be able to curb the abuses that don't directly help his (ahem, his company's) bottom line.
If Halliburton was above reproach, this wouldn't be an issue. But right now moving the CEO of your company overseas is bad PR for a company accused of war profiteering.
The ______ Agenda
At the time of this writing, the parent was modded 4, Informative. Informative? You people have got to be kidding.
If I voted for Cheney a time or two, I wouldn't go around pretending to anyone anymore that I know what I'm doing, or that anyone should take my political opinions seriously.
That guy is the devil, and 50M Americans voted twice to give him more power than anyone ever had before, except maybe his partner in crime, Bush. And of course they voted for Bush, too.
But I still hear from so many of these people about how the world really is, how it should be, and what we should do to make it that way. Even though they have demonstrated that their way of thinking about it is worse than useless: it's terminally dangerous.
--
make install -not war
When Halliburton moves some of it's operation to Dubai, how do you think that US laws will be applied? If they can make huge amounts of money by working with Iran, do you think that US law will stop them? If oil rich Saudi groups want to influence US energy policy to keep the country dependent on middle eastern oil, wouldn't it be easy to do this based in the middle east? But it's OK, Dick Chaney will keep us safe...
Moving to Dubai huh? Too bad.
I was hoping that in the corporate "best practice" spirit of eating their own dog food , they would move HQ to Baghdad.
Just quoting the story. And there is some sliver of veracity to it - they're moving their headquarters and their CEO to where the action is. He could end up with a better business sense of the situation, and really work to endear himself to his primary customer base.
;-)
It's not my fault he'll probably be riding around in a pickup, drinking beer and having a bikini clad model in the passenger seat. You can take the redneck out of Texas,...
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
Would it have made the headline if it were Nabisco?
I don't know. I accept all cookies. So I guess I have an alternative.
What?
At least George Soros likes Halliburton enough to buy 2 million shares of Halliburton.
I was siting home alone one night in LA
Watching old Cronkite on the seven o'clock news
It seems there was an earthquake that
Left nothing but a Panama hat
And a pair of old Greek shoes
Didn't seem like much was happening
So I turned it off and went to grab another beer
Seems like every time you turn around
There's another hard-luck story that you're gonna hear
And there's really nothing anyone can say
And I never did plan to go anyway
To Black Diamond Bay. --Bob Dylan
As as American who has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East, Dubai is perhaps one of my favorite cities anywhere. It is a world class city with all the "modern" things you'd want and a touch of class that makes it a true gem.
I know the issue isn't which city is better, but Dubai is like a New York. If you're in the financial business, go to Manhattan. If you're in the tech world, go to san Jose. If you're in the oil business with 90% of your work in the middle east, go to Dubai. I see nothing wrong with this, especially if they say they are going to pay US taxes and remain a US corp.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
I'm also against their huge no-bid contracts.
Do you know of any alternatives to KBR that could have done the job and not just make an rfq process a 6-month waste of time? I've heard there aren't any, so I'm interested if you have better data.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I wonder where the organisation's corporate records will be when the Democrats gain power and commence a formal investigation into its involvement in the war? Good luck exercising a search warrant in Dubai. Timing seems about right -- I'm sure there are a lot of backup tapes and filing cabinets to ship out of the jurisdiction...
I think you mean to say, Alibababurton.
http://www.factcheck.org/article261.html
Humor from a Genetically Molested Mind
If I die tomorrow.. blame the government, but I gotta get this off my chest.
Bill Clinton gets a blowjob, and people immediately say the word impeach, and yet after all of these screw ups, lost lives, botched intelligence, lack of foreign policy, and any clue of how to run a country, or better yet, how to think of other people besides you and the people you are friends with, its ridiculous. (sorry about the run-on). Besides that, we literally "lost" billions of dollars that we shipped over there in hard currency by the airplane load and now the corporate headquarters of Satan Inc, is moving in with all of the other oil kingpins in Dubai? I'm absolutely disgusted at what is going on in this country and how nothing will ever be done to change any of this. The lives that were lost in the desert to make these monkeys rich is sickening, and then all the money that is being dumped in their to continue to fuel our own war is even more revolting. It makes me sick that this is occurring in 2007, and yet the politicians in this country have the audacity to tell other countries how they should be run. I'm disgusted... now can some intern please give Bush a blow job already so he can be impeached?
Relocating to San Francisco / Palo Alto... Hire me?
