Monthly Archives: September 2012

When Is Redistribution Not Redistribution?

Posted on by

When is REDISTRIBUTION not REDISTRIBUTION?

I have watched with some irony the Republicans vainly attempting to throw monkey dust into the air to turn the conversation away from Mitt Romney’s big night of truthfulness. Make no mistake. The Republicans running around with their hair on fire over “Mitt – Caught On Tape!” are not upset with what he said. Actually they’re in total agreement. What they’re upset about is, what they truly believe is now out in the public and being discussed and examined by everyone. In a panic they’ve made a mad dash – as Eugene Robinson said – grabbed their fire ax and swung hard where it said, “In Case of Emergency, BREAK GLASS!”

They’ve brought out a 1998 tape of a young Senator Barack Obama saying that he agreed with – oh my gosh! – *SOME* “redistribution,” presumably of wealth. Their hope is that this will drive their base and any people on the fence into a panic. Here’s a little secret about human nature. When you try to scare someone, the first thing that pops into your mind is what *YOU* find terrifying. Want to know what terrifies rich people more than death it’s self? Even more than going to prison, ask Bernie Madoff? What terrifies rich people more than anything else is the thought of becoming poor! Yes, what terrifies them more than anything else is having to live what 99% of the rest of us call, EVERYDAY LIFE! You never know how brave you were now did you?

Let’s explore this whole “redistribution” question. Simple fact. The *ONLY* way to become rich is by transferring the wealth of the people around you – usually the poor – into your bank account. You have to sell them something, provide some service they *believe* to be indispensable or like Wall Street, rob them blind! The irony is, so long as wealth is being redistributed up to the rich, we call that Capitalism. When that exact same wealth is being redistributed back down to the poor, we call that Communism. Capitalism, GOOD! Communism, BAD! The only difference is the direction in which the wealth is moving. This is the big lie our American Society, Western Civilization has been based on. You have to convince the unwashed masses that one day, they too, by pure luck may become rich. Thus, they must preserve the system in the *hope* that one day they will benefit from it. This is a lot like buying a Powerball ticket. How does the “Pot” become so large? It’s because of all the suckers buying tickets.

When then Senator Barack Obama talked about wealth “redistribution” he was talking about using it to fund schools, programs to benefit children, teacher, police and firefighter’s salaries, improve neighborhoods etc. You know? All those things that make America the place you want to live? Contrast this to the philosophy of MItt Romney and Bain Capital. Their business model was to buy distressed companies and either make them profitable by outsourcing jobs and production to China – a Communist nation – or breaking them apart and selling them off in pieces. They redistributed jobs overseas, redistributed production overseas, redistributed the wealth into their offshore bank accounts. They do not however call that redistribution. They call that Capitalism. When anyone dares to take issue with it, they call it “Class Warfare.” Funny how it’s only “Class Warfare” when we fight back?

BAFFLE THEM WITH BULLS#@$!!!

Posted on by

IF YOU CAN’T DAZZLE THEM WITH BRILLIANCE… BAFFLE THEM WITH BULLS#@$!!!

Whenever you listen to Republican spokesmen present the espoused political philosophies and ideologies of the Republican party, they always seem so reasonable. After all, they’re competing in the “Marketplace of Ideas.” Among reasonable people, the strength of one’s ideas should prevail and win the day. For example, if I’m dragging a heavy sled up a hill and you come along and show me the “Wheel,” you and I are not going to have an argument. The only thing I want to know is where can I get a set of four?

If I’m breaking a sweat, trying to make a fire rubbing two sticks together and you show up with a BIC lighter, I’m going to want to borrow it or buy it. You’ve got a better idea and I’m all in! When Republicans talk about a smaller government, it sounds reasonable… on the surface. You’ve got my attention. Tell me more! You lay out how if government were smaller, I could keep more of the hard earned money I make. Sounding good! Here comes the sticky part. In order to make government smaller, we have to cut back somewhere. Okay, I understand that. We cannot make government smaller without cutting something. That’s perfectly logical. What do you propose we cut?

You give me your list and suddenly I turn ashen white… no easy feat for a person of color! On your list I find the following:

• Education.
• What you call “Entitlement Programs.” (Odd choice of words – more later)
• EPA. – Environmental Protection Administration.
• FDA.
• Banking restrictions.
• Corporate tax rates.
• Infrastructure maintenance.
• Federal salaries – not congressmen, but other government workers.
• Collective bargaining – Unions.

As I catch my breath from the staggering implications of your plan, I point out that you left “military spending” off your list. Being that the United States spends more on it’s military than the next 6 closest nations… COMBINED! Why no cutbacks there? You respond that we need a strong military to keep us safe. Okay, but safe from what? Safe from whom? Technology has come along way since WWII. Even marginal nations can so blanket a battlefield with bombs and munitions, it would be suicidal to have tank battalions amassed for a shootout. Certainly any nations who presumably could pose a threat, all have nuclear capabilities. It doesn’t take 1,000 nukes to send us all back to the stone age.

