Who’s drunk the moonbat juice? Lee Iacocca:
Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, “Stay the course.”
Stay the course? You’ve got to be kidding. This is America, not the damned Titanic. I’ll give you a sound bite: Throw the bums out!
You might think I’m getting senile, that I’ve gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore. The President of the United States is given a free pass to ignore the Constitution, tap our phones, and lead us to war on a pack of lies. Congress responds to record deficits by passing a huge tax cut for the wealthy (thanks, but I don’t need it). The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving pom-poms instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of America my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough. How about you?
I’ll go a step further. You can’t call yourself a patriot if you’re not outraged. This is a fight I’m ready and willing to have.
Now, ol’ Lee may be sincere, and he may be trying to sell books, or both. He may have written it himself, or not. Either way, it’s a hell of a Zeitgest indication, huh?
Thanks to the Carpetbagger via Kevin Drum.
aren’t you Lee? but what they heck, welcome.
Espcially when it comes to grey-haired, white conservative icons joining in the rage.
Iacocca’s only claim to fame was that he saved Chrysler* from bankruptcy by raiding the public treasury. In exchange for what the public gave him, the US government received some kind of special securities (I forget what they were called), whereby it was expected to repaid. In a rather interesting dose of chutzpah, after Chrysler did recover, Iacocca tried to get the US government to eschew its claim on Chrysler via the securities. In an unusual piece of sobriety, the US government refused Iacocca’s request.
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*The US government’s salvation of Chrysler allowed the German company Daimler-Benz, in its infinite lack of wisdom, to later buy it. Just showing how dumb German managers can be. Why would anyone buy a third place company in a market that is already overcrowded? Dumb and dumber. Now that Daimler wants to rid itself of its money-losing Chrysler division (the shareholders are demanding it), Kirk Kerkorian is offering to buy it–for half the price that Daimler paid nine years ago.
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BTW, I read the post. Is Iacocco pushing a book? I noticed the link to a Borders web site, but what was posted was so incoherent that I’m not going to waste the time to go there.
Certainly Lee is no conservative. Chrysler, however, got the bailout money from private banks. The loans were guaranteed by the US Government (Chrysler had many US Defense contracts).
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This is much like the money secured in the Fore River Shipyard deal of a few years back when Senators Kennedy and Kerry pushed against SBA rules to guarantee some huckster’s plan to revitalize the long dead shipbuilding center. Only in Chrysler’s case the money was paid off seven years early and in the Shipyard, the money and the huckster disappeared.
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The taxpayer paid nothing for the Chrysler bailout, while taxpayer was left holding the Shipyard bailout bag.
No true conservative would beg a government to save a company from bankruptcy on the basis that Chrysler employed thousands of American jobs, thats a populist protectionist argument if I ever heard it, we should have just let Chrysler die then and there let a company fall on its own like the markets dictate. Its time conservatives stop lying to the American people and claim that our subsidizing corporations is actually helping the economy, it isn’t, and any true believer in laissez faire would allow these companies to rise and fall on their own merit without the nanny state stepping in.
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That said I think this ploy could either be to position himself as a presidential candidate through an independent ticket, just to rant and let his repressed rage out, or might be coinciding with his bid to once again take over the struggling company now that its apparent its German babysitters are ready to give it back.
…the best compaction of the issue that I have ever seen. Pardon me if I quote you elsewhere, whether or not with attribution.
Its plainly clear that people on both sides of the aisle are completely ignorant of how economics work, evident by the fact that someone said it doesn’t matter whether or not Lee agrees with Keynes, clearly they don’t know what their talking about, Keynes was a statist and supported planned economies so this is perfectly in line with what Keynes believed, it does however contradict what Adam Smith and Milton Friedman believed and thats why he, along with most “wall street Republicans” are not true free market conservatives.
I think Lee could care less about the reasons for rage in the world today. He does indeed have a book out. I’ll wait for the stripped copy in the bookstore dumpster. I give it 3 months.
Surprised at some of the reaction here, questioning his conservative credentials.
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I hate Bush and most of his policies, like many here do. I could give a damn whether Iacocca would pass a litmus test from Keynes or not.
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This guy didn’t get to be a repeated best selling author and highly paid speaker because liberal/progressive Democrats bought his book. He’s a darling of the business community.
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He’s way past running for Prez (I think he’s in his 80’s and well past his peak) and I don’t care if he’s doing this to sell another book or not.
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I agree with Charlie. In my mind, when someone like this jumps off the wagon and makes noise about it, it’s a bad thing for BushCo, which is a good thing for progressives.
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No?
just trying to pad his legacy for his family (book sales). as i said up top, welcome to him. but i’m not going out of my way to defend someone who waits until the gravy train (bushco) is derailing before jumping clear with a questionably sincere shout out to we who actually took a stance when it was tougher to do so.
… is that it actually doesn’t matter if he’s sincere or not. In fact, it’s even better for us if he isn’t really sincere. The fact that he can say stuff like that in the expectation that it is a widely-held, popular sentiment, shows just how widely detested the Bush administration is.
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Again, just a Sign O’ The Times.
…is a good one!
What doesn’t hit the news, like the role of Marvin Bush in Chinese businesses or Sen. Dianne Feinstein having to resign her contract post tends to upset a lot a people. (She must be a darling of the press for them to let that go mostly unpublished!) Many national politicians of both parties seem to owe more allegiance to China, Israel, Britain, Columbia than they do the US.
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People are getting fed up, the youth cynical. Where is the loyal oposition? Why, they are waiting on their branch to win the next national election and their turn to swoop down on the carcass of the body politic.
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No wonder Mr. Iacocca can get some people to get their jaws tight. Who cares if he’s hawking a book. He’s not taking away my rights, doesn’t have his hand in my pocket and isn’t sending kids to fight a war without end.