It's not just /. material, it was at the top of the Financial Times' site. That means there's something important about it. But all I'm getting are a bunch of neoliberal /.ers running apologetics for big capital. Bleh. Does anyone really know what's going on around here?
It seems more like "fleeing the country" rather than "moving".
The Vice President and President aligned themselves with unethical companies like Exxon and Halliburton, who put money above the trust of the US people. Profit rules the day in the US, with many companies breaking ethics and laws to obtain more wealth.
Dispite Coast guard security concerns, the US gouverment tried to give control of the US ports to a company in the United Arab Emirates, in which Dubai is the capital. Now it seems that a top US defense contractor is moving to Dubai. With a lot of Muslim countires at war there is a lot of money to be made.Where will US military technolgy end up? Will the US gouverment allow the shipping / storage of weapons in Dubai. The US legal system keeps these unethical companies in check. Who will keep them in check when they operate on foriegn soil.
Sorry but I do not trust this gouverment or it's supported companys with my safety."Never say Never."
Halliburton was founded in 1919.
By 1982, it had 115,000 employees. A company with over 100,000 people is very much "something", not "nothing".
Cheney was Secretary of Defense in 1989.
So you, stephanruby, are either a frickin liar or just plain ignorant.
It's so that they can act as middleman to Iran.
u kti/countries?_nfls=false&_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=Co untryType1&navigationPageId=/iran
Dubai is a well known middle man exporter to Iran, for example:
https://www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk/ukti/appmanager/
"UK exports of goods and services to Iran were valued at £671m. If re exports from eg Dubai were to be included this figure could almost double."
If Iran is blockaded then businesses that act as middlemen in Dubai can make a lot of money funneling goods and services to them.
Productivity has no nationality.
If yor main criteria to buy something is if it is American or not, then you may be rewarding inneficient American companies thus hurting other consumers in your country, which are as American as the workers of the companies you are artificially propping up.
You should buy based on price and quality, irrespective of the origin of a given product (unles the place of origin plays dirty commercial tricks, in which case it is perfectly well to boycott, but one would expect any sane government to take care of that so you don't have to , but still, that is about the only non economic reason I can agree to abide by when buying goods).
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
You read my mind.
Smart move actually. I'm sure the investigations concerning fraud against U.S. taxpayers will begin when/if the government is no longer friendly to them. Or you could use the old adage about rats tending to be the first to jump ship when they see it sinking.
It is a world class city with all the "modern" things you'd want and a touch of class that makes it a true gem.
A very large population of indentured slaves, for example.
If you are a monopoly or very dominant in the market where you work. And while you may be helping your workers, you are hurting your customers, who are the ones that foot the bill and who at the end give you and your employeess a job to go to in the first place.
In a competitive market such a policy is pure lunacy and would drive any company into bankruptcy.
Any person wanting to help their employees should pay them what is fair according to the market, incentives for them to be happy can come in many forms that do not necessarily have to be monetary.
Oh, and did I forget that paying over the top has an inflationary effect that eventually will hurt employees as well?
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
Last time I checked, these alleged "friends" of Bush in the oil industry were former competitors of Bush in a past life. By this argument, if Bill Gates became president, as a former "software man" he would conduct policy to benefit to Steve Jobs. And out oil this tenuous, unproven nexus, we are to believe Bush started a war? Only to give the Iraqis their oil back? We even pay the Iraqis for the oil our military uses while defending them! For a war fought for oil, we should at least get the oil we use defending Iraqis for free. We charged Britain for lend lease for 60 years!
If anything, it was the anti-war forces, like France, which wanted to protect its sweetheart oil deals with Saddam. And I assure you that the Iraqi people see a hell of a lot more of the oil revenues now than they did under Saddam's Oil-for-Palaces program.
Frankly, I do not blame Haliburton for leaving the US, if they are. All they get is grief from the left, then they want to leave and you wonder why? I hope they take all their jobs with them to another country, just another example of the business-unfriendly left chasing away an American company.
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Care to back that one up? Bahrain potentially has that situation, as might Saudi Arabia. However, the prince who runs UAE is exceedingly cautious of the way his country is viewed by the outside world, and I don't think your statement is accurate.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
The clown who replied to you further down, has just come up with the same stuff were churning out in 2003. I thin the true answer lies somewhere inbetween, i.e. I personally think that oil certainly did play a big part, and was certainly that which got Bush and Cheney their backing from industry and the coallition of the stupid, i.e. big reconstruction contracts in Iraq after the war was over. But the main reason that the neoconservatives got so horny about invading Iraq probably was based on the locationof Iraq, i.e. a geostrategic base for US interests in the middle of the middle east. I think that they thought they would have an ideal location from which they could threaten Iran and Syria, and have enough oil flowing to be able to threaten the Saudis as well in future if things turned sour there.
