The Howard Schultz lead trial balloon roll out is going really well. Not-incredibly charismatic Outsider Billionaire CEO who is pro-Wealth Inequality, Pro-LGBTQ, Anti-universal health care, Pro-moving sports team when the public won't give in to "build me a free stadium" hostage-taking - I think he needs to be even more of a heel than he is trying to be and shrink his constituency even more. Maybe he can start kneeling for the National Anthem until the Wall is built and the governemnt is shutdown, become a Patriots fan, and start sending out Chinese Robo calls.
I think he is a great example of how the Democratic party has lost its mind. He is a very successful businessman that employs 250,000 and has brought jobs, products and investment into the world. He has a progressive social view but understands that the Warren, Cortez, etc are just bonkers. Their ideas are government seizure of assets and programs that are catnip to those that aren't producers in a society and will bankrupt us and make us less competitive. These universal policies are government social engineering. I think when big elites start trying to determine the best for society (ahem Eugenics!) then we are in for big trouble and Shultz sees that. Good for him for standing up for his beliefs and running as an independent. I actually very much like Shultz and would support him or Trump. Someone that knows that the history of America and its success is the history of business and entrepreneurism. How immigrants from all over the world made this the greatest place of opportunity in the world and they seized their treasure by their own will. That is America and why despite 5% of the worlds population we dominate global commerce to the tune of 25% of global GDP. Its for one reason only. The lack of guilds, roadblocks and the spirit of belief that one can do great things. I refuse to look at America the way Elizabeth Warren and Michelle Obama look at it as a place without opportunity and therefore the government must socially engineer our society through aggressive redistribution of wealth which is what the democratic party is becoming. Either they will die or they will kill America with their disease of socialism.
Shultz is another billionaire who thinks he's smarter than everyone else (he isn't) and willing to spend millions to "prove it." I'm not going to Starbucks again until he drops out. If enough people do that, it will send a message the man will understand. I usually go to local coffee shops anyway, but do drop into Starbucks from time to time. No longer.
he is from Seattle; should he run, he will definitely not win in Wash state. Washingtonians still haven't forgiven him for losing the Seattle SuperSonics NBA team to OKC
The guy's ego is larger than the state of Washington. He's enjoying the attention he's getting, the a-hole. Boycott Starbucks!
So why was our manufacturing boom occuring during a 30 year span where the lowest marginal tax rate was 70%(reached 90+% for a few years) for the top bracket? So what of the self made billionaires who believe that the ultra wealthy are being undertaxed? Are you going to make a positive post about their expertise? Being the CEO of a large coffee chain isn't screaming "nuanced understanding of macroeconomics and foreign policy". For all the expertise that you claim Shultz to have, he has no clue about manufacturing and technology. His company sells coffee at a chain. There is much more to the office of Presidency than microeconomics and the food and service industry." The Prosperity Gospel has really ****ed with people's compass of discerning on what constitutes "expert".
I've quit going to Starbucks since they changed their water and bathroom policy. All the homeless guys come in and get water and do whatever in the bathroom at the Starbucks I used to go to in downtown Austin. I saw some story about Starbucks starting to install trash for needles. I got bored and went thru the reddit for Starbucks baristas and it sounds pretty much horrible. I go to Cuvee coffee now over on the east side. Much better coffee and a nice place to hang out, read, study, whatever. That's my story for the day.
Given what I know of his views (which isn't much, admittedly), I don't see why he doesn't run in the Democratic primary. There seems to be plenty of space for socially liberal and economically conservative viewpoints. Some people don't like that running as an independent might divide the opposition and leave a pathway for Trump. If that happened, that sucks, but that's not why I don't like his approach. Running as an independent tells me he's too entitled to listen to an editor. If his ideas have merit, let them win in the marketplace. The General Election is a marketplace, but he will absolutely lose there. Test them in the Democratic Primary (or the Republican Primary, if he prefers) -- if they win there, then they might win in the General. Running is an editorial process too. It'll sharpen his ideas. But to skip the primary, he's saying he's too rich to have any accountability like that. Thanks, but I'm not interested in anyone like that.
This is it. ^ If this dude runs, I guarantee you that his business will suffer huge when we're all boycotting what we shouldn't be wasting our money on in the first place.
Interesting you'd support either Schultz or trump. Schultz has been very vague on the specifics of what he would do (eg. he says he wants something like ACA, health care insurance is a right, but would call together experts from insurance, health industries and congress together to come up with a solution), but he is very clear in his criticism of trump. Yet... you say you'd choose between him and trump.
Excellent post, JV. You posted a lot of what I'm thinking about the guy. Why won't he run in the Democratic primary (or the GOP primaries, as you point out)? Seriously, why not? I haven't heard one good reason from the man that explains why he won't. Not one. I assume that his ego can't handle losing. I can't think of any other reason. He wants to avoid the "hassle" of the primaries and the losses it would inevitably entail, in my opinion. It isn't about the money, something many candidates would have in their calculations while trying to decide if they should run or not. Boycott Starbucks!
If you think it is part of America and moral to take 70%-90% of ones income then we really have nothing to discuss. I would rather have a man that built a 100 billion dollar global business based on what the customer wants rather than some academic economist and foreign policy bureaucrat. These people are some of the most useless people i've ever come across. I prefer the self made prosperous businessman to the bureaucrat 'expert' as anointed by the intelligencia as i've seen what those people are capable in their arrogance that they know best what others need under their guidance.
Healthcare is a field that is so broken mainly due to non-governmental regulatory powers of agencies and licensing boards that as one that is a large employer and understands what it takes, I think he would understand the trade-offs. He knows what will be sustainable and work and I'd be open to his viewpoints on such. Ironically Trump has been a liberal most his life. I support Trump for one reason, he believes in American business and the American Entrepreneur and his entire administration is just trying to unleash American potential with lower regulatory, governmental control of industry coupled with lower taxes to create a globally competitive environment. I also like his America first policy when it comes to negotiating with other countries and the fact that he was less war hawkish than Clinton or Bush. I think war is a huge waste of money, lives and should only be in defense of the United States.
maybe he thinks picking a side would be bad for business. you already have someone here saying boycott starbucks. if he picked a side you would have a group saying boycott starbucks.
OK, in addition to believing health care insurance is a American right, he also opposed trump's corporate tax break. He also opposes trump's wall. He opposes trump's decision to leave Syria. He thinks trump is an insecure man and not qualified to be president. And yet, your two top choices are Schultz and trump. Go figure.
