There will definitely be a few Canadian voters who will be cheered by the news that Kevin O'Leary intends to take a run at the leadership of the Conservative Party.
Starting tomorrow. The reason he's starting tomorrow is because the all-candidates French language leadership debate is today, and O'Leary doesn't speak enough French to order a plate of poutine in Rimouski... at least not in French! So a French language debate is obviously out.
There are admittedly some cogent similarities between the two reality TV stars. They're both given to talking a lot of stupid shit, for example. But even then there's a difference. Trump's stupid shit generally finds a bigly amount of traction with a yuge swath of the electorate.
O'Leary's stupid shit just sounds like stupid shit.
Take O'Leary's many pronouncements on unions, for example. O'Leary doesn't have any use for unions. They're obviously a serious impediment to the meritocracy that he imagines is waiting for him to graciously accept its leadership mantle.
Trump has worked with the most powerful unions in the New York City construction scene all his life, but you never hear him dissing unions. Working class voters take note of these things.
Then there's that personal net worth thing. Both these guys play wealthy investors on TV. Only one of them keeps his own fleet of private aircraft. The other one flies commercial.
There's also the matter of how they deal with adversity. When O'Leary's business empire hit rough waters, he sold a controlling interest to Bain Capital, Mittens' company. When Trump has been faced with adversity in his business career he rolls up his sleeves, sits down face to face with the biggest banks in America, and walks away having got the better of them.
People respect that.
Showing posts with label Mitt Romney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mitt Romney. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Poverty, taxes, billionaires, and America's collapsing infrastructure
The way I see it, the fact that there are any billionaires at all among us is living proof that the tax code is seriously flawed. To be a "billionaire" means you've become a millionaire a thousand times over. Where I come from, being a millionaire means you're rich.
Now, I know times have changed. You might have been a working class stiff who bought a 900 square foot bungalow in San Francisco or Vancouver for $8,000 in 1960, and today it's worth two million. If that describes you, high five! I'm happy for ya!
But in most of America, a million bucks still counts as a lot of money.
And a billion is an obscene amount of money.
In 1960, the marginal tax rate for the highest income brackets was 90%. America had two billionaires; J. Paul Getty and Howard Hughes.
Today, the marginal income tax rate for the highest incomes is 39.5%. But that's a bit of a beard. Mitt Romney fessed up during his 2012 White House run that he pays 14% on his "US income." That was a sly way of avoiding the question of how much tax he avoids with his use of off-shore tax havens. Most of your big dogs and your big corporations (always remember that corporations are people too!) stash their income offshore to avoid paying even 14%.
That's why there are trillion dollar capital pools sitting in tax havens doing nothing.
And that's why in the "Western" world we're flirting with negative interest rates.
That's also why America today has well over 500 billionaires and climbing fast.
Is that why the middle class is shrinking?
Is that why the working class has been all but eviscerated?
Is that why America's infrastructure is on the verge of collapse?
Now, I know times have changed. You might have been a working class stiff who bought a 900 square foot bungalow in San Francisco or Vancouver for $8,000 in 1960, and today it's worth two million. If that describes you, high five! I'm happy for ya!
But in most of America, a million bucks still counts as a lot of money.
And a billion is an obscene amount of money.
In 1960, the marginal tax rate for the highest income brackets was 90%. America had two billionaires; J. Paul Getty and Howard Hughes.
Today, the marginal income tax rate for the highest incomes is 39.5%. But that's a bit of a beard. Mitt Romney fessed up during his 2012 White House run that he pays 14% on his "US income." That was a sly way of avoiding the question of how much tax he avoids with his use of off-shore tax havens. Most of your big dogs and your big corporations (always remember that corporations are people too!) stash their income offshore to avoid paying even 14%.
That's why there are trillion dollar capital pools sitting in tax havens doing nothing.
And that's why in the "Western" world we're flirting with negative interest rates.
That's also why America today has well over 500 billionaires and climbing fast.
Is that why the middle class is shrinking?
Is that why the working class has been all but eviscerated?
Is that why America's infrastructure is on the verge of collapse?
Thursday, March 3, 2016
GOP warmongers circle the wagons to block Trump
It was D (for desperation) Day among the GOP establishment today.
There was the Mittster warning America that security and prosperity would fly out the window with a Trump nomination. Romney doesn't get the fact that, from the point of view of street-level folks, America's security and prosperity has already been squandered by the perpetual-war establishment types.
Then, to prove that they're just as clueless as Romney, seventy-some charter members of that establishment posted an open letter on the War On the Rocks website. Yup, a president who could get along with Putin and be neutral on the Israel - Palestine conflict would be bad news indeed. That this clique of war cheerleaders feels threatened by Trump tells me he must be doing something right. A "Dump Trump" plea signed by the likes of Daniel Blumenthal, Michael Chertoff, Eliot Cohen, Robert Kagan and a few dozen like-minded Washington insiders isn't going to make much of an impression on the millions of regular folks who have begun to realize that the trillions pissed away on unnecessary wars at the urging of these people has only made America poorer and less secure.
In fact, it's these war cheerleaders who have brought America down. Bill Kristol gave the game away when he revealed that the GOP elite would be better served by having Hillary in the White House. Unlike Trump, Hillary is a reliable advocate for senseless military interventions and endless weapon sales to all sides in virtually every conflict. What that should tell the Republican rank and file is that their party has long since been hijacked by the military-industrial complex.
