Free Speech, Politics

CEO Threatens Employees’ Jobs If Obama Reelected

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

David Siegel is the founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, a privately-held national timeshare company and resort developer. Siegel recently sent an e-mail to his 8,000 employees stating that “if any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company.” Siegel fails to provide an explanation how an increase in his personal taxes could be offset by firing employees. If firing employees brings in more money for Siegel, then his labor force is padded with the unproductive. Otherwise, Siegel’s actions would appear to be spiteful.

Siegel’s e-mail displays his bitterness at a perceived lack of appreciation and his profound sense of entitlement. The e-mail is full of strawman arguments and devoid of critical thinking.

Siegel writes:

The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job.

The economy, after four years under the Obama administration, is keeping your job safe. Is there a better argument for his employees to reelect Obama?

Siegel complains:

[members of the press] want you to believe that we live in a class system where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer.

Maybe that’s because income inequality is growing, as shown by the chart on the right. The media are simply reporting this fact.

Siegel then goes into a long spiel meant to show how much he’s under-appreciated. We see Spiegel’s bitterness when he writes:

Now, the economy is falling apart and people like me who made all the right decisions and invested in themselves are being forced to bail out all the people who didn’t.

Siegel contradicts himself. At the top of the e-mail, the economy wasn’t a threat and now it’s “falling apart.” Siegel also displays his lazy thinking by simplifying a complex set of circumstances into an easily digestible us-versus-them theme. Many people, through no fault of their own, lost everything because of decisions made by the 1%. Siegel continues:

The people that overspent their paychecks suddenly feel entitled to the same luxuries that I earned and sacrificed 42 years of my life for.

A classic strawman argument. Siegel just makes things up out of whole cloth.

Siegel isn’t much of an economist either:

Business is at the heart of America and always has been. To restart it, you must stimulate business, not kill it. However, the power brokers in Washington believe redistributing wealth is the essential driver of the American economic engine.

No, business is stimulated by demand. As Paul Krugman observes, “Now, however, we’re seeing a much more widespread attack on demand-side economics. More than that, it’s becoming clear that many people don’t so much disagree with the idea that demand matters as find it abhorrent, incomprehensible, or both.”

Siegel adds:

You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive.

More lazy thinking. Siegel sees an American divided into two disjoint classes, but that’s where his ability to analyze the situation ends. Siegel doesn’t understand, or want to understand, that the bulk of the unproductive are where they are because George W. Bush, and his policies and lax regulatory oversight, caused a worldwide recession. That’s the same George W. Bush that Siegel credits himself with putting into the White House. Is it any wonder that Siegel is not appreciated?

Seigel is advocating giving the disastrous Bush policies another chance, just so he can save a few dollars on his income tax. Greed has no shame.

H/T: Michael LaBossiere, Think Progress, Gawker, The New Republic, Kevin Drum, Think Progress.

88 thoughts on “CEO Threatens Employees’ Jobs If Obama Reelected”

  1. “Blouise
    1, October 20, 2012 at 2:43 pm
    Bettykath,

    The last time I served as a Judge I was a registered Republican … this time I’m a Democrat. Phuck ‘em.”
    —————-

    Way to go! Having said and done that, how do you get to be judge? And will they not get wise to you and block you?
    Nice new avatar photo. ;.)

  2. OS,

    I reposted Hanauer, in the form I sent to friends, on other threads. He put effectively end to propaganda long gone unopposed. Thanks for that.

    We need more like him. How was he produced? And why have they let him live so long? JFK coming up, hope not.

  3. Mr. Siegel, a member of the 1%-ers, doesn’t want to pay more taxes. What 1%-er does …?? I suggest we ship all of the 1%-ers to say Nigeria, cancel their US Passports upon arrival in Lagos and see how they like life there. Mitt Romney should be ashamed at the 14% he pays in taxes and then turns around and expects everyone to vote him into the most powerful office in the world and still pay more taxes than he does.

    I hope he has a long vacation visiting his money in the Caymans on Wed. Nov. 7th.

