GOP Political Euphemism (s) - Fast Facts #9

The Republican Party Presidential candidates have been on the campaign trail for months now; they have had nineteen debates where each has made statements concerning our 44th President Barack Obama.

Here are a few of the false statements made by the Republican Presidential candidates:

Multiple Republican Operatives have said; "We must stop Barack Obama's dangerous economic course to protect America’s greatness by reversing the  European style governing."

• Affordable Care Act: Is a free market based health insurance system nothing like other countries successful socialized medicine programs (Universal Health Care Systems)
• The GOP is unable to spin any other Federal Government Program as European Style Governance. 
• Barack Obama has initiated less regulation than George W. Bush had during the comparable time in Presidents office.
• Barack Obama seeks to implement lean principles to our government processes, the 1st President to do so!
• Barack Obama has removed old, antiquated, nonsense regulations and seeks congressional approval to consolidate his executive branch department to make them more responsive to citizen needs.
• Our constitution requires laws and regulations be generated by congress and either signed or vetoed by the Executive. Even if the president vetoes a congressional proposal, two-thirds of each chamber can vote to over rule the executive.

“What is clear is that Barack Obama has abdicated his responsibility to govern, and has instead resorted to commanding the public spotlight for the sole purpose of driving a wedge between Americans through partisan, campaign-style rhetoric.  Three years of failed promises have led our nation deeper into debt, created greater uncertainty for American job creators and prolonged unacceptably high unemployment."

• Barack Obama has promised a different style of executive in Washington - he has and still delivers today.
• Barack Obama promised to fight for the middle of America - he has and still delivers today.
• Barack Obama has offered to compromise many times during budget negotiations with congress only to be left at the alter by a group of political leaders with an agenda other than doing what is in the best interest in debt reduction, budget balancing and helping America grow its way out of the recession brought on by eight years of a George W Bush Presidency and his Republican controlled Congress (6 of 8 yrs). 
• Barack Obama promised to end the policies of division in Washington - he has held up his end of the bargain against an intransigent Republican held House of Representatives  and a Republican minority in the Senate which announced at inauguration that their sole purpose in governing is to ensure that Barack Obama is a one term president.
• Barack Obama has provided certainty to job creators by ending the financial crisis which had job losses at 750,000 per month & a credit market where many financial institutions sat on the brink of insolvency leading to the worst credit crisis for job creators in America's history. Barack Obama ended the hemorrhaging, offered tax relief to every American citizen and has presided over 22 consecutive months of private sector job creation.

"President Obama's astonishing failure to secure an orderly transition in Iraq has unnecessarily put at risk the victories that were won through the blood and sacrifice of thousands of American men and women. The unavoidable question is whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government. The American people deserve to hear the recommendations that were made by our military commanders in Iraq."

• The President kept his pledge to the nation to end the war in Iraq in a responsible way.
• Barack Obama has promoted our security in Afghanistan and eliminated key Al Qaeda leaders while strengthening American leadership around the world
• Osama bin Laden  no longer threatens American citizens, among others.

Mitt Romney said: "America’s creditworthiness just became the latest casualty in President Obama’s failed record of leadership on the economy,” “His failed policies have led to high unemployment, skyrocketing deficits, and now, the unprecedented loss of our nation’s prized AAA credit rating.”

• Standard & Poor’s statement downgrading the federal government’s credit rating places the blame squarely on Republican Party actions and policies.
• Standard & Poor’s biggest concern is whether the United States will pay off its debt and whether the Republican Party will be so insane as to refuse to lift the debt ceiling.
• Stand & Poor's modified their baseline assumptions about the United States credit worthiness based on the following: “We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues,” this adds $4 trillion over ten years to our projected deficits.

Tax Fairness or #GOP Storytelling

The Republican Party believes that capital gains, investment income and carried interest earnings are either appropriately taxed at a lower level than ordinary income or deserve to have taxes removed all together.

The latest defense of lower tax treatment states this is money previously taxed therefore it warrants this reduced tax rate.

Balderdash!

