Thu Dec 13, 2012, 11:13 PM

applegrove (58,376 posts)

"The Billionaires' Long Game" by Robert Reich at the American Prospect

The Billionaires' Long Game

by Robert Reich at the American Prospect

http://prospect.org/article/billionaires-long-game

"SNIP........................................

But if you think these losses mean the end of high-stakes political investing, you don’t know how these people work.

You see, if and when they eventually win, these billionaires will clean up. Their taxes will plummet, many laws constraining their profits (such environmental laws preventing the Koch brothers from more depredations, and the anti-bribery Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that Adelson is being investigated for violating) will disappear, and what’s left of labor unions will no longer intrude on their bottom lines.

And they have enough dough to keep betting until they eventually win. That’s what it means to be a billionaire political investor: You’re able to keep playing the odds until you get the golden ring.

Looking ahead, Adelson tells The Wall Street Journal he’s ready to double his 2012 investment next time around. “I happen to be in a unique business where winning and losing is the basis of the entire business,” he says, “so I don’t cry when I lose. There’s always a new hand coming up. ... I know in the long run we’re going to win.”

........................................SNIP"

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12 replies	Author	Time	Post
"The Billionaires' Long Game" by Robert Reich at the American Prospect (Original post)	applegrove	Dec 2012	OP
K&R	woo me with science	Dec 2012	#1
omg	larwdem	Dec 2012	#2
Thats what low top tax rates gives you-billionaires with threats to take over the govt.	ErikJ	Dec 2012	#3
It will have to be something big for this to change	siligut	Dec 2012	#4
Fortunately at some point, because they are human, they die. So the long	applegrove	Dec 2012	#6
Good point	marions ghost	Dec 2012	#11
they can clone themselves now. i wouldn't be surprised if in the future they were able to live a	HiPointDem	Dec 2012	#12
They need to be rounded up and have their assets seized.	duffyduff	Dec 2012	#5
Scary, Scary Possibilities	colsohlibgal	Dec 2012	#7
In the long run they will destroy the planet and we ALL will die. nt	Speck Tater	Dec 2012	#8
and repukes get the vapors over Soros	Skittles	Dec 2012	#9
in the long run, Mr. Adelson, you miserable piece of excrement	hfojvt	Dec 2012	#10

Response to applegrove (Original post)

Thu Dec 13, 2012, 11:21 PM

woo me with science (19,549 posts)

1. K&R

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Thu Dec 13, 2012, 11:27 PM

larwdem (256 posts)

2. omg

those fuckers need to be stopped

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Thu Dec 13, 2012, 11:33 PM

ErikJ (2,599 posts)

3. Thats what low top tax rates gives you-billionaires with threats to take over the govt.

Last edited Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:04 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:09 AM

siligut (11,011 posts)

4. It will have to be something big for this to change

They think they are on their way to becoming gods.

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Response to siligut (Reply #4)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:33 AM

applegrove (58,376 posts)

6. Fortunately at some point, because they are human, they die. So the long

game can only go on so long. And hopefully the next generation are not carbon copies of their fathers. What worries me are the corporations themselves. Those suckers don't have a time limit on them.

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Response to applegrove (Reply #6)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 04:59 AM

marions ghost (13,851 posts)

11. Good point

but I wouldn't bet their offspring are any different.

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Response to applegrove (Reply #6)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 05:10 AM

HiPointDem (16,821 posts)

12. they can clone themselves now. i wouldn't be surprised if in the future they were able to live a

Last edited Fri Dec 14, 2012, 05:13 AM USA/ET - Edit history (1)

great deal longer than the proles.

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:14 AM

duffyduff (973 posts)

5. They need to be rounded up and have their assets seized.

I am serious about this. What these people are doing is engaging in economic terrorism.

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 12:52 AM

colsohlibgal (980 posts)

7. Scary, Scary Possibilities

They are going to pull out all stops to game the system before the demographic shift gets too far down the road.

Beyond voter shenanigans they are working hard to do away with the state winner take all rules in presidential elections and get the votes apportioned by county or other small jurisdiction. This is a fight to watch, if they get that done we're screwed.

Beyond the right wing culprits I blame the news media, millions of almost brain dead people voting against their own interests, and the democratic party as a whole. For every Alan Grayson or Sherrod Brown there are DINOs everywhere. Sooner or later we need a cohesive party dedicated to the commons, to unabashed liberalism, to a distinct "a rising tide lifts all boats" credo, a point even an old Nazi sympathizer like Henry Fords got; he had to pay his workers enough for them to be able to buy his cars. If the dems won't we need a party to the left of them.

The world is not going to end on 12/21 but I think we may be headed for critical mass as a nation, it could break either way but I'm not liking the odds right now as to which way we'll turn.

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Response to applegrove (Original post)

Fri Dec 14, 2012, 01:59 AM

Speck Tater (10,618 posts)