I have to add something. If Donald Trump did not bring up the issue of the H1B Visa illustrated by the cartoon of Rubio and Zukerberg I would not be writing this.

That is two for two. Immigration and now H1B Visas. I think he has something to add to the national dialogue regarding our disappearing Middle Class and the chronic return of criminal illegals. Americans are dead. That should mean something. The criminal element in the undocumented have to be dealt with. 

I haven't been paying attention to Republican politics. It is easy to see why Donald Trump runs on his own steam, he'd never be offered donations. Rubio is a very good example of corruption in our politics. The IT Cartel would never give Donald Trump a dime.

Where have the working poor come from? Companies like Cooper Tire.

Let's start here. Blanch Lincoln was US Senator for Arkansas since 1999. She lost her bid for re-election in 2010.

Zacks upgraded shares of Cooper Tire & Rubber Co (click here) (NYSE:CTB) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Market Beat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $48.00 target price on the stock.
According to Zacks, “Cooper Tire’s second-quarter 2015 earnings per share increased year over year and surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues fell year over year, but outpaced the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Results were backed by strong unit volumes in the Americas segment, partially offset by weakness in international operations. The decline in revenues resulted from the sale of interest in CCT. Cooper Tire aims to attain operating profit over 10% and net sales of $5–$6 billion per annum in the long term.   The company is benefiting from its high-performance products, share repurchases and improving business operations. However, the loss of ownership stake in CCT, high competition, pressure from cheaper imports and fragile global economic conditions pose concerns. “

December 16, 2011
By Mischa Gaus

Steelworkers locked out at a Cooper Tire plant in Ohio (click here) are raising the alarm as scabs move in to start building tires.
The conflict at Cooper’s Findlay plant, where 1,050 Steelworkers build replacement tires for pickups, stems from new machinery the company recently introduced. Tires are mostly hand-built, but the equipment cut a step out of the process....

...The Steelworkers are incensed by the lockout because the union gave back $31.2 million in concessions in the last contract and because the union had helped manufacturers like Cooper by lobbying successfully for a tariff on Chinese tires.
The tariff curtailed imports, boosted Cooper’s profitability, and allowed it to buy the new equipment, the union says. Cooper, which produces tires in China, did not join the call for the tariff—but now says its expiration next year mandates another round of concessions.
The company wants a five-tier wage scheme, no defined-benefit pensions for new hires, and no health care coverage for future retirees. Cooper made $302.4 million in profit between 2009 and September 2011.
Cooper workers make most of their money from an incentive system, said James Gutierrez, a steward and member of the civil rights committee... 

Democrats need to get a clue. The Middle Class has disappeared on issues of poorly paid wage labor. The Unions have been demonized by the Republicans and the so called Free Trade Agreements have been promoted as a jobs maker by the Republicans. THAT IS NOT THE TRUTH. These trade agreements are casting the American worker into poverty.

Republicans are Wall Street and not Main Street. The trade agreements have put the unions at odds with their own memberships. This is ridiculous. The American landscape is a huge economic engine that every country in the world wants a piece of. Why do they want a piece of the USA? Because otherwise the countries would have to build their own Middle Class. That means foreign laborers would have regular work hours with a fair wage to build a demand for products. Buildings would not be collapsing and the people would be empowered to demand a better quality of life. 

The trade agreements break down the quality of life of Americans without building a middle class in partner countries. Those foreign workers live in squalor and do not have disposable income to be a trade partner.

The USA trading partners should have an existing Middle Class. It is a standard we can all live with. 

I might point out the biggest abuser of quality of life abroad is the IT sector.

May 10, 2010
By Lori Robertson

...A Cooper Tire employee says (click here) in the ad that workers would not have had to agree to concessions "had Ms. Lincoln not voted for all those unfair trade deals." He says, "Those deals made it impossible for American workers to compete" and cites NAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement and a trade deal with China....

The Steelworkers are incensed by the lockout because the union gave back $31.2 million in concessions in the last contract and because the union had helped manufacturers like Cooper by lobbying successfully for a tariff on Chinese tires.
The tariff curtailed imports, boosted Cooper’s profitability, and allowed it to buy the new equipment, the union says. Cooper, which produces tires in China, did not join the call for the tariff—but now says its expiration next year mandates another round of concessions.
The company wants a five-tier wage scheme, no defined-benefit pensions for new hires, and no health care coverage for future retirees. Cooper made $302.4 million in profit between 2009 and September 2011.
Cooper workers make most of their money from an incentive system, said James Gutierrez, a steward and member of the civil rights committee.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2011/12/after-union-bails-out-cooper-tire-company-locks-workers-out#sthash.zVjrOng1.dpuf

Steelworkers locked out at a Cooper Tire plant in Ohio are raising the alarm as scabs move in to start building tires.
The conflict at Cooper’s Findlay plant, where 1,050 Steelworkers build replacement tires for pickups, stems from new machinery the company recently introduced. Tires are mostly hand-built, but the equipment cut a step out of the process.
- See more at: http://labornotes.org/2011/12/after-union-bails-out-cooper-tire-company-locks-workers-out#sthash.zVjrOng1.dpuf

Mischa Gaus

Mischa Gaus

Rubio's H1B Visa legislation is pure corruption of our government. That is a FACT. There is evidence.

