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Ross Perot Has Died

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201–210 of 222 posts

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's interesting how much of that happened post-acquisition, though. Holding NeXT from 1987 - 1996 = max 3x return. Holding AAPL from 1996-present = 340x return. This return was available to ordinary people on the public stock markets, too - if you were an average Joe who put $60K into Apple in 1996, you would now have Ross Perot's initial $20M investment sitting in your pocket.

I get your point, but let's take a minute to remind ourselves that the average person does not have 60k lying around to invest.

The average hypothetical alternate history investor seems to have that kinda money.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> he wasn’t a politician and therefor looked at the problems our country had from a different point of view. This is what many had desired when they propelled the current 'billionaire' non-politican to President. Comparing Ross Perot to Trump is like comparing a Neuroscientist to a Snake-Oil Salesman though.

Funny enough, after Ross Perot the reform party's next presidential nominee was Donald Trump, who ran on a Perot-esque platform and was the first major presidential nominee to support gay marriage

He was briefly involved, but the party nomination went to Pat Buchanan.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#203

Ross Perot advocated for and greatly influenced the eventual passing of draconian drug laws in Texas. http://www.issues2000.org/Celeb/Ross_Perot_Drugs.htm

Everyone who advocates for drugs and their legalization can be flushed right down the fucking toilet. I sincerely do not give one single shit who goes to jail for drugs.

Black hole the world in supermax prisons. Your precious cannabis is a crutch for the weak.

Fuck all of you.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#204

It may not have been preventable, but he was absolutely correct on NAFTA.

> It may not have been preventable, but he was absolutely correct on NAFTA. He was wrong on NAFTA, pushing the nationalist/mercantilist line that it would divert gains from the US to Mexico when the actual problem was that (as is generally the case for neoliberal “free” trade) that it drove gains to the capitalist class in both the US and Mexico (and internationally, as capital is largely globalized) to the relative…

So companies moved jobs away from the US to the detriment of American workers? How is he wrong then? That's exactly what he said would happen.

The US would have been much better off with Perot as president. Both Bush and Clinton supported NAFTA, and Clinton ushered China into the WTO.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#205

Unfortunately the media establishment discredited Ross Perot by painting him as "nutty" and focusing on his mannerisms, rather than what he was saying. Seeing Bush's and Clinton's smirks during the debates are embarrassing, and did nothing but baselessly discredit the man and his ideas. The media did the same to Ron Paul by framing him as a loon and someone to laugh at. This same strategy by the mainstream media back…

why "unfortunate"? maybe it is about time the fourth pillar finally gets what it deserves.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#206
post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd say he was right: "We have got to stop sending jobs overseas. It's pretty simple: If you're paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, ... have no health care—that's the most expensive single element in making a car— have no environmental controls, no pollution controls and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but…

If you can build a car for cheaper elsewhere, why wouldn't you? If your goal is to keep people gainfully employed, well how about working on improving their skills so that a laborer in a developing country isn't more productive than they are?

Because if it is only cheaper because of hidden costs (tragedy of the commons in game theory, environmental disasters in this one), then the game is rigged, and only the wealthy are benefiting while they poison the unwashed masses.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#207
post #36

You can call him "goofy", but he was anything but. I got to watch him give a speech in Fargo during the 92 campaign and it was amazing. At the time, I got into the habit of reading each candidates "book" they put out during the election. His was short, to the point, and very specific on what needed fixing. He was a serious man that ran into the establishment and got hammered.

Didn't he also "disappear" (from the public eye) during a crucial point in the campaign? My memory of this is hazy as I was only 12 at the time, but I recall my father being interested in his candidacy, but then around July or August he withdrew from the campaign. Then re-entered in September or October, so he came across as "flaky".

Perot is a good example of how it is impossible for good, smart, outside-of-the-establishment people to get elected in this media environment.

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Public opinion often has very little to do with what is actually good for the country.

GDP and jobs grew more under Clinton than Reagan too. They were definitely good years for the economy. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2018-08-01/rankin...

Sugar high as we sold out the middle class (look at any wage data)

Re: Ross Perot Has Died

#209

None of what I've read today on his passing have mentioned this interesting story of the rescue of his employees from Iran during the revolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Wings_of_Eagles A mini-series was produced about it starring Burt Lancaster

Yes, quite remarkable. Ross Perot was described as having organised "the largest jailbreak in history" for this (though I can't find the reference now), as several thousand prisoners escaped in the ensuing chaos.

Slightly different kind of jailbreak, but quite a bit larger than this one over the course of 28 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Feld_Carr
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