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Where's Ross Perot When You Need Him?
Read More:
Bank Bailout, Barack Obama, Congress, Mainstream Media, Obama Stimulus Plan, Ross Perot, Stimulus Package, The White House,
Politics News
Those charts he used back when he was a presidential candidate in 1992 were simple, funny, and persuasive. Apparently he never stopped making them. But our government is about to spend some $800 billion and we've yet to see one from our representatives in Congress or The White House. What's the problem here?
At least CNN finally published what's in the package "deal" at this point and what was omitted to get there. But these are still just lists. What do they mean if you're an out of work social worker living in Connecticut or an aerospace junior executive living in California? Surely someone has an idea? Otherwise, what are they arguing about?
A few simple pie, bar or scatter charts would go a long way to explaining where our money is about to go. And we deserve this. After all, look what happened with the bank bailout. A bunch of thieves ran off right in front of our eyes with mega bucks or made plans to spend millions more at meetings in Las Vegas.
I'm ready for a little old fashioned Ross Perot specification of the expected outcomes of the stimulus package. Where's the press on this? What's the big secret? This is what we call in education a "teachable moment."
It's been a long time since we've seen so many of our leaders who'd planned on transparency so put out about something so important, arguing about something so vaguely explained, asking for our support, and telling us next to nothing.
Dr. Reardon also blogs at bardscove.
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I voted for him.
He was right about that giant sucking sound.
He wanted a 50 cent a gallon tax on gasoline and caught heck for it. At least that money could have gone to repairing our infrastructure instead of going out of the country. Does it seem that Americans squeal at the thought of a gas tax hike but suck it up when OPEC raises the price of oil. If there had been a tax hike on gas back in the 90s, maybe there wouldn't have been the large volume of trucks and SUVs sold since then. But, nooooooooooooo.
And where is Ross? Sucking sound? Check the NAFTA filter, I think you'll find him. He got buried, but he was right.
An interesting point somewhat related to this...
The national debt eats about 1/5th of government discretionary spending (non-social security/medicare/unemployment spending). This means that we pay 5 dollars for every 4 we see in value. Not surprisingly, we feel "cheated," by that lack of value, and rail against the government's "waste." This gives power to people who want to cut taxes since we are "overpaying," for the government, but of course we don't cut spending to compensate. This drives up the debt, which increases interest costs, so that more of the government's discretionary spending is put into interest instead of serving the people.
If we raised taxes and paid down the debt, we would quickly see more value from the government for our dollar, and feel less "cheated," at tax time.
Of course, there are people who don't believe in government or taxes, who will still rant and rave, but once we are getting what we are paying for, those folks can be ignored.
And guess who collects those interest dollars paid by the government.
It's the people wanting a tax cut, on the money they collect from our tax dollars.
Ross Perot dropped out when he realized America's majority are now uneducated and entitled. It's too tiring trying to argue with unwilling idiots. Same with Lee Iacocca. Americans hold no value for proven leaders. Americans hope someone can come up with a magical fix.
Such a simple and useful suggestion.
But I think that Congress wouldn't appreciate revealing how much arguing is going on over (relatively) small amounts of money, or how this would show how intransigent some senators can be.
I was kinda wondering this too, after all O is a pretty wired pres. why hasn't he had a media event with a Power Point presentation, even Gore did that for his campaign against global warming.
Great point, JScott! And Gore had a good face presentation for tv as well. Perhaps Obama is concerned that the charts and power point type presentation would overwhelm HIS image.......
Visual charts, graphs, etcetera, are great but they are associated with Ros Perot and the MSM portrait of Perot is that he was a loser...., mainly because he didn't have the television image, the charisma, the "movie star" good looks. That is also why IMHO Adlai Stevenson lost to JFK. Americans aren't "trained?" to appreciate words and ideas anymore. Our schools too have gone over to the bright lights. Sixty-second sound bites are about the extent of our memory bank.
Sorry, it should have been obvious that Obama wasn't going to make predictions (which would then make him responsible for any outcome), as soon as he started talking about the number of jobs "created or saved" by this stimulus package.
Using that language,as Obama has done, clearly indicates he has zero interest in accountability. "Created or saved" can never be proven. If nothing can be proven, no blame can be assigned.
