6139008-History-of-Money

$16.8 billion in Iraq has seen its revenues increase 80% in the first quarter of 2004 compared to the same quarter of2003. According to the Financial Times, they are receiving steep "profits from their Iraq operations." Bechtel, with nearly$3 billion in Iraqi contracts, has seen their non-U.S.-generated revenues increase by a whopping 158% since last year ‚turning around a three-year slump. Bechtel is not publicly traded and therefore does not have to reveal profits. However,both Bechtel and Halliburton have cost-plus contracts that guarantee a specified rate of profit on their work.ChevronTexaco which has a comparatively minor contract for transporting Iraqi oil has also seen revenues soar. It isimportant to note that neither Halliburton nor Bechtel participated in the most recent round of Iraq reconstruction contractbids. A good guess as to why would be the constant barrage of public criticism they have faced over the failures in Iraq.These are just three of the hundreds of U.S. companies now operating in Iraq ‚ all of their money could return to the U.S. ‚non of it need be used to benefit Iraq whatsoever.Unfortunately, we don't really know how much money the Iraqis are missing out on, nor exactly what work is being donenor by whom. This is because, as the Center for Public Integrity ‚ the organization which has done the most extensiveFreedom of Information Act requests and investigations into these contracts ‚ so aptly states, "it [does] not appear thatany one government agency [knows] that total number of contractors or what they are doing." This finding has since beenupheld by both the General Accounting Office and the Pentagon's inspector-general - both of which have recentlyconcluded studies demonstrating little or no government over site over contractors and contracts being granted, renewedand increased with virtually no inspection of written documents nor work performed. Finally, returning to repatriation ofprofits ‚ the potential long-term impact of this provision for the Iraqi economy is monumental, as evidenced by the impactof the same rules on the "financial tigers" of East Asia, as well as Argentina and Russia. Each of these countriesexperienced devastating financial collapse when foreign investors simultaneously withdrew billions of dollars from theireconomies while the governments were powerless to enact restrictions on either the inward or outward flow ofinvestments. Iraq is now poised to meet the same fate.5. 40-year leasesUnder Order #39 Iraq will be locked in to its contracts under these rules for 40 years, with an option of unlimited renewal.If the contracts are broken, the Order gives the companies the legal authority to enact any international trade agreementof which both countries are party. If the Bush Administration is successful in implementing its trade goals outlined below,the U.S. will have a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) with Iraq. The BIT provides access to courts such as the WorldBank's International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), a venue notorious for its undemocratic,untransparent and unjust proceedings and rulings on behalf of multinational corporations.Bremer Order #40: BankingOrder #40 fundamentally alters Iraq's banking structure by turning this sector from a state-run to a market-drivensystem over night by allowing foreign banks to enter the Iraqi market and to purchase up to 50 percent of an Iraqi bank.Specifically, it permits six foreign banks over the next five years the right to enter the Iraqi market. A similar provisionincluded in NAFTA paved the way for Citigroup to purchase Mexico's largest commercial bank, Banamex. In Aotearoa/NewZealand, liberalization of financial banking services left every one of the nation's banks, including the bank of NewZealand, under foreign control. Affordable financial services and low-cost loans quickly dried up ‚ so much so that thegovernment proposed setting up a new bank, the People's Bank, to be owned and operated by the government itself inorder to redress the inequities of the foreign-owned banks. Local ownership of banks is critical because it facilitates accessto credit for all sectors of society. It may deter disloyal behavior; foreign finance companies are much more likely to fleein times of crisis. And ensuring that a foreign company holds some domestic assets within the country in which it isoperating can help ensure it can satisfy any legal liabilities it might accrue. Moreover, Iraq simply does not have adequateregulatory structures in place to handle the economic power and marketing prowess of global financial companies. Forexample, Iraq does not have a counter-part to U.S. laws such as the Community Reinvestment Act -- obligating banks tomake credit available in lower-income neighborhoods -- and the Truth in Lending Act -- requiring full disclosure toconsumers of the cost of loans. Finally, with the banks under foreign ownership, the lobby against adoption of such rulesmay be too strong to fight. JPMorgan, the second-largest bank in the U.S., which was implicated in the Enron scandal, hasbeen awarded a contract to run a consortium of 13 banks from 13 countries that will constitute the Trade Bank of Iraq.The Trade Bank may be just the point of entry for JPMorgan, giving it "first dibs" on the full privatization yet to come.Bremer Order #37: TaxesOrder #37 changes Iraq's tax law by implementing a flat tax that provides for a marginal income tax rate of 15% for bothcorporations and individuals. Thus, an Iraqi earning .50 cents per hour will pay the same tax rate as another earning $1billion an hour. Flat rates have a record of reducing the tax burden on the poorest in the economy, increasing the burdenon the middle class tremendously, and drastically reducing the taxes paid by the wealthiest in society ‚ particularlycorporations. As the Washington Post reports, "it took L. Paul Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Baghdad, no more than astroke of the pen Sept. 15 to accomplish what eluded the likes of publisher Steve Forbes, Reps. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) andRichard K. Armey (R-Tex.), and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) over the course of a decade and two presidential campaigns."The Hidden History Of Money & New World Order Usury Secrets Revealed at last! Page 489