The Three Card Monte game goes on: Air Force plans to privatize housing at Warren

[unhappycamper]

Air Force plans to privatize housing at Warren
The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jun 17, 2010 14:59:45 EDT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Air Force plans to privatize housing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base.

Officials say the move will save money and also provide better housing to service members.

Officials say they don’t have the money to keep up with maintenance on the units, which were built in the 1950s and ’60s.

About 350 units are expected to be renovated, and 450 will be demolished and replaced.

The work will be done as part of a bigger project involving bases in California, Montana and Missouri.

[DrDan]

1. "save money" . . . I love that argument

introduce profits . . . and money will be saved.

[HillbillyBob]

2. I have heard that farce since raygun

all you get is grift and corruption..i mean look at haliburton...

[pinboy3niner]

5. Even with no corruption, profit is an added cost

Down the road, they'll wonder why costs have risen to at least double or triple their projections.

[dgibby]

3. Today, AF housing.

Tomorrow, the AF.

New movie title: Privitized Top Gun. Catchy, isn't it?

[WeDidIt]

4. Actually a pretty smart move that will save money

The money saved will be in time spent by Air Force Personnel spending time keeping the housing up. Instead, those people will be able to focus on the mission of the Air Force rather than upkeep of housing.

It will improve the local economy, too.

Win win.

[DrDan]

6. why do you assume those keeping up the housing are the same ones that

are involved with the operations roles? They are a completely different group of airmen. You don't take a civil engineer or electrician or plumber and stick them in a cockpit.

Local economy also improves with military personnel doing this work.

not a win-win.

All this privatization leads to higher costs due to the newly introduced profits.

[WeDidIt]

11. They contract out the maintenance today

AF personnel manage all of that.

That management is what is being outsourced.

[DrDan]

13. so add an element of profit . . . how again does that make it cheaper?

you don't divert this AF management into operational roles. You cut those positions . . . and pay for the service from a profit-driven agent.

[WeDidIt]

16. The cost of having Air Force Officers managing the contracting of maintenance

through multiple vendors is higher than the cost of paying a single source to manage that for you.

The management company has an economy of scale because your properties are not the only properties the management company manages.

This reduces cost overall and keeps the Air Force focused on core competencies. The management company is also capable of providing a higher level of service at that reduced cost.

This is standard business practice and definitely saves money. I cannot tell you how many times I've been able to reduce costs for corporations I've worked for by outsourcing certain support functions. We're talking millions upon millions of dollars.

It works and it works well. The practice has a proven ROI.

[DrDan]

19. the quality of Halliburton's work is a perfect example. . . .

just what we need . . . . more KR&Bs.

[WeDidIt]

20. It will be a local company

I can pretty much guarantee that.

Halliburton got it's no bid contract from the Bush admin because it had a one up on all other companies, it was allowed to operate in a war zone.

F.E. Warren AFB is NOT a war zone.

[DrDan]

21. aand Halliburton is not alone in it's goal to maximize profits by cutting costs

that is the goal of ALL corporations.


and why do you assume it will be a local company? The link states "The work will be done as part of a bigger project involving bases in California, Montana and Missouri".

[Starry Messenger]

7. Will Halliburton be installing the showers?

What could possibly go wrong?

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/3780160.html

WASHINGTON - A U.S. Army doctor serving in Iraq has linked a small outbreak of bacterial infections among U.S. troops to allegedly contaminated water supplied by Houston-based Halliburton Co.

In the latest broadside against Halliburton and its performance in Iraq, Senate Democrats produced an e-mail Friday from Capt. A. Michelle Callahan, a family physician serving at Qayyarah Airfield West, recounting how she treated six infections over a two-week period in January, at the same time she was noticing the water in base showers was cloudy and foul-smelling.

Follow-up testing of the water soldiers were using to bathe, shave and even brush their teeth revealed evidence of coliform and E. coli bacteria, Callahan wrote in an e-mail to a staffer for the Democratic Policy Committee, led by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR was responsible for treating water at that base, under a contract to provide logistical support to U.S. troops.

<snip>

But the water was still cloudy, Callahan said. Further investigation revealed that the water the troops were using was actually wastewater from a purification unit, she wrote.

http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/22/electrocution-death-called-negligent-homicide/

January 22nd, 2009
Electrocution death called 'negligent homicide'
Posted: 03:22 PM ET

From Scott Bronstein and Abbie Boudreau
CNN Special Investigations Unit
WASHINGTON (CNN) - The U.S. Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID) has changed the manner of death for a soldier electrocuted while showering at his base in Iraq from "accidental" to "negligent homicide," according to an e-mail from CID obtained by CNN.

Investigators are blaming KBR, the largest U.S. contractor in Iraq, and two KBR supervisors for the incident, saying "they failed to ensure that work was being done by qualified electricians and plumbers, and to inspect the work that was being conducted."

CNN first reported the story of the death of Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated, 24-year-old Green Beret, last spring. The Pentagon and its contract agency have declined requests for an interview to answer questions about Maseth's death or other similar cases.

KBR has told CNN in the past it found no link between its work and the reported electrocutions and has denied responsibility in lawsuits filed against the company.

Why don't we ever learn? I wish Milton Friedman would stay dead.

[DrDan]

8. is there any easy money involved?

of course they will be there. Millions and millions are involved across the world.

Taxpayer money is their specialty.

[Starry Messenger]

18. I wonder if they'll bother to change their name.

People seem to have accepted privatization as inevitable anyway. Maybe no one will even complain if they see the usual suspects pulling their crap in the states.

[liberal N proud]

9. Another friend of a high ranking official makes out like a thief

Oh wait they are. We spend our money to build it and a public official just gives it to their buddy so he can make a profit from it.

Isn't America great?

:nuke:

[Lasher]

10. I thought we were going to stop privatizing our military.

Just another way to filter taxpayer money through a rich man's pocket.

[CanonRay]

12. No money to do maintainence, but money to pay somebody to do it?

Yeah, that makes sense. Contracting out is an idea whose time has long passed.

[iamtechus]

14. There will be less maintenance

The units are going to be "renovated" at taxpayer expense before being privatized so there won't be as much maintenance needed. Clever huh?

[CanonRay]

17. This is why I'm not a millionaire

my second grade teacher said I'd never amount to anything...poor penmanship.

[SoCalDem]

15. I lived in a duplex at FEWarren when I was in the 4th grade

Ugly little flat-roofed box..Had to be all of 900 sq ft.. I feel for anyone who's living there now, if that housing is still being used:(