Help Big Bird

Hilarious!

 

And speaking of Big Bird, here's a tune from Eddie Floyd with Steve Cropper on guitar.  Big Bird.

The Sealy Mattress Story

It all started one cool fall night, the moon was full when she brought her new lady-friend up to my room after the party....

oh, wait, not that kind of Sealy Mattress story, no, this one involves less enjoyable pursuits for the humans among us.  But there is a class of folk, some say human, who enjoy nothing more than a forced corporate takeover or a leveraged buyout... ah, the sheer power of it all, muhahaha!!  I'm getting ahead of the story.  First, a little Sealy history:

...The failed deal, known as "burning bed," led to a dramatic slow-down in leveraged buy-outs.
In 1990 Ohio Mattress assumed the Sealy name...  Bain Capital and a team of Sealy's senior executives acquired the company in 1997.   In 1998 Sealy announced that it was moving from Cleveland to the High Point, NC, area.

In 2004, the company was acquired by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and a team of Sealy management. The deal was valued at $1.5 billion but included significant debt.  The company operated as a privately held corporation until 2005. "

Say these guys who flip these companies take significant risks to keep these companies going to benefit the shareholders and by happenstance, the workers, and America as a whole.  That's why they make the big bucks!  But, what if their investments weren't that large, and their personal profits guaranteed at the expense of the shareholders and workers?  Would that be capitalism working?   Because that's what they did, time and again.

Josh Kosman has an interesting new article at Salon about what happened with Bain & Sealy.  The whole article is worth reading, it's not too long and really lays it bare:

 Mitt Romney’s Bain led a $791 million buyout of Sealy in 1997, putting $140 million down and, in typical private-equity fashion, having Sealy borrow the remaining $651 million to finance the deal and assume responsibility for paying it back. ...

 (Despite the "one-sided mattress" and other mismanagement under Bain mentioned in the article) Bain and co-investors sold — “harvested,” if you like — Sealy in 2004 to fellow private equity firm KKR for $1.5 billion ($5.78 a share), pocketing $741 million for its $140 million investment. ...KKR then took Sealy public in 2006 at $16 a share.

 AND why is this news now?  

 Relative upstart Tempur-Pedic agreed to buy Sealy this week for $2.20 a share, paying less than $250 million for its stock and assuming its $750 million debt.

Thus Sealy joins Burger King and others on the list of Bain-acquired companies that collapsed soon after Bain cashed out — hardly surprising, since private equity is mostly about squeezing businesses as hard as possible, not creating long-term value...

 A longtime Sealy executive told me he was very sad about last week’s sale. “I don’t like being acquired by an upstart like Tempur. We should have figured out how to handle them in the marketplace.” Now, some of Sealy’s 4,500 workers will likely lose their jobs in the merger.

"Oh, that's chump change for a guy like me!"

That article at Salon is really worth a read.  Why should a company get tossed around by five investment groups in 10 years?  Let's hope Mitt doesn't do to America what Bain did to Sealy.  In fact, let's not give him the chance.

Proof Tax Cuts for the Rich Help the Economy

I mean, Where is the proof tax cuts for the rich help the economy?  Ruth Marcus takes on the fallacies of Romney's "plan" in her Washington Post editorial, with the introduction of things called "facts" and "numbers".  The nerve.

"Consider: The economy grew at 3.9 percent from 1950 to 1970, when the average top marginal income tax rate was 84.8 percent. From 1987 to 2010, when the average rate was less than half that (36.4 percent), economic growth was far less robust, 2.9 percent.

This comparison might be misleading because multiple factors affect the economy, so the CRS looked at a shorter, more recent time span.
From 1987 through 1992, the top average marginal income tax rate was 33.3 percent. Economic growth averaged 2.3 percent.
From 1993 through 2002, after taxes increased under President Clinton, the average top marginal rate was 39.5 percent. Economic growth averaged 3.7 percent.
Finally, from 2003 through 2007, after the Bush tax cuts, the average top marginal rate was 35 percent. Economic growth averaged 2.8 percent.

If you were going to make a causality argument from these figures, it would be that lower taxes correlate with lower growth. Such a leap isn’t justified — but where is the proof supporting Republicans’ insistence that lower rates fuel growth?"

How about that?

