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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (32791)	8/28/2000 1:39:13 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Do you fellows have the least idea how capitalism works? Someone like Bruce Willis doesn't make 20 million dollars a film because he is 20 times the actor of someone making a million, or 200 times someone making 100 thousand, but because he is box office gold, and will almost certainly raise the gross well beyond his compensation. If Bush's partner let him into the deal on favorable terms, it was because they thought he was worth that much to the deal, if only because of contacts. That is why lobbying firms hire guys like Dole when they retire. Unless there is an allegation of something shady, it is really none of your business. It is quite possible that someone like Cheney got extremely favorable compensation because of his reputation from Desert Storm. So what? If the company thinks he is going to raise the value of its stock and make it easier to raise capital, that is their business.......

To: Mr. Whist who wrote (32791)	8/29/2000 3:21:01 PM
From: Krowbar	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Funny you should mention Bush's sweetheart Rangers deal. I feel it is my duty to inform those who want to find out more about it.... ARLINGTON, TEXAS, July 1-- Baseball made George W. Bush rich. And yet, few media outlets have scrutinized how Bush and his cronies bought the Texas Rangers, convinced Arlington to pay for and build a stadium, told the city how much to pay for the land it condemned, refused to pay their debts to the city, and later, cashed out when media giant Thomas Hicks bought the team for $250 million. The deal allowed Bush to pocket nearly $15 million, a 2,500 percent on his initial investment in just eight years. Every businessman is entitled to make a return on their capital. But what did Bush do in order to make that kind of dough? And how did he get into a position where he could buy the Texas Rangers? The answer: other than being the son of a sitting president, precious little. Before putting together the group that bought the Rangers, Bush had no experience in professional sports. Unlike his father, he didn't play baseball in college. As Bush once told reporters, "I'm all name and no money." That statement was certainly true in the baseball deal. But you have to give Bush credit. He got into a deal where he and his partners were able to convince the city of Arlington to: - pass a half cent sales tax to pay for 70 percent of the stadium; - use government's powers of eminent domain to condemn land the Rangers couldn't or didn't want to buy on the open market; - give the Rangers control over what happens in, and all the profits from, the stadium and the surrounding acreage. But there are major questions about his ethics. The day he was sworn into office in 1995, Bush put his stocks and other assets into a blind trust when he became governor. But he kept his most valuable asset -- his partnership interest in the Rangers under his control. Bush said he didn't put his share of the team into the trust because it would have been a change in ownership. And a change in ownership, he said, "would have required a vote of the baseball owners to do so. And it became unnecessary. We just didn't think it was necessary to get that vote. Secondly, I own it. I mean, there's no question I own it...So it's not necessary." Clearly, Bush didn't want to put his interest into the team into a blind trust because that could have prevented him from selling the team. And in early 1998, that's exactly what he did, selling the team, control of the stadium and the surrounding land to Dallas media mogul, and major Bush campaign contributor, Tom Hicks. "When it is all said and done, I will have made more money than I ever dreamed I would make," Bush told reporters the day after the Hicks deal was announced in January of last year. georgebush2000.com Funny, I don't recall the liberal press exposing this Bush sweetheart deal, yet I heard about Clinton's piss ant land deal about a billion times. Anybody care? At least he was honest about the Rangers deal "I'm all name and no money." Now he has name and money. What else does he have to contribute while he learns the names of world leaders on the job. Del