Hey Romney––Disaster Isn't a Business Opportunity

Even Republican governors are praising Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy. Such a contrast with the guitar strumming response we got from a recent Republican president. Romney has urged shutting FEMA down altogether. There's a difference between the two parties. Mega-disasters like this remind us of the importance of good government that works for everyone. Sometimes we really need it.

At Raw Story.

The Washington Post.

Under a President Romney this hurricane's aftermath would look a lot different. Instead of FEMA being ready, fully equipped and on the ground, Romney would open the devastated areas up to the "magic of capitalism". Disasters are a business opportunity in Romney's eyes. An opportunity for profit, and you can imagine how prices could be affected by sudden mass shortages. Don't worry, his friends on Park Avenue would win a bidding war for bottled water, and would probably do well selling their excess. If you think about it, Mr. Romney, looting is a business opportunity, we just don't condone it.

Worth reading and sharing with your fence-sitting friends.

A very good post on the New York Times blog.

At The New Republic.

Also this, also at TNR.

Want irony? Remember "Heckuva Job" Brownie? The man who ran FEMA for Bush, who fumbled the Katrina response, whose previous experience before his government job was running a horse show association? (Maybe he knows Rufalka...) Brownie has criticized Obama's handling of Hurricane Sandy, saying he responded too quickly... Story reported by The Hill newspaper.

I think it comes down to something I saw on a wall last week:

"ObamaCare. RomneyDon't"

Some Quotes Worth Posting

"Data worth pondering:
S&P 500 index:
1-20-93: 433.37
1-20-01: 1342.54
1-20-09: 805.22
Latest: 1432.84
Draw your own conclusions."
~Bruce Bartlett, former Reagan economic advisor

"ObamaCare. RomneyDon't." (Seen on a wall.)

"Mitt Romney was not a businessman; he was a master financial speculator who bought, sold, flipped, and stripped businesses. He did not build enterprises the old-fashioned way—out of inspiration, perspiration, and a long slog in the free market fostering a new product, service, or process of production. Instead, he spent his 15 years raising debt in prodigious amounts on Wall Street so that Bain could purchase the pots and pans and castoffs of corporate America, leverage them to the hilt, gussy them up as reborn “roll-ups,” and then deliver them back to Wall Street for resale—the faster the better. That is the modus operandi of the leveraged-buyout business, and in an honest free-market economy, there wouldn’t be much scope for it because it creates little of economic value." ~David Stockman, Director of Office of Management and Budget in Reagan White House

"Conservatism's mansion has many rooms, and all of them are padded." Charlie Pierce

"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they've been fooled." ~Mark Twain

“What worries me is the idea that we’re in a vicious cycle. Increasing inequality means a weaker economy, which means increasing inequality, which means a weaker economy. That economic inequality feeds into political economy, so the ability to stabilize the economy gets weaker.” ~Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Prize economist

"The traditional third-party mantra, "There's no significant difference between the major parties" amounts to saying: "The Republicans are no worse, overall." And that's absurd. It constitutes shameless apologetics for the Republicans, however unintended. It's crazily divorced from present reality." ~Daniel Ellsberg

"In the eight to twelve close-fought states -- especially Florida, Ohio, and Virginia, but also Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin -- for any progressive to encourage fellow progressives and others in those states to vote for a third-party candidate is, I would say, to be complicit in facilitating the election of Romney and Ryan, with all its consequences." ~Daniel Ellsberg

“In the end the Party would announce that two and two made five, and you would have to believe it. It was inevitable that they should make that claim sooner or later: the logic of their position demanded it. Not merely the validity of experience, but the very existence of external reality, was tacitly denied by their philosophy.” ~George Orwell, 1984

"Many people think that Congress regulates Wall Street, but in fact it is Wall Street that regulates Congress. Virtually no piece of legislation can pass through Congress unless it has the okay from corporate America and big money interests."~Bernie Sanders, Independent, VT

"Let me warn you, and let me warn the nation, against the smooth evasion that says, 'Of course we believe all these things. We believe in social security. We believe in work for the unemployed. We believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things! But we do not like the way the present administration is doing them....'" FDR

"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country…. Corporations have been enthroned, an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed." ~Abraham Lincoln

"Every good citizen ought to do everything in his or her power to prevent the coming of the day when we shall see in this country two recognized creeds fighting one another, when we shall see the creed of the "Havenots" arraigned against the creed of the "Haves." -- Theodore Roosevelt, October 14, 1912

"Love how the GOP, after bringing the economy to the brink of ruin in 2008, are now acting like someone else farted." ~Andy Borowitz

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." ~Alexander Hamilton

"A national debt, if it is not excessive, will be to us a national blessing." ~Alexander Hamilton

