Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Announces Bid For White House 553
seven of five writes: According to Reuters, "Former Hewlett-Packard Co Chief Executive Carly Fiorina announced on Monday she is running for president, becoming the only woman in the pack of Republican candidates for the White House in 2016. ... Fiorina registers near the bottom of polls of the dozen or so Republican hopefuls and has never held public office. But she has already attracted warm receptions at events in the early voting state of Iowa where she is positioning herself as a conservative, pro-business Republican highly critical of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Fiorina was forced by HP to resign in 2005 as the tech company struggled to digest Compaq after a $19 billion merger."
As part of her announcement, she said, "I think I'm the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works. I understand the world, who's in it, how the world works." I'm sure we'll soon begin hearing from all the HP employees, current and former, who have nothing but love for Carly F.
As part of her announcement, she said, "I think I'm the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works. I understand the world, who's in it, how the world works." I'm sure we'll soon begin hearing from all the HP employees, current and former, who have nothing but love for Carly F.
"The Ego" (Score:5, Funny)
Carly "The Ego" Fiorina.
Her ego covers a land mass the size of Maine.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Funny)
We use standard units around here, none of that "furlongs per fortnight" crap.
You'll need to rephrase that in multiples of Rhode Island, please.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Funny)
Whoah whoah whoah there! We use standard units around here, none of that "furlongs per fortnight" crap...
How many British Thermal Units per hour is she capable of performing when at peak capacity?
For extra credit: What is the BTU/h per stone, i.e. specific power?
Please show all unit conversions and penmanship counts.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Funny)
Well, it's hard to tell, so I propose that we burn her and find out exactly how many BTUs she contains.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Insightful)
Carly "The Ego" Fiorina.
Her ego covers a land mass the size of Maine.
They had a short piece on her this morning on NPR. She was attacking Hilary Clinton on not having enough experience in leadership, etc. I found it quite amusing. Like or hate Hilary, she has way more government experience (for better or worse) in her little pinky than Carly Fiorina.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:4, Insightful)
[L]ike or hate Hilary, she has way more government experience (for better or worse) in her little pinky than Carly Fiorina.
That's not Fiorina's target demographic. In fact, they're the polar opposite. While Clinton has experience, it's all government experience (most of which is as a first lady). No doubt Fiorina will talk about how "government is broken" as her platform. It will take a "business leader" willing to make the "hard decisions" to make government "work for the people."
All B.S. Bernie Sanders 2016!
Re:"The Ego" (Score:4, Informative)
While Clinton has experience, it's all government experience (most of which is as a first lady).
Don't forget that Clinton was also a Senator and Secretary of State so she has experience in both the legislative and executive branches.
I like Bernie Sanders but he's unlikely to get the nomination.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: "The Ego" (Score:4, Informative)
She crafted and presented a workable health care bill that was torpedoed for political reasons and would have avoided the current clusterfuck the USA has now.
She also served successfully as secretary of state in an essentially scandal free administration, no matter how much republicans wish it were otherwise.
I'll probably vote green party regardless (that's as much throwing away my vote in Indiana as voting for a democrat), but I do recognize that she has foreign and domestic policy experience in government.
Re: "The Ego" (Score:4, Insightful)
Actually, if you were of voting age during the 1992 Presidential elections, you might remember that Bill Clinton was open that he would be working very closely with his wife on the matter. That might have been overshadowed by the spectacle of Ross Perot being a general-purpose sideshow, but it definitely did come up at campaign events and the like.
With regard to scandal or the lack thereof, the closest thing the Obama administration in general has had to one is probably the standard of care for veterans and specifically at Walter Reed. Benghazi has just been an ongoing conservative circle jerk and the Snowden disclosures have really just highlighted the overreach available LEGALLY to the administration.
You might say that the State Department under Obama has allowed relations with Israel to sour in favor of greater ties to other states in the region, but it might also be said that Israel is a big-boy country now that doesn't need the USA to enforce its will. Putin's expansionist aims been an ongoing issue since before Obama took office and the case can certainly be made that the US did not need to intervene on the ground in Iran, Libya or Syria in spite of whatever amount of sabre-rattling conservatives have wanted to do to the contrary.