I would reply in detail to your post, but judging from the text, it seems like you're one of the die hards, still spouting the same crap that the morons were saying in 2003. I will say this though: If Bush had been so incredibly interested in saving the Iraqi people from Saddam from a purely humanitarian point of view, then WHY THE FUCK, you dumbass clown, did the US do next to fuckall during the massacres going on in Dafur, in Sudan?
Fuck, people like you are just as fucking ridiculous as the liberals who believe in the most absurd conspiracy theories.
...was the last time a (north) american was extradited at the behest of another country?
The americans are quite ok at having other countries' citizens extradited to the US (and keep foriegners detained without trial) but the simple fact of the matter is that the US is lucky enough to have the world's most powerful military, and economy, and influence, that their citizens are becoming 'untouchable' in the eyes of the rest of the world.
Considering all the hatred towards Halliburton and completely unfounded lies being told about this company, if I was Halliburton I would want to move out of the extremely unfriendly U.S. also.
Hey leftist business hating liberals: wake up! Businesses are people. And jobs for people. Why do you hate your fellow citizens so much that you want to take away their jobs?
"I suppose with Dick and Bush, the double standard will apply."
Most people in the U.S. have no idea how corrupt the Bush administration is. Here is my summary of U.S. government corruption. Where's yours?
If you truly love a woman, you will stick with her when she has troubles. If you truly love a country, you will still be intensely involved even when bad things are happening.
If their new corporate headquarters gets bombed by terrorists?
Just a thought.
I don't want Karma, I just want to be a smart ass. All in favor, mod me up.
Why would and oil services company want to stay in the US, when we cannot drill anywhere else here in the US? nor can we create anymore Oil Processing facilities? Envronmentalist have pushed much more that Halliburton out of the US. There is a long list of companies leaving the US, Why is this one any different? Of course some narrow minded people will blame it on Bush, but then again, those same people blame pretty much everything on Bush. It's a systemic problem, not a clear cut, "IT's Bushes fault" problem. If your going to Damn Halliburton, then Damn, DELL, IBM, Microsoft ,Intel, AMD, HP, Bank of America, AT&T, Chrysler. These companies still have headquarters here, but what is the differance in moving your employees or headquarters? Well, you still have to abid by US law even if your headquarters are overseas, second taxes - Other countries tax much differantly, sometimes :/ the taxes are even better, especially if they are given breaks for moving. Companies are solicited by tax incentives ever year to move into cities or states. I do think that the US should stop using halliburton as soon as a suitable domestic replacment can be found.
Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit!
Boeing receives many subsidies in the US as well.
This little tirade of yours of the evil EU backing a wasteful state company is frankly ludicrous, not only because it is not the entire truth, but because you conveniently forget to mention that Boeing receives a similar treatment from the US government.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
So having a compete is a huge waste of time and money. Nevertheless, it is pretty useful, and many contracts are awarded as the result of competitive bids.
However, while not knowing much about the Iraq reconstruction effort, it is extremely difficult to imagine that there was time to take competitive bids and evaluate them. Time was of the essence, and KBR was up to the task. You either give them a no-bid contract or people will die while you're evaluating proposals.
Furthermore, while I have heard a lot of lefties complaining and complaining about Halliburton, it's notable who you don't hear complaining : other government contractors. The fact of the matter is that most companies don't want to send people to Iraq, it's very dangerous. My (gov't contracting) company requires a VP to personally sign off on any employee trip to the middle east : that's not something you do when you are looking to expand business there.
Many companies allow you take a receive bonus as a multi-year annuity to spread out taxes. Theres a large penalty (about half) to cash it in early. I suppose Cheney rather not take this hit rather than appear still attached to Halliburton.
We are suppossed to believe that all the dubious deals HB got during the Iraq fiasco have nothing to do with having a mean they know in such a position of power.
Including procurement without competitionfro the contracts.
