We have been discussing how mean=spirited and nasty the presidential campaign has already become on both sides. With Republicans called Obama a socialist and a Muslim, Democrats are saying Romney would not have killed Bin Laden . . . and now that he is vampiric.
The new ad, “Steel” describes GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City, Mo., that was bought by Romney’s private equity firm Bain Capital. One former mill worker says “We view Mitt Romney as a job destroyer, a vampire. They came in and sucked the life out of us.” “Mitt the Job Destroyer” is still better than “Vlad the Impaler” but they seem to be saying that he is both.
The question is how strong the anti-vampire vote is. After all, Obama is no Buffy The Vampire Slayer himself, but then again who is?
Before the Republicans denounce the ad, they should consider that there could be some positive aspects to an undead president for the GOP:
1. They work nights.
2. They truly can take the bite out of crime.
3. They are always taking the pulse of voters.
5. One meeting of the Group of Eight would leave a group of one.
6. The GOP would finally secure the Goth vote.
7. We would finally have a president who is all bite and no bark.
8. Republicans can re-use those “Drill, Baby, Drill” signs.
9. No one is more anti-evolution than a vampire.
10. Perfect for the slogan, “Better Undead than Red.”
Source: Washington Post
Elaine M: Romney honest? Oh, my achin’ head! The man is a pathological liar.
Please don’t read what I did say as you might get a worse head-ache.
I don’t imagine Romney is any more or less honest than any politician who basically lies for a living, but when it comes to business, yes, Romney is candid, up front, frank, honest about being pro finance industry/pro big business. Even when he ran for Governor of Massachusetts, he didn’t try to hide that and when he governed, he didn’t utterly contradict the views he expressed during his campaign.
Can you say the same for Obama? The man who promised reform for regulations on the finance industry? The man who promised to rectify the tax inequity between the rich and the poor? The man who extended the Bush Tax Cuts even though he had a huge majority of Democrats in BOTH houses at the time? The man who’s DOJ hasn’t prosecuted a single high level banker for turning the very definition of ownership on it’s head? The man who promised a strong public option? The man who promised more government transparency? The man who promised to protect whistle blowers?
voting their managers in or out.
Bron 1, May 15, 2012 at 5:32 pm
Dredd:
you do understand that employee ownership of the means of production is capitalism? And that employees who own businesses are capitalists.
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this is what I said up-thread responding to Tony C:
The words have all been worked on by the propaganda masters, which is why you have to be careful not to pee your pants when you read or hear “socialism” or “communism”, and why you put on a happy face when you hear “capitalism”.
Bernays and his progeny have been at work on us for several generations, yes, for a century.
To get around that, just think of the functionality of the enterprise with workers owning the corporation, i.e., owning the stock and voting and and out their managers.
Bron: the corporate state wants to have a little talk with you……
Dredd:
you do understand that employee ownership of the means of production is capitalism? And that employees who own businesses are capitalists.
It is a great way to operate a business. People who own businesses should share profits with their employees, everyone in this country should be a money grubbing capitalist and understand how great it is to make money and watch it grow.
If businessmen were smart they would share 25-50% of net profits with employees. If you make a million dollars in net profit all that is going to happen is that you give it to the government so give some of it to your employees. That will have 2 consequences; one it will give them a better lifestyle and two it will make them hate the tax man when they have to hand over a good size portion of that bonus.
Yep, business owners have missed a real opportunity to make this a capitalist society.
Workers owning the means of production is a good thing and ought to happen more often.
Every man and woman a capitalist.
Brooklin Bridge,
Romney honest? Oh, my achin’ head! The man is a pathological liar.
For those who want to get involved in a good revolution, (listen up Occupy), note this:
(The National Center for Employee Ownership). Time to git ‘r dun!
Brooklin Bridge, Tony C.
You, along with the middle class, needs to expand the horizon a bit:
Unions are too limited, so they need to go further, and begin to purchase businesses for members.
Make stock options part of bargaining, and get about the business of employee owned companies.
That will help offset the Plutocracy and save the nation, if it is not already too late.
@Brooklin: The problem with your proposal is that these workers would still be in a system that rewards ruthlessness and greed, not work.
Not all companies reward ruthlessness and greed. It is entirely possible for a company to provide a product or service at a profit, satisfy its customers, and treat its employees fairly. Goretex and Whole Foods are good examples of that, open-book transparent companies that, while not owned by employees, are run democratically by employees, due to policies established by fair-minded (engineer) founders.
