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The principles that rule this blog

Principles that will govern my thoughts as I express them here (from my opening statement):


  • Freedom of the individual should be as total as possible, limited only by the fact that nobody should be free to cause physical injury to another, or to deprive another person of his freedoms.
  • Government is necessary primarily to provide those services that private enterprise won't, or won't at a price that people can afford.
  • No person has a right to have his own beliefs on religious, moral, political, or other controversial issues imposed on others who do not share those beliefs.

I believe that Abraham Lincoln expressed it very well:

“The legitimate object of government is to do for a community of people whatever they need to have done, but cannot do, at all, or cannot
so well do, for themselves — in their separate, individual capacities.”


Comments will be invited, and I will attempt to reply to any comments that are offered in a serious and non-abusive manner. However, I will not tolerate abusive or profane language (my reasoning is that this is my blog, and so I can control it; I wouldn't interfere with your using such language on your own!)

If anyone finds an opinion that I express to be contrary to my principles, they are welcome to point this out. I hope that I can make a rational case for my comments. Because, in fact, one label I'll happily accept is rationalist.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Obama's sleazy attempt to blame Romney for a bankruptcy

One of Mitt Romney's achievements that forms a part of the reason for believing him to be a good choice for the Presidency is his founding of a venture capital firm, Bain Capital. This firm was responsible for infusing capital into such now-well-known names as Staples, Sports Authority, and many others. But of course, some of the firm's guesses did not work out. And nobody guesses right on an investment all the time, so one can hardly blame Mitt Romney for an occasional bankruptcy. Yet, President Obama's campaign people are doing just that.

GST Steel was a company which Bain Capital acquired in 1993. GST went bankrupt and shut down its Kansas City plant in 2001, costing about 750 workers their jobs. Note that date. Because Mitt Romney had left Bain Capital in 1999, when he went to take over the management of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic bid. In other words, Mitt Romney can not be blaimed for GST Steel's bankruptcy, even if Bain Capital could be shown to have done something wrong. And as I said, even the best investment firms make some mistakes. For every GST Steel that Bain could not save, there were many more Sports Authorities that they did. Even Steve Rattner, a former Obama adviser, says the ads are "unfair"!

When one of your own former advisors makes such comments, that is a sleazy thing to do.

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