The money that has been taxed is not the capital gain, the interest income or the carry interest trade, the money that has been previously taxed is the principal used to create this new income, or stated another way, the previously taxed money generates new income that has NEVER before been taxed.

The income in question here is new, never before taxed ordinary income for a person fortunate enough to be in a position to earn capital gains, investment interest or more blatantly unfair, hold a job where their income is derived from managing other peoples money.


Class warfare exists in an unfair tax code which treats those who either through hard work and success or through inheritance are afforded tax subsidies that those less fortunate are not presently able to take advantage of in order to raise their stead in life.

It is the very politicians whom cry foul when the question of tax fairness is raised, those who suggest a discussion on tax fairness is some form of class warfare who have rewarded the wealthy and powerful who assisted them in maintaining their cushy government jobs. The wealthy and powerful have the capacity to spend money lavishly lobbying politicians who are constantly running for election.


#Vote2012

Creative Destruction - Unfettered Free Markets

In one segment of their business models, Bain Capital and other venture capital investment firms seek profits from the environment where companies are heading toward the bankruptcy courts.

One must know that the bankruptcy process, Chapter 11 (reorganization) or Chapter 7 (dissolution), is not the free market system in action. The process is a man made. A legal judicial process through which ailing organizations are either reborn or die inside an established hierarchy and framework.

Bankruptcy in the United States is a matter placed under Federal jurisdiction in accordance with Article 1, Section 8, Clause 4 of our constitution, which allows Congress to enact "uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies throughout the United States. Congress has enacted Title 11 of the United States Code, Bankruptcy Code.

As an aside from the corporate issue of bankruptcy. One has to reflect on the standard hypocritical line of the Republican Party. There go those big government liberals, sticking their nose into the workings of the free market system, again.

Even worse for the average citizen, in 2005, our Republican controlled congress enacted tougher judicial rules for bankruptcy filings for small time debtors (average citizens) while allowing the existing rules to remain in place for big time debtors (corporations). There is a case for lenient bankruptcy laws as it supports risk taking, but our Big Government Republicans now offers greater support for risk taking for corporations then it does for its individual citizens.

Back to corporate bankruptcy, in Chapter 11, the company retains ownership and control of assets and is re-termed a debtor in possession ("DIP"). The company in possession runs the day to day operations of the business while creditors and the company work with the Bankruptcy Court in order to negotiate and complete a plan. Upon meeting certain requirements (e.g. fairness among creditors, priority of certain creditors) creditors are permitted to vote on the proposed plan. If a plan is confirmed the debtor will continue to operate and pay its debts under the terms of the confirmed plan. If a specified majority of creditors do not vote to confirm a plan, additional requirements may be imposed by the court in order to confirm the plan.

When companies find them selves in financial trouble they seek alternatives to filing for bankruptcy,enter the Bain Capital type firms in our free market system. These investment companies offer to step-in, many times allowing senior (not always top) management to maintain positions with the ailing company while the venture capital firm situates itself as a senior debt holder, who offer their valuable advice and closely monitor the company performing all the tasks I have previously described here.

#Vote2012

Creative Destruction - Job Creator or Vulture Capitalist?

Mitt Romney believe his track record at Bain capital places him in the good graces of our country as a job creator; hardly.

Let me first report that I am in full support of free market systems. I believe in competition for most, but not all industries. And as a business owner I am fully aware and factually realistic about product, service profitability and life cycles (Introduction, Growth, Maturity, Decline).

The fact is that organizations sometimes blunder, lapse and misjudge; they fail to capture opportunities, fail to imitate imitable resources, fail to solve solvable problems, and fail to execute fundamental strategies. See a resource based view of a firm HERE!

A disadvantage of competition can be the loss of local jobs, particularly in the manufacturing industry. As competition pushes prices of goods down firms may move offshore in search of cheaper labor in order to stay competitive. This can lead to some firms exploiting people in less developed countries and in extreme cases even child and or slave labor.

As I stated before, some industries do not lend themselves to competition. The main example commonly used is the supply of water to residential homes. It does not make sense to have multiple sets of pipes running to each home. In an industry such as this it is cheaper to have a monopoly firm, regulated by government to insure fair price and a minimal level of service.

