You know what would be better than having a quarter billion dollars and running for President? Having a quarter billion dollars and not running for President.

MoBettle wrote:just wanted to say that this was one of the better thread titles i've seen in a while

This and the Sixers thread are both good.

TenuredVulture wrote:You know what would be better than having a quarter billion dollars and running for President? Having a quarter billion dollars and not running for President.

and getting that 1/4 billion by not getting a huge boost from being born to a rich senator.

also, not spending that money on enormous underground mansions with car elevators. Actually, come to think of it, maybe that one's not too bad. I mean, he has to live somewhere for those two weeks a year when he's not living somewhere else.

The way you constantly denigrate what Romney accomplished is absurd. Of course it's easier to come from money than to not, but you don't get as far as he did without working your ass off. And that involves much harder work than waiting tables.

I also think having car elevators is okay and kind of bad ass. He's still a terrible person though

jeff2sf wrote:The way you constantly denigrate what Romney accomplished is absurd. Of course it's easier to come from money than to not, but you don't get as far as he did without working your ass off. And that involves much harder work than waiting tables.

do you feel this way about mob bosses and dictators? I think his job was dishonorable

First, he seemed to only be talking about the level of work.

Second, while I think private equity guys are generally douchy and over compensated, I think dishonorable is a major stretch. My brother just finished an internship with one, my sister-in-law is a private equity person, and my brother-in-law is actively searching and will no doubt become one shortly.

I think it's crazy and flat-out wrong not to acknowledge that Romney is an unusually talented individual. Part of what was so galling about W. was his obvious mediocrity. Romney isn't that guy, whatever one thinks about the societal value of how he utilized his talents. (FWIW, I think it's more appropriate here to hate the game rather than the player--though it's fair to counter that he made the choice to play.)

As I've written before, what I find weird about the guy's path through life is that he went balls-out (insert magic undies joke) to maximize every dollar through his first 55 or so years on the planet, then decided he wanted to be Mr. Public Service. I think his failure/choice not to reconcile or even explain that has more to do with his political troubles than is widely appreciated. But then it's clear that consistency isn't his highest value.

dajafi wrote:I think it's crazy and flat-out wrong not to acknowledge that Romney is an unusually talented individual. Part of what was so galling about W. was his obvious mediocrity. Romney isn't that guy, whatever one thinks about the societal value of how he utilized his talents. (FWIW, I think it's more appropriate here to hate the game rather than the player--though it's fair to counter that he made the choice to play.)

That's probably a good way to phrase what I'm trying to say. Thing is though, I really do think private equity people provide a service to society in optimizing a company, which, yes, sometimes means laying people off. Creative destruction and all that.

But the compensation is totally out of whack and the fact that they can then also be taxed at the rates they are is offensive to me. But hate the game.

Bain didn't seem to care at all if they optimized the company

I'm obviously going off of left-leaning descriptions of Mitt's tenure at Bain. if someone has a counterpoint article, I'd be interested

This is not as dense (and probably not as persuasive) but the idea that Matt Taibbi or other left leaning hate capitalism folks are giving you the straight dope on private equity is laughable.

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/01/16/ ... te-equity/

I'd also say this is a digression from the main point which is Romney is crazy talented and very hardworking. You're talking character, and while I'm not out to build a shrine to private equity and would gladly vote to see the carried-interest thing go away, I think this idea that they're robber barons is silly.

Whoa:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/ ... marks.html

MoBettle wrote:just wanted to say that this was one of the better thread titles i've seen in a while

Thank you. I'm sad to see it go now that we're at 50, but it had a good run.

jerseyhoya wrote:I mean, I'm not the nicest person ever, but I don't think I'm a dick.

Which is WHY we like you more than Mitt Romney.

dajafi wrote:Whoa:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/ ... marks.html

Seriously.

jeff2sf wrote:The way you constantly denigrate what Romney accomplished is absurd. Of course it's easier to come from money than to not, but you don't get as far as he did without working your ass off. And that involves much harder work than waiting tables.

That's just silly. What Romney has done has obviously affected far more people, but nothing he's done has actually been harder than waiting tables.

I'm doing ok, and as far as I like the choices I've made in life and the opportunities I've been given, it's precisely because I don't have to work as hard as if I were waiting tables.

Jeff has obviously never waited tables or worked in a restaurant. I did it for two weeks and gave up. I can sit behind a desk and make much more money, however, with the best of them.