President to Take On Government Contracting

Congratulations Mr. President! Thank you so much for saving 25 police jobs today. I am sure the nice poeple in those cities, will be glad to pay their salaries with their tax dollars, when the stimulation is over. For the first time in my adult life, I feel ashamed to be an American!

This is funny. We're going to take no-bid contracts out of the system because we don't trust anyone to make good decisions, but we're going to have them run our health care system. What am I missing.

The entire contract system is flawed. First you have to give minority contractors preferential treatment, whether or not they are qualified to do the job. Then small businesses, ditto. Then the qualified contractors who have the means, the experience, the personnel, the equipment, etc. People can compain all the want, but Halliburton/KBR was the only contractor who had the means to take on the troop support in Iraq. Ask any soldier, airman, Marine, etc., who had enough time in that country and enough experience to rate their services. By and large, you could get any type of food at any time unless you were out in the field. Beats K-rations/MREs.
As far as the headlines about millions unaccounted for and all the hoopla.... if you are paying cash to Iraqi or Afghani informants, there is no paper trail, period. We talking about people in fear of their lives for helping Americans. Do you really think they are going to write up a contract and give you a receipt so some reporter can stick a camera in their face, wanting to know how they spent the money? Get real!

Under the Clinton Administration, with the threat of 'redlining' hanging over their heads, banks vis a vis Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae, were forced to relax their underwriting standards or risk losing market share or opening new branches. They had to make mortgages to people who could not afford them, using food stamps and questionable income to qualify. Now those same people, with no loss of jobs or other extenuating circumstances, will have their mortgage rates dropped, part of their principle written off, and all on the backs of the taxpayer.
The foreclosure mess is not Bush's. The genesis was the Clinton Administration. And, the media does mention it... at 6 a.m. on a Sunday morning or in a small article below the fold, or during times that no one is watching their show anyway. Heaven forbid that the media could be called biased!

For those who lost jobs, fine... I am all in favor of helping them. But, for a huge number of homeowners, this plan is bailing out people who were irresponsible in the first place. Bailing out people whose mortgage pmt is more than 31% of monthly income is ludicrous. Many people purchased homes they could not afford in the first place, their income is the same as it was when they purchased, and now we, the taxpayers, are going to reward them. Sounds like just another name for wealth redistribution. So, instead of rewarding those who are living below their means, saving, driving old cars, living in modest homes, etc., we are rewarding those who have homes they can't afford, new cars in the driveway (purchased with subprime auto loans), and let's not forget their huge credit card balances to buy all the new furniture for those homes. I ponder this while I sit on my thrift store furniture, in my modest fixer-upper, and see my second hand car in the driveway.
Posted by:
SEbethD 7:24 AM

The bidding process for govt contracts should be changed. Throw out the highest bid for obvious reasons, throw out the lowest bid because the work will be shoddy or the time frame will be unrealistic. Average the rest of the bids and the one closest to that average is awarded the contract.

Hopefully President Dufus doesn't fix this like he's fixed the economy. Anyone beginning to wonder what we have done electing this moron? Soon we all will be wondering what we've done.

This is great news! We can save $40 billion on next year's $3.5 trillion budget.

"the ones that sleep with the large corporations and lobbyist, there is no hope for much change"

Will have to kick both parties out under that criteria. Maybe that's what we should do.

Good, it was long overdue, finally someone that wants accountability, we have wasted enough of the tax payer's money although we all know that until we get rid of all of the dinosaurs in the Senate, the ones that sleep with the large corporations and lobbyist, there is no hope for much change

Dems like Taxes, except when 'they' have to pay them.

Dems like Taxes, except when they have to pay them.

Someone needs to read all the regulations an laws passed by congress that govern procurements by the Government....it is just NUTS. Getting rid of all the special provisions for all the special interests would help...oh then there is the 'small business' requirements....that cost MORE money....idiocy!! AND YOU PEOPLE want the GOVERNMENT to take care of you with universal health care....we will all be dead.

It's about time someone took a look at this---my husband just bid a job a a major army base in Virginia. They told him what they would pay him for the job before he even bid it. When he told them he could do it for less---they said go ahead and charge the full amount the government is paying and all the other contractors would do it! Good thing some people still have good morals and values and care about the future of this company. Isn't this what got us into this mess in the first place? GREED!!!

I was just listening to Rush and he was BEGGING barry to come on his show and debate the issues with him, or emanuel, biden, geitner.

Obviously, that will never happen. Barry is weak, and barry also knows that his socialist policies would be destroyed by Rush.

Btw, there are also things the government does, partnering with companies to develop a technology or capability. It comes in many forms, sometimes its a split development cost situation. But in the end, the government partners with a company to develop a technology, to fit a need, and in the end, that company gets a no bid contract, based on an investment the government put into the R&D of that technology. It simply isn't possible for anyone else to bid on it.

There will be no more bids for any job, just say your a democrat and you have it no matter how much you spend, because in the end we will take away all your profits.

"The government is informed of that by it's own employees. Government then goes out in the market and searches for solutions and looks at alternatives."

Oh right, so no companies develop technologies in house before the government asks for it? Is that what your saying? I know of 2 examples, radar specific, developed by a company that the military did not have. The radar wasn't even developed for the use it was deployed in, but it was modified for use. The company is the only one that developed it. Military did not ask for it, but today it saves lives and the military want it.

Two questions:
Isn't this the guy who said any spending is stimulus? Then why do we care if the govt. overpays on a contract. It gets more $$ out in circulation in the economy and will create more jobs--right?
Seriously, isn't it a little contradictory to have just signed a bill the main object of which was to flood the economy with billions of $$ in a way that any reasonable person would agree is an invitation to waste and abuse? (no offense to Sheriff Joe Biden)

Same old stuff from Obama. Big on style but short on substance.