It's no wonder the elite feels threatened by a candidate who is bringing democracy back to the party.
There was the Mittster warning America that security and prosperity would fly out the window with a Trump nomination. Romney doesn't get the fact that, from the point of view of street-level folks, America's security and prosperity has already been squandered by the perpetual-war establishment types.
Then, to prove that they're just as clueless as Romney, seventy-some charter members of that establishment posted an open letter on the War On the Rocks website. Yup, a president who could get along with Putin and be neutral on the Israel - Palestine conflict would be bad news indeed. That this clique of war cheerleaders feels threatened by Trump tells me he must be doing something right. A "Dump Trump" plea signed by the likes of Daniel Blumenthal, Michael Chertoff, Eliot Cohen, Robert Kagan and a few dozen like-minded Washington insiders isn't going to make much of an impression on the millions of regular folks who have begun to realize that the trillions pissed away on unnecessary wars at the urging of these people has only made America poorer and less secure.
In fact, it's these war cheerleaders who have brought America down. Bill Kristol gave the game away when he revealed that the GOP elite would be better served by having Hillary in the White House. Unlike Trump, Hillary is a reliable advocate for senseless military interventions and endless weapon sales to all sides in virtually every conflict. What that should tell the Republican rank and file is that their party has long since been hijacked by the military-industrial complex.
It's no wonder the elite feels threatened by a candidate who is bringing democracy back to the party.
Saturday, January 23, 2016
NEWS FLASH: the rich should intervene in politics!
You mean they don't now and they haven't before?
That's the latest bullshitic twattery emanating from Davos, courtesy of hedge-fund sharpie Anthony Scaramucci.
While Tony may be a hedge-fund sharpie, he doesn't seem that sharp overall. He's backing Jeb for the the 2016 White House race?
Get outta here!
And what's this crap about the government taking more than 50% of every dollar he "earns?" Having been a key cog in The Mittster's run at the White House in the 2012 campaign, Tony would be well acquainted with the fact that his fellow hedgie got tons of ink over his paying a mere 14% on his declared 20 million per year income.
So hedgie Mitt pays 14%, but hedgie Tony pays over 50%?
Not bloody likely!.. that's just raw sewage if you ask me.
The other obvious omission in the discussion about Romney's taxes was that carefully crafted disclaimer that this number referred to Mitt's declared US income. Hey, it's obvious as can be that the reason hedgies have bank accounts in tax havens like the Caymans is so they can AVOID declaring income in the US!
They're not called tax havens for nothing!
That's the latest bullshitic twattery emanating from Davos, courtesy of hedge-fund sharpie Anthony Scaramucci.
While Tony may be a hedge-fund sharpie, he doesn't seem that sharp overall. He's backing Jeb for the the 2016 White House race?
Get outta here!
And what's this crap about the government taking more than 50% of every dollar he "earns?" Having been a key cog in The Mittster's run at the White House in the 2012 campaign, Tony would be well acquainted with the fact that his fellow hedgie got tons of ink over his paying a mere 14% on his declared 20 million per year income.
So hedgie Mitt pays 14%, but hedgie Tony pays over 50%?
Not bloody likely!.. that's just raw sewage if you ask me.
The other obvious omission in the discussion about Romney's taxes was that carefully crafted disclaimer that this number referred to Mitt's declared US income. Hey, it's obvious as can be that the reason hedgies have bank accounts in tax havens like the Caymans is so they can AVOID declaring income in the US!
They're not called tax havens for nothing!
Monday, August 24, 2015
Why Trump's "attack" on hedge funds was nothing of the sort
Most of the coverage I've seen about Trump's so-called attack on hedge fund managers gets it all wrong. Allegedly Mr. Trump is taking these guys to task for paying less than their share of taxes. Instead of paying at the "income" rate of 39.6% that the peons pay, they're using the "carried interest loophole" and other magic tricks to pay a mere 20%, which is the capital gains tax rate.
So the big boys are paying 20% on their profits, are they? Not bloody likely! Oh ya, maybe on the few profits they declare in the US, but what kind of doofus keeps his money in the US when the world is awash in tax havens where you'll pay little or nothing?
Remember the hoo-ha over the Mittster's financial revelations before the last election? On the face of it, Romney was paying a tax rate of 15% on gains declared in the US. Sure, that's enough of a scandal, but myriad investigative journalists never really got to the bottom of what's in those Romney accounts in Luxemburg, Cayman Islands, Bahamas...
That's the REAL scandal!
Trump has done a valuable public service in shining a light on these non-productive paper-shufflers. But Trump himself is well aware that the problem is not the 20% capital gain tax rate.
The real problem is the hundreds of billions that successful American corporations and wealthy individuals deliberately offshore in tax havens to avoid paying any share of their US tax burden.
So the big boys are paying 20% on their profits, are they? Not bloody likely! Oh ya, maybe on the few profits they declare in the US, but what kind of doofus keeps his money in the US when the world is awash in tax havens where you'll pay little or nothing?
Remember the hoo-ha over the Mittster's financial revelations before the last election? On the face of it, Romney was paying a tax rate of 15% on gains declared in the US. Sure, that's enough of a scandal, but myriad investigative journalists never really got to the bottom of what's in those Romney accounts in Luxemburg, Cayman Islands, Bahamas...
That's the REAL scandal!
Trump has done a valuable public service in shining a light on these non-productive paper-shufflers. But Trump himself is well aware that the problem is not the 20% capital gain tax rate.
