D.R.I.V.E

[brett636]

Looking back I find it interesting that I wasn't even aware of D.R.I.V.E. until several years into my employment at UPS. I don't know if I was just not around when they came to my building or what, but understanding what I do about union politics and the fact that nearly all the money goes to support democrats I'm glad I never gave a dollar to that certain political fund. I did recieve a letter recently asking me to contribute to D.R.I.V.E., but it listed off the politicians the union supports and everyone of them I detest on nearly every level. If you are currently giving money to D.R.I.V.E. get out as soon as possible. Some on here tell us that as union members voting for a republican or not contributing to the union PAC is voting against our jobs, but I disagree. First off your average union member isn't any kind of political ideologue, they are just someone who wants a secure job with steady benefits and a normal paycheck. The union does help negotiate those things. What they ignore, or fail to tell anyone, is that the companies these unions represent have to be able to thrive in order for to pay those paychecks and offer those benefits. The union isn't the one providing these things, its the companies, and if they aren't profitable then people are out of a job. Democrats at best are communist sympathizers, and at worst full blooded communists who are not being honest about their true political leanings. Communists on any level are not people who will allow an environment for private business to survive because they detest all private business. This union member knows better than to vote against his own best interests, that is why this union member is voting for the Romney/Ryan ticket in November!

 

[browniehound]

This is too funny! All I wanted was the address to write to stop DRIVE payroll deductions. It was posted here years ago as I remember seeing it. It was an address in Washington DC. Instead, I sparked this great political debate, lol. Sorry guys and gals.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

Mitt was set up with his new company, Bain Capital, with the golden parachute that if anything went wrong, he could go back to his job at Bain with no personal financial losses, and a face saving excuse to cover up the failure.

Private equity firms do not have the incentive to make poor companies perform better. They have an incentive to make as much money for their investors as possible. They do not care if the target companies go bankrupt, as long as they take their money out beforehand. They very often leave the target company in worse shape due to loading them up with debt to pay bloated "management fees" and dividends. They also cash out well funded pension funds using optimistic forecasts of investment returns, then leave the carcass for the Federal Pension Guaranty Fund (i.e., us the taxpayers) to support.

There is a huge difference between venture capital and private equity. Bain was the second. I suspect if we got an honest accounting of the net job creation vs. job loss on all the Bain deals during Mr. Romney's tenure in control, the losses far outnumber the gains.

This is neither spin nor exaggeration; all of this is easily verified using public records from Bain and other firms in the PE world. Matt Taibbi is not the only writer to lay the facts out. You can agree or disagree over whether these firms were a positive or negative factor in our economy. I personally consider them vultures who do no good for anyone other than their investors, and they do that by externalizing the costs onto the rest of us, while raking in the considerable gains for themselves.

Here's a couple of articles from a Nobel-Prize-winning economist, who may have more credibility in your eyes than Matt Taibbi and Rolling Stone:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/06/opinion/off-and-out-with-mitt-romney.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/opinion/bain-barack-and-jobs.html?_r=2

Once upon a time, people made money by creating things that people bought or providing a useful service. Steve Jobs, Henry Ford, Jim Casey. The current crop of "job creators" don't really create jobs, except overseas. And tend to leave a lot of human wreckage in their wake here in the US.

You often make a lot of sense, Pobre, but not on this particular issue re: Mr. Romney.

Thanks for the easy to digest and well-thought out response.

I believe I had mistaken Bain Capital for Bain, it has been awhile since I read about Romneys extremely shallow, boring lifestyle. From what I remember, in the 1980s he was given access to nearly unlimited money to play with. This may have been "Bain"

 

[brownmonster]

Drive money also fights things that corporations want to take away like OSHA, overtime pay, etc.