A new ad from Senator Scott Brown, contrasting statements in support of free enterprise by those like John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan with those made by Barack Obama and Brown's Massachusetts Senate opponent, Elizabeth Warren:
Here's the transcript:
VIDEO TEXT: "How Did We Go From This..."
VIDEO TEXT: "I believe in an America where the free enterprise system flourishes for all other systems to see and admire - where no businessman lacks either competition or credit - and where no monopoly, no racketeer, no government bureaucracy can put him out of business that he built up with his own initiative." JOHN F. KENNEDY
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON: "A government that understands that jobs must come from growth in a vibrant and vital system of free enterprise."
PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON: "I am so proud of our system of government, of our free enterprise, where our incentive system and our men who head our big industries are willing to get up at daylight and work until midnight to offer employment and create new jobs for people."
PRESIDENT GERALD FORD: "I have faith in America. Through our system of democracy and free enterprise, the United States has achieved remarkable, unbelievable progress."
PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: "Small business is the gateway to opportunity for those who want a piece of the American Dream. Wouldn't it be nice to hear a little more about the forgotten heroes of America, those who create most of our new jobs, like the owners of stores down the street, the faithful who support our churches, synagogues, schools and communities. The brave men and women everywhere who produce our goods, feed a hungry world, and keep our families warm while they invest in the future to build a better America. That's where miracles are made. Not In Washington, DC."
VIDEO TEXT: "To This..."
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "If you've been successful, you didn't get there on your own. You didn't get there on your own. I'm always struck by people who think, 'well it must because I was so smart.' Because if you've got a business, you didn't build that. Somebody else made that happen."
HARVARD PROFESSOR ELIZABETH WARREN: "There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there -- good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for."
VIDEO TEXT: "Let's Remember What America Is Supposed To Be About"
U.S. SENATOR SCOTT BROWN: "When you do well, everyone else does well. And I promise you this, I will never demonize you as business leaders and business owners for the work you do or the opportunities you create because I think we should not be blaming you - we should be thanking you."
"The protection of big business remains a common thread in Mr Obama’s policies, which have come at the expense of the consumer, the taxpayer and the entrepreneur. A growing coalition of reformers – rooted in citizen movements across the political spectrum – reject this pernicious crony capitalism. Our solutions promote an opportunity society, one that is rooted in the US commitment to free enterprise.
There’s a lot of silliness on all sides of the Bain Capital debate.
On the one hand, Newt Gingrich’s attacks (and the follow-on assaults by Jon Huntsman and Rick Perry) on Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital have been unfair, over the top, and, for that matter, all over the place. Gingrich, Perry, and Huntsman deserve much of the criticism they’ve received from conservative commentators.
On the other, Mitt Romney’s claim throughout his campaign that his private sector experience almost uniquely qualifies him to be president is also silly. Does he really think that having done well in private equity, venture capital, and business consulting—or even in the private sector more broadly—is a self-evident qualification for public office? One assumes Mitt Romney would agree that Chris Christie is a better chief executive of New Jersey than Jon Corzine, and that Rudy Giuliani was a better mayor of New York than Mike Bloomberg. But Romney’s biography looks a lot more like Bloomberg's or Corzine's (leaving aside Corzine's recent misadventures) than like that of Giuliani (pre-mayoralty) or Christie. Past business success does not guarantee performance in public office. Indeed, Romney sometimes seems to go so far as to suggest that succeeding in the private sector is intrinsically more admirable than, e.g., serving as a teacher or a soldier or even in Congress. This is not a sensible proposition, or a defensible one.
There’s a line of thinking you often hear from Republican-types about how markets are never wrong. You think a certain CEO’s lavish compensation is ridiculous? Nonsense, those types tell you. You think that a CEO’s VORP—that’s a baseball stat that translates, in this case, to the CEO’s marginal value versus the average replacement CEO—couldn’t possibly be so high? They simply counter that he’s worth the money because there’s someone willing to pay it. The results in a market triumph considerations of value.
Talking late this afternoon with THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Republican congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin blasted New York Times columnist Paul Krugman for his "intellectualy lazy" attack on Ryan's fiscal "Roadmap." In his Friday column, Krugman called Ryan a "charlatan" and his plan to reform the welfare state and eliminate the debt a "fraud" that is "drenched in flimflam sauce." Ryan responded to Krugman in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel over the weekend, and elaborated on his criticisms of Krugman this afternooon.
If there was ever an example of how little faith senators have in the free market, this is it. When Spirit Airlines announced last week it would start charging up to $45 for carry-on baggage, it caused an uproar with, well, everyone. In the media, around the water cooler, on Facebook walls around the world, the new fee was denounced as ridiculous on its face.
The idea actually may not be as crazy as it sounds. Spirit is built to be a discount airline, and it says the new fees allow it to cut base fare prices, and make boarding and deplaning more efficient. I can see myself carrying only a backpack/purse in exchange for a $70 roundtrip ticket. The airline will not likely be able to sell already grumbly airline passengers on the virtues of its new fee structure (It's kick-off was inauspicious.), but it's a rather simple problem for the market to solve.
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