Please do not insult our intelligence.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I believe you're looking for something akin to policies of IBM and NCR, where infrastructure was even poured in to the well-being and education of its workers to take at their option. Now it's something unheard of to have, or considered a bad thing to have. The only notable exception is if you work for a certain Stanford based company or some place equally exclusivist.
The decisions of Reagan regarding PATCO were indirectly related to this shift in perception as well, given that it signaled that it was safe to say "screw 'em". After that, you get what you see today, extreme case being Enron.
Now if tax law would catch up, close the foreign asset loophole, and undo Reagan's other mistakes. Then you might have a start on where to go with that idea you have.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Don't forget to post some pictures on the web using your computer running Ulubuntu!
Not always. But if it's not from Sysco, it is going to cost more. High end restaurants almost never use Sysco, for instance. Sysco is like a restaurant in a box, you can get everything: mats, dishes, tableware, food, condiments, and so on. Their sales people are very pushy and will offer you incredible deals to try to get you to use their crap food, but it is crap and it all tastes the same. Anyone who really loves food will buy from places where they have some say over quality, preferably from local, possibly organic vendors. Yes, I also think organic food tastes better than that styrofoam tasting commercial crap.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Interesting considering I just got hired by them and start this summer. Shouldn't affect my job any, but it still makes one wonder about the companies future.
The UAE labor law does not cover domestic workers. Many are physically and sexually abused. Stories abound of housemaids who try to escape their employers' homes knowing neither the address nor the phone number, nor even the family's full name. Some end up in hospitals, victims of rape. Rarely is an employer prosecuted. Authorities are threatening to shut down Dubai's only shelter for women and children survivors of violence, including women domestic workers who have suffered abuse by their employers. The best that an abused domestic worker can hope for is an airline ticket back home and a lifetime of shame. Which also had this quote which reminded me of our own H1B indentured servants A Qatari citizen--the sponsor--procures a visa for a worker and thereby controls that worker's movements for the duration of his or her contract while in Qatar. Just because we're not in the middle east, dosen't mean we don't like to enslave indiana tech workers. Check out the H1B.. it's bloody evil.
-GiH
I hated it. One huge soulless market place ; everything is on sale. The desert is very beautiful though.
a) If there were any justice in the world, all of the Haliburton executives would be added to the "No Fly" list. If they want to take our money and run to Dubai, they can at least have to take a damned boat.
b) I predict that on January 21, 2009, Dick Cheney will be taking up residency in Dubai.
Understanding is a three edged sword. - Ambassador Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5
Who names their son Ann, anyway?
No, seriously, look at the Adam's apple. Dead giveaway.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
That is interesting, but I would consider the source. There are a lot of sources that say all sorts of bad things about every country, including the US. However, that is their slanted opinion.
I'm not trying to discredit you or your posting. UAE is hardly perfect, but the US, UK and everyhwhere else has its issues as well. I just don't think I'd rely on Solidaritycenter.org for accurate information. Again, I think I would talk to those that do business there, and look at more than a source that is known for leaning toward the left when it comes to labor laws. Heck, they don't like our (the US) labor laws.
Last I checked, nobody made people apply for our visa programs, and nobody made the people who choose to go to the UAE apply for that program either. This whole thing reminds me of the Spanish speakers here in the US that tell me I need to learn Spanish. Last I checked, I live in America and English is still the national language.
People make their own choices, and I stand by my original statement...UAE is a decent place. If it were not, there would not be hoards of tourists flocking there and Expats everywhere you look. They must be doing something right.
I'm not a troll, but I play one on Slashdot.
UAE is hardly perfect, but the US, UK and everyhwhere else has its issues as well.
Yes, we do. Legalized slavery, however, is not among them.
Downmodding is the refuge of the weak. Don't downmod, make a better argument!
The phrase "indentured slaves" is nonsensical. Either you are indentured (entering into a voluntary servitude that is limited by the payoff of a debt or a predetermined interval of service) or a slave (indefinite term of involuntary servitude).
Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
Anyone remember the whole Newark (NY/NJ) port authority being managed by Dubai Ports Authority being shot down because it was a middle east entity, despite the fact it was the best in class around with world (heck they did a great job with managing London's ports). Anyways, under the same circumstances and bias (where ever that came from) should apply in this case, and Haliburton should be banned. :p LOL
Isn't it fascinating that the vast majority of rightwing bullshit talking points are coming from "Anonymous Cowards"? Maybe we should re-assign that to be "fascist thugs" after Mussolini's little unofficial minions, eh? Halliburton is positioning itself for the incoming civil and criminal actions... they are spinning off all defense "support" contracts into a separate company (collecting all potential loss items into one bag) after already taking the profits. Two headquarters is, as a previous poster stated, inherently absurd unless you're expecting HQ#1 to be zerg'd. The US will be damned lucky if it gets a fraction of the completely missing billions of dollars back after all this is done. What we have here are a few corporations (or actually a very small group of people of whom the Bushes and Cheneys are part) who have manipulated themselves into power, looted the US budget/treasury, damaged the governments ability to conduct oversight, and are now scampering out the door. Worse, they have fooled enough of the social and fiscal conservatives into following them for long enough to pull this scam. At this point, anyone supporting these hooligans are either embarrassed and defensive, have a financial stake in it, ... or roadway gravel stupid.
(signed, former republican -- these people make Nixon look saintly)
Good riddance to bad rubbish.
Those acolytes of the "Cult of the Invisible Hand" who say that US taxation and regulation are to blame, and that this is a HIT on our economy, I say "Pshaw"!
With Halliburton gone - that leaves room for new blood, a new competitor, to step into the void left behind. Halliburton can keep trying to play both sides, (probably helping to arm Iran in the upcoming war with the US) - but their influence in US policy, and their stranglehold monopoly on this particular segment of defense contracting will be diminished. It can only mean good things.
If they think they'll have a better time of it in Dubai, lets see how their headquarters weathers suicide bombings, other security issues, and Dubai's crappy public infrastructure. That's what you get when you dream of living in a "Libertarian Paradise".
We're fighting them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here; but now the juiciest target has moved over there. Good riddance. Have fun guys.
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
During the last elections we saw how the anti-war sentiment that has grown over the years have from one day to another given the democrats a rather huge lead in the house. As of now there is nothing to indicate this won't happen in the coming presidential elections as well (the republicans are still pro-war and each of their candidates are simply put quite unpopular).
Though corruption makes no distinction between party lines (if you think democrats are not being bought off by huge corporations just as easily you're fooling yourself) there is also a substantial amount democrats who'd like to grab Halliburton (and to a lesser extend Cheney & friends) by the balls. And seeing as the Iraq war was (from the perspective of Halliburton) merely a risky but profitable investment (though it would have been far more profitable if the Iraqis had "cooperated" as "planned" and helped sell out their country's oil) they would have nothing to fear as long as their republican cronies led by Cheney were still to remain in office.
Seeing as the tides may shift though, they apparently decided to relocate their HQs to a place were US law (and any sort of law enforcement for that matter) could not reach them.
For some background on how the war basically shifted billions of the US tax payers' dollars to Halliburton and other US "no-bid contract" companies while tens of thousands of people lost their lifes violently have a look at the documentary Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006).
And when you gaze long enough into the code, the code will also gaze into you.
I'd like to know whether anyone has looked into the case files of the 8 recently canned U.S. attorneys to see if any of them were investigating anything to do with Halliburton or its subsidiaries. THAT would be an embarassing connection. Given the history of this administration, the dismissals had to be retribution for something... The CNN article is here http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/03/13/fired.attor neys/index.html
Plenty of money-sucking ticks on our country move out for tax purposes or cheap labor. How long until WE as a PEOPLE get sick enough of this STEALING of our jobs that we kick out our "elected" "representatives" in government who have engineered the trade agreements that make this possible. (And yes, it needed two sets of quotes.)
Don't get me wrong, I have a job. I can pay my bills. It just sickens me to see more of my friends and neighbors every day who can't. Even if you have a job and are entirely self-serving, you should realize that a society losing its jobs is only going to breed crime faster than the spread of any supervirus in their distracting news stories.
Don't walk around with the attitude of "I can't do anything about it". Talk to the others around you. Make sure everyone is at least irritated at these leeching bastards. Together we can start a wave of giving a crap about our fellows. Most of the money in the world cannot stand against most of the people in the world for long; because people's beliefs give money its power in the first place.
Dann has a new/neo book on the shelves, called Godess.
By the way, does Dann have a brother/second-cousin named Ann? in the carpet business? Must be cool having cousins also surnamed coulter. It makes it a lot easier to pass-down a mattress or underwear that already has "COULTER" written on the tags.
and when you expect a little fire is about to cause the Halliburton building to crumble to the ground like Building 7, don't fret now because here comes the ol' Queen of the Illuminati to convert that sucker in mid-air flight.
without prejudice
if this organization was created in the 70's, doesn't this mean that the problem of huge unfunded liabilities was acknowledged 30+ years ago?
