Red1966
Well-Known Member
Getting filthy rich can't be very easy, or everyone would be.
Some are more equal than others...
- Thread starter Padawanbater2
- Start date
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
If the goverment wasnt responsible for at least providng basic education
What would our literacy rate be?
Oh yeah right. You have advocated vigourasly for the elimination of the department of education.
Do you have any views you have formulated yourself?
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Yes I am sure Mitt Romney and George Bush Busted their asses to get where they are
"They were not easy years. You have to understand, I was raised in a lovely neighborhood, as was Mitt, and at BYU, we moved into a $62-a-month basement apartment with a cement floor and lived there two years as students with no income... Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time."
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Brooks Jackson/CNN
May 13, 1999Web posted at: 6:00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT)
ARLINGTON, Texas (May 13) -- In Austin, Texas, not everyone admires Gov. George W. Bush.
Radio host Jim Hightower is one such Bush critic. "He says he's a compassionate conservative," Hightower said. "I say he's a crony capitalist."
"Crony capitalist?" Maybe. Multi-millionaire? Certainly.
Bush started in the Texas oil business, after Yale University and Harvard Business School. Wealthy family friends and others invested millions with him, but with poor results. A 1985 disclosure shows Bush's track record: Investors got back only 45 cents on the dollar, but few complained.
Investors also got tax deductions averaging more than 80 cents on every dollar invested. Those early Bush ventures were mainly tax shelters.
When his father was president, there were suspicions that the Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain tried to enrich the younger Bush. Bahrain granted an exclusive drilling contract to Harken Energy Corporation, in which the younger Bush held stock. But he says he opposed the deal.
Bush spokesperson Karen Hughes says, "He felt the company just was not large enough, that it was outside the scope of their experience." And the deal turned out to be a loser, abandoned after two expensive dry holes.
In 1990 Bush unloaded most of his Harken shares for $835,000 about two months before Harken announced a big loss. That triggered an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission into possible insider trading by Bush, but the SEC took no action.
A look at Harken's stock price may show why: Bush sold for $4 a share. Harken stock did dip to $2.38 the day after the bad earnings were released, but four days later bounced right back to $4 a share, exactly what Bush had been paid.
And the stock kept rising: Bush attorney Robert Jordan said, "A year later, in fact, the value had doubled to $8 a share."
So Bush could have done much better if he had waited.
Bush did not make his fortune in the oil fields. He made it at a major-league ball park heavily subsidized by taxpayers.
Bush takes credit for conceiving The Ballpark at Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers baseball team, which he bought in 1989 with a wealthy group of investors. Among them: billionaire Richard Rainwater of Fort Worth.
Bush invested just over $600,000, but Arlington taxpayers invested a lot more.
"It was $135 million worth of sales tax money," said attorney Glenn Sodd. "The city donated a good bit of land to the project. They got a sales tax exemption on all the items that were purchased for the stadium. We have a property tax in Texas and they were given as part of the deal a property tax exemption." A total of at least $200 million, according to Sodd.
And there's more: Sodd sued the Rangers on behalf of two families whose property was seized for stadium parking. A jury found they were paid about one-seventh of what the land was worth.
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
Yeah, lets talk about rich people
“We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt.”
Hillary Rodham Clinton made that comment in an ABC News interview, opening herself and former president Bill Clinton to intense scrutiny about their paid speeches while she considers a 2016 bid for president.
Relevance???
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Fuck HIllary
Another corrupt insider trading bitch. You should admire her. SHe seems your kind of people
And seriously
Paid speeches?
George W. Bush: According to Yahoo News, former president Bush has taken in around $110,000 per speech since leaving office. He doesn't quite match Bill Clinton in the Cashing In Olympics, but he's still piled up at least $15 million since vacating the White House in 2009.
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
Wait... One of the problems you cite is the illiteracy rate. Then when I point out the GOVERNMENT is responsible for public education I get excuses and wild guesses that it would be higher??
We spend more money per capita on our kids education than almost any other country in the world yet somehow it is the fault of the RICH people that our kids cant read??
How do you torture logic to fit that concept?
I have advocated vigorously for the elimination of the FEDERAL department of education. You somehow think if a person becomes a federal employee they become supar smart and able to deal with problems that the common peasant couldnt possibly fathom. That appears to be in direct conflict with the shitty literacy rate in the country but a few more turns on the rack should sort that out right?
And you are pissed at the Republicans for *torture*... You should be droning yourself into absolution.
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
i don't think hillary is into meth and taking out loans to cover basic living expenses.
doubt she cleans pools either.
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Reagan`s Trip Has Melon-choly Aura
October 25, 1989|By Mike Royko
There has been some criticism of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, for accepting a $2 million fee to visit Japan and make speeches and go on TV.
Actually, the take is higher than that, since another $2 million will be given to the Reagan Library, and millions will be spent on their transportation, accommodations and the various shindigs.
October 25, 1989|By Mike Royko
There has been some criticism of former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, for accepting a $2 million fee to visit Japan and make speeches and go on TV.
Actually, the take is higher than that, since another $2 million will be given to the Reagan Library, and millions will be spent on their transportation, accommodations and the various shindigs.
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
which had absolutely nothing to do with reganomics, retard.
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
by that logic, incinerating your entire family in a house fire must be incredibly difficult, since so many people can't do it.
yet you make it look so easy, simply effortless.
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
So what would the literacy rate be without goverment involvement?
Dont just dodge the question
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Maybe it had something to do with Reagan and Bush Raising taxes
Or the Illegal immigrant amnesty Reagan signed or the Executive order on Immigration he also signed
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
I dont have a problem with the Bushes or the Clintons getting rich after getting out of office. If people want to pay them hundreds of thousands of dollars so be it.
Why dont we talk about why a major network news station paid Chelsea Clinton hundreds of thousands of dollars to fail spectacularly as a news anchor or whatever the fuck she was... I am sure it was her raw talent that got her that job right?? Oh wait...
You know what? I dont really fucking care. If a news network wants to pay some politicians kid a bribe for favors at a later date and that person is not in office then I dont even think it is illegal.
Everyone does it. Favors happen for democrats, for republicans, for liberals, for conservatives and especially for the rich and powerful. It has always been this way and to deny it is to deny reality.
What does any of this have to do with money in politics?
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Nothing
You brought it up as a strawman that you couldnt even beat up; without kicking your own ass
But then again you are against any constraints on money in politics unless it goes to candidates you are told not to like.
Notice I said "candidates" you are told not to like
Becuase I think you are too stupid to have your own opinions
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
you clearly do care, yo bitch about it constantly. i can pull up at least a dozen quotes f you complaining about it, meth boy.
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
Try not to be so short sighted. I am not just talking about Clinton, Bush, Regan, etc. The federal school system is a failure. The illiteracy rate is rising and has been for a long time.
Whenever I blame government you hear me blaming Obama and you rise to defend even the most illogical shit because it is your *side*.
It is my philosopy and a fact that someone being rich does not necessarily make someone else poor. Therefore I honestly want EVERYONE to do better. It is not a zero sum game, the economy is built on wealth creation and the truly wealthy in this country are the ones that create it.
UncleBuck
Well-Known Member
now that's funny.
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
You ask a theoretical question that is impossible to answer and then accuse me of avoiding it?
Why is the illiteracy rate rising despite all the money poured into education? I blame the government, who do you blame?
We make it better by having vouchers and private school alternatives. Competition and results drive the system rather than unions and bureaucracy.
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
From 1870 to 1979 the illiteracy went from 20% to less than 1%
You were saying...retard?
http://nces.ed.gov/naal/lit_history.asp