Smart politics, but bad leadership.
A few weeks ago in a speech, Obama said it was up to us and the business community to make the stimulus plan work, which is true. But, between that statement and the opposition of the republicans he can deflect any blame. It's already built in. He's already learned that saying "I screwed up" makes the problem disappear but it has a slick gimmicky quality to it.
When Truman said 'the buck stops here', it meant something. Obama first started out saying "I have to take responsibility for it" regarding the Daschle withdrawal. "I have to...." What is Truman said "I have to let the buck stop here"? Not the same.
I too, would like to see the potential impact presented this way. But both parties would prefer to keep us in the dark.
Kathleen Reardon
Try to have an Original thought for once.
See Kathleen Reardon's Profile
Gee. Wish I'd thought of that!
Kathleen,
When you state things like where did the money from the first TARP go, or we could use some pie charts and graphs ala Ross Perot, you are depending on the same lazy, smug, incompentent media to tell you.
I was against the TARP money in the begining, I was on board for letting Lehman Bros. Bear Stearns, and AIG go out of business.
We have societal problems in America, and this global economic collapse is just a symptom of those problems.
We haven't heard much from France during this mess have we? I'll let you think about why, and it has nothing to do with Ross Perot.
The first step in marketing is to understand one's target demographic.
The second is to apply the right tools.
I believe the appropriate model to use when dealing with the electorate in the USA is Louis Cheskin not Ross Perot.
Ross Perot was Right.
About Everything.
Those people who *knew* he was right, but voted for Monica's man instead, are the *real* reason we are in the mess we're seeing played out right now. Not George W, not the neo-cons, but the cowards who would not vote their consciences in 1992.
Shame on you.
Ross sunk his ship when he rolled out his VP. Forget his name but when asked what he would do if Ross died, he said he didn't have the foggist clue.
I mena , I loved the interview, but , I think Ross's battleship was sunk.
For the record a Vietnam war relic and POW, James Bond Stockdale (December 23, 1923–July 5, 2005) was one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the United States Navy, was Perot's running mate.
Admiral Stockdale was a Medal of Honor winner, for good reason. He was also a professor of philosophy at Stanford.
He made an agreement with Perot to allow him to use his name on the ballot as veep for the states that had very early petitioning requirements, with the understanding that Perot intended to nominate someone else after he had time for an actual vetting process. As the campaign progressed, issues developed that precluded this.
All you need to know about how we got here is that people who stand in awe of an incredibly low character individual like Bill Clinton, gleefully mock an icon of integrity and personal strength. Admiral Stockdale lived the virtues Clinton urinated on. Once again, shame on you.
Stockdale and his wife wrote a book about their ordeal when he was a POW. While he was imprisoned and tortured, she became an activist for other POW wives. Her efforts resulted in the international exposure of the North Vietnamese's torture of POWs, and ultimately stopped torture at the Hanoi Hilton.
For just a glimpse of his life, read the customer comments and reviews of their book (and note the type of books associated with this one...):
http://www.amazon.com/Love-War-Familys-Sacrifice-Vietnam/dp/0870213083/
The guy was just slightly less crazy than Honest John in 2008.
When he started ranting about Bush 41's attempt to disrupt his daughter's wedding, the folksy Senator Worthington Fuller mask slipped away.
The guy had as much credibility as a real candidate as say the Donald or Lee (of rich Corinthinian leather fame) have
Nice. After all this time, you have a problem thinking that the Republicans might threaten to mess with a guy's family to get him out of the way?
What a good little MSM acolyte you are.
And, as I understood it, the Republicans, who had asked Perot for help numerous times over the years *prior* to him running against them in '92, apparently dug up some unsavory tidbits about Perot's daughter, which they threatened to release at the time of her wedding.
Of course, they would *never* do such a thing. It was all a figment of some crazy SNL caricature's imagination...
I never could understand why we did not vote for a man who knew his business and his finances.
But then who said the voters are smart? If you want to know why we have this mess of today,
look in the mirror! People vote for change but really don't want change, that is the honest truth!
"...made plans to spend millions more at meetings in Las Vegas."
