Mitt "The Gamer"

There are rules, and rule-breakers, then there are "gamers". If you have smart enough lawyers and you don't run for public office, who would think to ask how a lucky fellow happened to have a $100 Million IRA?

But when someone runs for high office, i.e. higher than Governor of Massachusetts, there is a powerful incentive for reporters and opponents to ask some of those pesky questions. And it turns out that if a person runs a company, they can sell shares in funds at modest prices, then run them up in value and have their company buy them back, or some variation on that theme. It's sort of gaming the system and the tax code to (further) evade income taxes. See, if you are very wealthy, all kinds of possibilities open up before you, all of them "legal". I am acquainted with a tax advisor, who has done quite well for himself over the years, but he has done significantly better for his clients. What the tricks of his trade are, he does not discuss in great detail, but he did mention once that he sometimes advises citizens to become citizens of other countries, presumably those countries that don't bother with income taxes, state taxes, etc.

As far as anyone knows, Mitt Romney hasn't actually renounced his citizenship. It must have been galling for him to realize how much money he could have saved, if he had been able to do so. But in order to run for President, to redeem his family name after his father's failed campaign, Mitt had to just give up the couple of million a year or so in taxes that he could have otherwise also evaded. I am inclined to ask, if Romney is so loyal to his class (including the owners of sports teams, NASCAR teams, corporate heads and the newly ousted head of Barclays Bank), what sort of payback is Romney capable of granting to them to thank them for funding his election campaign by massive donations to his PAC and Super-PAC? No taxes on income above a million a year? A true flat tax on every dollar earned, with no exemptions for number in the family? The end of Social Security and Medicare? Aren't both of those "taxes", and aren't taxes bad things?

It sounds laughable, but can't you hear the stooges on Fox News beginning to bleat in harmony about how ill-treated the wealthy are?   I can.

Arthur

A China Postscript for The 4th of July

China hasn't really figured out how to modernize in a way that is remotely in harmony with the aspirations of the Chinese people. One might suggest that after hearing for their entire lifetimes that their government exists to serve the people, the Chinese are starting to notice that isn't true. As much as Chinese struggles to censor, shape and double-talk the facts of what is going on, it would appear that the Chinese aren't buying it any longer.  And while the level of violence fell short of using firearms, the optics of such government heavy-handedness in an area recently hit by a devastating earthquake has the effect of sparking sympathy and outrage.

Bob Diamond

Of course, that's China, we live in America, whose birth as a nation we celebrate today. But please consider the staggering corruption of a local official in the far West of China when you hear Republicans, most notably Mitt Romney, say that "Government is not the solution, Government is the problem, business needs to be free, my friend!". As is, free to bribe local officials so the builder can profit through shoddy construction and substandard materials (China) or so that the head of Barclays Bank can engage in a broad-based conspiracy to fix the LIBOR bank loan rates so that his bank profited at the expense of borrowers all over the world (London).

And as it happens, the last story is about an expat American banker named Diamond, who was to be co-chair of Mitt Romney's upcoming fund-raising gala in London, when Mitt is over there to attend the Olympics to try to remind everyone that he rescued the scandal-ridden Winter Olympics in Utah. Which he accomplished by getting the Federal Government to put up more funding for an Olympics event than it ever had before. Romney worked hard to make the Salt Lake City Olympics a success, gosh darn it, and it is a pillar of his claim to be able to make things happen. His three pillars are approximately; Bain Capital (not working so well), He is rich (a mixed blessing), and his rescue of an Olympic event that had fallen on hard times.

Now Barclays Bank and its former head Bob Diamond have just had a meltdown, Diamond, who was to co-host Romney at a major-donors event in London, is spending the 4th of July being grilled by a Parliamentary Committee, who are suggesting he give his "outrageous" bonuses to a feeding the homeless organization. Nice optics for Romney's (not so) triumphant visit to the London Olympics and Diamond is not going to go down quietly, which is the sort of things that gives a story like this "legs" that permit it to run for weeks, probably on until the Olympics.

And so it goes for Mitt Romney. He built a house of cards, based on predatory business practices, and along the way he lost touch with normal Americans. I don't think he will be elected unless a miracle happens, the only question remaining is how spectacularly he is able to melt down and carry significant numbers of GOP candidates down with him.

Hope you had a Happy Independence Day!

Arthur

Is Mitt Romney a Communist?

by Arthur

Someone said that I was "just back from China" and was going to write something about China. Here goes.

