Update: Cheney and Halliburton

I detailed the gargantuan conflict of interest Vice President Dick (Straight Shooter) Cheney has with government contractor Halliburton. The post highlighted his stock options and the intervention of his office in securing no bid contracts for the company. Now Raw Story reports that Halliburton's contracts under the Bush/Cheney administration have increased 600%. A government report requested by Congressman Henry Waxman reports that overall government procurement spending has increased by $175 billion under Bush and Cheney. This is an increase of 86%. Raw Story reports:

Waxman claims that overcharging -- by mistake or outright fraud -- has been a frequent occurrance. In all, the report identifies 118 federal contracts worth $745.5 billion that have been found by government officials to include significant waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement.

So federal government procurement spending is off the charts and Halliburton has been a major recipient. This illustrates several problems: no bid contracts are wasteful, there is no accountability in this Administration, corruption is rampant, and Halliburton has profited enormously since their CEO, along with his 433,000 stock options, became VP. This means Dick Cheney has personally profited from his official position. This folks, is the definition of corruption.