The real problem is the hundreds of billions that successful American corporations and wealthy individuals deliberately offshore in tax havens to avoid paying any share of their US tax burden.
Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Crimes of the educators
Ran across this gem on my random internet ramblings this evening.
Yes, it's obvious that educators are guilty of crimes against humanity, insofar as their endeavours have produced a public sufficiently gullible to accept that Obama's America shares a page in the history books with Pol Pot's Cambodia, Hitler's Germany, or Stalin's Russia.
Unfortunately, this calibre of imbecility didn't erupt under Obama.
Sam Blumenfeld was born in 1927.
His co-author was educated in a firmly pro-American-exceptionalism pre-Obama era.
Not that Obama has in any way backed down from the doctrine of American exceptionalism.
But folks who have been educated in the no-fault era wouldn't know that. Nor would they recognize that Blumenfeld and Newman are wall-to-wall bullshit.
Thinking back to the last election cycle, I recall that moment when Mitt Romney castigated a critic for forgetting that corporations are people too.
Corporations are not people.
America in general gave Mitt's egregious insult a free pass; after all, the Supreme court had given the corporations-are-people nonsense a pass too.
So it must be true!
By the way, nobody on the supreme court had the misfortune of getting their primary education under "common core."
Yet they were fully able to come up with such an outrageously moronic ruling.
And when they did, they weren't tarred and feathered or run out of town or strung from the nearest lamppost.
No, American education has been heading down the shitter for a long time, and it's a phenomenon that has nothing to do with Obama and very little to do with educators.
It's a by-product of the Zeitgeist.
Yes, it's obvious that educators are guilty of crimes against humanity, insofar as their endeavours have produced a public sufficiently gullible to accept that Obama's America shares a page in the history books with Pol Pot's Cambodia, Hitler's Germany, or Stalin's Russia.
Unfortunately, this calibre of imbecility didn't erupt under Obama.
Sam Blumenfeld was born in 1927.
His co-author was educated in a firmly pro-American-exceptionalism pre-Obama era.
Not that Obama has in any way backed down from the doctrine of American exceptionalism.
But folks who have been educated in the no-fault era wouldn't know that. Nor would they recognize that Blumenfeld and Newman are wall-to-wall bullshit.
Thinking back to the last election cycle, I recall that moment when Mitt Romney castigated a critic for forgetting that corporations are people too.
Corporations are not people.
America in general gave Mitt's egregious insult a free pass; after all, the Supreme court had given the corporations-are-people nonsense a pass too.
So it must be true!
By the way, nobody on the supreme court had the misfortune of getting their primary education under "common core."
Yet they were fully able to come up with such an outrageously moronic ruling.
And when they did, they weren't tarred and feathered or run out of town or strung from the nearest lamppost.
No, American education has been heading down the shitter for a long time, and it's a phenomenon that has nothing to do with Obama and very little to do with educators.
It's a by-product of the Zeitgeist.
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Netanyahu reminds America that Christians and Jews are one big happy family!
And of course Muslims aren't a part of it, which must account for why they want to do us harm.
Netanyahu showed up on Face the Nation this morning, ostensibly to offer his insights into the latest Islamic State be-heading outrage. It took him all of 30 seconds to change the subject to Iran's nuclear weapons.
Unlike Israel's nuclear weapons, Iran's don't actually exist, but that's not something Bob Schieffer would bring up. That might cause an uncomfortable moment, and Bob saves those for Ron Paul. Instead, the greatest leader since Moses was basically given free rein to rant about the Islamic threat in general and the Iranian threat in particular.
He was also over-the-top in emphasising that Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel, which is going to cause some pouting in Ottawa. That was just Netanyahu talking nice for the cameras... Mitt Romney came on next to set the record straight; Obama has practically sold the Promised Land down the river, and only a Republican administration can restore the trust that once allowed the triumphalist crazies of Likud to take American support totally for granted.
As for that "one big happy family" bit, I suppose he's right. When you get right down to it, Christianity is just a Jewish cult that went viral.
Netanyahu showed up on Face the Nation this morning, ostensibly to offer his insights into the latest Islamic State be-heading outrage. It took him all of 30 seconds to change the subject to Iran's nuclear weapons.
Unlike Israel's nuclear weapons, Iran's don't actually exist, but that's not something Bob Schieffer would bring up. That might cause an uncomfortable moment, and Bob saves those for Ron Paul. Instead, the greatest leader since Moses was basically given free rein to rant about the Islamic threat in general and the Iranian threat in particular.
He was also over-the-top in emphasising that Israel has no better friend than America, and America has no better friend than Israel, which is going to cause some pouting in Ottawa. That was just Netanyahu talking nice for the cameras... Mitt Romney came on next to set the record straight; Obama has practically sold the Promised Land down the river, and only a Republican administration can restore the trust that once allowed the triumphalist crazies of Likud to take American support totally for granted.
As for that "one big happy family" bit, I suppose he's right. When you get right down to it, Christianity is just a Jewish cult that went viral.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Why Canada needs a Charter of Economic Rights
Here's something for the 400 soon-to-be unemployed Heinz workers in Leamington to mull over.
According to Forbes, Warren Buffett is the world's 4th richest man, with a net worth of 53 billion dollars.
Jorge Lemann is the world's 33rd richest man, with a net worth of 18 billion dollars.
Just to put a billion dollars in perspective, a typical Heinz employee in Leamington would have to work for 20,000 years to make a billion dollars.
