Television Interview – “Viewpoint”
IRmep: Larger companies, to some extent, and this is a really crass thing to say, but the calculation may be, “I can export microprocessors in PCs (personal computers) or smart bombs. I can sell foodstuffs (processed) through supermarket chains or the KBR ‘chuck wagon’ on the military base.” There is a subsidy that is going on right now that has cushioned much of the Fortune 500, which is this deficit financed war, which has made them not feel this as much as smaller companies. 97% of exporters have less than 500 people (employees) in terms of company size. They are definitely feeling it. But there is a feeling, that up until now, there has been a “cushion” in the larger companies because all of this (US exports to the Arab market) is “dual use” technology. Vehicles…food…etc.
ViewPoint: Is it possible we’re not going to hear much more about this until those companies start to say something about it?
IRmep: Well some of those companies are beginning to talk in generalities. They don’t want to go to this level (Visa Denied Report), a lot of them, because it really doesn’t look good. To tell the truth, there aren’t a lot of executives who want to go on record saying, “we could have done a lot better in terms of our sales to the Middle East”.
Full Discussion (Windows Video 400 kbps) Audio Only (MP3)