Just to remind, there is sincere abuse of the H1B Visa programs by the USA Tech Sector. The IT companies signed a letter stating there were no American workers to fill jobs in the computer sector of the USA.

That is a blatant lie.

A census of how Community Colleges are doing in job placement with all their IT grads needs to be conducted. 

IT is one of the best paying jobs with grads from Community Colleges. The enrollment does not want for applicants. The letter to the US Executive Branch and Congress probably sparked such an investigation considering Second Lady Jill Biden is involved with Community Colleges.

Such a letter is actually the 'terms of endearment' for political monies. So, the IT sector, including Facebook and Microsoft, has set their standard for political donations in lying to the American federal government. This is ridiculous and anyone, evidently Marco Rubio, putting forth bills for a huge increase of H1B Visas should be disregarded for President.

This mess with Rubio has to be questioned as a young Senator that cannot handle power. He pushed the Columbian Free Trade Agreement through long before it was appropriate and now the IT sector of the USA is his 'Darling.' Rubio can't handle power. He corrupts it.

Bush has the attentions of a Vegas Supergirl.

In case no one but me have noticed; much of the political coverage by CNN is tabloid journalism.

October 27, 2015
By Ashley Killough

North Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) —"Supergirl" (click here) star Melissa Benoist got word that Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush called her "pretty hot."
"I don't know what to think about it," the actress said in between laughs in an interview with "CBS This Morning.
But she added that she's glad that the former Florida governor is "excited to watch the show," Benoist added.
Last week Bush was thrown a softball while speaking at an event in Las Vegas after nearly an hour-long discussion on serious policy:
Who is your favorite Marvel superhero?
Bush was amused that he was being asked the question but struggled to come up with an immediate answer. And then, as he confessed after the fact, dug himself into a hole.
"I like watching the movies. I wish I owned Marvel, as someone that believes in capitalism," Bush said, speaking at the Libre Forum in North Las Vegas.

Columbia, South America has problems. They seem to revolve around the Presiident.

One might think these are the monies Columbia teachers made per month. They are not. These are the salaries recruited American teachers receive in pay. (click here)

Cost of Living per month $500 to $900 US

Average Monthly Pay $500 to $900 US

It seems as though President Juan Manuel Santos isn't sincerely interested in his people. What is he doing in office then?

President Juan Santos entered office in 2010, but, he engaged government positions in 1991as the very first Minister of Foreign Trade. He was educated by a wealthy Columbia family in economics in London after four years in Kansas. He created his own political party. He is basically an emperor in Columbia. He is mostly unchallenged in his power and he has no taste for treating the Colombian people well.

May 5, 2015
by AQ Online

Over 330,000 teachers (click here) will continue to strike in Colombia after a 20-hour round of talks between the government and the Federación Colombiana de Educadores (Colombian Teachers’ Federation—FECODE) failed to produce an agreement. The results of the meeting were announced yesterday by the Defensoría del Pueblo(National Ombudsman’s Office), which is mediating the negotiations.
The strike, which began on April 22 and centers around teachers’ demand for higher salaries, better health services and the repeal of teacher evaluation, is affecting an estimated 9 million-plus students, who have not attended class since the strike began. After nationwide protests late last month, Colombian Minister of Education Gina Parody seemed to discount the possibility of resuming negotiations until the strike ended. Protesters marching on the Ministry of Education were greeted by a banner strung across the ministry’s façade that read: “Let the children return to class.” “My urgent plea is to not affect the children,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said at the time. “The children should not have to pay for the consequences (platos rotos) of these protests.”...

There is a long history of the Colombian government waging war in FARC. The previous President to Santos where he was involved with the administration killed innocent people in raids on FARC. There was a significant culling of the Columbian military by the previous President as well.

7 May 2009
 By Jeremy McDermott 

...In recent days another three colonels (click here) have been arrested, bringing the total number of military personnel captured to at least 22.
The "false positives" scandal has revealed that the army murdered civilians, who were then dressed in rebel uniforms or given guns. They were then presented as guerrillas or paramilitaries killed in combat.
These allowed units to fabricate results, and officers to gain promotion.
The number of victims is believed to be in the thousands....

