From the LA times columnist Robert Sheer Making Money, the Bush Way Recent Columns: Making Money, the Bush Way Feb 19, 2002 Enron Flew Under the Radar Feb 12, 2002 An Orgy of Defense Spending Feb 5, 2002 A Walk in the Valley of Greed Jan 29, 2002 Enron Got Its Money's Worth Jan 22, 2002 You have to hand it to George Bush the senior for hustle. Back in 1998, he took at least $80,000 in stock from Global Crossing in return for speaking for the company in Tokyo. The payment was made as the company was about to go public and the stock's value quickly multiplied 175-fold to $14 million. Maybe some congressional committee will turn up how much of that stock the former president sold before the company went belly up a few weeks ago. But that score was nothing compared with the elder Bush's own global crossings as a highly paid consultant to the Carlyle Group, a $12-billion equity investment firm heavy into the defense and energy games. Carlyle's chairman, Frank Carlucci, who was Reagan's Defense secretary, is a close friend of the current secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, his Princeton wrestling partner. The Carlyle company roster also includes top vets of the first Bush administration, led by ex-Secretary of State James Baker--a political gunslinger who worked hard on George W. Bush's postelection campaign to secure Florida's electoral votes and the White House. In fact, the government alums in the Carlyle Group are so well connected internationally that, until Sept. 11, the group was even trusted to invest the funds of the Bin Laden family--although not those controlled by the family black sheep, who is charged with slaughtering several thousand innocents using Saudi recruits and money. The elder Bush himself is well connected with the Saudis, having fought the Gulf War to save the royal kingdom from being gobbled up by wicked Saddam Hussein. Last year, after George W. assumed the presidency, grateful Saudis welcomed his Poppy and his colleagues from the Carlyle Group who were in town to sign new contracts based on oil wealth. Hey, fair is fair: Bush the senior had saved the sheiks' bacon and now they give him a slice. Most former presidents putter around their presidential libraries, getting in a game of golf or two while they shuffle papers for their memoirs. Then there's Jimmy Carter, trying to atone for sins he didn't commit in office by becoming a carpenter for the poor, and poor Bill Clinton who still has to prove to right-wing talk show nuts and their spokespersons in Congress that his wife didn't steal the White House silverware. Nothing like that for George, who has returned to the spirit of his early days, when he used the connections of his family name to strike it rich in the Texas oil fields. This time, the big prize lies in the defense budget. With his son the president defending the biggest military buildup since the darkest days of the Cold War by pointing to the grim work of Saudi-sponsored terrorists, no weapons system is too gaudy or implausible to be embraced with bipartisan fervor. That's fortunate for the buddies of the president's father over at Carlyle, who have invested heavily in military equipment without military purpose. Take the 80,000-ton Crusader howitzer cannon designed to defeat the tanks of the Soviet army in a conventional war in Central Europe. As a candidate, even George W. Bush made fun of the antiquated weapon as he campaigned on the principle of a leaner, more efficient military built for modern wars. But perhaps nobody had told him that the Crusader is being built by a defense contractor called United Defense, owned by the Carlyle Group. Clinton, on the advice of the Pentagon, was set to bury the weapon as a Cold War artifact. Now Bush the younger has embraced it--and Carlyle suddenly found the confidence to take United Defense public after holding off for a decade. No biggie. What's $11 billion for the Crusader in a defense budget designed to grow to $451 billion by 2007? Only a bleeding heart pinko pacifist would point out that $11 billion is what this "education" president is planning to spend on educating the nation's poor children under next year's Title I appropriation. But hey, child poverty is not the Carlyle Group's business. * Robert Scheer is a syndicated columnist
There is nothing illegal nor unethical about ex-government officials working in the private sector. That Carlucci, Baker, and Bush would work for a firm with interests in energy and defense is not suspicious, despite the conspiratorial note given by the author of the article. If there were laws governing where ex-officials could use their influence, and these three were doing something wrong, this would be a story. As it is its merely slanderous crap. http://www.teamcrusader.com/system/system.html Crusader - The Field Artillery System for the 21st Century. Crusader -- a fully automated artillery system -- is the most powerful and effective field artillery system ever developed. The system consists of the XM2001 155mm self-propelled howitzer (SPH) supported by the XM2002 resupply vehicle (RSV) and the XM2003 resupply module (RSM) transported on a M1075 PLS truck. Together, these components represent the most sophisticated fighting machine on the planet. Crusader is the vital first step in the Army's objective force. Crusader is essential to maintaining America's military strength and its ability to fight and win decisively. Its relentless firepower and range weakens our enemies -- before they get close enough to harm us. Crusader will give the United States artillery overmatch for the first time since WWII. At the same time that it increases the Army's lethality, Crusader reduces its need for both money and men. The system is a forward-looking investment in people, operations and technology that will make the future combat systems a reality. Crusader uses 32 percent less ammunition per target, requires 38 percent less support and reduces peacetime ownership costs by 15 percent. Furthermore, six soldiers can accomplish the same tasks it took 27 to do in the past. And unlike current artillery crews, they perform their tasks from the safety of a fully protected digital command center. Crusader is the most accurate, lethal, mobile, responsive and safe field artillery system in the world. Its rate of fire ranges from 10 to 12 rounds a minute. Its land speeds range from 39 to 69 km per hour. It requires fewer soldiers and protects them better. It is more than twice as accurate as current field artillery. And it fires in all weather and can operate nonstop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I don't see a problem with Bush being in the private sector. I do see an issue with him being invested in a corporation that's project was saved by his son's coming into office. I noticed the website was teamcrusader.com, btw, Hayes .
Hey, nothing wrong with making a buck, if they are willing to pay for his services, why shouldn't he ? Jealous glynch? I know I am..... DaDakota
But with Dubya we all knew he was going to increase defense spending. It's entirely consistent with his persona and platform. So many projects that might otherwise have fallen off are going to now be funded. To insinuate this specific one was saved for Senior's profit is slander in that you can neither confirm nor disprove the linkage to some intervention by Dubya. Hell, yeah. Where am I supposed to come up with someone who'll justify this junk? Anti-war.com?
How come many people are getting upset about similar behavior from Enron? Funding Bush's campaign and congressional campaigns, getting laws passed that mainly favor Enron and then putting Enron ex Enron employees in charge of regulating the whole affair. To me the military situation is just the same from an ethical point of view. How can you tell me that refunding or increasing the funding for an outdated weapon that dad's friends have an interest in, one you've criticized yourself, is not at least highly suspicious? You don't think that such a system is an ivitation to abuses? If not the Bush's, could you forsee an Al Gore , perhaps, taking advantage of this. Do you think that there has ever been a weapons system built where who had the the opportunity to make a profit on it was a primary concern when choosing whether to build it.
<b>How come many people are getting upset about similar behavior from Enron? </b> I don't know, maybe because Enron broke the law and destroyed lives. That may have had something to do with it.
Talk about grasping at straws. It was well know among the investing community that there were certain stocks to invest in as Bush came to office. I invested in these stocks and sectors. Its just fact that these companies would benifit from a republican pres. Here are a few stocks and sectors and their rise from their lows in the fall of 2000. MO up 40% MSFT up 40% Aerospace/defense sector down 3% Defense products sector up 2% Cigarettes sector - up 40% Tobacco products sector - up 32% VS DOW down 10% Nasdaq down 48% Replublicans favoring big business, tobacco, and defense must be a new thing. They would never get involved in any of that before or after office either.
