WCGreen
WCGreen's JournalThere use to be this term that described American's abroad.
It was the Ugly American.
This type of American goes over seas and refuses, at the least, the local cuisine and at the worst, insisting that they all talk American...
And Mitt Romney fits this bill to the max. Blithely careening across Europe and the middle east in a cocoon made of American Exceptionalism. This isn't the idea that Americans are Exceptional but the Mitt is above anything that happens anywhere but the US of A. Worse yet, his protected and skewed view of his place in the United States...
This is reminiscent of the way Dubya looked out over the world, that the rest of the world had one purpose, to condone anything the US does...
Watching one of the Movie's Fellini made between the late forties and deep into the 60's...
especially the one's filmed in Italy, you can still see the devastation that the War had wrought on the people.
It's as if Fellini used that stark back drop, rubble and all, almost as if it was a character in the film. It serves as a great contrast between, especially those filmed in B&W, life and death. Everywhere there is evidence of tragedy and yet, life goes on.
The one movie, La Strada, features Anthony Quinn as a rough-neck traveling strong man who performs for tips and food. This is a disturbing movie on many levels but it also shows that life goes on, no matter what happens all around you. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, It's a Fellini movie. Suffice it to say it is hard to watch but you will come out the other end slightly wizened
I don't know really where I am going with this but I must say I am glad I waited to watch these films until I was able to gather enough life to understand fully what these films were all about.
One of my favorite persons in the whole world use to say "you don't have to be Fellini to figure that out" when people made a super obvious comment to describe something. It made laugh when I was in my 20's but now, halfway into my 50's, I just smile to myself as I enjoy all that life has to offer.
Investing, via a hedge fund does not make you a business man, whatever that means...
It means you are an investor and investors only want one thing out of their portfolio; the largest return on capital they can"create".
To me, a business man is a person who is interested in all aspect of the firm they are running.
There are many aspect, of course, but here are the ones I think are pretty universal.
First, producing good products to build up your firm in the publics eye, second, looking for the best way to sell your product, third, how to best keep the people in your employ by treating them fairly and equatable. And finally, turning a sustainable profit which means looking far beyond the next few quarters.
I'm an accountant and deal with a lot of small business people and what they wanted most was a sense of building something good and also looking for a comfortable living. Doing this can take a lot more than just a few quarters.
So to say Mitt Romney is a business man is just disingenuous. To me, Mitt Romney is a vulture capitalist who swoops down into a situation with only one goal on his mine, getting as much money he can get and moving on leaving others to pick up the pieces.
If Romney is successful in November without releasing tax returns...
or any other financial record, that would, to me at least, be the death knell of our open political process.
From this election on, we would hear from candidates on both sides that it is none of anyone's business what goes on in my private life and so we, the citizens, won't be afforded a look into the financial nature of the candidates.
This is a watershed moment, folks. There is nothing more revealing than where a person invests and what deductions they feel comfortable with.
For all we know, Romney may have pushed the envelope a couple of times over the years and it would show up on his tax returns. This would show what kind of man he is.
Some people are comfortable taking the letter of the law right to the point that the action is teetering on the fulcrum of right or wrong.
This is a big deal If he gets away with it, well...
But don't forget, if you are a working stiff, well, the people from Romney's class whole heartedly support trust but verify when it comes to the rest of us.
I gotta post this here.. 22 Reasons Why the US is Still the Best Country in the World....
A great way to start off a middle summer Sunday morning...
22 Reasons America is Still the Best Country in the World
Posted on July 4, 2012
Lately, it seems there’s been some talk that America is losing its edge when it comes to being awesome. To prove this theory wrong, here are 22 irrefutable pictures that prove America is still the best country in the freaking world.
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2012/07/04/22-reasons-america-is-still-the-best-country-in-the-world/?utm_source=theslingshot&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=22-reasons-america-is-still-the-best-country
Number 5 is my personal favorite...
5. We provide extremely detailed instructions:.....
A Brilliant Strategy
Running those Romney attack ads targeting his outsourcing right before this furor over his "I did not have Financial Relations with that Company" moment is right out of controlling the political message for brilliant tacticians.
Think about it.
In a subliminal way, people are now connecting the truth with president Obama and the Democratic Party, and the opposite with, well, we all know what the opposite of truth is with those "other guys."