@Dredd: As I said earlier, they couldn’t afford to buy the corporation. What Bain paid was two to three years worth of their collective pay; and very few people could pony up that kind of money for a risky prospect.
Self-ownership was just over their heads, the infrastructure of the business was too expensive. They didn’t need a leader from their ranks, they needed a philanthropist rescuer with hundreds of millions at least, that could afford to lose $75M, and those are hard to find.
In a corporation, the stockholders “only” elect the Board of Directors which then is in charge of selecting the CEO. In a co-op, the owners/employees get to determine a lot more than the CEO, or even if there is a CEO. I think we agree that in either case the employees have a lot more power than if the company is bought by vultures.
Dredd,
The problem with your proposal is that these workers would still be in a system that rewards ruthlessness and greed, not work.
Capitalism and Democracy is like drinking and driving. Great fun for a while, but then you want more of it, and then more of it, and more and more and then whee and then bang;.
bettykath 1, May 15, 2012 at 1:19 pm
Dredd,
“If the workers had been allowed to buy the corporation, to become the stockholders and occupy the executive positions, that would fulfill that stage of the situation Marx expected.
There is no need of armed conflict to accomplish that, just a normal business deal.
It would not be communism or socialism, it would be a hybrid form of corporate management.”
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Yes, it’s a normal business deal to form a co-op with workers controlling the means of production. What they needed was a leader, or better yet a small group working together, who understood how to get a loan with a reasonable lender and how to get additional orders for their product.
I wonder if the company needed such a huge influx of cash or was it because Bain wanted to load the company with excessive debt that they could take home before they put the company in bankruptcy? Those with an interest in keeping their company going and providing jobs for the long term have entirely different objectives and cash needs than vultures whose only objective is to make as much money as possible.
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True.
There are lots of co-ops out there too.
The structure of the steel company was corporate I think.
So, those who purchased the stock became the owners.
They can then elect the officials of the corporation from among themselves, like a union.
Maybe an up and coming idea to combat plutocratic 1% corporations.
Brooklin bridge. You will write me in!! lol
Swarthmore mom, I think I will vote for you. Problem solved!
Brooklin Bridge, You sound like we have a long history on this blog. and I think you are right.
And that does not mean I will vote for Romney.
More accurately, In some circles, it’s called a “loaded question” and you tend to resort to such SwM when you have run out of other arguments. Then you change the subject.
Obviously, I would prefer to vote for an actual liberal who stands by their convictions. There are millions of them and the only reason they don’t getto run is because neither the DNC nor the RNC nor the 1% who ownss both of them would allow it in a million years.
But since Romney and Obama are what we have to choose from, I’ll stand by the statement that Obama is not the lesser of two evils, he is by far the more effective evil.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2012/05/barack-obama-the-great-deceiver.html
To the dummies who say try to argue that Bain didn’t DEVELOP Domino’s, Staples, and Sports Authority into the powerhouse businesses that they are today–
Please note that I said DEVELOP, not start. The fact that those businesses were started before Bain is not the point. The point is that Bain was SUCCESSFUL IN TRANSFORMING THEM INTO POWERHOUSE BUSINESSES. That is business history, so deal with it, or shut up. (Sorry, for the all-caps, but sometimes when you talk to dummies this is necessary in moderation.)
And as for (Wolfs)Bain (aka Aconitum vulparia)–I am going to get some of that (Wolfs)Bain, some Vervain, some Garlic, and a Cross to ward off the Obamazoids that have been busy planting pods in people’s basements to take over the bodies of intelligent people and transform them into more Obamazoids. It’s a national menace.
Dredd,
“If the workers had been allowed to buy the corporation, to become the stockholders and occupy the executive positions, that would fulfill that stage of the situation Marx expected.
There is no need of armed conflict to accomplish that, just a normal business deal.
It would not be communism or socialism, it would be a hybrid form of corporate management.”
====================
Yes, it’s a normal business deal to form a co-op with workers controlling the means of production. What they needed was a leader, or better yet a small group working together, who understood how to get a loan with a reasonable lender and how to get additional orders for their product.
I wonder if the company needed such a huge influx of cash or was it because Bain wanted to load the company with excessive debt that they could take home before they put the company in bankruptcy? Those with an interest in keeping their company going and providing jobs for the long term have entirely different objectives and cash needs than vultures whose only objective is to make as much money as possible.