Halliburton Says "Bye Bye USA"

The oil services giant Halliburton has chosen to move their headquarters from Houston to Dubai and the lefties are enraged:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Halliburton's decision to move its base from Texas to Dubai sparked a political firestorm Monday as Senator Hillary Clinton and other top Democrats expressed outrage at the oil services giant.

Halliburton, headed by Dick Cheney from 1995 to 2000 before he became vice president, said Sunday it was relocating to the United Arab Emirates to capitalize on the Gulf region's booming energy market.

"Does this mean they are going to quit paying taxes in America?" asked Clinton, a US presidential candidate.

"They get a lot of government contracts, is this going to affect the investigations that are going on? Because we have a lot of evidence of misuse of government contracts and how they have cheated the American soldier and cheated the American taxpayer," Clinton, speaking in New York, said of Halliburton.

...

"It's an example of corporate greed at its worst," said Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

"At the same time they'll be avoiding US taxes, I'm sure they won't stop insisting on taking their profits in cold hard US cash," Leahy charged.

Halliburton spokeswoman Melissa Norcross said, however, that Halliburton would still remain incorporated in the United States and that there would be no layoffs as a result of its move.

"As such, we anticipate absolutely no tax benefits from this decision," Norcross said.

Halliburton's chief executive, Dave Lesar, will move his office from Houston, Texas, to Dubai, but Norcross said other top officers would remain situated in Houston.

Halliburton said it was relocating to Dubai for business reasons and that Lesar would oversee a ramped-up effort to win regional oil services contracts and related business.

Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan said he would seek a congressional review of Halliburton's announcement.

Dorgan can investigate all he wants, but he has no power to prevent Halliburton from heading somewhere where there's a more favorable political environment. The Dems and their wacky lefty supporters have made Halliburton the focus of evil in the modern world, and with poisonous politics and politicians out to get them, I can't blame them for going somewhere else.

Although I'm sure they have solid business reasons for their decision to move, it is kind of an "in your face" to the Democrats. Sort of an added bonus.