Cronyism In Obama’s Administration Yet Again

Have you ever heard of David Richter, or of Hill International (HI), or of HIs newest subsidiary, HillStone International (HSI)? It seems that an executive vice president at HSI is James Biden, the younger brother of Vice President Joe Biden.

So what? Well, let me try to answer that question. David Richter is president of HI. At a meeting of investors in 2011, Richter said of HSIs recent winning of a $1.5 billion contract to build 100,000 homes in Iraq that it helps to have “the brother of the vice president as a partner.” James Biden (net worth: about $7 million) has been, since 2010, vice president of HSI, despite very little, if any, work history in the residential construction business. James Biden seems to have a remarkable lack of business experience outside of politics . So what is James Biden’s value to HI? As Charles Gasparino says, “James Biden’s obvious value comes from his connection to the Obama administration.”

Gasparino was assured by Richter that James Biden had nothing to do with the Iraq project, or any other government projects recently landed by HI. I have to ask: “Just how stupid do Richter and HI think we are?” CDN readers do not fall for this chicanery, but the MSM seems to look away, and a sizeable portion of the US population must be pretty stupid since Obama has a chance (getting smaller each day) of being re-elected.

HI has, since 2011, been losing money, and has seen its stock price fall from almost $20 per share in 2008, to open this morning (October 24, 2012) at $3.64. But HI is expected to be profitable once HSIs Iraq project gets started. HSI officials say the Iraq project is expected to generate $1.5 billion in revenues over the next three years. That is over three times all the revenues HI produced in 2011.

HI owns 51 percent of HSI. Investors, of which James Biden is one, own 49 percent of HSI. That means that James Biden has the potential to participate in millions of dollars of HSI profit. Not too bad for being the brother of the veep. And guess who will pay the profits in which Biden will participate. That’s correct, us taxpayers. The $1.5 billion Iraq deal is contingent upon Iraqi government financing, but guess from where this project’s money is coming.

And this from Obama who said that his administration will be the most transparent and honest in US history.

But that’s just my opinion.

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