Bearing that in mind, where do you see scandal in the Obama administration or more specifically in its foreign policy?
Actual facts about experience (Score:5, Informative)
1) So did Palin (vs Obama) but that didn't stop the criticism there
Kind of stupid to post things that are so easily refuted.
Obama was a US Senator longer (3-Jan-2005 to 16-Nov-2008) that Palin was Governor of Alaska (4-Dec-2006 to 26-July-2009). Plus Obama was a member of the Illinois senate for 8 years. Palin was mayor of Wasilla (population 7,800) and served as Chair of the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission for less than a year. All other jobs held by either one were nothing on a national stage or significant enough to count as meaningful experience. So no, Palin did not at any time have more experience in public office than Obama.
2) Most of Hilary's experience is being the wife of Monica Lewinsky's ex-boyfriend
You mean except for being a US Senator and Secretary of State?
Given the choice between Hilary and Carly, I'd take Carly. Which isn't actually saying much. Personally, I can't stand either of them.
Based on what? You clearly have your facts wrong so any opinions you might have based on your incorrect assertions are based on false premises.
Re:Actual facts about experience (Score:5, Insightful)
Voting "present" if I recall was his biggest achievement in those years. Having no real accomplishments other than being elected is outstanding political work these days. It also is working for Hilary.
Your penchant for posting factually untrue things is Palinesque. Obama's "present" votes represent 3% of his voting record. [factcheck.org]
Of course, a lifetime of scandal should be enough to prevent her from running. At this point the DNC can't complain about anyone the GOP having "Scandals"
Do I believe Hillary or Bill are the most trustworthy people? No. You, however, are willing to believe anything to justify your opinion. Even things that are not true.
Re:Actual facts about experience (Score:5, Informative)
it isn't the total, it is which legislation it involved. ;) Nice try though.
First of all that is not what you posted in your other thread.
Why didn't the reporters do the same thing with a Jr Senator from Illinois? Remember, he was just a couple years into his first term as Senator, voting "present" more often than anything else.
Second, your complaint is that he voted "present" still implies that this was more important than the thousands of "yes" or "no" votes he cast. I would argue that was an important part of job was to cast votes.
Having exposed your lie, now you want to switch it that so that he proposed no meaningful legislation. Seriously, can you use the internet [wikipedia.org]?
Washington Post says you're lying [washingtonpost.com]. The New York Times says it as well. [nytimes.com] Do you live in an alternate world where you just believe things which are not only untrue but easily verified to be untrue but believe them anyway?
Re: "The Ego" (Score:5, Informative)
She was also a U.S. Senator for New York for eight years (i.e. Elected twice). But of course, that was also a job that she only got for being Bill Clinton's wife and not because she holds a law degree from Yale University, not because she was a professor of Law at the University of Arkansas, not because she was she was on the congressional legal advisory staff in the Watergate impeachment process, and not because she played an important role in organizing the Carter presidential campaign. Facts.
Re: "The Ego" (Score:4, Insightful)
She was also a U.S. Senator for New York for eight years (i.e. Elected twice). But of course, that was also a job that she only got for being Bill Clinton's wife and not because she holds a law degree from Yale University, not because she was a professor of Law at the University of Arkansas, not because she was she was on the congressional legal advisory staff in the Watergate impeachment process, and not because she played an important role in organizing the Carter presidential campaign. Facts.
Facts are never important when we look for reasons to hate ;)
Re: (Score:3)
One might point out that makes 2 massively egotistical women on the campaign trail, then?
Re:"The Ego" (Score:4, Funny)
How big is her ego exactly? Can you express it in Donald Trumps? (The standard measure of ego size.)
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Funny)
How big is her ego exactly? Can you express it in Donald Trumps? (The standard measure of ego size.)
Wrong. The standard unit of ego is the microtrump. A full trump is way too big for any practical use. That would be like expressing the power of your lawnmower motor as 1.2e-34 solar outputs.
Re: "The Ego" (Score:3)
Re:"The Ego" (Score:4, Funny)
Carly Fiorina in January 2004 meeting to head off rising protectionist sentiment in Congress, stated "There is no job that is America's God-given right anymore" [wikipedia.org] on the topic of H1-B's in the USA
It will be a cold day in hell before I vote for Carly.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:4, Funny)
Kayye West Probably scores in the 200-300 milliTrump range.