The Hiker Who Could Have Been President

Imagine a Southern Protestant Christian who didn't sound like a 1%'er on the Republican ticket.  You know who could have stopped Romney back in the primaries?  And who would have had a much better shot at beating President Obama?  No, not Rick Santorum, I'm talking about a real man, like what Republicans used to think about say, Clint Eastwood.  Yes, I'm talking about the hiker, Mark Sanford.  Nobody was in a better position to take on Romney, right up until he, well, took a hike on the Appalachian Trail. 

Well, good news for Mark Sanford, as he is clearly head-over-heels in love!  The couple recently announced their engagement, and the tale of the proposal was, er, well:

"Sanford arrived early to the Bella Italia Grill in Palermo for a lunch date last week with Maria Belen Chapur, handed a waiter a bag containing the engagement ring and told him to “make up a good story” for her while he hid in the stall.
When Chapur arrived, she was told she had won a prize for being the restaurant’s 100th customer of the day. Though she reportedly didn’t know what to make of the story, Sanford soon emerged to spring his proposal, which she accepted."

So, uh, I guess Mark Sanford may not have been gaff-free, either.  Honeymooning on the Appalachian Trail, I presume?  

Don't Mess with Jimmy!

Grandson of President Jimmy Carter, James Carter, IV is the one who helped get that "47% Romney doesn't care about" video out there, and the whole story is fascinating.  Some exerpts:

"The video then reappeared on YouTube under a different account -- "Anne Onymous." Carter said he was fascinated by the video -- and figured there had to be more to Romney's talk.
"It was just weird video to all of a sudden come across,” he said. “It was all very strange and it piqued my curiosity," he said.
Carter Tweeted a link to the video -- and then soon noticed he had a new follower named "Anne Onymous."
 "I recognized it" -- and then messaged the follower back, resulting in a series of exchanges in which he encouraged the poster to come forward and give the full video to Corn. (David Corn at Mother Jones)"

 Does it get a little weirder?  Oh yeah.  Check the details surrounding the event where Romney clearly admitted that he just wants to cut taxes for rich people:

"The source who took the video has confirmed to NBC News that it was taken at a May 17 $50,000-a-plate fundraiser at the Boca Raton, Fla., home of private-equity mogul Marc Leder, chief executive of Sun Capital Advisors.

Leder has given $225,000 to Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney Super PAC, in addition to raising money for Romney's presidential campaign. He has also been the subject of controversy after a report in the New York Post last year -- under the headline "Nude Frolic in Tycoon's Pool" -- about a wild party at his Bridgehampton mansion in which, according to the Post's account, "guests cavorted nude in the pool" and scantily clad Russian dancers performed on platforms."

 Oh, and I should remind everyone about exactly why Mitt Romney is not fit to criticize former President Jimmy Carter... well, I've said it before:  You're unfit to carry his bags, mister.  How dare you?

And while I'm at it, though I may be tempting fate, I feel I must point to this post from almost a year ago, titled "I'm Making a Prediction". 

Political Opinion From 'Friends' on Facebook

I don't bother commenting on this guy's many, many, many posts on Facebook, I think he's doing a good enough job tearing down the party he supports, and he needs no additional help from me.  I left out the names, I just want to show an example of what's out there.  Here's the pic he posted and the only 3 comments.

commenter: Agreed. Muslims are a cancer to the planet. We should not tolerate a religion that rewards INSANE behivor anymore than we tolerate satanic cults sacrificing 13 y/old virgin women in america. Both "Religious beliefs" of radical muslims and satan worshipers must dealt with an iron fist.
Yesterday at 12:52pm · Like

poster: They are one in the same!!!
Yesterday at 12:54pm · Like

commenter: Two Words "Carpet Bomb"
Yesterday at 1:01pm · Like

Now let me be sure to clarify that I don't agree with this graphic or those sentiments.  In any way.  

Please check out the rest of my blog if you doubt me.  I am pointing out "what is out there", and if this is what you want, well, then I guess you should vote for the candidate they support? 

That's Mitt Romney.  These guys love Mitt Romney.

Alternate or Parallel Universe?

Bill Clinton delivered the greatest convention speech I've ever seen in Charlotte last week.  What a performance.  (that's a link to a terrific column in The New Yorker that details the performance.  example: "He improvises, in the sense that Miles Davis or Beethoven would come up with an enduring work of art on the spot.")