Warren stands tall at 83 years old, atop a 53 billion dollar loot-pile
Jorges loot-pile is barely half that size.
Warren and Jorge have joined forces to buy the HJ Heinz company with a view to making themselves more money.
Because apparently they don't have enough.
This will be achieved by deploying the usual slash-and-burn strategies that have enriched hedge-fund shitbags for generations. Every dollar that can be leveraged out of a worker's pocket and diverted into the obscenely engorged wallets of Warren and Jorge is a step in the right direction.
Whether that destroys workers, their families, and their communities is quite irrelevant. It's all about "efficiency," don't you know?
Bullshit!
It's all about making obscenely rich people richer.
The layoffs and plant consolidations looming at Heinz contribute nothing of value to the overall economy. The Lemann-Buffett rape of HJ Heinz is a prime example of non-productive economic activity.
For starters, profits on non-productive economic activity should be taxed at a rate of 100%.
That would de-incentivize the Lemanns and Ackmans and Romneys of the world.
They could turn their attention to doing something useful for society!
Beyond that, as a society we need to get away from the idea that "democracy" is about nothing more than voting for one party or another every few years. Democracy should value the interests of ALL members of the society. We need to put the interests of the worker in Leamington on a par with the interests of Buffett or Lemann making their next billion.
Without economic democracy there is no democracy at all.
In the meantime, this is one household that is going to muddle through without using any HJ Heinz products from here on in.
Hope you do the same in your household.
According to Forbes, Warren Buffett is the world's 4th richest man, with a net worth of 53 billion dollars.
Jorge Lemann is the world's 33rd richest man, with a net worth of 18 billion dollars.
Just to put a billion dollars in perspective, a typical Heinz employee in Leamington would have to work for 20,000 years to make a billion dollars.
Warren stands tall at 83 years old, atop a 53 billion dollar loot-pile
Jorges loot-pile is barely half that size.
Warren and Jorge have joined forces to buy the HJ Heinz company with a view to making themselves more money.
Because apparently they don't have enough.
This will be achieved by deploying the usual slash-and-burn strategies that have enriched hedge-fund shitbags for generations. Every dollar that can be leveraged out of a worker's pocket and diverted into the obscenely engorged wallets of Warren and Jorge is a step in the right direction.
Whether that destroys workers, their families, and their communities is quite irrelevant. It's all about "efficiency," don't you know?
Bullshit!
It's all about making obscenely rich people richer.
The layoffs and plant consolidations looming at Heinz contribute nothing of value to the overall economy. The Lemann-Buffett rape of HJ Heinz is a prime example of non-productive economic activity.
For starters, profits on non-productive economic activity should be taxed at a rate of 100%.
That would de-incentivize the Lemanns and Ackmans and Romneys of the world.
They could turn their attention to doing something useful for society!
Beyond that, as a society we need to get away from the idea that "democracy" is about nothing more than voting for one party or another every few years. Democracy should value the interests of ALL members of the society. We need to put the interests of the worker in Leamington on a par with the interests of Buffett or Lemann making their next billion.
Without economic democracy there is no democracy at all.
In the meantime, this is one household that is going to muddle through without using any HJ Heinz products from here on in.
Hope you do the same in your household.
Saturday, June 9, 2012
What's 'news' in America?
First off, Lin-Lo had some sort of accident.
Not that that's never happened before, but this time it was really serious. Apparently she left the scene in a Cadillac Escalade after running her Porsche into the back of a truck.
Which is quite unlike anything I would ever do under those circumstances.
I remember just last month, when I ran my truck into the back of a Porsche, I had to hop into my crew's Escalade just to make a quick get-away.
So obviously that's a big news story.
And let's have a pause for the reverend Creflo Dollar.
Those of you who are not on the side of Jesus may not be acquainted with the Cre-meister.
The Dollar-man runs a few churches and preaches the good word and has been laid low by his 15 year old daughter who claims he gave her a swat while they were arguing about whether she should attend a party...
Anybody who ever had a fifteen year old daughter has wanted to give her a swat. For the most part we are able to overcome the urge. For a man of the cloth to succumb to the urge requires, at the very least, an act of contrition.
So come on Creflo, say "sorry" and get over it. You know she's going to the friggin' party whether you like it or not.
But I find it odd that those are two of the biggest stories in the mainstream news at this very moment.
How is the national deficit coming along?
Getting bigger? Getting smaller?
How's Mitt's "corporations are people too" campaign going?
Frankly, I'm still in shock that he got out of that one without tar and feathers.
Corporations are people too?
Kiss.
My.
Ass.
America lets this twat be the Republican nominee?
America deserves everything it gets...
Not that that's never happened before, but this time it was really serious. Apparently she left the scene in a Cadillac Escalade after running her Porsche into the back of a truck.
Which is quite unlike anything I would ever do under those circumstances.
I remember just last month, when I ran my truck into the back of a Porsche, I had to hop into my crew's Escalade just to make a quick get-away.
So obviously that's a big news story.
And let's have a pause for the reverend Creflo Dollar.
Those of you who are not on the side of Jesus may not be acquainted with the Cre-meister.
The Dollar-man runs a few churches and preaches the good word and has been laid low by his 15 year old daughter who claims he gave her a swat while they were arguing about whether she should attend a party...
