THE REAL POLITIK EDITION: ISSUE 36, VOLUME 58
THE SADIM TOUCH:
How Failing Upwards Destroys the United States
By Malik Isasis
George W. Bush has got what is the opposite of the Midas touch, the Sadim touch where everything he touches turns to shit. I mean everything. Bush and Co. have governed by fear itself with every policy proposal being sold as if not passed the sky will fall. This type of fear is not sustainable, but Bush and his unimaginative political operatives went to that well one too many times. The fear tactics that Bush and the Republicans have been tap dancing to is tired and played and they seem surprised now that cream pies are being thrown at their act and they are being booed off stage.
Bush has failed in every business venture he has ever sought. As recorded by Kevin Phillips, himself a Republican strategist in the Nixon administration. In his book American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush he documented Bush’s failures:
Arbusto, an oil exploration company, lost money, but it got considerable investments (nearly $5 million) because even losing oil investments were useful as tax shelters.
Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. bought out Arbusto in 1984 and hired Mr. Bush to run the company's oil interests in Midland, Texas. The oil business collapsed as oil prices plummeted by 1986, and Spectrum 7 Energy was near failure.
Harken Energy acquired Mr. Bush's Spectrum 7 Energy shares, and he got Harken shares, a directorship, and a consulting arrangement in return. Harken, under Bush, brought in Saudi real estate tycoon Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh as a board member and a major investor. Over the next few years, Harken would turn out to have links to: Saudi money, CIA-connected Filipinos, the Harvard Endowment, the emir of Bahrain, and the shadowy Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
A 1991 internal SEC document suggested George W. Bush violated federal securities law at least 4 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s in selling Harken stock while serving as a director of Harken. This is essentially the same kind of activity that Martha Stewart is going to prison over. Except at the time of the investigation, Mr. Bush's father was president and the case was quietly dropped.
John Dean, former counsel to Nixon documented in his book In his book, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush:
George W. Bush claims his formative years, which he extends to age 40, are out of bounds. Yet those are the years when one's character and values are formed. Bush had occasionally overindulged with alcohol, and he was a bit of an irresponsible youth.
Dean believes Mr. Bush took advantage of his insider information when he sold his Harken stock in 1990, but he escaped SEC penalties because his father was president and many of the investigating officials had Bush family ties and other conflicts of interest. Many of the facts about the Harken deal remain buried and Bush has stonewalled all efforts to find out more. (Check this link for more of Bush’s failures.)
It would appear that Bush has slipped on every banana peel on his way up to success. Born with a platinum spoon, he is blissfully ignorant and a political bully, who only bows to those who are stronger than he. Every failure in Bush’s life has been cleaned up into a success by his father former President George H. Bush. This is why Bush doesn’t understand loss in the way average people do; privilege has protected him from this painful, albeit necessary life experience. He’s like that child in the grocery aisle throwing a temper tantrum because his parents never said no. His father has done his son and ultimately our country a disservice by not allowing his child to fail. Maybe he understands now. His father can’t save his legacy as the worst American president, ever.
But what a minute, maybe I’m looking at this wrong. In Bush World, failure is success. Chaos is golden. What we’ve had plenty of over the past eight years is a lot of failure and a lot of chaos. Intentionally crash the economy and then threatened the American people if they don't give you what you want.
It is his life lesson. Bush may be the first Republican in 40 years to actually under mind the social programs created by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt during the fallout from the first Great Depression, which helped build a middle class, and kept poor people from eating dog food.
If the government is broke. It cannot fund social programs and or build sustainable jobs like public works to create a green manufacturing sector. Starving the beast is what the Republicans call it. The middle class will collapse leaving only the wealthy and the poor, an oligarchy like in Mexico. Then maybe Canada will build a fence on its border to keep poor Americans from crossing to work illegally.
The future is ripe with possibilities.
Chicken Little Politics
Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson (former CEO of Goldman and Sachs) looks like a frighten chicken, but its not because the country is at risk of collapsing into a Great Depression, it’s because he and his Wall Street friends are precipitously losing their wealth. Billionaires are becoming multi-millionaires, multimillionaires are becoming just plain ol’ millionaires. On September 29, 2008, Wall Street lost just over a trillion dollars of wealth.
George W. Bush’s eight years of fear, and more fear has caused the American people to rebel against Chicken Little scare tactics. And now the political and corporate pundits are schizophrenic trying to reign in the American people’s anger with more scare tactics. Maybe, just maybe people are tired and aren’t going to take it anymore—no matter the cost.
Where was this financial emergency when New Orleans was destroyed? In fact, just as New Orleans' destruction was an opportunity for conglomerate real estate developers to move in and push out the poor, this bailout is an opportunity for Republicans to try to get rid of the Community Reinvestment Act, for which Republicans are blaming the mortgage crisis on and get more corporate tax breaks.
The End of Folksy?
Bush strolled into the office with his folksy act to hide his privileged background. ‘Regular’ folk liked the fact that George Bush was inarticulate and spoke plain. He was the man they could see having a beer with at a barbecue. Sarah Palin has been playing this folksy, small town America act where she is plain spoken and one of the people. But as the world is crumbling around us, regular folk are beginning to understand that maybe it is better to have someone who is smarter than they to run the country. Someone who is articulate, thoughtful and educated.
Sarah Palin's folksy awe-shucks factor will put the final nail in the coffin of a post-rational America.