His score is severely limited by the fact he went up on stage twice to proclaim that somebody other than himself deserved best artist awards.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Insightful)
The 'muh sexism!' cry is unnecessary, especially in this case. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison(!!), and others have also (credibly) been accused of having monster-sized egos...
Seriously, when it comes to big egos, Scott McNealy (dude who used to run Sun Microsystems) had an ego large enough to carry it's own gravitational pull.
You can be a CEO without having an ego large enough to require its own zip code... tons of examples out there (even deep within the Fortune 500), but you don't hear about them as much because they tend to focus on their work, not their public image.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Insightful)
She's also always wrong.
This is the key issue. Some of the other candidates have demonstrated competence in executive management, and others have a legislative record, but it is unclear if they have the skill and talent to make a good president. What sets Carly apart is an unambiguous record of failure and incompetence in everything she has ever done.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Insightful)
Once upon a time HP was known as a technology innovator, in the years that Carly was in charge they became a maker of ink jet cartridges
When they bought Compaq they had managed to roll up two of the mini and personal computing powerhouses (DEC had just been taken over by Compaq) and effectively shit-canned the technology that came with them and just leveraged the customer base. Compaq computers went from being leading edge innovators to clones and DEC ALPHA chips were intentionally slow-sold in favor of Itanium (they even refused to release Alpha benchmarks because they beat the tar out of HP Itanium Superdome systems)
So, there was a lot of MBA talk and attempts to score big in quarterly reports that effectively took the heart of of a tech leader (or really leaders) and stomped it to death in front of a horrified tech community
That is why Carly is so beloved in /.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Insightful)
So, there was a lot of MBA talk and attempts to score big in quarterly reports
And this is the crux of the matter, the focus of scoring big in quarterly reports. This is not hand-waving, purely ideological complaints. When MBA professors mentions *this* as the biggest problem in American corporate culture (can your sense of irony for a second), then this is not idle shit talking.
Business executives are graded per their deliveries at the next immediate quarter, not in their capacity to create long-term value. That is what a shareholder's economy is all about. And Fiorina is a great example of it.
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Interesting)
And when individual companies do this, like, oh, HP, they pay the price. So, it may be a widespread problem, but it is self-correcting.
While Carly was CEO, HP lost 65% of its market value. But she walked away with more than $100 Million. So how is that going to self correct?
Re:"The Ego" (Score:5, Informative)
I worked for HP during the Carly experience. I've also always voted for the conservative candidate for President. If Carly gets the nomination I WILL change my vote to a different candidate. (Not a huge fan of Hillary either so maybe I'll just throw away my vote on 3rd party candidate... who knows).
I never felt she dealt honestly with the employees of the company. During those times she orchestrated the destruction of the HP Way, never understanding or trusting it in the least. She had little to no understanding of the technological expertise in the company. She adored IBM's consulting firm which is why she pushed for the acquisition of such companies, and the touting of HP's "e-speak" technology. She simply didn't lead, she spouted buzzwords and followed popular trends, trying to glom onto anything that might be construed as cool/buzzworthy. Though no one in the company had ANY IDEA what it was or how to deploy it in any way. It was ridiculous, I once took a good week trying to figure that out and NO ONE understood what e-speak meant. She spouted the buzzwords ceaselessly. She got rid of company profit sharing and tried to push HP to follow a policy she admired from CISCO at the time of mandatory firing of the bottom 10% of employees in HP regardless of the group. The summer before the Compaq acquisition, she convinced HP employees to donate their bonuses and vacation days back to the company on a voluntary basis so that there wouldn't need to be a lay off, then right prior to 9/11 (She sometimes liked to hide behind the market crashes of 9/11 but that's not the case, the crash occurred before that) she orchestrated the first lay off in HP history EVER. At the time we were told it would be for the welfare of the company and hit areas of the company that would need to be let go, then she promptly acquired Compaq and butchered both companies.
I see her as fundamentally disingenuous. A macchievellian at heart who will do and say anything to appease her shareholders while disregarding all human cost. So in a way she's ideal for politics, but not my kind anymore. SO no thanks... I'll be voting for the other guy.
