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Ross Perot creating graphs in heaven now

relapse98

By relapse98
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Texas Jeff

Texas Jeff 1942

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He gave us the 22 class size limit in elementary school and no-pass, no-play.  In 1984, I remember him talking about Texas' amazing collection of high school football palaces and our need to focus more on education and less on extracurriculars.  We have come a long way ... those 1984 era stadiums look like crap compared to what we have today!

My Eagle Scout award came with a note of congratulations from Perot.  I heard he paid for all of the awards for Texas Eagle Scouts, but I'm not sure if that's true.

Edited by Texas Jeff
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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29893

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He was the first viable answer to the notion (fallacious, IMHO) that we need a businessman running the government. I didn't vote for him, but I certainly didn't think the country would be doomed if he were elected. Would have been interesting having a president without a corresponding party in Congress.

RIP Ross. Seemed like a pretty decent guy.

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El Diablo

El Diablo 4232

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26 minutes ago, RomaVicta said:

He was the first viable answer to the notion (fallacious, IMHO) that we need a businessman running the government. I didn't vote for him, but I certainly didn't think the country would be doomed if he were elected. Would have been interesting having a president without a corresponding party in Congress.

RIP Ross. Seemed like a pretty decent guy.

Thanks for saving me the words, you nailed my thoughts pretty well here. RIP H.

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HouTex

HouTex 1866

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Sad that he's known for his graphs.  Y'all should read On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett.  It's the story of how Perot got his two guys out of Iran just prior to the hostage crisis.  The incompetent State Dept. circa 1979 wouldn't do shit to help them and he got them out.

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Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14581

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Would have been a terribly interesting president.  He legitimately cared about the deficit unlike anyone before or since.  He also wouldn't have been moored to any one party.  That may have been good or may have been a disaster, not sure.

Also, he was what Donald Trump pretends to be.  Legit billionaire based some innovative risks back in the day and diversified into real estate later.

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Wally Pryor

Wally Pryor 5261

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Great writeup by the Morning News.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2019/07/09/ross-perot-self-made-billionaire-patriot-philanthropist-dies-89

 

A 10,000-square-foot library that's part of the Perot Group's headquarters features a mind-boggling array of memorabilia, including Osama bin Laden's walking cane, which was given to Perot by the special forces who killed the terrorist.

 

 

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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16 minutes ago, Wally Pryor said:

Great writeup by the Morning News.

https://www.dallasnews.com/business/business/2019/07/09/ross-perot-self-made-billionaire-patriot-philanthropist-dies-89

 

A 10,000-square-foot library that's part of the Perot Group's headquarters features a mind-boggling array of memorabilia, including Osama bin Laden's walking cane, which was given to Perot by the special forces who killed the terrorist.

 

 

I have been there, it has to be seen to be believed. In my hazy memory, I could swear there was a NASA spacesuit there as well.

 

2 hours ago, Fozzz said:

He absolutely shredded Gore in their debate regarding that issue in 93.

 

Really? That's not how I remember it from watching it at the time, but it's been 25+ years. I thought the consensus afterwards was (and I certainly remember feeling) Gore handed Perot's ass to him. 

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DigglerontheHoof

DigglerontheHoof 21168

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48 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Would have been a terribly interesting president.  He legitimately cared about the deficit unlike anyone before or since.  He also wouldn't have been moored to any one party.  That may have been good or may have been a disaster, not sure.

Also, he was what Donald Trump pretends to be.  Legit billionaire based some innovative risks back in the day and diversified into real estate later.

Agree.  He sure seemed to be a self-made man, who was genuinely decent and caring.  RIP

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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

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40 minutes ago, SwanderedTalent said:

I have been there, it has to be seen to be believed. In my hazy memory, I could swear there was a NASA spacesuit there as well.

 

Really? That's not how I remember it from watching it at the time, but it's been 25+ years. I thought the consensus afterwards was (and I certainly remember feeling) Gore handed Perot's ass to him. 

Some people may have believed that at the time but time has born out the fact that Perot was right and Gore was wrong, particularly on how the agreement would affect Mexico.

Quote

As was well known at the time of NAFTA’s passage, the main purpose of NAFTA was to lock in a set of economic policies, some of which were already well under way in the decade prior, including the liberalization of manufacturing, foreign investment and ownership, and other changes.  The idea was that the continuation and expansion of these policies would allow Mexico to achieve efficiencies and economic progress that was not possible under the developmentalist, protectionist economic model that had prevailed in the decades before 1980. While some of the policy changes were undoubtedly necessary and/or positive, the end result has been decades of economic failure by almost any economic or social indicator. This is true whether we compare Mexico to its developmentalist past, or even if the comparison is to the rest of Latin America since NAFTA. After 20 years, these results should provoke more public discussion as to what went wrong.

http://cepr.net/documents/nafta-20-years-2014-02.pdf

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SwanderedTalent

SwanderedTalent 5761

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Just now, Fozzz said:

Some people may have believed that at the time but time has born out the fact that Perot was right and Gore was wrong, particularly on how the agreement would affect Mexico.

