Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
George Savage ·
July 15, 2012 at 5:58am
Before becoming a politician, Mitt Romney was a capitalist, a very successful one. According to the latest Obama campaign ad, "Mitt Romney's not the solution he's the problem."
The outsourcing charges in this video, which even MSM leading lights acknowledge are untrue, come from a president who has outsourced NASA to the Russians and presided over the elimination of private sector jobs on a scale not seen in 80 years.
But what Obama really seems unhappy about is the very fact of private wealth creation. And that's the real problem.
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Oct '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
It's starting to get a little irritating listening to people confuse outsourcing with off-shoring. The vast majority of businesses do some sort of outsourcing of one task or another. If only Romney could use that and turn it to his advantage by showing how little Obama knows about running a business, or the economy at large.
May '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
How right you are BK. The problem is (as was pointed out in one of the Ricochet podcasts I listened to today) that Obama's campaign is banking on people being ignorant of these facts. Unfortunately, it seems to work. (Cue: sighs, feelings of despair, "we are doomed" etc....)
Still, I'm sure there is a way for Romney to do what you are describing. It would be a master stroke -- devastating to the very core of Obama's strategy.
May '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Another thing, much less significant than the substance of the ad, is the subtle mockery of Romney's (lack of) singing ability.
Obama, keepin' it classy as always.
Aug '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
I find it baffling how people cannot understand how wealth creation benefits the entire society. Wealthy people either spend their money -- thus creating a kind of income redistribution of coice, or they invest their money and create jobs.
Romney has many flaws, but by and large his record is stellar. As for outsourcing, it's what any non-expert company does as bk pointed out so well.
Jan '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
"I despise outsourcing and will not be a part of it", type the legions of the left on their Apple productsAnd one thing that is apparent - Romney is the squeakiest cleanest guy you could ever hope to have on a ticket against Obama. He's ideal, because It's gonna get down and dirty. We haven't seen the start of it yetHope Romney and his team are getting ready to get mean starting in September. (No point starting too soon)
Feb '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
I am appalled at the extent to which otherwise intelligent folks buy into this kind of rubbish. And the certainly with which they do it.
It happened again yesterday in an offhand conversation with an American-born and -educated professor of anthropology here in Jerusalem.
Feb '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Wel at least he knows the words to America the Beautiful! Obama learned G-d America at Rev Wright's knee
Feb '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
A better attack ad would have been that Romney couldn't carry a tune.
Jun '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
It's not just capitalism that's a problem. The full list includes the following: The US Constitution, personal liberty, morality, patriarchy (aka heterosexuality), industry, private property, nationalism, and white people in general. All of these things need fundamental transformation. Vote Obama! Because utopia is just around the corner.
May '10
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Until recently, universal poverty has been the normal state of affairs throughout human history, the only exception being a tiny political elite with the power to extort wealth from the peasants. What Obama and his socialist friends object to is not wealth (for they never shrink from acquiring it for themselves), but wealth in the hands of other people, and especially wealth in the hands of people with the wrong opinions, the wrong religions, the wrong tastes. Look at those Mormons with their weird underwear, those plumbers who spend their money on jet skis instead of season tickets to the symphony. It's positively indecent for them to have money and liberty.
Apr '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Yeah...it's politics and personal attack ads work, especially during the quiet months when people can chat about this over the BBQ. I am in private equity and know the sheer magic Bain brought to business. I have personally seen private equity build Canadian companies when the banks could not keep the risk on their books. Obama is taking a leaf out of Stephen Harper 's campaign method book and is attacking raw emotions of Americans. Romney has a far better case and he knows it but he thinks everyone else will know it. People do not understand private equity. But for heavens sake, Romney needs to get pointing out Obama at a deeply personal level. I saw for the first time the cover of Obama's book saying he is from Kenya. That book cover should be in every attack video. No one likes a liar or fake. Romney thinks people will understand what amazing work he has done. They do not. Forget the ecknomy for a while. Expose Obama for his double standards. Be highly personal.
