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Bullet proof greed
The war has been very, very good to David H. Brooks. He's the CEO of DHB Industries, the Westbury, NY maker of bullet proof vests worn by the US Military in Iraq.
In 2001, before the war, Brooks scraped by on $525,000 compensation. Last year, he earned $70 million, and cashed in company stock worth $186 million. It would be one thing if Brooks's vests were actually bullet proof, but the military says they're not. Last May, the U.S. Marines recalled more than 5,000 DHB armored vests after questions were raised about their effectiveness. By that time, Brooks had pocketed over $250 million in war windfalls.
Fortunately for Brooks, Bush's millionaire tax cut initiatives meant he could afford to drop $10 million on his daughter's bat mitzvah. The bullet-proof greedhead rented New York City's Rainbow Room, and hired an all star cast of A list entertainers, including Stevie Nicks, 50 Center, Don Henley, Tom Petty, and Aerosmith. Kenny G was also called, so B list entertainers would have a crack at entertaining 300 over-privileged 13-year-old girls.
Comments one disgusted vet:“I guess it just goes to show the state of affairs and the state of mind of this tired, old (of mind) veteran that when this story came up it didn’t even make me blink. So some rich guy somewhere who made tons of money selling defective bulletproof vests to the military has a filthy rich party for his daughter’s Bat Mitzvah. ‘Oh, wow, someone wants to endanger my life for a few bucks?’ Sounds like the entire war. So the soldiers get paid poorly, on occasion shell out there own few bucks to buy gear, lose a year of their life, lose their sanity, lose their limbs, lose their lives, and a very few, very select group closely connected to our government get very, very rich. OK, if that’s what the American people want. If that’s what they voted for.”
Not me.
2.12.05 18:44
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(3.12.05 21:23) For a second, I thought this was David Brooks of the New York Times. |
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(4.12.05 20:05) NYT Brooks isn't venal. He's just stupid. |