Likewise, I know few employees who didn't feel betrayed by her. Hence they removed her from the board with her millions of bonuses and such to get her to go...
Carly... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Carly... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Carly... (Score:4, Informative)
Remember back in the 70's & 80's when HP was one of the top 10 companies in the world
Not only that you could feel smug about owning an HP calculator that used RPN
(Also HP test gear was the bomb. I know that they sold off that section to someone else, but I have no idea if the current iteration of test gear has the same reputation.)
Re:Carly... (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
They spun out Agilent for that role into its own company
Yeah my memory was dim on that.
But HP still managed get rid of the business that was the core of what Hewlett and Packard created in their garage.
Agilent has been split up again.... (Score:4, Informative)
The Agilent name is now used on their chemical/life sciences stuff (chromatographs, NMR, etc.), while the traditional electronic test/measurement gear that HP was founded on was spun off into another new company, Keysight Technologies.
Re:Carly... (Score:4, Informative)
And I was there the day Carley walked the spine at Compaq with Michael Capellas telling us all what a wonderful thing the merger was. Not a single person believed it would be. My supervisor who had been with the company for years (He had a three digit employee number) was let go shortly before I left for another position.
LOL LOL OMG.. HAHAHAHA (Score:5, Funny)
"I think I'm the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works. I understand the world, who's in it, how the world works."
Oh Carly.. setting yourself up for a stand up career?
Re:LOL LOL OMG.. HAHAHAHA (Score:5, Funny)
She can see the economy from her house!
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:LOL LOL OMG.. HAHAHAHA (Score:5, Insightful)
Many people understand how it works. What I want to know is how it will be fixed.
The economy already is fixed. That's the problem.
Re: (Score:3)
How the world works for BILLIONAIRES (Score:3)
Re:LOL LOL OMG.. HAHAHAHA (Score:5, Informative)
The country is 18 trillion dollars in debt.
Being in debt is not so bad if you are making more money from the borrowed money than your debt service is costing you. The reason debt became an evil word is because most Americans use debt to buy things that they can't afford to buy outright and that decrease in value. Debt used to buy a house is not evil debt (although it hasn't paid off well in the last 10 years or so.) Debt used to pay for a vacation because you can't afford the vacation without making payments on it, is bad debt. Debt used to buy a car is bad debt unless you already had the money to pay cash for it and chose to invest that money in something that earns you more than the car loan interest rate.
Re: (Score:3)
Or you need the car for work.
Re:LOL LOL OMG.. HAHAHAHA (Score:4, Insightful)
The country is 18 trillion dollars in debt.
And yet investors all over the world are falling over themselves to loan money to Uncle Sam at virtually zero percent interest. If the size of the deficit were considered a big problem by serious money, interest rates would be very much higher than they are.
That said, it's been a long time (Eisenhower, maybe?) since having Republicans in the White House has been good for deficit reduction!
All aboard the FAIL train (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
The only way a marginal candidate is going to have any chance is if they announce early and get momentum, while the big names can afford to wait and campaign more intensively later.
Re: (Score:3)
I'd be curious what would happen if a Republican would be:
* Pro-market but without slavish devotion to specific big money interests or backing crazy tax cuts
* "No stance" on abortion. "I wouldn't have one but I'm not telling anyone else what to do"
* Pro-pot legalization "I wouldn't use it, but let's be honest, banning it hasn't worked and jailing people really hasn't worked. Let the states do what they want, like booze"
And the rest basic, run of the mill Republic policies.
Would they get run out of town fo
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Funny)
I hope you brought something to read, because you'll be waiting a loooooong time.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:5, Interesting)
I tend to stop paying attention to the media regarding political candidates once the campaigning begins, short of comparing their statements pre-candidacy with their statements after they've announced. Typically this is just to look for hypocracy as if a candidate is changing their platform simply to get elected then perhaps they should be passed over.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:5, Funny)
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Insightful)
The GOP is like the Red Skins, relatively few like the brand but the individual players all find their fans, the DNC is like the Starts & Stripes, more people have a favorable view of the team just don't ask them to try and name any players.