Anybody who ever had a fifteen year old daughter has wanted to give her a swat. For the most part we are able to overcome the urge. For a man of the cloth to succumb to the urge requires, at the very least, an act of contrition.
So come on Creflo, say "sorry" and get over it. You know she's going to the friggin' party whether you like it or not.
But I find it odd that those are two of the biggest stories in the mainstream news at this very moment.
How is the national deficit coming along?
Getting bigger? Getting smaller?
How's Mitt's "corporations are people too" campaign going?
Frankly, I'm still in shock that he got out of that one without tar and feathers.
Corporations are people too?
Kiss.
My.
Ass.
America lets this twat be the Republican nominee?
America deserves everything it gets...
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Gingrich campaign running on empty as Adelson flirts with Romney
It's pretty much over for Newt.
It wasn't that long ago that Sheldon Adelson stated that he was prepared to put another 100 million into the Gingrich campaign. Seems he's had a change of heart.
Newt pink-slipped at least a third of his campaign team today because he can't afford to pay them. Obviously Adelson refuses to throw good money after bad.
Meanwhile there are all kinds of reports floating around about chummy get-togethers between various Adelson reps and people in the Romney campaign.
Looks like Sheldon's next 100 million is going somewhere else.
It wasn't that long ago that Sheldon Adelson stated that he was prepared to put another 100 million into the Gingrich campaign. Seems he's had a change of heart.
Newt pink-slipped at least a third of his campaign team today because he can't afford to pay them. Obviously Adelson refuses to throw good money after bad.
Meanwhile there are all kinds of reports floating around about chummy get-togethers between various Adelson reps and people in the Romney campaign.
Looks like Sheldon's next 100 million is going somewhere else.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Corporations are people too
And as people, you know they have feelings.
Corporations feel bad when workers want benefits and higher pay.
That makes corporations feel sad.
That makes them so sad that they want to go to a right-to-work state to feel better.
Sometimes corporations have to go all the way to China before they feel better.
We should care more about how corporations feel about things.
After all, corporations are people too.
Corporations feel bad when workers want benefits and higher pay.
That makes corporations feel sad.
That makes them so sad that they want to go to a right-to-work state to feel better.
Sometimes corporations have to go all the way to China before they feel better.
We should care more about how corporations feel about things.
After all, corporations are people too.
Romney touches up fake accent on tour of Southern States
Mitt is working hard on losing his Canadian accent.
He was working hard on his "y'alls" today in preparation for the Alabama and Mississippi primaries.
Y'all come on down and vote fer yer uncle Mitt!
C'mon y'all, corporations are people too!
Y'all must be dumber than a post if ya do. Y'all gotta keep in mind that Mitty done made himself hundreds of millions shuttin' down yer factories and sendin' the jobs somewhere else.
And y'all should keep in mind that Mitt is keen, real keen, on bringing us into another war in the Middle East.
He's not about appeasing those Persian towellers like Obama been doin'. No siree, Mitt's gonna open up a big fat can 'o whup-ass on those folks.
So give yer head a shake and vote for Mitt!
That Mormon got moxie!
He was working hard on his "y'alls" today in preparation for the Alabama and Mississippi primaries.
Y'all come on down and vote fer yer uncle Mitt!
C'mon y'all, corporations are people too!
Y'all must be dumber than a post if ya do. Y'all gotta keep in mind that Mitty done made himself hundreds of millions shuttin' down yer factories and sendin' the jobs somewhere else.
And y'all should keep in mind that Mitt is keen, real keen, on bringing us into another war in the Middle East.
He's not about appeasing those Persian towellers like Obama been doin'. No siree, Mitt's gonna open up a big fat can 'o whup-ass on those folks.
So give yer head a shake and vote for Mitt!
That Mormon got moxie!
Mitt's not lying when he says he was "in" the economy
Mitt Romney recently claimed that one of the key differences between himself and his GOP rivals was the fact that he actually had some experience as an operator in the economy.
Those other guys might have thought about it, wrote about it, brain-stormed about it, lost sleep about it, but Mitt was different because he was "in" the economy.
Was he ever! Nobody is in the economy like our friends in the vulture capitalist crowd. They're in there looting and pillaging and shutting down and out-sourcing and maximizing their profits.
It's the American way!
Those other guys might have thought about it, wrote about it, brain-stormed about it, lost sleep about it, but Mitt was different because he was "in" the economy.
Was he ever! Nobody is in the economy like our friends in the vulture capitalist crowd. They're in there looting and pillaging and shutting down and out-sourcing and maximizing their profits.
It's the American way!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Nathan Rothschild meets extra-terrestials at secret Davos meeting
And if you believe that, you're fucked in the head.
Actually, Nathan Rothschild just lost a libel case in Britain, proving again that while he might be a relatively rich guy, he too has feet of clay.
Who goes in for this nonsense that's pedelled all over the internet, about the Rothschilds and crop circles and the end of the world?
The elite control the world, that's true. That's why they're known as the elite.
But it's got nothing to do with the Illuminati or the Rothschilds or extra-terrestials or Davos or Bilderberg.
It's got everything to do with the fundamental intrinsic nature of capitalism.
Letting a few control everything is the logical outcome of how we allow capitalism to be practised.
There's nothing wrong with capitalism. There's never been a more efficient way of mobilizing human resources.
Problem is, left to its own devices, capitalism eventually eats its host. When you get to a place where vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney are held up as paragons of capitalist success, you have reached a tipping point.
