I don't ask this as a hypothetical. You see,
a company owned by the Romney family may own the machine on which you cast your ballot:
Through a closely held equity fund called Solamere, Mitt Romney and his wife, son and brother are major investors in an investment firm called H.I.G. Capital. H.I.G. in turn holds a majority share and three out of
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The HIG/Romney connection isn't particularly surprising, either. I mean, HIG is (if I recall correctly) a Bain spin-off. There are a bunch of Bain spin-off shops like that.
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Oh, did I mention you're also a No True Liberal??
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One might own, for example, hundreds of keys. It's only the one that fits the lock to the vault that matters should that vault get robbed, especially if you own nothing in the vault.
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One might own, for example, hundreds of keys. It's only the one that fits the lock to the vault that matters should that vault get robbed, especially if you own nothing in the vault.
Except that's not how indirect minority ownership of a corporation works.
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"Romney part-owner in voting machines that swung his election" fits that rule of thumb very nicely. One can get into the nitty-gritty details of his and his family's ownership without detracting from the shock value of the headline itself.
As a friend once put it: "It's not how long it is; it's how long you make them think it is. It's all marketing."
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I appreciate that this is the point you're trying to make. I'm saying that saying that Romney's relationship with Hart Intercivic is identical to the relationship an oil-industry regulator might have if he happened to have a 401(k) invested in a mutual fund that's permitted to invest and actually invested in Chevron.
"Romney part-owner in voting machines that swung his election" fits that rule of thumb very nicely. One can get into the nitty-gritty details of his and his family's ownership without detracting from the shock value of the headline itself.I think it probably suffices to say that I disagree that your "rule of thumb," which would appear to be designed to minimize unexpected political flak that could be caused by the day-to-day activities of government employees with otherwise perfectly good intentions, is appropriate to apply here. If anything, it seems more like a concession to (and implicit criticism) of the kind of breathless, conspiracy-insinuating ( ... )
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The fact that this country has for too long entirely operated a revolving door between the players and the umpires should stick in the craw of any concerned citizen. Putting a stop to even tertiary financial interests between the public and private sector should be the first step to restoring public trust.
(It further irritates me that this might be quasi-intentional, that our retirement accounts depend upon something other than endogenous funding. Market activity should have no bearing whatsoever on one's primary source of post-employment support. Ah, but that's another rant.)
. . . your "rule of thumb," which would appear to be designed to minimize unexpected political flak that could be caused by the day-to-day ( ... )
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