Sunday, June 2, 2013

The CEO Of America, Inc.

Time Magazine got their hands on Mitt Romney's executive branch transition report, detailing what would have happened to America's federal agencies if Romney had won.  The phrase "America should be run like a business" will never scare you more after reading what was in store for us:

In the months before the 2012 election, a group of high-powered consultants and political operatives prepared a secret report for candidate Mitt Romney, explaining how he should take over and restructure the federal government should he win the presidency.

“The White House staff is similar to a holding company” read one PowerPoint slide, which would have been presented to President-elect Romney as part of an expansive briefing on the morning after Election Day. It went on to list three main divisions of the metaphorical firm: “Care & Feeding Offices,” like speechwriting, “Policy Offices,” like the National Security Council, and “Packaging & Selling Offices,” like the office of the press secretary. This was the view of the Presidency Romney would have brought with him to Washington, a glimpse of the White House that never was — and plan that never saw the light of day.

But now the secret is out. On May 29, the Romney Readiness Project, the Republican candidate’s transition organization known as R2P, published a 138-page report detailing how it prepared for a potential Romney victory. It is the product of a team of nearly 500, who labored in Washington and around the country to be ready to help Romney assume the reins of power on January 20th, 2013, in accordance with the Pre-Election Presidential Transition Act of 2010.

Romney was dead serious about turning the federal government into a corporation, and turning executive branch agencies into divisions that produced "deliverables" and reach "metrics".

Even before the election, hundreds of staffers held table-top practice drills to game out how they would parachute into federal agencies to learn the ropes and explore policies and procedures for the new administration to change. Another team would work in “the bunker,” a secure room in the federal office building housing the transition where potential Cabinet and senior staff nominees and appointees were vetted. By Election Day, nearly 20 researchers and lawyers had prepared Romney to select his entire Cabinet and more than 25 senior White House staffers, as well as deputies for key departments and agency heads.

They were ready to go with the goal of making Romney the "CEO in Chief" of America, Inc. at the expense of the rest of us.  Absolute madness, this stuff. 

His plans for the first 200 days in office: repeal Obamacare, give the student loan business back to Wall Street, turn schools into distance learning centers, get rid of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and give the mortgage industry to Wall Street, 5% across the board federal budget cuts by firing 10% of all federal workers, implement the Ryan budget cutting spending to 20% of GDP by 2016 (meaning most likely another 20-30% cuts across the board), turn Medicaid into a block grant program...and then take all of those savings and massively expand the military, add 100,000 active troops, come up with a plan to start wars in Iran and Syria and scrap nuclear missile treaties with Russia.
We would have been screwed beyond reason by a Romney Presidency...and remember, any 2016 plan for the GOP candidate will be far worse than this.

5 comments:

dxmachina said...

No real difference between this and what Obama's done.

I mean, either way GITMO's still open, the drones still fly...
Either way, there's still no single-payer, never mind US national health service, no GMI.
Either way, we've still got the world's largest military, no carbon tax, and no ENDA.

All that matters is who's blowing smoke up your ass, and how much.The smoke's the same.
Romney and Ryan at least are honest.

(How much does this get in the tip jar if I post it at DKos?)

RiverboatGambler said...

to me saying you are going to "run something like a business" means things like setting clear goals, measuring performance, and holding people and ideas accountable so that it meets its goals. how is that bad?


not trying to flame you, i just don't understand what you are seeing in this plan different from me

idioticliberalswnoeducation said...

you are an ill informed moron.

Isaac Garcia said...

God forbid that the President try to produce "deliverables" to the USA.
God forbid that "metrics" be used to highlight accountability throughout his organization.
You make it sound like the President "delivering" something to the citizens is a bad thing?
I'd welcome this kind of discipline in the White House. Any White House.

Zandar said...

Except that government should help all citizens, not only those determined to be "cost-effective".



Government should not be run like a business, because it is not a business. It is not motivated by profit margins and stock prices. It's there to help people.


I agree there should be accountability, but not like this.

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