Mitt Romney and the likes of Bain Capital don't enable capitalism; they destroy it.
There are huge swaths of society that will never be accomodated by winner-take-all capitalism.
The sick.
The poor.
The elderly.
Those marginalized for any reason.
That's why there needs to be a "we" to regulate capitalism.
Actually, Nathan Rothschild just lost a libel case in Britain, proving again that while he might be a relatively rich guy, he too has feet of clay.
Who goes in for this nonsense that's pedelled all over the internet, about the Rothschilds and crop circles and the end of the world?
The elite control the world, that's true. That's why they're known as the elite.
But it's got nothing to do with the Illuminati or the Rothschilds or extra-terrestials or Davos or Bilderberg.
It's got everything to do with the fundamental intrinsic nature of capitalism.
Letting a few control everything is the logical outcome of how we allow capitalism to be practised.
There's nothing wrong with capitalism. There's never been a more efficient way of mobilizing human resources.
Problem is, left to its own devices, capitalism eventually eats its host. When you get to a place where vulture capitalists like Mitt Romney are held up as paragons of capitalist success, you have reached a tipping point.
Mitt Romney and the likes of Bain Capital don't enable capitalism; they destroy it.
There are huge swaths of society that will never be accomodated by winner-take-all capitalism.
The sick.
The poor.
The elderly.
Those marginalized for any reason.
That's why there needs to be a "we" to regulate capitalism.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Adelson threatens to drop another $100 million on Newt's Super-PAC
This has got to have the Romney camp worried.
Romney has deep pockets. He's by far the richest man in the race. He can donate to his own PAC to his hearts' content.
But there's rich and then there's Sheldon Adelson Forbes Billionaire List kind of rich.
Mitt can't drop a hundred million just for fun. Sheldon can.
So what could Newt do with a hundred million in fresh cash in his PAC? Oh my goodness! The advertising agencies that craft the attack adds are going to be working 24/7 for months on end.
The researchers who dig up the dirt to fuel the attack adds are going to be working 24/7 for months on end.
That's already dozens of pretty regular folks wringing a lot of OT out of Sheldon's largesse. After all, lighting guy or cameraman at a production shop that's subcontracted by an ad agency to do political attack ads is probably an anti-war stoner in a same-sex marriage; he doesn't give a shit who wins the GOP nomination but he's thankful for the work.
Hell, maybe this is the new economic model for America. Forget manufacturing. Forget high tech. Maybe the American economy can be rebooted to feed off the election campaigns. We know its cyclical, just like the rest of the economy, but at least we can predict the cycles.
Romney has deep pockets. He's by far the richest man in the race. He can donate to his own PAC to his hearts' content.
But there's rich and then there's Sheldon Adelson Forbes Billionaire List kind of rich.
Mitt can't drop a hundred million just for fun. Sheldon can.
So what could Newt do with a hundred million in fresh cash in his PAC? Oh my goodness! The advertising agencies that craft the attack adds are going to be working 24/7 for months on end.
The researchers who dig up the dirt to fuel the attack adds are going to be working 24/7 for months on end.
That's already dozens of pretty regular folks wringing a lot of OT out of Sheldon's largesse. After all, lighting guy or cameraman at a production shop that's subcontracted by an ad agency to do political attack ads is probably an anti-war stoner in a same-sex marriage; he doesn't give a shit who wins the GOP nomination but he's thankful for the work.
Hell, maybe this is the new economic model for America. Forget manufacturing. Forget high tech. Maybe the American economy can be rebooted to feed off the election campaigns. We know its cyclical, just like the rest of the economy, but at least we can predict the cycles.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Romney; corporations are people but workers are a liability
There goes Mitt, strutting around Michigan blowing the anti-bailout trumpet. He thinks he's campaigning.
That's not a particularly receptive audience for that particular trumpet, one would think.
Folks in Michigan remember the original Chrysler bail-out, the loan guarantees of 1980. That was a deal originally agreed to by a Democrat. Ronald Reagan was originally against it, but once he saw which way the wind was blowing he was all over it. Got on great with Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca too.
The bailout saved the company and tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan.
And Mitt doesn't seem to want to spend a lot of time talking about how the government bailed out the pension plan at GS Technologies, one of the many victims of the "restructuring specialists" at Bain Capital.
Long story short, Romney's restructuring specialists took control of GS for eight million dollars, paid themselves a dividend of 36 million the following year, and then let the company go down the drain. It was left to the federal government to cover the losses in the GS pensions.
But that's capitalism today. Nevermind the time-consuming process of building a company up through decades of hard work and innovation and struggle in the competitive marketplace.
That's for old-school idiots.
Romney stands for new-age vulture capitalism. Buy it, strip it, dump it.
You'll get a lot richer a lot faster.
That's not a particularly receptive audience for that particular trumpet, one would think.
Folks in Michigan remember the original Chrysler bail-out, the loan guarantees of 1980. That was a deal originally agreed to by a Democrat. Ronald Reagan was originally against it, but once he saw which way the wind was blowing he was all over it. Got on great with Chrysler boss Lee Iacocca too.
The bailout saved the company and tens of thousands of jobs in Michigan.
And Mitt doesn't seem to want to spend a lot of time talking about how the government bailed out the pension plan at GS Technologies, one of the many victims of the "restructuring specialists" at Bain Capital.
Long story short, Romney's restructuring specialists took control of GS for eight million dollars, paid themselves a dividend of 36 million the following year, and then let the company go down the drain. It was left to the federal government to cover the losses in the GS pensions.