OK. I wasn't arguing NAFTA pro or con. I was talking about the perceived debate winner, at the time. 

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Fozzz

Fozzz 152

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53 minutes ago, David Dennison said:

The only alternative to free trade is protectionism.

Gotta choose one.

This is silly and extremely reductive.  Practically every state engages in some form of protectionism even in this current epoch of unprecedented market liberalization.  Truly "free" trade is an impossibility, just as truly "free" markets are an impossibility.  What matters is what you want to achieve through your trade policies - do you give a shit about your workers or do you only care about maximizing short run GDP growth?

Benjamin Studebaker had a good piece recently about why the free trade vs protectionism frame is right wing garbage.

Quote

This is what the right wants—a false binary choice between helping poor people in developing countries and defending poor and working people at home. It wants to frame trade as a dichotomy between free trade policies that lift poor countries out of poverty while making consumer goods cheap for us and protectionist policies that defend American jobs while keeping poor countries poor and expensive goods expensive. The right wants to use your compassion for postcolonial peoples to make you stab your neighbors in the back. And before too long, it won’t just be your neighbors who suffer—you too will end up afflicted with the consequences of austerity, poor quality products, and chronic under-investment in infrastructure and productivity. It’s already happening. Look around you.

So what is to be done? We don’t have to accept this false choice. We can trade with other countries on terms that protect our workers and force other states to treat their workers better than we treated ours in the 19th century. Rich states should demand, as a condition of trade agreements, adjustments in wages, taxes, and regulations to reduce or eliminate disparities in the treatment of rich workers and poor workers. It’s one thing if we import stuff from a foreign state because that state has real productive advantages in making the stuff. It’s quite another if we’re importing stuff from a foreign state because that state is treating its workers like meat.

Right now, free trade agreements are being used to run down workers in rich states while giving workers in poor states far too little compensation for far too much hardship. The USA and the EU command access to gigantic consumer markets, and they have a lot of leverage over governments in developing countries. Instead of using that leverage to push these governments to offer up their workers on a platter for transnational corporations to devour at their leisure, we ought to use our leverage to secure workers around the world fairer deals. Beyond this, we ought to demand that developing states take action to ensure they fight poverty in a clean, sustainable way—and supply them with the investment and extra help, where necessary, to do this.

This is what a socialist trade policy looks like—not unadulterated protectionism, but trade deals that put workers first by creating strong international minimum standards on wages, taxes, and regulations. This must be led by the USA and EU, because only they command enough market share to successfully push governments in poor countries to adopt more humane and sustainable models of development.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/05/how-the-left-should-think-about-trade

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RPM

RPM 26315

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He had a campaign speech in Boyd right before he announced he was running that I really wanted to go to but had to miss because of work. United We Stand was a popular grass roots movement back in the day. It had a legit chance at becoming a third party before Ross melted down.

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BillyGoatHill

BillyGoatHill 4312

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Not widely known but he provided healthcare (surgeries, wound care, family bills) to a number of service personnel /veterans per year out of his own pocket. Airfare would be provided by his own personal plane and the patient/veteran flown to his team of doctors in the Dallas area.  

After my brother in law was shot down (Kiowa pilot)in Iraq in 2004, my wife (no pics) was visiting him in SAAMC at Ft Sam when they received a call from him (Ross) one night in between surgeries. He would have the plane there that night if Cody was not receiving the proper care or treatment from his Docs ( they originally wanted to amputate his left arm). It was an open invitation if at anytime my BIL thought that his care was substandard. He Thanked him and after denying the offer, Mr Perot asked him who was working on him, when my BIL told him him the main surgeons name, Ross laughed and said, "Oh, you're in good hands, that is one of my guys".   

RIP Ross

Edited by BillyGoatHill
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Ths71

Ths71 472

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Sad that he's known for his graphs.  Y'all should read On Wings of Eagles by Ken Follett.  It's the story of how Perot got his two guys out of Iran just prior to the hostage crisis.  The incompetent State Dept. circa 1979 wouldn't do shit to help them and he got them out.

I know one of Perot’s lawyers who was attempting to negotiate their release with the Iranians. Needless to say he has some great stories.
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