[thechat] "Democracy can be bad for you"

[Bruce Heerssen]

I think it's unfair to characterize George W. as a dumb ass. It may be true that
he negatively impacted several of the corporations he ran, but that is not
necessarily a bad thing from his perspective or from that of his shareholders.
If you've never noticed, one of the thing that happens when you restructure a
corporation -- institute massive amounts of layoffs, sell capital, or just gut
the company in order to minimize debt -- is a jump in stock price due to
short-term gains in working capital. That pleases the investors. Forget what the
long term consequences might be, how many hard-working people are adversely
affected, none of that matters to the powers that be. As long as the
shareholders make money in the short term.

In short, people get rich driving large companies into the ground. That may not
be right, or ethical, but it's certainly not stupid.

But his greatest achievements, from the industrial sector's point of view, have
been his actions as governor of Texas. While governor, he allowed antiquated oil
refineries to operate on contracts that have been grandfathered for over TWENTY
FIVE years, which has resulted in very high pollution levels and lower
efficiency than modern plants. He has privatized the power producers in the
state, with the effect being rising energy costs, decreasing sevices, and
decreased spending on new power plants and maintenance of existing plants. Just
like California. (hopefully it won't reach the point Cali has) Now the energy
producers are making money hand over fist and all the while bemoaning the state
of the energy sector.

Can you tell I'm angry about this? I'm afraid that he will have a similar effect
on the country as a whole.

And yes, he did get an enormous boost from Daddy. But that doesn't really mean
shit. He still has had to toe the line -- industry's line. But he's not simply a
puppet. He is doing the work of monied interests for his own reasons, which are
indistiguishable from those of said insterests. That is what is truly abominable
about the man.

I don't like him. I didn't vote for him, and I don't want him in office. I think
he just might be the 'ruination of america'. There's a lot more to dislike about
the man, but I'll leave that for another time.

- Bruce

P.S. - If my remarks seem inflamatory, it's just because a chord has been struck
within me. I respect everyone's opinion, even if it's wrong ;)

> -----Original Message-----
> From: thechat-admin at lists.evolt.org
> [mailto:thechat-admin at lists.evolt.org]On Behalf Of Ron White
> Sent: Wednesday, April 04, 2001 10:09 AM
> To: thechat at lists.evolt.org
> Subject: RE: [thechat] "Democracy can be bad for you"
>
>
> Actually his Daddy's advisors were smart enough to do that... W is just a
> little puppet for the old school Cold Warriors... He is and always will be a
> dumb ass... Let's just hope Chaney's heart holds up or we will be in a world
> of shit... and don't bring up the fact that he went to Yale... Does anyone
> actually believe he would have gotten in without help from Daddy?? The only
> business he has been a part of that he didn't run into the ground was the
> Texas Rangers and that's only because it is almost impossible to destroy a
> sports franchise's value.
>
> Thanks,
> Ron White
>
>
>