Most businessmen shouldn't be running anything, including their own business.

[kentuck]

With all the talk about Romney being a businessman and better equipped to run this country, I would have to respectfully disagree.

There are businessmen that think like dictators. Somehow, when you enter the door of their "private" business, you give up all rights as a citizen. For the right to trade your labor for a wage, they insist you pee in a cup and they watch your every move with cameras or they listen to your phone conversations because it is their "private' property. They may even ask you for your Facebook password so they can see what type of friends you might have or if you might say something nasty about them.

They have little respect for human rights. Perhaps we shouldn't say "most" businessmen, but many of them have little respect for you or your "so-called rights. It's different and you are supposed to accept that reality if you want to work for the "businessman". And most people, needing the money from their job, acquiesce to the businessman's demands. We don't even question why?

But, myself, I am more inclined to vote against any businessman because I have seen their tactics and their beliefs about "private property", as if it were some type of religious holding, and I don't agree with their tactics or their beliefs. Just my humble opinion.

.

[The Magistrate]

1. Merchants, Sir, Have Always Been Considered Base And Dis-Honorable Persons

The idea being a businessman was a credential for leadership would have the ancients convulsed in laughter....

[kentuck]

3. Yes Sir.

There are a few lessons we should learn from history and this is one of them.

[The Magistrate]

4. They Were Classed With Actors and Prostitutes, Sir, In The Confucian Order

Dis-reputable professions tending to foment disorder....

[kentuck]

6. And deserving of that high standing...

amongst their fellow thespians.

[HiPointDem]

2. Most of the businesspeople I have met are reactionary. Not all (I've actually met one real lefty in

business), but most, in my experience.

But one of the businesspeople I know who mouthed the Fox News line when he was riding high is now mouthing the opposite line since his business failed (fallout from the stock market crash).

My experience is that so long as people's lives go along as they expect, they will mouth whatever supports their worldview. It's when unexpected things happen that people actually start looking deeper, because they need to explain the failure of their worldview.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. That's true, but even more importantly --

The.Government.Is.Not.A.Business. Not at all. Not even slightly.

A business exists to produce a profit for its owners/shareholders. Period. A business owner who is able to do this successfully will have certain powers, skills and attributes that often are of no use in government. A CEO (or even a small business owner), for example, is accustomed to having almost dictatorial powers over his subordinates. He can hire and fire people and buy and sell assets as he pleases, possibly constrained only by the board of directors, which also cares only about profit and is not likely to argue with the CEO as long as the money keeps rolling in. He rarely has to negotiate with anybody.

A President, however, is limited by the powers given him by the Constitution. He can't tax or spend without the consent of Congress. He can't even hire people for important positions (Supreme Court justices, Cabinet secretaries) without the confirmation of the Senate. He has to negotiate for damn near everything. And his "job" is not to make money; it's to provide for the safety and welfare of the people. It's just not the same job. Even a competent, ethical businessman is not equipped to be a President just on the basis of his business experience.

I also note that the last President (before George Bush the Dumber) who made a BFD about his business expertise was Herbert Hoover. And we all know how that turned out.

[kentuck]

7. Excellent points Ocelot!

More people need to keep this "attribute" in perspective.

[ErikJ]

8. One of city's biggest auto repair shop owner super-liberal

This guy is fantastic. He practically singlehandedly supports our local Progressive radio station with his fantastic POLITICAL ads. He always adds his slogan at the end of course.

Hi, I’m Tom Dwyer,

It’s a little unusual for a company to have a “politics” section on its website, but then we’re not the usual company. When I started advertising on KPOJ, one of the leading progressive talk stations in the country, it quickly became an outlet for some of my personal grumblings about the state of affairs. Over time my grumblings have become louder, but instead of driving clients away, the response has been positive. We have clients from across the political spectrum and whether they agree with me or not, they respect the fact that I speak my mind.

I don’t think I stand for anything controversial; I’m not a Republican OR a Democrat. I believe in government that works for the poor, middle class and the wealthy. I want a society that cares for the commons and its members, and in the basic principles of accountability, freedom, and rule of law that people have died for for over two centuries. I believe that corporations should not have the rights of people and that they have far too much control over our society. We do better as a country when everyone plays by the same rules.

We’re frequently asked if everyone at the shop agrees with the stands I take. The answer is no, but there is broad agreement with most of the basics. Our shop is not a political indoctrination facility for employees or clients; we do not hire people based on their beliefs or decide which cars to service based on what bumper stickers they have. If Rush Limbaugh lived in Portland, we’d give his vehicle the same care and attention we gave Thom Hartmann. Well, maybe not Rush, but you get the idea.

I hope you thumb through some of the resources and the political features below, and whether you agree with my views or not, I hope they give you some food for thought. Left, right or center; there is nothing more important to the continuation of our democracy than the participation of informed, responsible citizens. Even if you disagree, come on in anyway. I think you’ll like the experience of having your vehicle cared for by a shop with liberal values!

http://tomdwyer.com/current-news/

[kentuck]

9. Some of the best people I have worked with...

have been in more "labor intensive" jobs. They seemed to be more appreciative of their employees, for some reason??

[Scootaloo]

10. That talking point has always disgusted me

"This country should be run like a business!"

What you mean with one guy in charge who has absolute authority, whose only standing agenda is to ensure that he and his shareholders come away fabulously wealthy? You mean that this wealth should be achieved by rapid "downsizing," and vast externalization of costs? That we should engage in cannibalism of competing businesses (i.e., other countries), adding them to our portfolio and using them as low-cost subsidiaries for our own products?

Whenever I hear that claim, all that comes to me is that either the person absolutely fucking hates this country, or they have zero idea how business operates.

[zeemike]

11. that meme about a businessman knowing how to run things goes way back

I watched an old movie called Stagecoach...staring John Wayne in hi early career...and one of the men on the stage coach was a banker...who had filled his suitcase with money from the bank and was hi tailing it out of town...and he went into that speech about how this country needs a businessman to run it....the word have not changed at all...the same in 1936 as it is now.
But they have repeated so often that some believe it is true...even though there is no evidence at all that it is.

[ThoughtCriminal]

12. PHBs Rule the Business World

We're seeing the end game of the "Forty-year Feast on the Seed Corn".