Flip to 3:30 and hear the maestro deliver the 'alternate universe' line.   If you watch for 2 minutes, you'll get to see Chelsea's hot friend!




Perhaps the maestro read Robert Reich's August 28th blog post:

"The third mechanism is by using its own misinformation outlets – led by Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and his yell-radio imitators, book publisher Regnery, and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal, along with a right-wing blogosphere – to spread the lies, or at least spread doubt about what’s true.

Together, these three mechanisms are creating a parallel Republican universe of Orwellian dimension – where anything can be asserted, where pollsters and political advisers are free to create whatever concoction of lies will help elect their candidate, and where “fact-checkers” are as irrelevant and intrusive as is the truth."

I think President Obama may need to get Walter on the team.

Crushing the Deficit

The Atlantic has been crushing it this year, easily my favorite publication right now.  Here's an article that really lays out Romney/Ryan and their plans for our already bloated deficit:

 It remains the case that the Romney-Ryan ticket, as fleshed out in recent days, is running on the following:

• Zero cuts to the military budget. "If I'm president and Paul Ryan's vice president we will not cut our military budget," Mitt Romney said. He's also talked repeatedly about increasing defense spending.  
• Zero tax increases on investment, savings, or the middle class, and a broad income-tax rate cut.
• Zero cuts to Medicare for the entirety of two terms in office.
• War with Iran if it keeps pursuing a nuclear program. 

What about those policy promises suggests to deficit hawks that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan will shrink the deficit? Meanwhile, the GOP ticket promises to eliminate tax deductions but won't specify which ones. Naturally, the deductions that cost the most are correspondingly popular with voters. How is it that deficit hawks fail to appreciate the fact that the most likely parts of the Romney-Ryan agenda to pass are the tax cuts, increases in military spending, and the restoration of $700 billion plus to Medicare, while the least likely to pass are the elimination of tax deductions?

So for all you folks out there trying to put the deficit anvil around Obama's neck, what do you think about the Romney/Ryan plan?  I mean really.  What do you think?  I know.  You know I know and now you know you know, too. 

Bin a While

Bin down so long?  Hee hee.

Anybody would have made that call, eh Mitt?  Even Jimmy Carter?  You're unfit to carry his bags, mister.  How dare you?

While I'm at it, The Drudge Report keeps riling me with articles like this one.  Say what you want folks, but the Secretary of Defense, appointed by George W. Bush, mind you, was advising President Obama not to do the raid.  Obama made the call.  Get over it.  Maybe Romney would have gone with the stink bombs?

Election on, bitches ;-)

What Hath Mitt Wrought?

I've spent part of the morning amusing myself on Wikipedia reading about the Golden Plates and Joseph Smith.  I don't hold it against Romney, he was born into it, but it's a delight to see the Christian/Fountainhead followers try to bend themselves into accepting a Mormon as their leader.  I suppose if you can merge the philosophies of Christ and Rand, anything is possible (with Rupert at the helm).  My favorite quote from Wikipedia about Smith's wife Emma:

In 1843, Emma reluctantly allowed Smith to marry four women who had been living in the Smith household—two of whom Smith had already married without her knowledge. Emma also participated with Smith in the first "sealing" ceremony, intended to bind their marriage for eternity. However, Emma soon regretted her decision to accept plural marriage and forced the other wives from the household, nagging Smith to abandon the practice.  Smith dictated a revelation pressuring Emma to accept, but the revelation only made her furious.

"Wait honey, I'm having a revelation from God.  He's saying you need to accept it, you know, the 'me having sex with all the other women' thing.  Yeah, so, um, that settles it!" 

How'd it work out?

Joseph's death threw both the church and Emma's family into disorder. Emma was left a pregnant widow—it would be on November 17, 1844, that she gave birth to her and Joseph's last child together....
Nearly two years later, a close friend and non-Mormon, Major Lewis C. Bidamon, proposed marriage and became Emma's second husband on December 23, 1847.

You can't make this stuff up!  Oh wait..... read for yourself, the story of the Golden Plates.

Here's an engraving of Joseph Smith  receiving the Golden Plates and the "seer stone spectacles":

It reminds me of this picture, Bono handing the Pope his sunglasses: