Mitt Romney is, first and foremost, a corporate raider.

[Skidmore]

Has it crossed anyone else's mind that he might be engaging in similar tactics to win office? I don't even know how to express my apprehensions beyond the fact that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. I don't understand the ins and outs of hostile takeovers in the corporate world, but I do think it would behoove us to learn how such bids are fended off. It seems to me that we must keep fighting these corporatists and do so with understanding the dynamics of both sides of this approach. I don't think they are a whit concerned about anything but the acquisition.

If I am mistaken, let me know why. Otherwise, I would like to hear from those more savvy in this area how their tools can be used against them.

[Skittles]

1. certainly he cannot have a conscience

Mitt made his money on the backs of others - he is DISGUSTING

[laundry_queen]

2. Yep.

And anyone who has made as much money doing what he does, is a sleazy, manipulating liar.

Flipping companies has to be the least decent way to get rich, short of illegal crap.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Willard is nothing if not a flip-flopper

he is consistent

[notadmblnd]

5. I'd have more respect for a marijuana dealer

[laundry_queen]

6. You got me there. nt

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

4. Gordon Gecko without the style

[DisgustipatedinCA]

7. He's already shown those colors, with the story about him planning to kill the Education Dept.

I haven't worked at a place taken over by a corporate raider specialist, but I've been on the receiving end of a company takeover, which is similar, in many respects.

I used to work for a bank I won't name. They're really big. And they're a bank. Here. in America. Oh wait, it was Bank of America. Screw them. Anyway, they purchased the "small" 1000-employee company I worked for. It was all happy talk and Kum Bay Yah until they had gotten us all to sufficiently dig our own graves, such that we were no longer needed. Then they laid people off in droves. I actually made the cut, but a few months later, decided that winning that contest really didn't constitute winning at all. I was fortunate enough to be in a good position to change jobs, and I did. So they came in the door, streamlined, squeezed out any efficiencies they could find, and got rid of the "dead weight"--lots and lots of people who had worked there for a long time.

So yes, I'd fully expect happy talk to mask the real plans in any (shudder) Romney Administration.

[1StrongBlackMan]

8. I don't know much about fending off ...

a hostile take-over; but have read that one effective technique is to establish a "poison pill" so that the investors know that if the take-over is successful, the target (i.e., their investment) will go south.

It seems to me, the "poison pill" IS the prospect of a romney/gop presidency, as is being communicated by the romney/gop ... our job is to communicate this to the investors, i.e., the elector.