This is exactly what's wrong in politics these days. Politics is not a spectator sport. There aren't simply two teams vying for the prize of being elected and using that as the trophy to put in one's case. Treating it like a spectator sport completely ignores the whole point of the exercise, which is to effectively govern the wealthiest nation in the world, and to see to the interests of both the nation and the persons in that nation.
As for Mrs. Clinton, before she was First Lady she obtained a Doctorate in Law from Yale and worked as a lawyer, as well as having served on corporate boards. My guess is that her time as First Lady was probably frustrating since First Ladies generally cannot continue their professions after their husbands take office. The friction when she attempted to work toward Universal Healthcare the first time around is proof enough of that.
I'm no fan of Hilary Clinton, and she definitely failed on-style when she was First Lady, but I can look at her academic and professional records and see that she has experience in several different areas that might make her a successful President.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:5, Informative)
Are you serious? The World is going to shit and she oversaw four years of our foreign policy. Russia is annexing parts of her neighbors,
Yes because her being in her post for 4 years can reverse the 12 years of Putin rule and the undo decades of Ukranian-Russian tensions in Crimea. Yes, totally her fault on that one.
ISIS is on the march
Because the US removal of Saddam Hussein under Bush leaving a power vacuum which fomented and led to the rise of ISIS is completely Clinton's fault.
China is bullying her neighbors
I agree with you 100% that Hillary should do something to undo China's tendencies that they have had for decades.
North Korea still has nuclear weapons
Yes because she should have parachuted in James Bond style and erased their program which they had been building for decades especially after their first successful test while Bush was in office.
Iran may yet obtain them, and she was one of the biggest cheerleaders for regime change in Libya. That's just her list of "accomplishments" as SecState; wanna talk about her time in the Senate? Two words: Iraq AUMF.
So far your biggest complaint about Hillary is her lack of a time machine to change things that have been decades in the making and happened before her time as secretary.
Re: (Score:3)
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Interesting)
That's a very revisionist look at it. The fact of the matter is they sent a lot of people to Wasilla because she was an unknown and they kept finding newsworthy things. By 2008, if you didn't know anything about Barack Obama I would have to assume you were in a coma. He had been covered by the national press since the 2004 DNC convention.
The other thing about Palin that encouraged more reporting was her penchant for saying things that were blatantly untrue. They weren't shades of gray that another politician might get away with. They were facts she disregarded. Case in point: During the election, she repeatedly said she was cleared of any wrongdoing by the Alaska Legislative Council which was factually untrue [latimes.com]. The council had found she abused her power. After the election a different board found that she reached an opposing conclusion and said she did not violate ethics rules.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:5, Insightful)
And Obama, Clinton .... all get a pass on this, because they say things that are untrue, that you actually believe. Do I need to list them for you or will you find out when the news reports it?
And when above did I EVER say anything that you allege? In fact, the main reason that the Lewinsky scandal exploded was because Clinton lied. It's not the crime; it's the coverup that draws the press.
Someone complained that they sent many reporters to Wasilla because of the "liberal" media. That's a distorted viewpoint. She was unknown. There were things to report. You know how many people were sent to Arizona for McCain or Delaware for Biden? Few if any because both them had served in the Senate for decades and were known to the press. Maybe they both have scandalous hidden skeletons but they may be better at hiding them than Palin.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Insightful)
Why didn't the reporters do the same thing with a Jr Senator from Illinois? Remember, he was just a couple years into his first term as Senator, voting "present" more often than anything else.
Because what you allege is factually untrue unless you want to redefine 3% as "more than anything." Senator Obama voted "present" 129 times which is 3% of the 4,000 votes he cast. [factcheck.org] This is why no major news picked it up; it wasn't really news and it wasn't true. Second, in the Illinois Senate, the "present" vote is often used to as disapproval of measure without having to vote "no." Simply put it: Your facts are wrong.
Red Flags abounded, but he was "black" and "dynamic". Having the first "campaign" meeting at the house of two former (or still) radicals wasn't a hint of things to come
So you are alleging is that having a meeting at someone's house is a wringing endorsement of everything about the host? That must mean that Ted Cruz is most definitely gay [cnn.com]. Are you really that naive in thinking that when raising funds you can only attend functions with people you agree with 100%. Seriously are you that naive? Or do you recognize that you need a broad consensus and support for offices like Senator.
