This pretty much sums up my views towards Obama...

POSTED BY: AURaptor
UPDATED: Wednesday, January 18, 2012 17:24
VIEWED: 2243
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AURAPTOR

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:01 AM

Last excerpts from an open letter by a Wall Street TYCOON !

( sorry if this was posted before. I just got around to noticing it. )

Quote:
Capitalism is not the source of our problems, as an economy or as a society, and capitalists are not the scourge that they are too often made out to be. As a group, we employ many millions of taxpaying people, pay their salaries, provide them with healthcare coverage, start new companies, found new industries, create new products, fill store shelves at Christmas, and keep the wheels of commerce and progress (and indeed of government, by generating the income whose taxation funds it) moving. To frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment. It is also a naked, political pander to some of the basest human emotions - a strategy, as history teaches, that never ends well for anyone but totalitarians and anarchists.

With due respect, Mr. President, it's time for you to throttle-down the partisan rhetoric and appeal to people's better instincts, not their worst. Rather than assume that the wealthy are a monolithic, selfish and unfeeling lot who must be subjugated by the force of the state, set a tone that encourages people of good will to meet in the middle. When you were a community organizer in Chicago, you learned the art of waging a guerilla campaign against a far superior force. But you've graduated from that milieu and now help to set the agenda for that superior force. You might do well at this point to eschew the polarizing vernacular of political militancy and become the transcendent leader you were elected to be. You are likely to be far more effective, and history is likely to treat you far more kindly for it.

Sincerely,

Leon G. Cooperman Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:

Quote:
Capitalism is not the source of our problems, as an economy or as a society, and capitalists are not the scourge that they are too often made out to be. As a group, we employ many millions of taxpaying people, pay their salaries, provide them with healthcare coverage, start new companies, found new industries, create new products, fill store shelves at Christmas, and keep the wheels of commerce and progress (and indeed of government, by generating the income whose taxation funds it) moving. To frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment. It is also a naked, political pander to some of the basest human emotions - a strategy, as history teaches, that never ends well for anyone but totalitarians and anarchists.

With due respect, Mr. President, it's time for you to throttle-down the partisan rhetoric and appeal to people's better instincts, not their worst. Rather than assume that the wealthy are a monolithic, selfish and unfeeling lot who must be subjugated by the force of the state, set a tone that encourages people of good will to meet in the middle. When you were a community organizer in Chicago, you learned the art of waging a guerilla campaign against a far superior force. But you've graduated from that milieu and now help to set the agenda for that superior force. You might do well at this point to eschew the polarizing vernacular of political militancy and become the transcendent leader you were elected to be. You are likely to be far more effective, and history is likely to treat you far more kindly for it.

Sincerely,

Leon G. Cooperman Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

History teaches that pure unadultarated capitalism isn't crash hot either.

Partisan rhetoric = you don't espouse the same views as me (I've noticed that this is no longer acceptable in debates within the US)

I think anywhere outside the US, Obama looks like he is persuing a middle ground, it's just that the US has moved so far to the right that many cannot see that his policies are middle ground, compromise 101. Hell, that has even been a major criticism of him, right? That he has conceded too much to the interests of big business, to the military industrial complex, to the fearmongering of the right who see a public health system as being a RADICAL idea. Sheesh.

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 12:43 AM

I think you need to read the excerpt again, and then read the whole letter.

And yes, a State run healthcare system IS a " radical " idea, and absolutely will destroy this country.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

HKCAVALIER

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 1:00 AM

*cough* Medicare *cough*

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 1:04 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by HKCavalier:
*cough* Medicare *cough*

HKCavalier

Hey, hey, hey, don't be mean. We don't have to be mean, because, remember, no matter where you go, there you are.

Not 1/7th of the US economy, but still....Medicare's working wonders , ain't it ?

No?

Huh.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

MAGONSDAUGHTER

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 1:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by AURaptor:
I think you need to read the excerpt again, and then read the whole letter.

And yes, a State run healthcare system IS a " radical " idea, and absolutely will destroy this country.

Really? Is America too backward to run its own public health system?

1KIKI

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 2:00 AM

Yes. The only developed country unable to do so.

PHOENIXSHIP

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 5:51 AM

State-run medical care will destroy this country? You mean like veterans get?

"Why're you arguin' what's already been decided?"
Mal to Jayne, "Jaynestown"

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 10:56 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Phoenixship:
State-run medical care will destroy this country? You mean like veterans get?

"Why're you arguin' what's already been decided?"
Mal to Jayne, "Jaynestown"

How's SSI working out for us ? Oh, it's not, that's right.

And what % of US tax payers are required to pay for ALL vet's medicare ? And it's still considered the worst care in the US. Think that'll be improved when that level of care gets expanded to everyone ?

Anyway, that's besides the point of the article.

" I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. "

BYTEMITE

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 2:57 PM

"Radical" describes an effort that returns a target of reform to an initial or base state or to which fundamental changes are made. It comes from the Latin stem, radix, "root." The word "radish" also comes from this word.

I believe what was meant here was "extreme," as I don't recall having a universal health care system that was taken away or ruined. Unless you count medicare and medicaid, which probably need to be repaired.

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