THE SADIM TOUCH:
How Failing Upwards Destroys the United States
By Malik Isasis
George W. Bush has got what is the opposite of the Midas touch, the Sadim touch where everything he touches turns to shit. I mean everything. Bush and Co. have governed by fear itself with every policy proposal being sold as if not passed the sky will fall. This type of fear is not sustainable, but Bush and his unimaginative political operatives went to that well one too many times. The fear tactics that Bush and the Republicans have been tap dancing to is tired and played and they seem surprised now that cream pies are being thrown at their act and they are being booed off stage.
Bush has failed in every business venture he has ever sought. As recorded by Kevin Phillips, himself a Republican strategist in the Nixon administration. In his book American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush he documented Bush’s failures:
Arbusto, an oil exploration company, lost money, but it got considerable investments (nearly $5 million) because even losing oil investments were useful as tax shelters.
Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. bought out Arbusto in 1984 and hired Mr. Bush to run the company's oil interests in Midland, Texas. The oil business collapsed as oil prices plummeted by 1986, and Spectrum 7 Energy was near failure.
Harken Energy acquired Mr. Bush's Spectrum 7 Energy shares, and he got Harken shares, a directorship, and a consulting arrangement in return. Harken, under Bush, brought in Saudi real estate tycoon Sheikh Abdullah Bakhsh as a board member and a major investor. Over the next few years, Harken would turn out to have links to: Saudi money, CIA-connected Filipinos, the Harvard Endowment, the emir of Bahrain, and the shadowy Bank of Credit and Commerce International.
A 1991 internal SEC document suggested George W. Bush violated federal securities law at least 4 times in the late 1980s and early 1990s in selling Harken stock while serving as a director of Harken. This is essentially the same kind of activity that Martha Stewart is going to prison over. Except at the time of the investigation, Mr. Bush's father was president and the case was quietly dropped.
John Dean, former counsel to Nixon documented in his book In his book, Worse Than Watergate: The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush:
George W. Bush claims his formative years, which he extends to age 40, are out of bounds. Yet those are the years when one's character and values are formed. Bush had occasionally overindulged with alcohol, and he was a bit of an irresponsible youth.
Dean believes Mr. Bush took advantage of his insider information when he sold his Harken stock in 1990, but he escaped SEC penalties because his father was president and many of the investigating officials had Bush family ties and other conflicts of interest. Many of the facts about the Harken deal remain buried and Bush has stonewalled all efforts to find out more. (Check this link for more of Bush’s failures.)
It would appear that Bush has slipped on every banana peel on his way up to success. Born with a platinum spoon, he is blissfully ignorant and a political bully, who only bows to those who are stronger than he. Every failure in Bush’s life has been cleaned up into a success by his father former President George H. Bush. This is why Bush doesn’t understand loss in the way average people do; privilege has protected him from this painful, albeit necessary life experience. He’s like that child in the grocery aisle throwing a temper tantrum because his parents never said no. His father has done his son and ultimately our country a disservice by not allowing his child to fail. Maybe he understands now. His father can’t save his legacy as the worst American president, ever.
But what a minute, maybe I’m looking at this wrong. In Bush World, failure is success. Chaos is golden. What we’ve had plenty of over the past eight years is a lot of failure and a lot of chaos. Intentionally crash the economy and then threatened the American people if they don't give you what you want.
It is his life lesson. Bush may be the first Republican in 40 years to actually under mind the social programs created by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt during the fallout from the first Great Depression, which helped build a middle class, and kept poor people from eating dog food.
If the government is broke. It cannot fund social programs and or build sustainable jobs like public works to create a green manufacturing sector. Starving the beast is what the Republicans call it. The middle class will collapse leaving only the wealthy and the poor, an oligarchy like in Mexico. Then maybe Canada will build a fence on its border to keep poor Americans from crossing to work illegally.
The future is ripe with possibilities.
Chicken Little Politics
Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson (former CEO of Goldman and Sachs) looks like a frighten chicken, but its not because the country is at risk of collapsing into a Great Depression, it’s because he and his Wall Street friends are precipitously losing their wealth. Billionaires are becoming multi-millionaires, multimillionaires are becoming just plain ol’ millionaires. On September 29, 2008, Wall Street lost just over a trillion dollars of wealth.
George W. Bush’s eight years of fear, and more fear has caused the American people to rebel against Chicken Little scare tactics. And now the political and corporate pundits are schizophrenic trying to reign in the American people’s anger with more scare tactics. Maybe, just maybe people are tired and aren’t going to take it anymore—no matter the cost.
Where was this financial emergency when New Orleans was destroyed? In fact, just as New Orleans' destruction was an opportunity for conglomerate real estate developers to move in and push out the poor, this bailout is an opportunity for Republicans to try to get rid of the Community Reinvestment Act, for which Republicans are blaming the mortgage crisis on and get more corporate tax breaks.
The End of Folksy?
Bush strolled into the office with his folksy act to hide his privileged background. ‘Regular’ folk liked the fact that George Bush was inarticulate and spoke plain. He was the man they could see having a beer with at a barbecue. Sarah Palin has been playing this folksy, small town America act where she is plain spoken and one of the people. But as the world is crumbling around us, regular folk are beginning to understand that maybe it is better to have someone who is smarter than they to run the country. Someone who is articulate, thoughtful and educated.
Sarah Palin's folksy awe-shucks factor will put the final nail in the coffin of a post-rational America.
posted by Malik Isasis at
10:45 AM
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