While Palin was new to the National scene, she didn't get elected Governor because she was a woman,
And I have never said anything about her gender up until now. You are the first to mention it. Being a woman wasn't her problem. Being Sarah Palin was her problem.
she pissed off a lot of people both (D) and (R) up there. She was just too "small town" for national appeal.
No, she didn't get elected because people thought she was dumb. I personally believe the stories that she didn't know the difference between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. That she didn't know there were two Korean countries. That she didn't know the Queen of England does not actually run the UK. These are simple things that she could have known if she was basically aware of history or the world. Now the if the average American does not know these things it is merely a shame; someone wanting to run the country needs to know these things.
The (D) and (R) power brokers love fancy city slickers ... that is unless you're Bill Clinton ;)
Really, is that why George W Bush was President? Or why retired Naval Captain John McCain is a Senator.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Insightful)
Being a business-person is not an analog for being a politician, so I don't know why people keep pushing the idea that because someone is good at one, they'll be good at the other. After all, a good businessman is all about getting the most for themselves and being sure to do what is profitable, not what is right. Politics should be about serving the country, while business is about taking all they can. Would you trust a government run by AT&T or Comcast?
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Funny)
I think you should run.
Seriously, can't do any worse, right?
Re: (Score:3)
We need Gary Johnson. Which is why we will never get him.
In my little piss-ant berg of southern CT, we had a chance for a mayor not tied to the Democrat party (the Dem primary is basically the election; The Republican party sends out a candidate just for fun), but when it was clear he was popular and had a good chance to win, the Party made sure their choice was elected. The mainline Dems and Reps are on the same team; they don't really care which side wins, so long as it is one of them.
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4)
Why are we getting these asshats?
$$$
Re:All aboard the FAIL train (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
Her HP For America platform (Score:5, Insightful)
She's going to take this country away from the engineers and give it to the clueless executives who care about nothing beyond next quarter's numbers.
But wait - this already happened!
I slept with her in college. (Score:5, Funny)
She kept shouting "UNACCEPTABLE" during it, and then finished on her own with some sort of power drill. It was the worst night of my life.
Re: (Score:3)
She did such a great job with HP (Score:4, Funny)
Oh yeah, sign me up (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3)
The people in congress are the equivalent of the corporate class. She would double or triple their salary.
Re:Oh yeah, sign me up (Score:5, Funny)
> Carly would probably lay off Congress
See, that I could actually get behind.
Re: (Score:3)
So, the baseline good, if it suffered inflation to meet the $1 for 12 slices, would mean approaching a 300% jump in inflation.
How does any candidate in 2015 (Score:5, Informative)
fail to register all the related internet domains. Like, for instance carlyfiorna.org [carlyfiorina.org]?
Bonus: Demon Sheep! [carlyfiorina.org]
Mitt Romney Deux? (Score:3)
If the Republicans still don't want the presidency because the responsibility for the next economic collapse has to be put on socialism I think she has a good shot ... hard to find someone less electable, and if the Democrats push forward Clinton they need a real stinker.
Re:Mitt Romney Deux? (Score:5, Insightful)
What socialism is going on? Really... I don't see it. Obamacare? It is a boon to private insurance. Obama is a corporatist, just like every president since Reagan.
They can blame socialism for whatever problems we have, but it is a hollow argument.
Nothing wrong with Socialism. (Score:4, Insightful)
It's funny how socialism has such a bad reputation in 'merica. It's automatically equated to "evil" Commmunism.
Of the top 10 most prosperous [businessinsider.com] countries, half are socialist countries. Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Netherlands. Of the top 10 most happiest [cnn.com] countries, the majority are socialist countries.
It's funny how much happier people are when they don't have worry about things such as primary and university education, housing, health care, insurance, transportation, etc. It's also interesting how that correlates to a more productive society, making the country in general more prosperous.
Denmark often ranks in the top 5 year after year on both lists. While they have a 60% income tax, the people still manage to have more money in their pocket than the typical American. Why? The costs of their necessities are ridiculously low because it's distributed amongst the entire population. Their net income is higher than a typical American who has to eat the high costs of living (for the typical American, almost 50% of your income goes immediately into housing [rent, mortgage, etc.], then tack on health insurance, car insurance, loan debt, etc.) While Americans are racking up quarter million dollar debts just to go to school, Danes get paid to get a Master's Degree at University. Or rather, they're getting their collective investment returned to them when they go to school.
