Double Standards - It's Just Politics, or Is It?...

Senator McCain announced today that his pick for Vice President is the current Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin.

Almost immediately, both the Obama campaign and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued statements condemning Governor Palin as unqualified and having no experience for the position.

The evening before on the last day of the Democratic Party convention, former Vice President Al Gore assured the audience that while Barack Obama, like President Lincoln before him, has “no experience” prior to his election, Obama will go on to become a great President just as Lincoln was. Further, he said, that Senator Biden, as Obama’s running mate for Vice President, having years of experience will be of great “help” to Obama.

If the issue of experience wasn’t to be believed as critical for the Democrats before with regard to Obama, why is it so suddenly now a pertinent issue for them to apply to the Republicans with respect to Governor Palin?

Of course, Pelosi and her Democrat cohorts will try to press the “one heartbeat away” argument for Governor Palin – but if the same standard is applied equally to Biden, consider for a moment that as a Washington insider for the past 3 decades, he is every bit a part of the very problem that Barack Obama fervently wants us to believe we need to change with Obama’s election.

And when you get right down to it, other than rhetoric and the smoke and mirrors guise of appearing to be a “moderate” politician, what “change” is it that Barack Obama has accomplished so far? Based upon his voting record, he has the singular distinction of being the Senate’s Number 1 radical liberal, even beating out the self proclaimed “Socialist” Senator, Bernie Sanders from Vermont – and Joe Biden? Well, he’s the Number 3 liberal in the Senate – though they make the claim, they hardly represent the vast moderate electorate that makes up America!

Neither Obama or Biden have any tangible executive experience; in that regard, Governor Palin already has more “hands on” executive experience than either or even both of them put together!

As far as succession is concerned, a Washington “outsider” such as Governor Palin with a clean slate would seem to be more in keeping anyway with Obama’s desire for change, than a haggard and compromised Washington “insider” such as Joe Biden, who according to his friend, the former Democratic Mayor of New York, Ed Koch says of Biden, “brings his own baggage” to the ticket.

So as a practical matter what’s better for America – a President with no experience dependent upon on a Vice President who’s already a compromised “insider”; or, a President with vast experience assisted by a capable “outsider” Vice President with a real executive resume?

Standing the Test of Time (4)...

"Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people."
Spencer Johnson

The Privileged Few…

During her Democratic Convention speech last evening Hillary Clinton implored with dripping irony, the nation needed Obama as President in order, among other things, that government no longer serve the privileged few at the expense of the rest of America.

If Hillary Clinton had any twinges of conscience when she castigated the “favored few” it wasn’t at all evident in her demeanor, so much so, she clearly must not consider herself in the least little bit to be a recipient of any special treatment and privilege herself – though over the years what a lengthy list it has been.

And prospectively, given the bitter contest between the two for the nomination - after her endorsement, I am left wondering, “Are you being served (still), Madam?”

Let's all check back sometime in the future to see how Hilary's campaign debt is eliminated or should the Democrats win the November election if she is appointed in the future as a Supreme Court Jurist.

Standing the Test of Time (3)...

"If we suspect that a man is lying, we should pretend to believe him; for then he becomes bold and assured, lies more vigorously, and is unmasked."
Arthur Schopenhauer

COME, Let Us Now Bait the Hook….

“Mr. Obama himself confesses that, “I serve as a blank screen on which people of vastly different stripes project their own views. As such, I am bound to disappoint some, if not all, of them.”” – The Economist, Aug 23rd-29th, 2008.

The principle of projection is one of many devices skillfully employed in the con artist’s repertoire of deceit.

” The 'bait,' which is dangled by the con artist before the victim, induces the victim to participate in the con scheme. The offering of the bait is often preceded or accompanied by 'stroking,' ranging from sentimental gestures to respectfulness, gifts, and other veiled and indirect reinforcements for trust. Con artists aim at authenticating themselves within the scheme by establishing a connection with the victim or presenting knowledge and scenarios that will convince the victim of the con artist's integrity and presented identity. How the victims misinterpret the information provided by the con artist makes the stratagems work. Con artists accomplish this by playing on the victim's stereotyped expectations on one or more of three levels -- the rational, the psychodynamic, and the sociodynamic. These stereotyped expectations are habitual patterns of construing meanings that are yoked to the customary, the directly given, the momentary, the already experienced, and one's ego. Misinterpretation on the rational level is usually connected with false premises. At the psychodynamic level, the con artist works on the emotional willingness and interest of the victim in the bait. At the sociodynamic level, the con artist focuses on the relationship of roles between con artist and victim. At the start of the game, the con artist casts the victim in a certain role which the victim desires (a person of status, knowledge, skill, etc.), and the con artist adopts the complementary role in appearance and behavior. The victim is thus led to act out the role subtly defined by the con artist in taking the bait...”. From “Games Con Men Play …”.