Apr '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Obama and his crowd never stop to appreciate the irony that the environment they promote in this country - high taxes, stifling regulation, challenges with organized labor etc - is what makes off shoring such an attractive option for businesses in the first place.As even Steve Jobs told Obama regarding the overseas assembly of Apple products: "Those jobs are gone, Mr. President, and they're not coming back."So, far better to demagogue anyone who may or may not have had a hand in off shoring American jobs than to do anything about the root causes of the problem.
Mar '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
George Savage:
But what Obama really seems unhappy about is the very fact of private wealth creation.
Gee, it's almost like all his mentors were Communists or Marxists, or something.
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
I often make a related observation when discussing politics with friends: The leftist critique of unfettered capitalism--that it is a rigged game of cronyism where the rich get richer and the poor stay poor--is the reality created by leftist economic policies. In fifteen years, Silicon Valley has moved from privately-backed entrepreneurs with no particular credentials emerging from nowhere to disrupt established businesses, to a statist-driven economy where venture capital from public pension funds is directed into green fantasy companies kept alive by taxpayer subsidy until sufficient demand can be commanded by regulatory fiat.
Jan '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
For me it doesn't even matter which form it takes. Decisions about who will perform which functions in a business are important for a whole host of reasons. And if the business is getting the right mix of quality, price, and other terms from off-shoring, then the only people that they should concern themselves with are the shareholders of the company and the customers that keep the arrangement going. Everyone else has no business trying to curb this activity through the use of government. By all means, if you abhor non-Americans making stuff your neighbor buys, then start a media campaign to demagogue the issue...just leave the government dictates out of it. I just won't pay any attention to it because sometimes the ones who bark loudest...
Edited on July 15, 2012 at 4:39pmApr '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
My goodness but George, you summarize it. Leftist policies create the crony capitalism with CEOs heading for Washington to lobby rather than get on competing in the business world. The payoff to rig the game with government is higher, but not for society. Interesting what you say about pension plans investing into green businesses but, of course, there is no cost to the pension plans as tax payer money will be used to top off their losses. If that was a regular private equity fund, they would have torched their careers, but these government people hide decision making and keep their jobs. It is despicable. I do find teachers interesting as they denounce business yet their pensions are investing into those very devils. Romney's team needs to focus on getting happy businesses to tell this side of the story. Even David Rubenstein of Carlyle told a room of Canadian PE and VCs that he believes the US government needs to get cleaned up by a private equity guy. He asked if we thought Romney would get in and no one raised their hands. We see that Romney looks Wall Street and crony capitalism, he should dress like Steve Jobs, occasionally.
Apr '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
BK, good comment on the mix up between offshoring and outsourcing. Do you think the media who are on TV making these "introduction to Business 101" mistakes should be told that if they can not even understand basic business, what other erroneous so called facts are they saying? Where are the fact checkers?
Apr '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
One difficulty with this approach is that if you call Obama ignorant for not understanding something that Joe Voter doesn't understand, Joe may get the impression that you're calling Joe too ignorant to be President. Since Joe is confident that he'd do just fine in the White House (couldn't do worse than the clowns we've had so far!), he's gonna vote for the guy who treats him like an equal. Obviously, Obama doesn't actually treat him with respect, but...
We can and should rebut the claim. Hence, this. At the same time, we should be careful not insult those who do not understand even exceptionally obvious economic truths.
Apr '11
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
George: great point. Perhaps the thought can be summarized in the line, "Free market capitalism is a great system. Perhaps we ought to try it sometime."
Apr '12
Re: Obama: Capitalism is the Problem
Indaba: "Romney's team needs to focus on getting happy businesses to tell this side of the story."
Perhaps Mr. Romney could explain exactly what kind of business is Bain Capital? What I have picked up from the media is that it is a HUGE GREEDY Corporation, buying up businesses CHEAP, gutting them, destroying jobs, and making money in the process. Worse, Mr. Romney has stashed his ill-gotten gains OFF-SHORE, and into business who have moved their operations OFF-SHORE. Who but an absolute moron would vote for someone like this?
Having been in business, I know enough about private equity to know that is not what the industry is about. But very few people know anything about private equity and what an achievement it was to found and build Bain Capital into the company it became. As Indaba suggests, Perhaps Mr. Romney could find some happy business recipients of equity funding to educate us all into an understanding of what it is and how much good it does for the businesses who receive it.