Hong Kong

 Technically I was in Hong Kong, which is now part of China, but it is rather different, since the agreement for the return of HK to China dictated that the existing political system in Hong Kong should remain in place for fifty years. It has, and hasn't, ever since. But Hong Kong is quite useful for China, representing a hybrid economy, one more palatable to certain outside investment and trade than China proper is. The government of Hong Kong is more transparent and open to criticism by the public and the press in Hong Kong. It is an interesting mix.

The other thing that is interesting about Hong Kong SRA (Special Administrative Region) is that one is near enough to the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) to take a taxi or a ferry into the PRC itself. For whatever reason, the proximity puts stories about what is happening in China into sharper focus. Not to give away the punch-line, but China currently has a significant problem with official corruption… but with a few notable exceptions, no one is supposed to talk about it, since to do so would be in poor taste. If, however, an official steps too far over the line and causes a world of distasteful trouble, then all bets are off and they become a whipping boy, who is publicly attacked as a terrible person and a really, really bad example… then they are used as a good warning to other officials to clean up their act and be far more discrete about their sleazy activities. But there is one big problem about being squeaky clean; one makes significantly less money, than if one is bent like a pretzel. Part of the temptation is that all of the land in China remains the legal property of the State. In a sense, that could be seen as true everywhere else in the world, for example when some other government (ours included) needs land to build a new highway, so while taking land from private owners is often rancorous and unpleasant, such land usually ends up being condemned to allow socially important projects to be constructed. Given that all of the land in China is assigned somewhat informally, or more formally on a ninety-nine year lease, what happens in China if a property or group of properties are needed for an important project? It gets condemned, without public debate, the owners are moved out (sometimes with a bulldozer), and the project goes forward. So, what's the difference?

 The difference is that in China a LOT of condemnations have been done during this last decade of explosive growth in China, displacing hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of lower income Chinese, in order to permit the construction of manufacturing centers and high-end residential complexes. Not public works or infrastructure projects, though some land has been taken for those uses as well. In the process of taking land for private and lucrative business endeavors (so not for public works or infrastructure projects) a new and creative class of Chinese millionaires and billionaires has been created. It is fascinating to read an analysis of the career paths of these newly enriched. A surprising number of them were originally civil servants, perhaps until they realized that there was some serious money to be made by joining the private sector and trading off their existing connections to government officials. One of the ways that critics suggest that these former (and sometimes current) officials (and their family members) make money is by influencing the officials who have the power to judge which projects should be condemned, and which should not. It has been suggested that such choices are sometimes influenced by the transfer of funds, usually done in indirect ways, sometimes to the deciding parties themselves, but more often to their immediate family members. Who also get very rich. Family values, as it were.

In the US we sometimes use the term "back-hander" to describe such acts of self-serving generosity, but it would be rude to suggest that there was any connection between the tawdry corruption seen in some parts of our country with the current scale of corruption in China, which of course was meant to function as a "Workers Paradise". Without wishing to be rude, or insulting, there are some interesting similarities.

 The scale of official corruption in China is causing the Chinese government major headaches, particularly when officials are being asked to investigate their peers. While that dilemma is being wrestled with, dissatisfaction in China among the disenfranchised and powerless has been growing. Make no mistake, many average citizens in China are proud of China's increasing wealth and world stature, but for those left out of the tangible benefits of recent changes, or directly impacted by them in devastating ways, while public expectations are rising, levels of unhappiness about how things are moving and how different classes are treated by the government is also growing. These concerns appear to be growing, since the government's efforts to placate or intimidate their unhappy population has enjoyed no great success. What we are seeing in China echoes what George Orwell described in his novels "Animal Farm" and "1984".

 You may well ask, what does all that have to do with Mitt Romney? Romney is by any measure, one of the elite. When he speaks of running a successful business, one must ask, "Successful for who?". The statistics on the number of jobs that Bain Capital has created are exaggerated and self-serving. Coincidentally, they are as dubious as many current Chinese statistics are. As China is experiencing a business slow-down, reflecting decreased demand for Chinese exports, massive mounds of coal are starting to pile up near Chinese power plants that had been running at full capacity, in support of manufacturing. It recently has been discovered that District and Provincial Officials were "advised" to report decreased electrical demands, not as a downturn, but as an "unchanged" level of energy usage. Why? Critics suggest that “party line” was intended to maintain an appearance that everything is just going along just fine, move along, nothing to see here, folks!. Wait, where have we heard a mirror image of that upbeat story line? I found myself thinking of the current dispute between the Romney for President campaign and Governor Rick Scott of Florida, and the governors of Iowa and Ohio. While these Governors would like to boast about growth and low unemployment in their States, presumably to help them get reelected, the Romney campaign has asked them to please not mention that nasty "growth" thing, since it would be better for Romney's campaign to be able to talk endlessly about how the economy is so terrible and awful because that evil (Kenyan) President has betrayed our nation and created so, so many laws that have crippled businesses, instead of letting them run wild across the face of our nation like rabid wolves. Which is really what they would prefer to be doing. In short, the Romney campaign appears to want to employ dishonest and self-serving propaganda that is every bit as false as the claptrap that the leaders of the PRC are trying repeat over and over again until their population becomes completely brainwashed, to tamp down the anger of the Chinese people. Romney on the other hand is trying to generate anger, by repeating lies over and over again, but it really is just the same technique.

