|
Want to Reply to this Post? You need to Log On or Click Here to create a new Account
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| Replies: | [ 1 thru 15 of 49 ] |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 12:07 PM | |  | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
geez this guy is as dumb as his running mate Mittwit |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 12:21 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
"Here's how it usually goes when Mitt and his buddies arrive at a failing company: Workers initially cheer because finally someone has a plan.
Consultants go behind closed doors for months, never mind talking to the people who actually make the product.
Well, maybe at least these folks will finally get rid of the dead weight around here, the workers think. Then they notice the dead weight are actually being promoted.
Pink slips go out usually to the oldest and most experienced who get paid the most. Cheaper people are hired who know less than nothing.
The few who remain are expected to do the work of three people and never take a vacation.
The execs and consultants institute all sorts of new metrics that take all the fun out of what you were doing and creates new paperwork.
They cut your pay then at the end of the quarter, you find they've all taken huge fees and bonuses for meeting savings targets"
That, in a nutshell, is the vision of capitalism you expect Mitt Romney to defend to the American people who've lived it for the past two decades. You expect him to be able to sell them on the idea that there is something noble in all this? I'd like to see him try |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 12:28 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
charles
san francisco
The debate is not about capitalism. Nothing has changed in Obama's (and my) admiration for capitalists like Steve Jobs, who added far more than they destroyed. The problem is the rise of a class of "capitalists" who use financial engineering to harvest value, without actually planting anything. Steve Jobs planted more than he harvested. So did Carnegie, Ford and countless others who built the wealth that the financial engineers are now harvesting, without shame or remorse.
During the rise of the industrial age in America, banking accounted for about 2% of the country's total economic activity. It was a facilitator. In 2008, it accounted for about 40% of the economy, ie., it is now the main event. No amount of sophistry on your part can hide the fact that there is something wrong with this picture. Moving zeros around on spreadsheets may make some people very rich, but at 40% of the economy, it can not and does not produce anything for the rest of society. Obama has done a poor job of explaining this, but that doesn't make it any less true. You should be ashamed of yourself for not acknowledging the distinction.
--A California entrepreneur and former Republican
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 1:20 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
Charley Sullivan
Ann Arbor
What you see depends on where you sit, of course. "Mediocre and sclerotic" according to whom? "Efficient and dynamic" for whose benefit? Many of those businesses that the investor class found to be mediocre were in fact making profits, albeit perhaps modest ones, while providing decent wages and benefits to workers.
Very few of the "efficient and dynamic" companies continued to be able to do so, their efficiencies coming from slashing compensation, and their "dynamism" from the increased centralization of power that put decision making into fewer and fewer hands, who were also more highly compensated for such power. There is not just one way of imagining the fundamental purpose of capitalist structures, Mr. Brooks.
Serving investors over workers is only one model. Perhaps it would be more honest of you not simply to assume that they way you look at this is the only way to see capitalism
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 1:21 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
phillygirl
philadelphia, PA
Oh, boy, a vision of modern capitalism articulated by Mitt Romney! I can't wait! The "rigor and productivity" that he embodies has led to unlimited personal acquisitions by ... Mitt Romney. More rigor and productivity on the part of us serfs, who under his proposed tax scheme would pay more to offset the cuts he'd give to himself, will surely buy more social goods -- goods like seaside garages with elevators. This new vision of modern capitalism, explained by a reptilian, stunningly shallow character who is despised even by nutcase members of his own party, will undoubtedly capture the imagination of America's voters.
David, I liked you better when you were extolling the calcified, dim-witted WASP's who ran our economy before the onset of the meritocracy. At least they had a touch of noblesse oblige, some appreciation of economics, and better taste in garages
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 1:22 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
Tom
Berwyn, Illinois
If Romney's expertise excludes 99% of America, what good is it to us?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 1:27 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
SAR
Palo Alto
You've put up a straw man argument: Obama attacks capitalism. You say that this attack is audacious. It would be if it were true. But it isn't. Obama is attacking economic practices that erode the middle class. That's not an attack on capitalism. It's not even an attack on Bain prior to 1999. But post-1999 Bain engaged in practices that were so bad for working men and women in this country that even Romney is trying to say he had nothing to do with the company at that time.
The problem is that no politician can and should defend outsourcing, financial shenanigans of banks or CEO salaries that are hundred of times greater than average working man salaries. Even Romney doesn't try defend two of these things (and with regard to the third - CEO salaries - he soft pedals it). Ultimately, you are arguing that rampant greed, corruption and the erosion of the middle class are necessary for "modern capitalism." They aren't.
Romney will lose this election for many reasons. He's a stiff, comes across as arrogant and mean, is out of touch with the average working Joe, and his proposed economic policies look like four more years of George W. Bush. I know you're a GOP stalwart. Columns like this indicate that you're going to be one sore, irrational loser.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 3:07 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
Ken Hines
Athens, Alabama
You have hit the nail on the head, Mr. Brooks. International corporations are not American or French or German or Chinese. They do not pay allegiance to any one country. Oil that is drilled in America will be sold to the highest bidder, not to Americans. The same is true for any other exportable energy. Corporations that get tax breaks in America will create jobs not in America, but where they generate the most profit. Investors that benefit from corporate profits will not necessarily be Americans, and those Americans who benefit will not necessarily invest those profits in America.
Mr. Romney has no experience in patriotism. To him America is a set of tax laws and business and environmental regulations. Avoiding taxes and sidestepping costly regulations are virtues, even if it means hiding income offshore and outsourcing jobs.
You say that Mr. Romney is a good capitalist, and that his actions are consistent with good business practices. I am sure you are right. That model, though, will lead either to America's downfall or to its transformation into a nation entirely foreign to the high hopes of its founders or the interests of its citizens.
Wealth at the cost of human dignity, moral values, equality, and democratic principles is not a bargain, and that is what Mr. Romney is offering
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| CIAK: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 3:40 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be." - Kurt Vonnegut
Dude let me tell you I did grow my business myself - I'm the one who put in the long hours, I'm the one who worked weekends, I'm the one who paid myself less than my employees for years till I could sustain provide and protect my family, and I paid for the roads, the police, the fire department, and the schools while doing it too.
Heck yeah I paid for that capital equipment myself too. In fact I paid for it twice over as every dollar I saved by not paying myself still had 45 cents pulled out in taxes. Every dollar I paid my employees had a payroll tax on it too. Heck, later on my partners and I could buy a warehouse and hire someone to run it too just on the taxes sucked away. Wake up pal this guy is a disgrace. Screw you and Obama too.
 
Deep Down In Florida Where The Sun Shines Damn Near Every Day  |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| twill59: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 5:49 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
Mittwit'll do the screwing on this here ranch Podna! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Old School: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 7:01 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
I am going to vote fro Ron Paul |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| tinner666: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 7:43 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Slate Roof Repair Specialist |
| |
I'll vote for nearly anybody other than bammy. Frank www.rentaroofer.com DIY Help
www.albertsroofing.com/ Slate Roofing
Domain Names www.domainsaleszone.com
e-mail for discount coupons |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| tico: [ RE: Did you vote Obama? ] , Tuesday, July 17, 2012 @ 9:15 PM | | | | |
|
| I am a : Roofer |
| |
Neither Mitt, nor Barrack are good for us. |
|
|
|
|
|