I have a source rather well placed in Wells Fargo. WF is the bank that planned the Vegas party. I am told the bank objected to being given some $25 billion to loan out, simply because they did not need it. The Feds told the bank to take the money. Wells Fargo was never in trouble. WF did not engage in subprime home lending.
Yes, they bought Wachovia, and part of the reason they bought it was the huge losses it was facing. This, I'm told, would provide Wells Fargo with a huge tax break over the coming few years while allowing it to expand nationwide.
Wells Fargo was and is healthy. They didn't need the money. If they wanna go throw some huge party in Vegas...hey go knock yourselves out.
Not if they take the $25 billion. The government didn't force them to take it at gunpoint. They could have refused it. They didn't. They are subject to the same scrutiny as the others.
Oh please, the government FORCED them to take the money? Now I've heard it all.
Um, they did.
The reason they did was so that all banks were taking the money instead of just "bad banks".
They did this in order to prevent a run on the "bad" banks.
It was smart policy, even if you didn't notice it happening.
Maybe you should teach a modicum of ethics in business school. Perhaps we wouldn't be in this situation now. Screw your pie charts. Teach your students about Ponzi schemes like Credit Default Swaps and the $62.2 tn derivatives bamboozle!
Why so hostile? She is simply making a proposal.
Well, when you get laid-off because some pinhead with a business degree drives your company into the ground (and makes tons of money because they had inside knowledge before the bad news was released), and one of their compatriots begins spewing pearls of wisdom to the general public, you will understand.
When I want more s _ _ t from the business schools, I'll squeeze their collective heads.
Until then, I'll keep listening to Roubini and Buffett. They have warned us for years.
Before you advocate teaching ethics in business school, suggest you actually study business ethics.
For instance, "Should you outsource your production to a third world country which uses slave labor and child labor to reduce costs and provide a better ROI for your shareholders?"
The correct answer, from a business perspective, is "Yes, if it will improve shareholder value."
In business ethics, we learn that listening to one's personal ethics in a way which harms the shareholders is unethical.
The answer is that in the short-term it may help shareholders but in the long-term it may destroy the brand or the company itself. Ask Kathy Lee about her sweatshop troubles and legal fees. To say you can only have shareholder ethics instead of ethics is my point exactly. You give a concrete example of how businesspeople consider them to be antithetical to each other.
The ponzi scheme that is the CDS market is another example of business stupidity camouflaged as business acumen peons can not possibly fathom. It rewarded many shareholders temporarily, and finally destroyed them in the end.
"In business ethics, we learn that listening to one's personal ethics in a way which harms the shareholders is unethical." A red-herring if ever there was one. So anything I do is of course in my shareholders' best interest, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it. Sure, it may be illegal and bankrupt the company later, but when the writing is on the wall, I'll retire and let some other pinhead ride the CEO spot until bankruptcy two months later. Great ethics, thanks for the lesson.
One of the all-time "What If" moments in American political history: What if Ross Perot had organized his supporters from his first presidential run to establish the Reform Party in 1993, and drafted a slate of congressional and gubernatorial candidates to run in the 1994 mid-term elections? What if he didn't waste all of his momentum from the 1992 campaign on his anti-NAFTA crusade, and only form a party as a front to his 1996 presidential bid? Would we have a viable third party in this country now if he and his supporters had done that?
Dickens said it best, "Income twenty pounds, expenses nineteen pounds, happiness. Income twenty pounds, expenditures twenty one pounds, misery"
I miss Ross and his truths to fools. Was in Texas some 30 years ago when he and Former Governor Mark White tried to do something about the abysmal ignorance prevalent in the state's school systems. As I recall, they called for and administered a literacy test to Texas teachers. A bunch of them turned up illiterate and the Teacher's Union went off like a skyrocket.
The result: White, a one term Governor, Perot pushed to irrelevance for 10 years and the second test, subject proficiency, sidetracked for years.
I need pie charts, yummy and bars, yup yup... because Gant's and the like confuse this old man.
A Governor has no real power in the State of Texas. Obviously you weren't here long enough to figure that out. Mark White was another Republican tool.
My apologies, as soon as I hit post I knew I effed up. I was thinking of Bill Clements and not Mark White. I voted for him. I am an idiot.
Governor's of Texas have no real power though.
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