ACA is a good step forward. If everyone pays for health insurance, the costs will come down. You'd think fiscal conservatives would be all over that. Well, they were when Romney did it, but then suddenly were against it "just because."
Re: (Score:3)
what is funnier is how people here equate anything socialized as being soclism, but love to forget that our military is socialized, roads, pretty much everything the government spends money on is socialized.
Actually, it makes sense (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Actually, it makes sense (Score:4, Informative)
In general the GOP wants to reduce the size of government. She was very successful at reducing the size of HP. Clearly she is the perfect choice.
The GOP has been in control of both congress and the presidency more than once in the past. That equals the ability to do whatever the hell they bloody want. When was the last time you saw them use that situation to reduce the size of government? Republicans are really good at lowering taxes but they suck at reducing the size of government or the extent of government expenditure which is not surprising since they seem to have a pronounced fetish for fighting expensive land wars in Asia.
Her campaign page is up. (Score:4, Funny)
She could have been honest, for a change, at least (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:She could have been honest, for a change, at le (Score:4, Insightful)
I also agree Walker looks like the front runner. He's still developing, but he starts from a very strong position. If he can avoid any major flubs that the media can run with, he has a real shot.
Just what we need in the oval office... (Score:4, Interesting)
Another narcissist whose business failures are repeatedly blamed on others. (HP's market cap rose by billions on the day she was ousted. [forbes.com])
We need to diagnose narcissists early and send them all to Empathyless Island, where they can prey on each other instead of us.
A good article on why narcissism is bad, even in the cold, sociopathic world of capitalism. [forbes.com]
Failed CEO (Score:3)
It's remarkable that she is just any random failed CEO, like George W Bush was, but she is the most notorious was well know failed CEO in the entire IT industry.
Track record? (Score:3)
She ruined HP. Now she wants to ruin the US? Hmm..
Re:Track record? (Score:4, Funny)
Too late. 16 years of Bush/Obama has been enough.
I do not get it. (Score:3)
What do these 'no chance' candidates get for all the time and energy they put into these runs?
Re:I do not get it. (Score:5, Informative)
She's not stupid at all. But she is a narcissist [wikipedia.org], which means that she actually believes that the world owes her admiration and greatness.
Her brain works differently from yours, and the vast majority of the population. This is not an area of rational thought for her.
Depressing Shill (Score:5, Interesting)
She was a regular on Meet the Press for a while, and she could always be counted on to parrot whatever talking points the American Enterprise Institute was distributing at the time. She always came across as an opportunist, trying to build her brand, with nary a thought of her own construction.
People criticized Romney because he ran on his business record, and that record included the elimination of many American job. In fairness to Romney, though, his job at Bain was to save companies, not jobs, and in this he was successful. In Fiorina's case, she presided over a disastrous merger of Compaq, basically destroying that brand, as well as seriously damaging HP's; and in the process, opened the door for lesser players, like Dell, to successfully infiltrate the enterprise. Her utter failure as a business leader, coupled with a near lack of independent political philosophy, are easy pickings for her primary competitors. If she somehow does make it to a VP candidate, she will serve only to galvanize the liberal voting base to organize against a failed corporate wolf in false feminist sheep's clothing.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
his job at Bain was to save companies, not jobs
Tell that to the folks that used to work for Kay Bee toys. http://www.politifact.com/trut... [politifact.com] While he had left by the time Bain did their damage there, they were using the system that he had set up: Run up a large debt to purchase a company, assign the debt to that company, sell off much of its assets, and watch it burn.
Observations.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Carly has a specific role for the Republicans. Her job is to go after Hillary Clinton. If any of the male Republican candidates went after Hillary they would be accused of being "sexist" or some other form of "ist". Carly can get away with it because she is a woman. Sadly this is the world we live in.
Fiorina is the official attack dog for the Presidential campaign. It matters not whether she makes it through the Republican primary. If she succeeds in weakening Clinton then her job is done.
