No, you missed the ultimate punchline in all this--the management is going to be given to Halliburton! It's going to be the funniest political moment ever. Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

OJ,

I told you back two weeks ago that this sort of thing would happen. Again, it's probably that Miami-based Continential Stevedoring & Terminals company that had its rear handed to it in British court.

Brad:

Why would they now assume the burden of a contract that they couldn't previously meet the terms of? If American companies could do this work profitably they would be.

OJ,

They didn't get a chance to bid previously on a contract. I maintain that this was an attempt for that particular company to obtain more bidness, regardless of bid process.

And they figured, why not use Congress to get a leg up?

And I maintain profit/loss won't be that big of an issue on this. Look for further details of bid price for those leases. I also maintain that there may be a federal earmark helping bridge the gap, so to speak.

Or we could give it to the Corps of Engineers.

Brad:

Quite. All Congress has to do is transfer tax payer dollars to a private corporation and give it a big enough subsidy that it will agree to take on the task. Thus do "conservatives" vindicate their principles...

luce:

Talk about creating a security risk....

What American company is going to want a contract that's just going to be used as a political football? If they make the mistake of putting someone named Mohammed or Abdul on their board, who's to say they won't lose the contract too?

OK, then how about the Postal Service. There is an appropriate solution to this peskey problem, if only we work it hard enough.

Timothy:

& they can't be publicly traded because Arabs might own stock....

Autarky, then!

What about the boys from Mena? At least they're (South) Americans.

Timothy,

Any company that has politicans giving them financial or business advice on getting a government contract. Keep in mind, the ports are owned by governmental entities.

Those type of contracts can weather any political storm. Do you think any private contractor working Katrina debris removal (including Louisiana-based Shaw Group) is going to back out of the next storm, even after the beating they've taken?

Or Loral.

When a US company takes over the running of the off-loading of the cheap Chinese crap we buy, expect the prices of said cheap crap to go up.

AllenS. The stuff we buy from China is anything but crap. We couldn't match Chinese quality for ten times the price.

chinese quality ? maybe they are making some top quality goods i am unaware of, but for the most part the stuff i see from china would have to improve considerably before it reached the "crap" level. their dvd players are nice because they will play everything and don't support the media dinosaurs futile last efforts at control (but expect to replace them every 6 months or so).

toe, I was referring to Chinese soft goods and wasn't even aware they're into electronics too. They'll learn from their mistakes. Remember the first Japanese and Korean cars?

Note the difference between Japan/S.Korea and China?