Standing the Test of Time (2)...

"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert, to fleece the people. " -
A. Lincoln

Standing the Test of Time...

"You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." -
A. Lincoln

What It Takes...

"Practise doesn't make perfect; it makes permanent." - 1991, Dave Butz, Washington Redskins

Immutable Laws of the Universe...

"The smartest people can be found in engineering, science and medicine; the egotistical in law and politics; but the most egotistical and smartest people are in business." - Luhrs

Here a Dollar, There a Dollar ....

Just how much effort does it take for a company to cumulatively lose a staggering 50 billion dollars? That’s how much General Motors racked up in losses for 2005, 2006 and 2007. Is it that GM’s Board of Directors is either unable or unwilling, or both, to effectively address that issue? So far this year GM has lost $18 billion. A withering $15.5 billion of the loss alone was posted in the 2^nd fiscal quarter. A new world class record in corporate performance.

Rick Wagoner, GM's chief executive officer received compensation worth $15.7 million from the board in 2007 - as CEO, he's been at the helm of GM since 2000 and in that time the company has lost more than 85% of its stock value. GM’s second in command, President Frederick “Fritz” Henderson, formerly the company’s CFO was served up $7.6 million in compensation. Vice Chairman and product development chief Robert “ Maximum Bob” Lutz, who likes to fly his own military jet, and famously quoted in 2008 for declaring global warming was “ a total crock of shit!”, got a package worth $6.9 million. Yes sir, let the good times roll and keep on rolling ….

During Wagoner's leadership the company has seen a continual slide in its domestic market share with rising dissatisfaction among both its dealers and consumers. Before taking over the top slot at GM Wagoner ran the company’s North American Division which is precisely the part of operations that continues to drag down GM’s overall performance. At 38.7 billion dollars, General Motors embarrassingly lost more than twice as much in 2007 that Toyota earned in profits ($16 billion) for the same year. In this year the price of GM stock fell to a low that hasn't been seen by investors since 1954; ironically, competitor Toyota sold its first automobile in America in 1958.

At $38.7 billion, GM racked up a loss for a full year at a rate of almost 74 thousand dollars per minute - Wagoner’s 2007 compensation package equated to about 43 thousand dollars each day. Wagoner also serves as GM’s Chairman.

George Fisher, one of 10 independent directors on GM’s board in August interviews said the board “unanimously” supports Wagoner and the management team. Fisher a past CEO of Eastman Kodak, who retired in1999 before his contract expired, presided there over difficult years from which Kodak’s stock has yet to recover to its 1997 levels. According to Fisher the price of General Motor’s stock is not a major concern to either the board or management; yet, as he describes it, the GM board is very involved, ever more so now and has “astute” people among the directors. Wow, really, no kidding, but after the destruction of $35 billion in market cap value, could the board be just a little late in putting “hard questions to the management”?

Mr. Fisher goes on to say with infusions of $15 billion by next year from debt offerings the company has enough liquidity to remain solvent until it revamps its product line – others observe that GM is burning through $1 billion of cash a month and express doubt that with a 2 to 3 year product cycle, there will be sufficient cash to carry through.

Fisher, himself, as of the latest proxy statement enjoys beneficial ownership of only some 4700 shares of company stock worth roughly $50,000 at current prices or based upon the number of outstanding shares, a .000839 % stakeholder – seemingly not much of a financial commitment to the management plan he supports – the one he asserts which will lead GM to its “bright future” – or could it perhaps just be an “astute” financial decision about the prospects of a lousy investment return based upon the trend in share prices for GM stock the last 8 long years?

Arguably, any other prospective investor might pause too – after all has the 85 % drop in share prices shown that Wall Street can see what the GM Board can’t ... the need to extract sufficient performance from management to move both the company and its stock ahead?