If Fiorina plays this right she might end up as the Vice Presidential nominee paired with whomever ends up winning the Republican nomination. These days, the VP ends up playing attack dog in the Presidential campaigns. The President is seen as being above the fray while his surrogates dish out all the dirty politics. Nobody will care about her failed HP ventures as a VP nominee. They will only see that she is a woman on the ticket and the Republicans will get points for that.
Re: (Score:3)
Unfortunately for the republicans, Fox has been vetting Hillary for going on 8 years. There is little new dirt they could dish up.
I appreciate how terrified Fox is of Hillary given how strong a candidate she is ( especially when viewed against potential runners like Fiorina/Bush/Christy/Huckabee ), but their constant attacks on Hillary will really only benefit the democrats in the long run.
The irony is delicious.
( note: I hate all candidates/parties. Equally though, and isn't that what we're going for aft
Retracted (Score:4, Informative)
It's pretty disingenuous to post a link to a Slashdot story which in turn links to a retracted article and using it to suggest that HP employees thought poorly of her.
Several CEOs later (Score:3)
Re:Real reason (Score:5, Insightful)
She did fuck all WHILE she was a corporate executive, too.
Why does the media take people like this seriously? I think the corporate media automatically fawns over a CEO. It doesn't matter that the CEO is a failure.
She is also the postergirl for "failing upwards" and the fact that we don't have any meritocracy in this country. She doesn't deserve to be a manger at Arby's at this point, and she doesn't deserve respect. But still the Corporate media fawns.
Re:Real reason (Score:4, Funny)
She did fuck all WHILE she was a corporate executive, too.
Why does the media take people like this seriously? I think the corporate media automatically fawns over a CEO. It doesn't matter that the CEO is a failure.
She is also the postergirl for "failing upwards" and the fact that we don't have any meritocracy in this country. She doesn't deserve to be a manger at Arby's at this point, and she doesn't deserve respect. But still the Corporate media fawns.
It's not like she's running to captain a space station, it's the Republican Primary, they dream of finding someone qualified to manage an Arby's.
Re:Real reason (Score:4, Interesting)
Carly spouted off on Saturday about net neutrality, and claimed that it was forced down our throats by lobbyists from Verizon and Comcast.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
And she says this as a former CEO of HP. I hope her campaign fails soon because her voice gives me faceslapping injuries.
Re:The Only (Score:5, Insightful)
Treating sexes equally means that when a hack comes our way we judge her just like a man.
Carly deserves nothing extra because she is a woman. She has been piss poor at every job she has ever taken and she is showing exactly the OPPOSITE in attitudes we need when we are at a time in history when we need some real (that is anti-corporate) action in government.
Re:Viable 3rd Party Candidate?! (Score:5, Insightful)
There are various reasons Stallman couldn't make it as politician, but the most relevant one right now is that in the US we can't have candidates that can't be packaged like a product. Stallman is loud. He has long hair. He has mistakes on his record because he actually DID things. Worst, he doesn't believe the corporation should win in all circumstances, and that is a must for any candidate because ALL candidates, D or R, are pre-approved by corporations because of our out-of-control, free for all campaign financing.
You want someone good in government? You are not going to get anyone good in the government when they have to look like someone from a University’s stock photography collection. You aren't going to get a good person who hasn't smoked dope or maybe hasn't had a depressive episode or two. You need someone who has worked in some clothes other than suit or a business dress. You need someone real. And this is NOT happening in the US right now.
Re: (Score:3)
There are various reasons Stallman couldn't make it as politician, but the most relevant one right now is that in the US we can't have candidates that can't be packaged like a product.
Stallman could't be elected because (for better or worse) Stallman is an extremist and true believer. No-one who has such a rigid position - no matter what their politics - is electable.
Re:Degree in Medieval History and Philosophy? (Score:5, Interesting)
Though on the whole it is kinda sad how little respect we have for specialization that does not feed into consumer culture.
Re:Degree in Medieval History and Philosophy? (Score:4)
Yeah, you are right, we should all only have sellable careers because the world and the U.S. doesn't need to learn any history. Maybe you figure we'll be better automatons if we all have tech majors?
That said, she's a dolt, but not because she studied Medieval history.