OnePeople

MCI Gets Iraq Contract

WorldCom was fined $500 million by the SEC for inflating its worth by about $9 billion. That might sounds like a big fine, but it's about a week's revenue. In any case, the company was doing so poorly that it went bankrupt, and left thousands of investors out to dry. They even changed their name back to MCI, since the WorldCom name was so tainted.

Strangely, someone forgot to tell the General Services Administration. The GSA continues to spend about $1 billion a year with MCI, and just days after the SEC fine, awarded MCI the Iraq telephony contract.

For those keeping score at home, MCI defrauded investors to the tune of $176 billion, resulting in $3 billion in lost pensions. The Bush Administration was so impressed that they fined MCI $500 million, and then promptly handed them a license to print Iraqi dinars. It's enough to make you want to boycott MCI. Too bad you can't boycott the GSA.