It seems like just the other day when I was telling you about David Siegel in my post Robbin’ a Better Hood.
You know, it was the story of David, the poor billionaire CEO of Westgate Resorts who likes to sit on a golden cherub-encrusted throne. In case you can’t remember, he threatened his employees with termination if Mitt Romney doesn’t become president, if Obama wins and raises his taxes. He also complained about not getting any happy hours.
Oh, it was just the other day!
Well, I’ve learned so much since. And I just gotta share.
You see, I learned that apparently CEO’s are pack animals. And a bunch of other CEOs are doing the same thing to their employees so that they can protect their billions.
At first I was confused. How could so many folks, living high on the hog, come up with the very same idea?
Then I learned just last night that there is a common thread here that, well, I for one would never have guessed.
Because guess who is telling those CEO’s to do that? Guess who is showing his leadership ability by actually getting billionaire CEOs to follow an order? Guess who has the morals and ethics of a crack whore?
[26:30] I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, you pass those along to your employees. Mitt Romney, June 6, 2012.
Yup, it’s Mitt. The guy whose team is in favor of voter suppression (heard the one about the Arizona Voter ID cards that were sent out with the wrong date for election date – funny thing, it’s only wrong on the Spanish ones).
Can you say “Watergate?” Can you say “Iran Contra?” Can you say “Tammany Hall?” Are you listening Mitt Romney?
I heard that Ann will be cancelling her next few campaign stops. She’s out shopping for furniture for the Oval Office.
Or maybe they should go on the Truman Balcony. The view of the peasants is way better from there..
Many of you think that I am a communist with socialist sympathies. Or a socialist with communist proclivities. Or that I want to take from the rich and give to the poor. That I have fantasies of becoming the next Mother Theresa or at least Madonna. The singer, not the, you know, Madonna.
Nope. Not me at all. That gum would be in my earrings
But it’s not at all true. I’m not a socialist, I’m a liberal. Someday the GOP will understand the difference between a liberal and a socialist. But certainly not before it’s convenient. And definitely not before November.
Personally, I work hard and am pretty well paid for my efforts. I like that.
I also like the fact that my husband works less hard and is paid even better. Of course that would piss me off royally if I didn’t get to spend more than my share of that haul.
That said, well, I know I’ve been lucky, especially when it comes to the folks I’ve worked for. Yes, I’ve been incredibly lucky in bosses. None of them has asked me to do anything illegal, unethical or even too terribly yucky. Stupid sometimes, annoying at others, but legal and honest and ethical. And none have ever threatened me.
So when I read this article about a very different type of boss, well I saw red.
Not exactly like this, but it was definitely red.
Did you hear about David Siegel, the owner of Westgate Resorts? His estimated net worth is close to $2 Billion. Yeah. That’s with a “B.”
You may recall him from the stories about his house, Versailles:
A quaint little cottage, ain’t it? A mere 90,000 sq. ft.
Here’s the ballroom.
Doesn’t YOUR house have a ballroom?
David made his money selling Time Shares. You know, those “must have” vacation resort scams? My parents owned one. Thanks, David. Can you say “total rip off”? I bet you say it a lot.
Now David’s worried. And that’s never a good thing when all that money is at stake. You see, David is worried that President Obama may get re-elected. And David’s worried that if President Obama is re-elected, he might have to pay more taxes. So he threatened his 7,000 employees, telling them that they may just not have a job if Obama gets 4 more years.
Actually, David held back. He didn’t cross that line. No sirreee Bob. He didn’t tell the folks dependent on him who to vote for! That would be bullying! That would be unethical! That would be illegal!
Here’s what he did say. I’ll use his words, not mine. Here’s what David A. Siegel, Billionnaire, said in an email sent to all of his employees on Monday:
As your employer, I can’t tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn’t interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose. In fact, I encourage you to vote for whomever you think will serve your interests the best.
Good start, don’t you think. Then he explained to his workers just how hard the life of a billionaire can be:
I eat, live, and breathe this company every minute of the day, every day of the week. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour.
I admit I’d be ticked off if there was no happy hour. Imagine.
And then David mentioned that his employees might just want to think carefully about who they vote for come November:
If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone.
So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn’t? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job. [Emphasis mine.]
David on his Golden Throne
Talk about folks who feel “Entitled”!
So, in spite of the fact that the Presidency offers no such powers, I’m going to lobby hard for something. Nationalization of David Siegel’s assets.
Yup, I’m going to work towards nationalization of the assets of this asshole. Just the one asshole. We could use a new National Park in Central Florida, wouldn’t you say? Disney gets so crowded these days. We can call it “OverTheTop-Land.”
Of course, if I hear of more of those buckaroo billionaires screwing with people’s right to vote, well, I might just rethink just how keen I am on nationalization. Because you know what they say about socialists/communists. Once they start marching, all the dominoes fall.
Elections matter. And nobody has the right to tell their employees how or for whom to vote.
[And if anybody seriously thinks that I am either a socialist or a communist, or that I think there is any authority for anyone to nationalize the assets of anybody in the country, you are reading the wrong blog.]
The best line I’ve read about Mitt Romney firing Big Bird:
Let’s channel one of Big Bird’s colleagues, Count von Count, and do some math: The federal government gave $445 million this year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes that money to PBS and, to a lesser degree, NPR member stations across the country.
That $445 million works out to about 1/100 of 1 percent of the federal budget.
That’s like me saying I’m going to lose weight by trimming my nails.
Tomorrow is National Voter Registration Day. If you need to register or check on your current registration, this website contains a widget that will help you.
I don’t think my brother Fred ever hurt my feelings as much as he did when he laughed at me that day. When, as a 4- or 5-year old I shouted at him:
“You’ll be sorry when I wake up DEAD.”
Instead of being cowed, well, Fred laughed at me. I was devastated. Confused. I didn’t understand what was so funny. Later he explained it to me:
“Lease,” he said patiently, “You can’t ‘wake up dead’!”
“Why not?”
“Because if you’re dead, Lease, you don’t wake up. You can’t. Cause you’re DEAD.”
“Oh.”
It was the first time I understood that I had done something incredibly stupid. I learned my lesson, though. Never again did I threaten anyone with the possibility that I’d wake up dead.
So imagine my surprise when I read about high school nurse Terry Collins in this article. I learned that I wasn’t so dumb back then after all.
You see, Ms. Collins woke up dead one day. Yeah, it’s true! She got a letter saying that she was taken off the voter registration list because she is dead. She was quite surprised because, well, she felt just fine! Coincidentally, her 80-year old father was equally surprised when he got a similar letter. He had woken up dead, too! Even more coincidentally, they are both African-Americans registered to vote in Texas! Or they were until they woke up dead in a state where the Governor is a Republican and the legislature is run by the GOP.
Apparently, there is an epidemic in Texas. An epidemic of waking up dead! And the number of folks who are caught up in this, umm, problem? According to NPR, there are about 80,000 Texas voters who woke up one day and found out via the US mail that they were dead. Most are African American or Hispanic. Imagine that, they were members of minorities who tend to favor Democrats, and they woke up dead.
I’m calling Fred. He’ll be so sorry he made fun of me.
* * *
The creativity of the folks who try to keep others from voting is quite impressive. If only they used it to govern, the U.S. might be in much better shape today.
FiftyFourandAHalf 