It doesn't appear that Romney gives a damn about facts, jobs, worker's lives, healthcare, the economy, our nation's security and indeed, about the world. He cares about getting elected, whether by telling and retelling demonstrable lies, overwhelming secret fundraising through Karl Rove's Slush-PAC or through voter disenfranchisement. What seems clear is that he and the Republican Party are willing to do whatever it takes, fair or foul, to take back the White House. That "whatever it takes" ethos is straight out of the Communist Party playbook. Facts are inconvenient, lives are expendable, while seizing power is paramount. It will be for the good of all to seize power by whatever means necessary. John McCain was sputtering the other day about how the Romney campaign is taking funds from foreign countries, until someone sat on him and told him to shut up. See, if a Democrat said that it would be treason and Fox News would talk about it non-stop for a week. Has everyone got their talking points straight now?

 One is left with an amazing realization that self-proclaimed "conservatives" appear to be behaving like the cousins to modern-day communists. To heck with calling Obama a “socialist”, to the GOP that is just a buzz-word. Will they ever realize how morally corrupt they have become?  Will their heads explode, or will they happily fall into the arms of their well-tailored official buddies in Beijing and celebrate a family reunion? Or, will they foster perpetual war, perpetual conflict and an invasion of Iran to keep the world on edge and the American people concerned and alarmed, in order to permit them and their families an opportunity to mimic the more corrupt segments of the Chinese leadership and their creative efforts to cash in?

When Mitt Romney speaks of Russia as "the gravest threat to our nation" and China as a nation that must be reined in, is this nothing more a matter of positioning them as punching bags, in order to gain loyalty by creating fear? In my opinion that's not diplomacy, that is fraud. Again, it is something that Orwell warned us to watch out for. Oh, and for issuing those warnings, BBC kicked Orwell off their staff. Just the same way that Fox News would fire any of their staff who spoke truth to corrupt power.

Wednesday Update - Run, Baby, Run Edition

(The Olympic Track and Field Trials are upon us here in our fair city.  This is Eugene, Oregon, a place called "Track Town USA" by jocks, joggers, and those in the know.  All the motel and hotel space has been long ago sold out, and we've got visitors from all over the country.   But the most entertaining sight in town this week is the neophytes coming out of the woodwork to do a few laps around the 7-11.  Everybody wants to get into the act, and joggers are everywhere.  And if you thought those pseudo-pro bicycle riders with their lycra spandex multi-colored suits looked silly, you should see the get-ups some of these runners have.  Most of them have ear buds in their ears, and I believe it's because they don't want to hear the neighbors laughter as they thud by.  But I admire what they're doing, gawdluvem.  And I plan to join them, just as soon as I can find my speedo, florenscent yellow socks, and that pink stocking cap.  But I digress ... )  

• It's been a while since we heard from the Republican Party of Texas, arguably the weirdest organized political group on the planet.  You know, the one that came out with such things as Governor Rick Perry saying that Social Security was a "Ponzi Scheme?" The group of people who opposes the teaching of “critical thinking skills” because they “focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority?” Yep, them's the ones.  Well they're back at it again, and they've come out with their 2012 Platform.  Here's a list of just 5 of the craziest policies in that platform.
• In August of 2004, then Vice-President Dick (we call him Dick) Cheney spoke at an event in Albuquerque, but locals were only allowed to get a ticket to attend if they first signed a loyalty oath swearing they "endorse George W. Bush for reelection of the United States [sic]."  Just imagine what Republicans would say in 2012 if Democrats pushed voters to stand, raise their right hands, and pledge their allegiance to President Obama.  The Republicans always have loved the idea of "loyalty oaths," a way to keep the noise down when right-wing speakers are spewing crap.  Rachel Maddow reports.
• Ever wonder what nuns do all day?  Sure you have.  One of the things they've been doing is actively and frequently pissing off the Vatican, nearly every single day, in all sorts of delightful ways, for years.  Mark Morford reports on "How to Properly Spank a Nun."
• Bad Hat Flashback.  September 11, 2001.  The video of our beloved President of the United States, and his infamous 7 Minutes of Silence.  Worth reminding the youngsters the way it was.
• It's a American shame:  The poorest people in the United States are often the hardest working. And coporate farmers are trying to kill them.  It seems that pesticides are poisoning more than 10,000 farm workers annually.  And in some places in California it's No Beba el Agua, don't drink the water.  Something is terribly wrong with this picture.

