John Boehner is a quick study: He didn't really care about politics much as a youth, eventually worked his way up to the presidency of a small business in plastics, decided he didn't like dealing with the hassles of government regulatory compliance, and boom: A Republican lifer was born. And here's the thing about small businessmen: they don't think anything counts as a "real job" if it's not a job growing a small business, and they despise anyone who doesn't have one of these jobs. You know all that rhetoric in both parties about the Noble Small Businessman selling his Wares? Neither party ever points out that small businessmen, at least in their role as political actors, are
To be nit-picky, "Of Counsel" might or might not be what I would consider a "real job". But associate certainly is, as is lecturer.
I certainly hope your optimism is rewarded, but I see him as a soul-dead asshole. Certainly smart enough to know that he's advocating bullshit, but too focused on the prize (converting the USA into a feudal republic) to give a shit.
Now, these are a couple of small points, but still:
1. Boner played linebacker in high school.
2. He enlisted in the Navy after graduating, in 1968. In 1968, I had college classmates who would have killed (or at least maimed) for the opportunity to enlist <i>in the fucking NAVY</i>. Where nobody was shooting back.
3. Now, enlistment opportunities did vary by geographical location. But in Wisconsin, I can tell you, the Navy was motherfucking tough to get into. Maybe Ohio was easier.
4. He was released after eight weeks because of a bad back. From the Navy.
EDIT: I just realized how long this is, so please feel free to ignore it. I&#039;m just whining. I&#039;m going to leave it up, because I mean it, and it helps me to deal with the disgusting existence of Mitt Fucking Rmoney. But, just skip it.
This didn&#039;t come up during the SF Drinkup, but back when I was a real (i.e., employed) person, I spent 30-ish years as a corporate employee. During that time, I have to admit that my signature never appeared on the front of my paycheck. (I doubt that Mitt&#039;s did, either; it&#039;s usually the corporate treasurer whose xeroxed sig is on the checks, but never mind).
During my corporate career, I&#039;d guess that I &quot;created&quot; between 100 and 150 jobs in the US, and maybe 300 in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. (I wasn&#039;t keeping exact track at the time). The &quot;job creation&quot; happened because we achieved technical and/or marketing advantages over our competitors, and so the demand for our products increased. D&#039;oh.
Business is cyclical, at best, and so I also got to lay off 15 or 20 folks in the US, and by extension, probably 100 overseas employees got laid off because of volume decline. Neither the hiring or firing happened all at once -- there were four or five business cycles during my active period. But I would like to emphasize that the hires were legitimate -- full time, with whatever benefits applied at the location, and all of the jobs lasted for at least a couple of years. (I took a lot of criticism for under-hiring).
Do I have a point? Well, yes, and it is that even though I was never a sainted small business owner, I was responsible (in the sense that I was the leader of a whole lot of great people) for generating more net employment than 90% of small-business-people, and, at my best, generating $140M per year of very profitable revenue for my corporate employer. For which, in the best traditions of corporate USA, we had a staff of dozens of lawyers and accountants do their very best to reduce the tax liability to below zero.
[An admission: I enjoyed working with the accounting wizards. They were crazier, and much more fun, than the patent lawyers].
Sorry, I&#039;m wandering. Point 1-- I know how to run a fucking business. Point 2 -- Boner may once have known how to run a business, but I&#039;ll have to google extensively to see if it was $140M with 120 US employees.
Point 3 -- Mittens knows how to run a fucking vulture capitalist fund. And I emphasize VULTURE. I spent my work life in Santa Clara County. I&#039;m aware of Sand Hill Road. I have <i>friends</i> who are VCs. There is an enormous difference between real venture folks and the deconstruct-and-pick-over-the-remains assholes like Bain. It&#039;s the difference between &quot;We&#039;ll stake you, and if you succeed we will take a big chunk of your initial profits, and if you fail, we&#039;ll say bye-bye&quot;; and &quot;We&#039;ll prop you up for a while as you fail, and sell off your bits, and collect huge fees while we&#039;re here&quot;.
There is a difference.
Mitt pisses me off. I&#039;ve never been in his league, but it&#039;s not hard to see the hollowness behind his accomplishments. It&#039;s all financial hocus-pocus.
I am a motherfucking capitalist. You put up the capital, you run the biz, you succeed or fail. (If you succeed, you do a lot of good for labor, cause that&#039;s how it works).
Rmoney is a fucking anti-capitalist -- you set up a deal where you win whether the biz succeeds or fails. Nobody else gets shit.
Sorry. I am, in fact, drunk. But I really do hate fucking Mittens Romney, and all the other very clever motherfuckers who are making themselves rich without making the society they live in even a little rich.
That&#039;s one use. Basically it means you rank like a partner, but you&#039;re not exactly a member of the firm. Pols, senior attorneys who want to part-time it, even things like lawyer spouses of VIPs.
It&#039;s not normally something you buy, or just ask for. The law firm generally has a <i>reason</i> for carrying you.
To be nit-picky, &quot;Of Counsel&quot; might or might not be what I would consider a &quot;real job&quot;. But associate certainly is, as is lecturer.
And so is community fucking organizer.
Gawd, English Leather. (And, of course, I am of the correct age and whiteness to have used it. For a while.)