"Constitutions should consist only of general provisions; the reason is that they must necessarily be permanent, and that they cannot calculate for the possible change of things." ~Alexander Hamilton

"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." ~Ambrose Bierce

“The "Trickle-Down" Theory: the principle that the poor, who must subsist on table scraps dropped by the rich, can best be served by giving the rich bigger meals.” ~William Blum

"A President Romney would push legislation, sign it, reverse it, reinstate it, deny it was ever passed, veto it retroactively, then prosecute it aggressively." ~Pasquino

"Why is it that if you take advantage of a corporate tax break you're a smart businessman, but if you take advantage of something so you don't go hungry you're a moocher?" ~Jon Stewart

''You can say anything you want during a debate and 80 million people hear it. If reporters then document that a candidate spoke untruthfully, ''so what?'' ~Peter Teeley, press secretary to Vice President Bush, 1984

"If these stories are true these men are not bankers, they are banksters who rob the poor, drive the innocent to poverty and suicide and do infinite injury to those who honestly work and strive. Worse than that, they are traitors to our institutions and national ideas." ~Herbert Hoover, upon learning of the predatory practices of Wall Street bankers before, during and after the Crash of 1929.

“All that stuff I was taught about evolution and embryology and the Big Bang Theory, all that is lies straight from the pit of Hell. And it’s lies to try to keep me and all the folks who were taught that from understanding that they need a savior.” ~Congressman Paul Broun, Republican from Georgia, member of the House Science Committee

"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." Voltaire

"The institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise. The blacks who could endure those conditions and circumstances would someday be rewarded with citizenship in the greatest nation ever established upon the face of the Earth.” ~Republican State Rep. Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro, Arkansas

"The good journalist must recognize in Fascism certain ancient virtues of the race, whether or not they happen to be momentarily fashionable in his own country. Among these are Discipline, Duty, Courage, Glory, Sacrifice." FORTUNE magazine, July 1934

"Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people." ~Adam Smith. The Wealth of Nations 1776

"People who dismiss the unemployed and dependent as ‘parasites’ fail to understand economics and parasitism. A successful parasite is one that is not recognized by its host, one that can make its host work for it without appearing as a burden. Such is the ruling class in a capitalist society.” ~Jason Read

"The moneyed elite in this country are dragging a bag filled with your future down the steps, and [the Republican base's] reaction is, 'Hold on there, that looks heavy. Let me give you a hand getting it into your trunk.'" ~Bill Maher

"Here's a guy who comes from a millionaire family, goes through elite schools, has all the breaks in life, and he is lecturing working families, people who are on Social Security and Medicare, about personal responsibility. Well, these are people, who in some cases have served in the military, defended our country, raised kids, worked 40 or 50 or 60 hours a week, they know life. They don't want to be lectured by some millionaire guy talking to his millionaire friends about personal responsibility." ~Senator Bernie Sanders on Mitt Romney

"My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives." ~Mitt Romney

Vast Income Disparity is Bad for Business (Someone Tell Mitt)

In yesterday's New York Times, Annie Lowrey wrote about new findings by the International Monetary Fund economists (not a radical or lefty bunch by any means), laying out the clear and present danger the current disparity in incomes and wealth presents to the American economy and the global economy.

This is what the president was addressing during the debate the other night, and Romney was denying. Romney has built his fortune on the basis of income inequality, squeezing pay and benefits out of company after company, loading them with debt and looting pensions to enrich his small group of investors.

Turns out it's bad for business and bad for the broader economy––no real surprise––because employees of one company are the customers of other companies. It doesn't help the economy when one man's wealth is derived from another man's poverty. It's against the American grain.

Lowrey writes:

Since the 1980s, rich households in the United States have earned a larger and larger share of overall income. The 1 percent earns about one-sixth of all income and the top 10 percent about half, according to statistics compiled by the respected economists Emmanuel Saez of the University of California, Berkeley and Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics.

For years, economists have thought of such inequality in part as a side effect of policies that fostered the country’s economic dynamism — its tax preferences for investment income, for instance. And organizations like the World Bank and the I.M.F., which is based in Washington, have generally not tackled inequality in the world head on.

But economists’ thinking has changed sharply in recent years. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development this year warned about the “negative consequences” of the country’s high levels of pay inequality, and suggested an aggressive series of changes to tax and spending programs to tackle it.

The I.M.F. has cautioned the United States, too. “Some dismiss inequality and focus instead on overall growth — arguing, in effect, that a rising tide lifts all boats,” a commentary by fund economists said. “When a handful of yachts become ocean liners while the rest remain lowly canoes, something is seriously amiss.”

