The absurd proportions of the U.S. corporate welfare state

While Bush and his gang slash and burn domestic programs that might actually improve people's lives, billions---with millions in "bonus payments"---continues to flow to merchants of death like Halliburton and KBR:

Much of Halliburton's work for the U.S. military is on a cost-plus basis, which means the company can earn up to 2 percent extra depending on their performance. An Army spokesman said KBR had been awarded $9.4 million in bonus payments from its work in Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Overall, KBR has earned $7.2 billion under a massive 2001 logistics contract with the U.S. military and has obligations to earn more than $10 billion under that deal. It has separate deals with the government for reconstruction work in Iraq.

The bulk of money paid out so far under the logistics deal -- about $6.6 billion -- is for work in Iraq which still must be assessed for bonuses that could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.