Contestant #7: Carly, We Hardly Know Ye and Never Will

Part of an ongoing series of biased reports about the increasingly humorous group of people who think they have the qualifications to be President of the United States. This is not a joke. Really. They do.

Carly Fiorina.

Let me start with this. Most. Actually ALL the other candidates have well organized websites. You can click on a link to their “issues” section. And even if they are vague and sometimes silly you can actually read what their ideas are.

Not so with Carly. While she did run a computer company (into the ground) her website lacks the most basic political information. Like. What do you stand for? What do you believe in? What do you want to do?

Since she has never held public office we have no record of her votes, speeches in Congress, etc. So, we depend heavily if not exclusively on her own website.  Nada. Nothing. See:

http://carlyforamerica.com/meet-carly/

Well, you can MEET Carly. You can DONATE. You can VOLUNTEER. And there is a “NEWS” section. But nothing on her goals, ideas, plans, etc. In her “news” section she does criticize those who have criticized her. And she tries to make a case that she was a great CEO. Even though she was fired. So, I guess we will go with that.

Carly says that in her tenure at HP she created thousands of jobs. Others say she fired or laid off between 15,000 and  30,000 employees.

Carly says that when she took over HP had revenue of about $45 billion and she DOUBLED it’s worth to almost $90 billion.

Carly says that when she started at HP there were 84,000 employees and they almost DOUBLED to over 140,000 employees by the time she left (was fired).

So. That’s it. That is her SOLE qualification for being President of the US. For dealing with ISIS. Russia. The vast social services bureaucracy. That, and the fact that she was chairman of CPAC, the radical right wing fundraising organization.

OK. Let’s look at her claims. The first year at HP she actually cut jobs. But, in 2002 there was a 60,000 person increase in employment ! Almost doubled in ONE year. And the revenues DID increase  to almost $90 billion by the time she left.  Sounds like she is a WIZARD! A real job creator, par excellence! So, why did they fire her?

Something peculiar happened in 2002. HP bought another company called Compaq. So, those new “jobs” were simply the additional Compaq employees. That new “revenue” was simply what happens when you combine two massive companies. These increases had nothing to do with management..they were BOUGHT. It was not the result of good old American know how…it was the result of a good old American MERGER.

So, Carly is being a bit devious when she touts her management skills. So, why DID they fire her.

According to figures from a book about her”success”:

“After the 2002 merger the company’s results suffered. Yes, Fiorina did double HP’s revenues by buying Compaq, but at what cost? Let’s take a look at the numbers. In 1999 when she arrived at the company, HP had $42 billion in sales and $3.1 billion in net earnings. When she left in 2005, HP had $87 billion in sales but only $2.4 billion in earnings.”

(Read more at http://wonkette.com/584307/did-carly-fiorina-run-hewlett-packard-into-the-ground-or-did-sexism-do-it#OcKe28B8eRJUr2le.99)

So, she took a company earning $3.1 billion a year, bought another company, and managed to make only $2.4 billion in profits by the time she left. A financial genius. This is her sole qualification to be the President of the United States.

Of all the losers on the GOP side Carly is the “losingest”. No issues. No experience. Fuzzy math. The only thing she has going for her is that she was a CEO . A failed CEO.

Contestant #7. GONG! You’re out.

Frack You

I saw a news story today about a very wealthy man. A mean REAL rich. He made over 40 million dollars last year. He must be working his butt off. I am presuming he takes no vacations, so that comes out to $770,000 per week. $154,000 each DAY. Let’s say this guy works 10 hours a day. That’s $15,400 an HOUR.  Just give this some perspective. A minimum wage worker (at $ 7.25 per hour) would gross $15, 080 per YEAR. $15,400 per hour vs. $15,080 per year. That is one hard working dude.

His job ? CEO of Exxon Mobil, the number one fracking company in the world. For those asleep during the Bush years. First, you were lucky. Next, during the Bush years the Cheney-Bush administration convinced Congress, in 2005,  to EXEMPT fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act . That’s right. If they want to frack your drinking water, there is nothing the EPA can do about it.  (Although recently the EPA did find a loophole that will enable them to have some control over the issue).

Which brings us to lawsuits. Citizens groups are suing all over the country to try to limit or end this very questionable practice. Why ? In some cases their water spigots emit methane instead of water. Fracking is loud and detrimental to property values. Their kids have gotten sick. An odd phenomenon recently has been increased earthquake activity near fracking sites. Hmmmm…Take something out the ground and it moves ? Who would have thought? Usually these citizens groups are overwhelmed by corporate legal teams and simply can’t afford the legal expenses. So, they give up.

But not in Texas. One wealthy area is fighting against fracking. It is destroying their multi-millon dollar estates. It threatens to disrupt their bucolic existence. It is loud. And the water towers associated with it are ugly.  They want it stopped. And they have the money to fight it out in court.

Which brings us full circle. You see, the $ 40,000,000 a year hard worker I was talking about lives in that area. He and his wife have a homestead and an 83 acre ranch. They don’t like the water towers. They don’t like the possibility of noise and disruption and escaping methane gas. And who is this wealthy guy ? In case you forgot.  The CEO of ExxonMobil, the biggest fracking company on earth.

The very same  CEO who has consistently defended fracking as safe, quiet and wholesome, when done next to YOUR house . When the methane leaks in YOUR neighborhood. When the property values plummet on YOUR street. For this CEO I have two words. Frack you.