Questions on military contract for Brazil's Embraer after US company barred
Monday, November 21, 2011 at 9:09AM Hawker Beechcraft Corp., headquartered in Wichita (Kan.), won’t be permitted to bid on a light attack aircraft project for the U.S. The contract would’ve been worth approximately $1 billion.
Ben Howe at Red State said the bidding appears to favor Embraer, a company based in Brazil. The Brazilian government, said Howe, has a “Golden Share” provision in Embraer. The provision gives the government certain veto rights regarding military programs.
Hawker Beechcraft had reason to be upset about being barred from the project. The company had spent more than $100 million to assure compliance with specifications.
Howe points out these and other troubling issues like Brazil’s cozy relationship with Iran.
Hawker Beechcraft is headquartered in a non-forced-unionism state. The company also employs people in Arkansas, another non-forced-unionism state. Additional employees work in other countries.
Howe pointed out that, “Hawker Beechcraft employees are represented by the International Association of Machinists (IAM).”
Brazil’s Embraer does a lot of business with General Electric, a company closely allied with the administration of President Barack Obama. Embraer said on its corporate website:
Embraer and GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS), the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric Company, have signed a contract for six firm orders and six options of the EMBRAER 190, with the right to convert to the EMBRAER 195. The total value of the deal, which will be included in Embraer’s fourth quarter of 2011 backlog, is USD 256.8 million, at list price, and could double, if all options are confirmed. Delivery of these aircraft will begin in the fourth quarter of 2012.
The Obama administration generated controversy over a US taxpayer funded loan to Brazil for offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. Obama had shut down US drilling in the Gulf after the BP oil leak. The shutdown killed thousands of jobs domestically.
Obama’s economic policy rests on a socialist approach—using taxpayer dollars to create private sector and government jobs, with the government deciding which companies benefit. That approach is in direct opposition to a free market approach with government policy creating a regulatory climate that encourages private sector growth.
(Filed by Kay B. Day/Nov. 21, 2011)
