Billionaire and Obama critic Mike Bloomberg endorsed Obama this week. Read it here.
I really liked Bloomberg’s phrasing. He writes:
I believe Mitt Romney is a good and decent man, and he would bring valuable business experience to the Oval Office. He understands that America was built on the promise of equal opportunity, not equal results. In the past he has also taken sensible positions on immigration, illegal guns, abortion rights and health care. But he has reversed course on all of them, and is even running against the health-care model he signed into law in Massachusetts.
And now the Economist is endorsing Obama. Read here.
Notice this first line I’m including in the quote below. It speaks volumes:
Both men have it in them to be their better selves; but the sad fact is that neither candidate has campaigned as if that is his plan.
As a result, this election offers American voters an unedifying choice. Many of The Economist’s readers, especially those who run businesses in America, may well conclude that nothing could be worse than another four years of Mr Obama. We beg to differ. For all his businesslike intentions, Mr Romney has an economic plan that works only if you don’t believe most of what he says. That is not a convincing pitch for a chief executive. And for all his shortcomings, Mr Obama has dragged America’s economy back from the brink of disaster, and has made a decent fist of foreign policy. So this newspaper would stick with the devil it knows, and re-elect him.
The second part of that quote also frames what I believe is the advice I’ve had the good fortune of receiving from the professionals we hire to handle our insurance and our finances.
Let me bring all this home for a second.
When Tina and I were doing fertility treatments, our insurance rates were astronomical. We had to pay for premium insurance a full 18 months before conception if we wanted to keep those rates.
This was from a couple who was already struggling financially, but wanted desperately to add our contribution to the gene pool.
Our attempts failed, and we’ve since dropped our maternity coverage.
Now with Obamacare, pregnancy is a “pre-existing condition”. I have a Facebook friend who lives in Michigan. She found out she was pregnant, but she wasn’t forced to go through the expensive process of waiting 18 months for maternity coverage.
After shopping around our insurance, the guy we trust the most gave us insider advice on why our rates have dropped, and how if Obamacare is repealed, expect them to go back up.
Maybe he’s already a democrat. But what benefits him if he tells us that he’s going to jack us around?
I’ve said it before, but we’ve had the privilege of hearing top-tier banking advice from those who counsel millionaires and billionaires for Chase bank. And they recommended Obama over Romney.
Our accountant has shown us on paper and in dollar bills how we are benefitting from things going on right now and improving under Obama. She’s not giving us a dire situation should things change. She’s just showing us.
This morning, I’ve seen how FOX and the Tribune have both interpreted the information about the Jobless rate at 7.9%.
I fully realize that where you get your “news” and advice is entirely subjective.
And I’m biased. I think we should have higher taxes to pay for things like my homeless neighbors’ toilet paper and maybe even contribute to their shitty addictions. I think we should have higher taxes to pay for those left without power and a roof over their heads after Sandy.
The government isn’t perfect, but they provide a national infrastructure that helps me make my business stronger.
I wish dearly that there wasn’t division in this country. I wish we could all agree on basic things, like people first. At places like Outward Bound, they teach in group dynamics you that you’re only as strong as your weakest member. Our weakest members of society need our help, help that churches aren’t able to provide.
I voted for Obama already, so I can’t change that.
And you’ve likely voted for whom you like.
We’ll see how the next four years go.
But I’ll remind you again, Romney’s five point plan needs another 8 to 10 years to work. I’m comfortable working on the timeline that Obama’s working on, which makes it better while he’s in office.
I don’t want to wait for Romney to get on his feet over the next year, and then start campaigning for re-election in three.
Obama ain’t re-upping. So we’re going to have a solid effort for four short years.
Obama Twenty Twelve.