Let’s explore the whole entitlement program thing. What exactly do you mean by entitlements? Social Security? Medicare? Welfare? Veteran’s benefits? I’m really not feeling you on this one. I started working when I was 14. I was stunned when my first paycheck did not reflect the money from all the hours I’d worked. My father sat me down and explained the facts of life. I learned that FICA – who the hell is he??? – was money the Government took out of my check for Social Security and Medicare and other programs that I didn’t need at 14, but I would need when I got older. How much older I asked? At that time it was 62. Hell! That was an eternity away! I’ll be 55 in a couple of months, and suddenly the prospect of receiving all that money the Government borrowed from me for a lifetime of work, seems within reach. What do you mean by dismissing it as an “Entitlement Program?” Entitled to it? No! It’s mine. I own it! I paid for it!

You know? Come to think of it, I’m rather fond of breathing clean air and drinking clean water. While we’re on this subject I find comfort in knowing – believing – that someone is monitoring our food supply and making sure the drugs my doctor prescribes have been checked and tested. Don’t get me started on the banks! Those bastards on the executive boards of banks all need to be rounded up and put in prison for grand larceny! I suppose you’ve never ran a tight balance in your checking account and had the bank take their fee first and bounce 3 checks! NSF fees of $30.00 each for a $6 dollar miscalculation. How about this one. Ever had a Credit Card with the payment scheduled on the first of the month? Ever have the bank change the payment date to the 15th without telling you? Then hit you with a late fee? Report to the credit reporting agencies that you were late? We need more banking restrictions!

Education? We’ve got far too many dummies running around now! Most of them claiming to be Republicans. The stupidity level in this country has been on the rise as the money we spend on education decreases. We need more teachers. They need to be paid more. Schools need to be better equipped. At this point my Republican friend walks off in a huff! However, this is not the end! This is the most critical thing to watch.

I’ve been paying attention. Republicans have been busy redrawing districts to their political advantage. They’ve been funding groups – True The Vote – who’s masthead says they’re a non-profit organization. The reality is they’re a *for profit* business! What is their business? There sole purpose for existence is to block perceived democrats from voting by any means necessary. Republican controlled States have been busily putting in place new voter restrictions – a poll tax – that now causes citizens to have to pay for new types of ID just to vote.

The problem is clear! Republican ideas are NOT winning in the marketplace of ideas, so they’re trying to rig the market! This past week has been one disaster after the other for Mitt Romney. First he steps in it big time over the embassy attacks. Before he can breach the surface for air, a tape is released where he’s talking to some donors who paid $50,000 a plate. I’m sure he felt comfortable. He admits that he doesn’t really give a damn about 47% of our fellow citizens. To him and those present, the 47% are the unwashed masses who are living off the government and costing taxpayers. The irony is, if you’ve got $50,000 to blow on a dinner with poor entertainment? Featuring the world’s worst stand up comedian? You’ve probably got an armada of accountants and you’re not paying any taxes.

During Mitt’s stand up bit, the subject of the Latino vote came up. Mitt jokes that his father was born in Mexico and that if he had been born a Latino he might do better with the Latino vote and have an easier time running for office! NOT FUNNY! Not funny at all! Now Mitt is on his “apology tour.” He made an appearance on the Spanish speaking network “Univision.” His problem? He appeared in “BROWN FACE!” Really Mitt??? Do you think the Hispanic community is that stupid? How insulting! I’m just thankful you didn’t try  to appear in Black Face at the NAACP Convention!

The Bain Method

Posted on by

The Romney Campaign has devolved to the point where we now must ask, could they REALLY be this bad? I am beginning to suspect intentionality. Let us not forget that Mitt Romney attended the best schools money could afford. He has a law degree from Harvard and an MBA from Harvard. He was the Governor of a State. He was/is the CEO of a very successful business enterprise. Certainly he has the resources to hire the very best people available to run his campaign. Yet what we’ve seen over this past month looks more like an old black and white episode of “The Keystone Cops.”

Put another way, I’m 55 years old, overweight and out of shape. If I were silly enough to challenge, let’s say Kobe Bryant to a game of one on one, at what point would you begin to suspect something was amiss? When the score was 14 to 12? Even if it were in his favor? Suppose it were 18 to 20, still in his favor? At some point you would simply KNOW that Kobe was shaving points and showing extreme kindness to an old man. Particularly since I can’t shoot a basketball worth a damn!