But it's worse than "Oh well, bad things happen to some people". Maybe the investor class that is backing Governor Romney will pay attention when the numbers people spell out how their pet tax cuts and cozy pay deals actually harm their outlook. Shouldn't businessmen be concerned when their own behavior is bad for business?

The concentration of income in the hands of the rich might not just mean a more unequal society, economists believe. It might mean less stable economic expansions and sluggish growth.

That is the conclusion drawn by two economists at the fund, Mr. Ostry and Andrew G. Berg. They found that in rich countries and poor, inequality strongly correlated with shorter spells of economic expansion and thus less growth over time.

And inequality seems to have a stronger effect on growth than several other factors, including foreign investment, trade openness, exchange rate competitiveness and the strength of political institutions.

And the kicker...

“What worries me is the idea that we’re in a vicious cycle,” said Joseph E. Stiglitz, a Nobel laureate in economics who has studied inequality extensively. “Increasing inequality means a weaker economy, which means increasing inequality, which means a weaker economy. That economic inequality feeds into political economy, so the ability to stabilize the economy gets weaker.”

Unfortunately, wrongheadedness is a habit with some people. Paying taxpayer funded tribute to rich people is a behavior that's hard to unlearn. It took a long time to convince people the world isn't flat.

Reagan Budget Director Calls Romney the Businessman Shady At Best

David Stockman, Director of Office of Management and Budget in the Reagan White House, had this to say about Mitt Romney's business record:

"Mitt Romney was not a businessman; he was a master financial speculator who bought, sold, flipped, and stripped businesses. He did not build enterprises the old-fashioned way—out of inspiration, perspiration, and a long slog in the free market fostering a new product, service, or process of production. Instead, he spent his 15 years raising debt in prodigious amounts on Wall Street so that Bain could purchase the pots and pans and castoffs of corporate America, leverage them to the hilt, gussy them up as reborn “roll-ups,” and then deliver them back to Wall Street for resale—the faster the better. That is the modus operandi of the leveraged-buyout business, and in an honest free-market economy, there wouldn’t be much scope for it because it creates little of economic value."

Here's Stockman's full article at Newsweek/the Daily Beast. He characterizes Romney as The Great Deformer because of the way his financial manipulations built nothing and helped deform the American economy.

From Rolling Stone, there's this new article about the ways Mitt Romney evaded taxes, by hiding his money offshore. Every tax dollar he evaded was either paid by ordinary working people or will be paid by the children of ordinary working people.

Why has Romney been so secretive about his taxes? The reason might be more damning than you think.

"On his 2010 tax return, Romney disclosed that his wife Ann's trust held $3 million in a Swiss bank account at UBS, which had just been busted by the IRS for abetting criminal tax evasion by U.S. citizens. As part of a $780 million settlement, UBS was forced to turn over the names of thousands of its long-secret clients, who were then offered a partial amnesty: disclose their hidden assets, pay penalties and avoid prosecution. Romney – who had omitted the Swiss account on previous financial disclosures – suddenly came clean. Did he reveal his secret account to avoid prosecution for tax evasion? "He's not quite denied that," says Daniel Shaviro, a professor of tax law at NYU. The record of paying an IRS penalty on the Swiss account could explain why Romney has been so determined to keep his 2009 tax return under wraps."

But it's not the lies and evasions about his taxes that worry me most. It's his lies about OUR taxes. Romney has not been honest. His numbers don't add up. (They don't multiply or divide either.) Don't take my word for it. Listen to the Economist magazine, the Bible of the global economy and hardly a liberal Obama-loving publication. (They do believe and trust Obama's honesty though).

The Economist:

"It's the sheer tomfoolery that gets me. Mr Romney knows his numbers don't work, but he keeps insisting with bald-faced insouciance that they do, and using the most transparent used-car-salesman-style obfuscation to evade the question. He pulled exactly the same stunt during his debate with Barack Obama last week. Mr Obama charged that Mr Romney planned tax cuts of $5 trillion, and that his proposed limits on deductions could never make up for them. Mr Romney said the $5 trillion figure was wrong because it didn't include the limits on deductions. This kind of sophomoric mathematical double-talk wouldn't have fooled investors in Mr Romney's Bain Capital funds for a second. It does seem to be fooling a fair number of journalists and voters, though."

Why? Apparently because Romney appears "confident", "sure of himself". Confidence is key to success as a con man. Romney is a classic of the Con Man type. Handsome, breezy, evasive, cheerful, charming, dishonest, dangerous to know.

"Confidence Man": One who gains the trust, or "confidence", of his victims (often called "marks" in order to manipulate, steal from, or otherwise predate upon them. (U.S. slang, late 1800s)