But that's capitalism today. Nevermind the time-consuming process of building a company up through decades of hard work and innovation and struggle in the competitive marketplace.
That's for old-school idiots.
Romney stands for new-age vulture capitalism. Buy it, strip it, dump it.
You'll get a lot richer a lot faster.
Mitt Romney in Michigan; steps in cowpie while trying to get other foot out of mouth
... and the whole time he's got his head up his arse!
That whacky Mormon. What a mensch!
Just today I was reading the saga of Mitt's (corporations are people but workers are a liability) takeover of a steel mill in Kansas. The Bain Capital boys bought control of the place in '93 with 8 million of their own money.
The next year they paid themselves a special dividend of 36 million. Whee-ha! That is good old yankee ingenuity at its finest, is it not?
Anyway, the 90's were not kind to the steel business, and a few years after Romney pocketed the "special dividend" a company that had once employed thousands was shut down for good. The federal government had to step in and bail out the employees' pensions.
Mainwhile the Bain boys had set up a new non-union steel plant across town. Lavished with state of the art technology and a lower pay structure, it's done very well.
Oddly enough, Mitt's been touring the state of Michigan touting the evils of bail-outs. Kind of bad timing that GM's record results came out in the middle of his campaign there.
Then again, you can't blame Romney for the government bailing out the pensions of his former employees.
He woulda let God's will run its course.
That whacky Mormon. What a mensch!
Just today I was reading the saga of Mitt's (corporations are people but workers are a liability) takeover of a steel mill in Kansas. The Bain Capital boys bought control of the place in '93 with 8 million of their own money.
The next year they paid themselves a special dividend of 36 million. Whee-ha! That is good old yankee ingenuity at its finest, is it not?
Anyway, the 90's were not kind to the steel business, and a few years after Romney pocketed the "special dividend" a company that had once employed thousands was shut down for good. The federal government had to step in and bail out the employees' pensions.
Mainwhile the Bain boys had set up a new non-union steel plant across town. Lavished with state of the art technology and a lower pay structure, it's done very well.
Oddly enough, Mitt's been touring the state of Michigan touting the evils of bail-outs. Kind of bad timing that GM's record results came out in the middle of his campaign there.
Then again, you can't blame Romney for the government bailing out the pensions of his former employees.
He woulda let God's will run its course.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Ron Paul gives Romney a good scare in Maine
I love Maine.
It's where all the New Brunswick smugglers get their booze and smokes.
Also America's home base for the Irving empire. Apparently the Irvings own more land in Maine than they do in New Brunswick. Irving tree plantations aren't measured in acres or hectares; they're measured in square miles.
And how can you not love Bar Harbor? Or "Bah Habba" as the locals call it. Once the summer playground of the robber barons, now it's the year-round playground of the new robber barons.
My connections to Maine run deep. I remember trekking up Cadillac Mountain back in the first Iraq war days. Cadillac Mountain is where the sun rises first every day on the American Empire. I'm heading up there to see a sunrise with my young family in tow, we round a bend in the trail and whoa!
Military Police all over the place. This trail is closed.
Back in behind them I could see half a dozen big army-green trucks with those radar thingies on top, just spinning round and round.
I don't ask a whole lot of questions when I'm told to take another trail by guys in uniform with lots of guns. I assume they were part of the deal to protect Bush 1 who has a summer home just down the coast. Never know what those wily Iraqi's could pull. That was the era when we thought they might have, probably did have, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!
Anyway, I learned to love the Maine-landers. Most of them, at least the ones who live north of Bah Habba, have cousins in New Brunswick. They all go fishing in that St. Croix river together. It's a smuggler's nirvana.
So I'm not surprised that Ron Paul did well today. In fact, if there hadn't been closed polling booths in a number of Paul-friendly precincts, due to inclement weather, he very well could have taken Maine.
But it does prove that Romney's Mormon God controls the weather.
It's where all the New Brunswick smugglers get their booze and smokes.
Also America's home base for the Irving empire. Apparently the Irvings own more land in Maine than they do in New Brunswick. Irving tree plantations aren't measured in acres or hectares; they're measured in square miles.
And how can you not love Bar Harbor? Or "Bah Habba" as the locals call it. Once the summer playground of the robber barons, now it's the year-round playground of the new robber barons.
My connections to Maine run deep. I remember trekking up Cadillac Mountain back in the first Iraq war days. Cadillac Mountain is where the sun rises first every day on the American Empire. I'm heading up there to see a sunrise with my young family in tow, we round a bend in the trail and whoa!
Military Police all over the place. This trail is closed.
Back in behind them I could see half a dozen big army-green trucks with those radar thingies on top, just spinning round and round.
I don't ask a whole lot of questions when I'm told to take another trail by guys in uniform with lots of guns. I assume they were part of the deal to protect Bush 1 who has a summer home just down the coast. Never know what those wily Iraqi's could pull. That was the era when we thought they might have, probably did have, WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION!
Anyway, I learned to love the Maine-landers. Most of them, at least the ones who live north of Bah Habba, have cousins in New Brunswick. They all go fishing in that St. Croix river together. It's a smuggler's nirvana.
So I'm not surprised that Ron Paul did well today. In fact, if there hadn't been closed polling booths in a number of Paul-friendly precincts, due to inclement weather, he very well could have taken Maine.
But it does prove that Romney's Mormon God controls the weather.