However, I am appalled at the association of Boner with Old Grandfather.
Actually, if Goldman had that kind of firepower supremacy, there would be no other existing corporations.
Be fair now. Sarah and John have created quite few flack jobs.
Seriously, what Gem said. Stay offline. Enjoy the, you know, <i>real</i> real world.
All this shit will still be here when you get back. (Oh, maybe that wasn&#039;t as encouraging as I meant it to be).
One&#039;s not enough, a thousand is too many.
I do understand that.
I certainly hope your optimism is rewarded, but I see him as a soul-dead asshole. Certainly smart enough to know that he&#039;s advocating bullshit, but too focused on the prize (converting the USA into a feudal republic) to give a shit.
Now, these are a couple of small points, but still:
1. Boner played linebacker in high school.
2. He enlisted in the Navy after graduating, in 1968. In 1968, I had college classmates who would have killed (or at least maimed) for the opportunity to enlist <i>in the fucking NAVY</i>. Where nobody was shooting back.
3. Now, enlistment opportunities did vary by geographical location. But in Wisconsin, I can tell you, the Navy was motherfucking tough to get into. Maybe Ohio was easier.
4. He was released after eight weeks because of a bad back. From the Navy.
When BO asks me to the White House, will you be my date?
Yup.
Lovely. I&#039;ll respect you (as I always do with all females), make sure your travel is 1st class, and we&#039;ll arrive in separate cars.
EDIT: I just realized how long this is, so please feel free to ignore it. I&#039;m just whining. I&#039;m going to leave it up, because I mean it, and it helps me to deal with the disgusting existence of Mitt Fucking Rmoney. But, just skip it.
This didn&#039;t come up during the SF Drinkup, but back when I was a real (i.e., employed) person, I spent 30-ish years as a corporate employee. During that time, I have to admit that my signature never appeared on the front of my paycheck. (I doubt that Mitt&#039;s did, either; it&#039;s usually the corporate treasurer whose xeroxed sig is on the checks, but never mind).
During my corporate career, I&#039;d guess that I &quot;created&quot; between 100 and 150 jobs in the US, and maybe 300 in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia. (I wasn&#039;t keeping exact track at the time). The &quot;job creation&quot; happened because we achieved technical and/or marketing advantages over our competitors, and so the demand for our products increased. D&#039;oh.
Business is cyclical, at best, and so I also got to lay off 15 or 20 folks in the US, and by extension, probably 100 overseas employees got laid off because of volume decline. Neither the hiring or firing happened all at once -- there were four or five business cycles during my active period. But I would like to emphasize that the hires were legitimate -- full time, with whatever benefits applied at the location, and all of the jobs lasted for at least a couple of years. (I took a lot of criticism for under-hiring).
Do I have a point? Well, yes, and it is that even though I was never a sainted small business owner, I was responsible (in the sense that I was the leader of a whole lot of great people) for generating more net employment than 90% of small-business-people, and, at my best, generating $140M per year of very profitable revenue for my corporate employer. For which, in the best traditions of corporate USA, we had a staff of dozens of lawyers and accountants do their very best to reduce the tax liability to below zero.
[An admission: I enjoyed working with the accounting wizards. They were crazier, and much more fun, than the patent lawyers].
Sorry, I&#039;m wandering. Point 1-- I know how to run a fucking business. Point 2 -- Boner may once have known how to run a business, but I&#039;ll have to google extensively to see if it was $140M with 120 US employees.
Point 3 -- Mittens knows how to run a fucking vulture capitalist fund. And I emphasize VULTURE. I spent my work life in Santa Clara County. I&#039;m aware of Sand Hill Road. I have <i>friends</i> who are VCs. There is an enormous difference between real venture folks and the deconstruct-and-pick-over-the-remains assholes like Bain. It&#039;s the difference between &quot;We&#039;ll stake you, and if you succeed we will take a big chunk of your initial profits, and if you fail, we&#039;ll say bye-bye&quot;; and &quot;We&#039;ll prop you up for a while as you fail, and sell off your bits, and collect huge fees while we&#039;re here&quot;.
There is a difference.
Mitt pisses me off. I&#039;ve never been in his league, but it&#039;s not hard to see the hollowness behind his accomplishments. It&#039;s all financial hocus-pocus.
I am a motherfucking capitalist. You put up the capital, you run the biz, you succeed or fail. (If you succeed, you do a lot of good for labor, cause that&#039;s how it works).
Rmoney is a fucking anti-capitalist -- you set up a deal where you win whether the biz succeeds or fails. Nobody else gets shit.
Sorry. I am, in fact, drunk. But I really do hate fucking Mittens Romney, and all the other very clever motherfuckers who are making themselves rich without making the society they live in even a little rich.
That&#039;s one use. Basically it means you rank like a partner, but you&#039;re not exactly a member of the firm. Pols, senior attorneys who want to part-time it, even things like lawyer spouses of VIPs.
It&#039;s not normally something you buy, or just ask for. The law firm generally has a <i>reason</i> for carrying you.
I believe he was at that while while he had a job teaching at the University of Chicago.
&quot;Our First MBA President.&quot;
His hostile, leveraged take-over of Iraq was pure management genius.