When products and services of businesses are lost to bankruptcy and the closing of doors occurs. People loose their jobs, investors usually loose all the money the they have invested in the enterprise, and bond holders along with secured creditors receive proceeds from the dissolution of the business assets after closing the purchase of the business. This return usually represents only pennies on the money or credit extended to the failed business .

Back to Mitt Romney and Bain Capital, taking control of any company which is failing due to competitive disadvantages.

In all cases they take control to make money for their firm, which like other ventures invests capital to make a profit; seeking a specific return on their investment. It has been said that their success has brought 88% annual returns for Bain Capital.

Bain Capital seeks out opportunities to acquire companies where by adding their efforts and talents they will be able to increase the value of the company to the point where they can realize the increased value by selling the company or its assets.

This means they seek to step into a failing company if they can dispose of or renegotiate debt. Then they take control of the company, layoff/fire workers,cut wages, benefits and other expenses. The seek tax subsidy abatement and breaks from federal, state, and/or local government and sell assets to make the organizations balance sheet and cash flow appear more attractive. During this period Bain Capital is negotiating with state and local government entities seeking tax relief for their operations.

Acquired companies are normally bought with high leverage, borrowed funds which reduce the Bain Capital risk profile. Bain Capital normally seeks receipt of cash distribution immediately upon closing the purchase of the business, a portion of its investment in the purchase price, reducing its own investment and enhancing its return on the investment left in the business.

A sale can be made to another company, frequently a much larger one in a related field, to another private equity fund which believes it can create even more value for its own investors, or in a public offering to a broad group of shareholders.

Sometimes the Bain Capital acquisition  is leveraged with so much debt that the business is unable to  pay the carrying costs of the debt. And the debtors take control of the business or the company is placed in bankruptcy proceedings either to liquidate its assets to pay off the debt or to restructure, the process where Bain Capital actually entered the picture in the first place.

Either way, Mitt Romney and Bain Capital do not have job creation anywhere near the top of their goals and objectives for maximizing total return for their investors.

This process is all about Bain Capital extracting cash from a business which has or is failing due to any number of reasons.

It is not unfair to view Bain Capital in equivalence with Vultures on the African Continent Plains.

Equal Opportunity in America - Hardly

Posted for all my wayward far right, social and constitutional conservative friends who have a hard time getting out of their box, seeing this country for what it really is, not what their ideal of this great country, the United States of America, is in their mind.

Excerpt from the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."


Stop trying to impose your personal, social and religious ideas onto my constitutionally governed country.  I'm a small government guy who seeks those things granted to me in our Bill of Rights.

I define equal opportunity as a situation in which people have the same opportunities in life as other people, without being treated in an unfair way because of their race, sex, sexuality, religion, age, or economic status.

America is a great country, we have the strongest constitution and are the land of the free and home of the brave; America is the land of opportunity; but always has room for improvement.

We are not the land of equal opportunity:

• Social Inequality
• Economic Inequality

Within these two main categories are sub-categories of inequality which inhibit access to equal opportunity for many. Some of these sub-categories can be found under both main headings as their affect effects both "Social" and "Economic" status!


The Social Inequality Stems from these main categories:

• Educational Inequality
• Inequality to Access of Healthcare
• Income Inequality
• Racial Inequality
• Gender Inequality
• Sexual Preference Inequality
• Punishment & Inequality (Judicial System)

The Economic Inequality Stems from these main categories:

• Educational Inequality
• Inequality to Access of Healthcare
• Income Inequality
• Racial Inequality
• Gender Inequality
  
• Punishment & Inequality (Judicial System)
• Political Inequality
  
• Unequal Access to Capital
• Unequal Tax Policy - Viewed in Relationship to Tax Subsidies, Benefits, Income Treatment

In days to come I will continue to add to this article in order to address each of these sub-categories.

Here are some web sites with good articles to substantiate these claims:

1. American Democracy in an Age of Rising Inequality
2. 15 Mind-Blowing Facts About Wealth And Inequality In America 
3. Portrait of Inequality - Black Children in America 
4. Global income inequality: Where the U.S. ranks

#Vote2012