Remember the movie “White Men Can’t Jump” staring Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson? Great movie by the way. Woody Harrelson played a pretty damn good – but unknown – college basketball player. He would sit in the stands. Wesley Snipes would be “styling and profiling” on the court and talking much shizzle. The Con would go like this. Wesley would be running his mouth and finally say, he could beat any two-man team present with…  – then he’d look over at Woody Harrelson, usually the loan white guy sitting in the stands – with that white guy sitting over there! The betting would begin. Why? Because everybody – the black players – simply knew that white guys were no good at playing basketball.

Of course they’d win. It was a pretty successful racket. The “marks” only saw your average white guy. They didn’t know who Woody Harrelson was or what his skill level was. They simply assumed based on his skin color that he couldn’t play basketball. Sort of a lesson in reverse racism.

I suspect something similar may be going on with the Romney campaign. We look at Mitt Romney and we *assume* that his goal is really to be President of the United States. We never stop to ask, “why?” When you look at his record as governor of Massachusetts, it certainly wasn’t a stellar record. 47th in Job creation. He left Massachusetts with a budget deficit. About the only successful thing he did was *sign* a health care bill that the Affordable Care Act is modeled after. One would think that a man with an MBA from Harvard could have done better had he actually applied himself.

You cannot look at Mitt Romney’s record and say that he is so committed to public service and making things better, that he feels a true calling on his life to benefit our Nation and fix the problems that ail us. Perhaps we need to dig a little deeper and look a little further? Let’s examine his business experience. The first red flag that springs to my mind was his prescription for our Automotive Industry. He felt so passionately about the subject that he wrote an “Op-Ed” in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”

His philosophy can hardly be mitigated by the notion that bankruptcy as is the practice with much smaller corporations can ultimately turn into a positive thing. The theory that large corporations can be split apart and sold off piecemeal only works if there are entities present with the interest and resources to buy up these failed corporations. This was clearly not the case in 2008. The credit markets had dried up and there were simply no entities out there other than the federal government, with the resources or interests to do anything.

Although President Obama does not possess an MBA from Harvard, he saw this fact. Odd that Mitt missed this wouldn’t you say? So, what was Mitt calling on by way of experience? When you look at the Bain model, the cookie cutter formula was to find companies with exposure, load them up with debt which because of the assets of your consortium was easy to do, pocket the proceeds from those loans and then let the already struggling company try to pay off the debt you’d put on it. When the companies went bankrupt as they usually did, you then broke them apart and sold them off in pieces, making even more profits for your investors. You’d do it over and over and over again.

Was Mitt Romney a successful businessman? Yes he was. However, not in the sense you would normally think! The business he was successful at was that of a corporate raider. He was a vulture capitalist. He didn’t take businesses, turn them around and make them successful. If they survived Bain, it was because they had a solid core that Bain was unable to crack. They would ultimately have succeeded and done so quicker and easier had they never had any involvement with Bain.

When you look at the Romney campaign, you begin to get the whiff of the Bain cookie cutter model. Many of the elements are very similar. Mitt Romney has been running for President for what? Over 7 or 8 years now? He’s put together what appears to be an actual viable campaign. This is the “business” he’s going to ultimately blow apart. Based on appearances, he now goes to Republican donors and the money begins to flow into his campaign coffers. Just as he loaded up companies with debts before they ultimately failed and declared bankruptcy. He’s doing the same thing. Money is flowing into pro-Romney “Super-Pacs.” It is flowing directly into his campaign. Because things are being managed in such a slipshod manner, it is easy for millions to simply vanish.

Your next clues are his offshore accounts and his refusal to reveal his income taxes. If you were serious about becoming President, one of the very first things you’d do is clean up your tax filings. He’s had over 8 years to do this. The fact that he has not should tell you something. If you were *really* running for President, you would close your offshore accounts and move all your money Stateside. This would have been done long ago. How does it look when the person running for President doesn’t have enough faith in the United States to put his money here?

At some point you begin to realize, NOBODY could be that bad unless it were on purpose! I’ll give him being caught on tape. That may have been unforeseen. However, coming out at 10 pm and holding a – what the hell was that anyway? – a quasi press conference? Taking 3 questions and really not answering any of them. Why couldn’t that have waited until the next day? It was just going through the motions, to give the appearance of concern.

Going off half cocked on the burning of our embassies and the death of our Ambassador? Really Mitt? As a businessman one should know you don’t make statements or issue press releases until all the facts are in. Harvard Lawyer, Harvard MBA Mitt Romney never learned this? His Republican Convention was a complete mess! People look at how a candidate runs his campaign, runs his convention as an indication of his or her leadership skills. Could you imagine a Romney administration actually managing a national crisis? That is a frightening prospect to consider… certainly based on how he’s run his campaign.

The only thing that makes sense, the only thing that fits is, what if this entire campaign is a sham? What if this is just another way for Mitt to do the *ONLY* thing he truly is good at… and that is to redistribute the wealth from the deep pockets of billionaires into his offshore accounts? Something to think about.