    Anyone who goes to such lengths to prevent people from seeing his tax returns is obviously hiding something — most likely that his tax rate is really from 0% to say 9%.

    His son “threatening” to punch the President in the face the other night is laughable. This threat coming from one of five male children who have enjoyed a doubly-coated silver spoon in their mouths since birth yet would not even consider serving their country for even a second in the military.

    Hey Mittens, your sons supporting your run for the Presidency in NO WAY constitutes them serving their country — what a bunch of malarkey. I would use stronger words here but it might offend Ann baby …

    Watching Ann on “The View” shows me she’s been drinking the KOOL-AID for many, many years.

    Sad … That this country has been deluded into believing that Mittens really cares about them…. When Mitten screws over the 52% on top of the first 47% he has already written off, then maybe just maybe people will realize what he really stands for — you know, NASCAR Owners, the Koch Bros., Shel Adelson et al and not the remaining 99% of us.

  5. Chalk up another moron who confuses wealth with not only success, but that weapon you use to dominate those you have named your enemies. It is not enough to lose any longer. Your will must be broken. This shapes the core of the desire to strip rights from one’s fellow citizens.

    Serfs knew their place once. So did women. And the world this yahoo wants cannot be sustained, probably not for even 10 more minutes.

  6. This thread makes me smile. Many of you know me well enough to understand why without further explanation. To you, a rockin’ gift.

  8. Blouise, Thanks for the links, I knew Diebold sold out and that whoever they sold to was a monster company (I forgot the company name and just didn’t have the energy or heart to research it) but the suit is news and very interesting, I’ve stuck the link in my ‘readthis’ folder and hope to read it all after I rustle up some food. I am floored by the title page though. The jokes just write themselves if ones head doesn’t explode first. My profuse thanks for the jolt of black humor. Stellar find 🙂
    ———————-
    Plaintiffs,

    v.

    ELECTION SYSTEMS AND SOFTWARE, INC.,
    11208 John Galt Boulevard
    Omaha, Nebraska 68137,

    Defendant.

  10. Blind, I agree w/ you to a certain point. However, no matter how “intelligent” or “able” you might be, in that medium if people don’t watch you’re eventually gone. Then you go to Current TV, self immolate there, and then to your mother’s basement.

  11. Bettykath,

    The last time I served as a Judge I was a registered Republican … this time I’m a Democrat. Phuck ’em.

  12. bettykath,

    I periodically change my registration for no good reason other than I feel like it.

  13. Blouise, Good luck with the judging. I can’t get a job on election day b/c I’m not registered in one of the two parties that control the vote.

  14. Receipts at the voting machine are worthless. Even I, long from actually writing code, could write a program that would give you a receipt for your actual vote and count your vote however I wanted.

    Paper ballots that are counted by hand would work if they were actually counted by hand. Those responsible for the manipulation of the machines have another arm that sees to it that hand counts don’t happen.

    Previous computer vote tampering investigations came to end when the key witness died in a plane “accident”.

    As Mrs. Rather said to Dan, “You took on the President, what did you think would happen?”

  17. Nobody seem to remember the government telling defence plants they can avoid prelininary notice laws of layoffs 60 days before they are laid off because of cuts in military spending.

  19. AP, our concerns are absolutely valid and totally glossed over by the MSM. No vote -NO VOTE- is certain when done by electronic ballot. There have been previous attempts to electronically rig the vote that were made public (nothing came of them) and one can only wonder how many votes were rigged electronically that didn’t come to light.

    Two bits of information seal that deal:

    The folks that make just about every ATM and cash register in America (if not the world), Diebold, made the most widely used machines and said that they just couldn’t build in a receipt function for the voter/election authorities that would register the actual vote cast and;

    Even when a recount is done unless the law mandates a paper ballot recount (where such exist, touch-screens do not have them) or a candidate is willing to pay for a manual recount, the same paper originals are fed into the same or similar faulty/tamperable machines and the same faulty/tamperable software is used for the recount as was used for the original tabulation.

    (regarding the first reason, receipts weren’t mandated by law either so that speaks volumes right there- the Bush years just keep on giving.)

    Worst fracking idea ever.

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