Romney "Shows Us the Money." His Money.

Romney has been saying that he did a lot of stupid things when he was a teenager, right. So here is the far more mature Mittens, after two degrees from Harvard, managing a really responsible investment firm, very conscious of his responsibilities to the firms that Bain Capital invests in, right?

Umm, no, not exactly. Romney is still an adolescent jerk. When one first looks at this photo, at the size it is normally shown, you see a few hundred dollar bills being displayed. But I noticed something in Mitt's jacket. Was it the tip of his tie, peeking out? Nope, mo' money. In fact, as one looks more closely, the folks in the photo have the bucks in their breast pockets, their teeth, tucked into their collars and the one with glasses has a C-note tucked into the earpiece of his specks. Money is such fun!  - Arthur

 

What Happens When You Can't Have Sex or Beer As a Teenager

This is fairly nuts. (Click here for story)  It sounds like Romney was well-known as a local psycho. Fun is fun, but these are really complicated things for him to be doing. I did some stupid things when I was fifteen, but Romney was seventeen and eighteen, and he had collected costumes for his role-playing. And a fake red light for his car. Impersonating a police officer, which Romney did, was a crime, as probably was impersonating a fireman and waving an axe around in a shop. Sooo… these were not examples of good judgment.

Why was Romney so wound up? Was it because as a young Mormon he was not permitted to (a) drink, or (b) have any of that forbidden sex that other teens found so entertaining? Was this Romney's envious and pent-up sexuality finding an unusual outlet? In other words, did it give Mitt a hard-on to dress up in police and fireman's costumes and try to scare people?

If so, and Mitt was elected President, would he be dressing up, a lot, maybe in pilot's costumes like George W Bush did? Would he order aircraft carriers to come up the Potomac (as far as they could) so that he could land on them in fighter planes (as a passenger) and pretend he was Top Gun? Or maybe he'd dress up as a General and storm into the War Room to announce that North Korea had just attacked Cleveland? Gosh, imagine how fun that would be!

Hasn't our country already been through that? Romney seems to think we should invade Iran. He also says he thinks Russia is the "greatest threat" to our nation and he says he wants to start a huge fight with China. Ooooo, muy cojones, Mittoso! So what is all this? Just a more adult version of his interest in playing "dress up"? Seriously? Personally, I would prefer to have an adult in the White House. The last moron we had was one moron too many.

Arthur

Buck Naked Girls vs. Bare-Assed Ambitions

Mitt Romney has wanted to be President in the worst way for many, many years. Many believe that his run for Governor of Massachusetts was simply to "position him" for a run for President, an ambition his father had for many years, but was unable to realize.

The problem is, Romney's father and mother were for the most part people of principles. Whatever Romney ever was, which by all accounts was always fairly dodgy and off-putting, became odder and less comfortable still when he dove into making money… at all costs. Ambition is laudable, but ambition at any cost is a great deal less so.
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.It is doubtful that anyone will be able to accuse Romney of being caught in bed with three young beauties, the floor littered with champagne bottles and lingerie. By all accounts Romney is a loyal husband and a strictly observant Mormon, enough so that he never drank, smoked cigars or pot, nor presumably drank coffee. Good for him… except the Mormon religion has a troubling omission; it does not speak to the issue of someone becoming obsessed with making money, in pursuit of high political office.
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Ironically, the lack of other outlets for his youthful energies may have contributed to Romney's bullying, dressing up as a policeman and play acting at arresting other students, and his desires to dominate others. Regardless of the harm it might do to others. Taking out large loans, keyed to a company that his firm has just taken over, taking the money for his own firm and then running the subject firm into bankruptcy and collapse, putting thousands out of work when those companies failed? Those are the actions of what has sometimes been called "Vulture Capitalism".

We are left with a puzzling dilemma. Although I am inclined to distrust men whose wives cannot trust them out of their sight, that has an impact only on the quality of their own lives and the lives of their immediate family. It does not demolish the lives of thousands of innocent workers and their families. By comparison, Romney has managed to make Bill Clinton seem like a saint. We've got to ask, which is better? Buck naked girls or bare naked ambition.

Romney seems poised, if he is elected, to further erode the middle class, while reducing his own taxes and raising ours. I hope I will not be counted as selfish if I say, I'd prefer for him to have the hots for a flirtacious waitress.

Arthur