Monday, February 6, 2012
What's next for Gingrich?
I figure, go back to "not lobbying." After all, not lobbying has made him a wealthy man. Don't know how he does it. I don't lobby either and I'm constantly right next to flat broke.
If he'd done Sugar Daddy Adelson a little prouder maybe he could have found a sinecure in Sheldon's casino empire. As it stands, Adelson has already told the NYT that the next dollar he spends on Republican candidates will go to Romney, so that's not looking like a viable option.
David Frum has a plan for Gingrich. You remember Frum? Canadian kid. Dad was a Toronto dentist who figured out there was more money in strip malls than root canals and rode the late 20th century wave of real estate inflation to a tidy fortune.
David grew up surrounded by the rich and politically well-connected, and eventually parlayed his advantages into a speech-writing gig for W. It was he who coined the phrase Axis of Evil. (Just to toot my own horn here it was me who coined the phrase "other axis of evil" as a reference to the US/NATO hegemon, but as is obvious I owe Frum three quarters of the credit for that.)
Frum was so pleased with this turn of phrase that he couldn't stop taking public credit for it, which led the White House to send him packing. Apparently W's handlers wanted the President and only the President to take credit for that clever bit of wordsmithing. He landed at the American Enterprise Institute as a "resident scholar".
That gig ended in acrimony in 2010, with suspicions that Frum may have the vocabulary of a conservative but the heart of a unreconstituted liberal. But back to Frum's career plans for Gingrich.
Frum says Newt should bow out of the race now, while he doesn't look quite like a complete loser yet, and then work behind the scenes to ensure an Obama victory. Then Newt would have an entire four year run of being able to shout "if only you'd voted for me" from every town hall lecturn in the land.
"I'm the real conservative; Romney was just a richer and whiter Obama!"
So there you have it; cut and run today, run again for 2016.
If he'd done Sugar Daddy Adelson a little prouder maybe he could have found a sinecure in Sheldon's casino empire. As it stands, Adelson has already told the NYT that the next dollar he spends on Republican candidates will go to Romney, so that's not looking like a viable option.
David Frum has a plan for Gingrich. You remember Frum? Canadian kid. Dad was a Toronto dentist who figured out there was more money in strip malls than root canals and rode the late 20th century wave of real estate inflation to a tidy fortune.
David grew up surrounded by the rich and politically well-connected, and eventually parlayed his advantages into a speech-writing gig for W. It was he who coined the phrase Axis of Evil. (Just to toot my own horn here it was me who coined the phrase "other axis of evil" as a reference to the US/NATO hegemon, but as is obvious I owe Frum three quarters of the credit for that.)
Frum was so pleased with this turn of phrase that he couldn't stop taking public credit for it, which led the White House to send him packing. Apparently W's handlers wanted the President and only the President to take credit for that clever bit of wordsmithing. He landed at the American Enterprise Institute as a "resident scholar".
That gig ended in acrimony in 2010, with suspicions that Frum may have the vocabulary of a conservative but the heart of a unreconstituted liberal. But back to Frum's career plans for Gingrich.
Frum says Newt should bow out of the race now, while he doesn't look quite like a complete loser yet, and then work behind the scenes to ensure an Obama victory. Then Newt would have an entire four year run of being able to shout "if only you'd voted for me" from every town hall lecturn in the land.
"I'm the real conservative; Romney was just a richer and whiter Obama!"
So there you have it; cut and run today, run again for 2016.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Romney takes Nevada while Newt and Paul fight for second place
Mitt "corporations are people too" Romney has come away with the victory in the Nevada caucuses.
A final tally on who placed second is not yet in, but it's a toss-up between the old carpet-bagger and Dr. Paul. Slick Rick is a distant fourth.
It's gratifying to see Paul doing this well in Nevada. Although he's lagging considerably in total delegates it appears that his message is getting through to a lot more folks than it did last time around.
That is in itself an important accomplishment. Paul is the only candidate who offers something significantly different than the usual suspects. Face it, how would Romney be any different than Obama?
He wouldn't. Same corporate sponsors. Same elitist mindset. Same interventionist foreign policy dictated by big oil and the military-industrial complex.
As for Newt, I'd love to be a fly on the wall the next time he asks Sheldon for more money. I really don't believe that Sheldon is a moon-base kind of guy.
"Are you smoking that Bekaa shit again you shmuck?"
And Santorum is just the homophobic version of Mitt. He'll get a few votes from those Christians who can't get their minds around the fact that Jesus loves fags too.
A final tally on who placed second is not yet in, but it's a toss-up between the old carpet-bagger and Dr. Paul. Slick Rick is a distant fourth.
It's gratifying to see Paul doing this well in Nevada. Although he's lagging considerably in total delegates it appears that his message is getting through to a lot more folks than it did last time around.
That is in itself an important accomplishment. Paul is the only candidate who offers something significantly different than the usual suspects. Face it, how would Romney be any different than Obama?
He wouldn't. Same corporate sponsors. Same elitist mindset. Same interventionist foreign policy dictated by big oil and the military-industrial complex.
As for Newt, I'd love to be a fly on the wall the next time he asks Sheldon for more money. I really don't believe that Sheldon is a moon-base kind of guy.
"Are you smoking that Bekaa shit again you shmuck?"
And Santorum is just the homophobic version of Mitt. He'll get a few votes from those Christians who can't get their minds around the fact that Jesus loves fags too.
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