It also speaks unspoken volumes about the professionalism, or rather lack, of those pasty faced GOP stalwarts. If they have run their businesses like they approach this election, is it any wonder the economy tanked under their watch?
This is much more than a Romney problem, it is also a huge problem for the GOP because it looks as if they will do anything, anything to grab onto power and hold onto same power.
Of course there are millions of people who "admire" that trait in a candidate.
Fortunately for the rest of us, it seems, more people are getting sick and tired of being treated like morons by an increasing cavalier smarmy jaunt by the leaders GOP.
And every day that Romney refuses to comply with the groundswell of show us the tax returns brings us one day closer to the death of the petty bullshit that passes for a political ideology on the right side of the aisle.
The American public knows this is what those in the political professional call a realigning election, an election that will set the tone and course of the country for the next twenty or so years (this is probably the real reason why Roberts voted with the way he did, he wanted to be on the right side of history).
The last time that happened the country lurched to the right with Ronald Reagan. The attack on the Twin Towers delayed the next redefining moment for eight years.
(If you don’t believe me, look how far away Reagan’s approach to the country was from Nixon’s combination of projecting a big stick with the commies and signing into law a very liberal domestic agenda. For example, it was the Nixon/ Ford administration that brought in the Earned Income Tax Credit, arguably the most successful tool to help the working poor in US History. Five years later, the GOP was conjuring Welfare Queens using food stamps to purchase Cadillacs.)
If the GOP somehow manages to depose president Obama, we are in for decades of bat shit crazy. But if candidate Obama pulls this one off, as it looks right now that he will, then the US will get this craziness out of our collective systems for the foreseeable future and start acting like the country that was the shining city on a hill, that metaphor for a just country Winthrop coined way back in 1630, will finally come to fruition.
This had to be said....
In a business, the CEO is interested in turning a profit for the shareholders. Period.
In government, the elected leader is to make sure that the essential social covenant between voters and the general public is full filled.
These two are not the same.
The skills to run a business are not at all related to the skills needed to oversee a governmental entity.
That is all,
The American Navy: A Global Force for Good...
Well that is the slogan. But what does it really mean, a global force for good.
Perhaps the commercial is claiming that these aircraft carriers bring goodwill to the ports of the world.
Perhaps they are claiming that the US Navy, funded by the future earnings of American taxpayers, makes sure that it is safe for the massive container ships moving about the oceans laden with all those cheap imports to the US as well as oil to the US and other markets around the world.
In other words, we, the American taxpayers, are subsidizing the undermining of the US economy.
You see if we weren't borrowing so much money just to keep those shipping lanes open, the balance of trade would be much much lower.
That means the dollar would be worth more and could actually improve the chances of things being made here again in the good old US of A
Also, who are we keeping those trade lanes open for anyway.
Well there is that oil But it really is to keep all those trinkets and other doo dads that we need to feel like we are worth something.
A little esoteric for a friday night but pain killers and cough medicine brings about a certain kind of clarity that should not be stifled.
Anyway, think about it the next time you see that commercial for the US Navy. Makes you feel proud, or does it make you feel uncomfortable about subsidizing the free traders of the world who are doing their best to undermine the way of life for millions of Americans.
Of course Mitt and his "hard" line cronies get real excited when they see that commercial because they know that there is another mile driven between those pesky downtrodden masses and the enclaves their wealth has built has erected in the in between.
Or maybe it just makes you feel great that we have more aircraft carriers than the rest of the world combined.
They cost about $4.5 billion to make and at least half that much to keep out at sea. And remember, that doesn't cover the cost of the aircrafts that must tally up in the billions because they are specialty aircrafts.
The question we should all be asking is "Do we really need more aircraft carriers and the support ships that travel with, than all the rest of the world combined?"
China enjoys the safe transit of all those goods to the US for practically nothing as we supply the safety. Now I wouldn't mind if we were getting a little something for the effort, you know....
Don't get me completely wrong, I do find pride when the US is the first responders to natural disasters all over the world, in that sense we are a force for good...
Well it's late, the pain is creeping back so I want to fall asleep before it gets too much to sleep.
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Gender: MaleCurrent location: Cleveland Ohio
Member since: 2003 before July 6th
Number of posts: 45,558