...) years ago, doesn't mean anything has actually been done to solve the problem.
Sure, it probably was. But this is the United States Government we're talking about here -- just because the problem was acknowledged 30 (or 50, or 70
There were people who realized that Social Security was just a Ponzi scheme from the very beginning (well, they probably didn't use those words, since I'm not sure when it entered the vernacular), and is sustained only through continual growth of the number of workers feeding into it, in order to overcome inflation and not lose money for everyone concerned, and begins to fail whenever you have a contracting labor pool, but we're hurtling right towards that particular brick wall without any solutions in sight. However, certain people will no doubt treat it as a complete surprise when it eventually fails (or becomes obvious that it is about to), because this aids in after-the-fact ass-covering and finger-pointing.
Welcome to America: where nothing gets dealt with until it's already a catastrophe.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Since when did slashdot post this type of news anywhere before now? I thought so. OWNED!!!!
In other words, if an ordinary citizen did what Clinton did, there would be no consequences. At any rate, it would certainly not qualify as "high crimes and misdemeanors".
Like I said, the details are shaky in my head, but I can ask him to explain it to me again if you really want me to.This, of course is a criminal trail, not a civil trial, so the rules are different. Also, the facts he was accused of lying about were material. He was also convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice, so he did more than Clinton did.
Of course, you make it sound like Libby just had a poor memory. Perhaps you are right. But a jury of his peers disagreed. They considered that Libby simply had a poor memory, but eventually found that the defense's version of the story "too hard to believe". From comments, it sounded like the jury wanted an excuse to acquit since Libby seemed like a fall guy. Nevertheless, the defense failed to convince the jury that Libby's false statements were the result of poor memory, and that he deliberately lied.
Like it or not, lying to a grand jury in a criminal trial and lying to investigators are both crimes in the country that are punishable by jail time. On the flip side, lying during a civil trial about something that is immaterial is not a crime. That is why Clinton walked and Libby will likely do jail time if he is not pardoned. It has nothing to do with political influence.
If anything, if Libby gets pardoned, that would be a better example of political influence being abused than Clinton walking.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
Well, a jury of his peers considered the matter. They considered that Libby could have remembered his facts wrong, but they didn't buy the defense's explanation. They considered that Libby was the fall guy (the juror that kept talking to the press said the jury felt he was the fall guy). All of those other facts you pointed out are irrelevant since Libby wasn't on trial for leaking, he was on trial for lying.
It sounded to me like the jury considered the important points and explanations, and concluded that Libby lied to the grand jury, to investigators, and obstructed justice.
It also sounded to me like the defense was very weak. They didn't bring in any memory experts to testify about how Libby could have forgotten or what could have been going on in his head that would make it not intentional lying. They didn't bring in Cheney to testify or any other important players. Not sure what that was about, but you now see the results.
At any rate, the jury says he lied and did not misremember, so he lied. A jury's findings are not open to appeal ("jury decided the wrong thing, so I appeal!" Heh heh. No.). Only if something improper happened at the trial.
They don't grade fathers, but if your daughter's a stripper, you fucked up. --Chris Rock
how to do you explain Toyota who assembles most of their cars for American sale in America?
Circumvention of Buy America laws, which do need to be updated to include this case. However, business lobbyists make it quite hard to pass through airtight laws.
It's not the workers, it's the crappy construction and implementation. Bottom line, American cars are absolute shit.
I'll keep that in mind when I see the long defect lists for Japanese cars.
Some may look good on the outside, but the insides have gut rot.
As opposed to wheel rot that's well known to a more than a few localized Hondas.
What is the point then of buying one, pride?
Getting a car with an engine that isn't anemic compared to its competitors in class, stock.
They break down when the warranty runs out and seldom have I seen one go past 150,000 miles.
Maintenance much? It's not as if you have a sardine can of an engine compartment in a "true domestic" car in most cases.
I find it funny that Ford and GM can blame their workers for the stupid decisions of management.
They're the ones that are most ill-equipped to defend themselves. Events similar to PATCO put them in that kind of spot.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
OMG just another example of liberal reporting from NPR. Oh wait, I mean factual and informative reporting.
Computers don't make mistakes. What they do, they do on purpose.