Then it is a wonder why FARC still exists.

The problem within the military is well known. It can be called corruption, but, it was the way power existed in Columbia. The people were constantly under attack and deaths were enormous. It has gone on for decades. It was the way people existed in Columbia. 

There is a peace process supposedly with FARC now and a sticking point is the demands for compensation of victims by FARC. It seems as though their are victims on both sides of the peace treaty and the Columbian government needs to resolve their deaths as well. The negotiations are taking place in Cuba. The USA should request a presence at the table to bring talks to a close. 

FARC has to end it's presence in Columbia. This is 2015 and the Colombian children need to be the paramount concern of the country.

The child migration occurred further north than Columbia, but, the treatment of children in Columbia are as much a horror.

The current President is misdirecting his focus to his specialty of trade, AND NOT ECONOMICS. The Columbia Free Trade Agreement has to come into question. I don't know why it exists. Marco Rubio was the primary mover of the trade agreement and that was from his first days in the US Senate. Maybe he was prey to a President desperate for some kind of influence within Columbia. There should not be a Columbia Free Trade Agreement especially considering FARC is still strongly influential in the county. FARC will build an infrastructure to feed off the trade agreement and it will undermine the government again and the killing will resume.

Regardless, the internal economic structure has to be addressed and I can't think of a better place than teachers. The teachers have to be afforded a salary they need for their own families and that is case in point. If teachers are receiving good wages, the Free Trade Agreement will provide an economy that FARC will harness and prey once again on the people. Just because the corruption has been cleaned up within the Columbian military/police doesn't mean FARC's memory of power has faded.

Columbia sincerely needs the USA at the negotiations table. The USA has to capture the culled corruption and maintain it. Last I checked there were Special Forces in countries such as Belize. It would be well considered to move some muscle to Columbia to protect the people and bring the refurbished police to status.  

President Santos is going it alone for some reason and he appears to be losing. He is staving off economic success for teachers while pretending there is an answer in a peace agreement with FARC. He is trying to starve FARC at the cost of the economic condition of his people. Basically, Santos is hostage to FARC and FARC is winning. By the fact teachers are being held economic hostages makes me believe FARC has already won the war and the peace process is simply a way to more and more infrastructure advances because of the Columbia Free Trade Agreement. 

These trade agreements are absolutely toxic to countries where paramilitary organizations have control. The same toxic mix is noted in the Dominican Republic, however, there is no paramilitary, however, there is greed that is further impoverishing the people. The people are not receiving benefits from the trade agreement because the provisions of enforcing humane conditions and fair wages are completely absent. These are relatively small countries and their poverty is not that difficult to address as long as their wages and benefits are not absorbed through corruption of the agreements.

Fair Trade Farmers in Colombia (click here)

Fair Trade Organization have to be talked to by the US State Department. These organizations have been in the trenches with THE PEOPLE long before any free trade agreement. In recent years, there has been an undermining of the coffee trade THE PEOPLE were carrying out to improve their lives. There has been other issues such as a coffee tree blight, however, WALL STREET has sought their own type of "Fair Trade" coffees by establishing plantations. Those plantations are far easier to corrupt by organizations such as FARC because the economic power becomes concentrated away from the people and into the treasuries of organizations such as FARC. 

...Coffee has been a vital source of rural development income in this nation, the second largest coffee producer in the world, home to about 560,000 coffee farms. Railroads and roads were built to move coffee from the cool slopes of Antioquia and its southern neighbors to the Pacific coast, where ports were built to ship it out. Coffee proceeds financed the development of such other exports, as well as rural clinics and schools. Colombia's coffee belt became one of the richest and most stable regions of the country.

Small farmers have always been the dominant mode of production, in contrast to other Latin American countries where large plantations controlled the growing of such commodities as coffee, sugar, and bananas. Today, 96 percent of the country's coffee farmers tend plots smaller than seven acres....

The entire circumstance in Columbia is compromised by the free trade agreement. The monies are suppose to benefit the people and they are not. Santos has to begin an enforceable peace treaty and RETURN the economic strength of coffee TO THE PEOPLE.

There is no reason Columbia cannot enforce a peace treaty with FARC since the police have been culled of corruption. The struggle will be sincerely daunting especially with a free trade agreement in place, but, that is the reality and if FARC cannot not be brought under control and quality of life returned to the people then the Columbia Free Trade Agreement has to be repealed until more reasonable circumstances are brought to the people.

And for the record, Hillary Clinton did not vote for the Columbia Free Trade Agreement and Bernie Sanders is one of a bilateral group of Senators already examining the wrongful course of the same Columbia Free Trade Agreement. The State Department has a group of Senators very interested in Columbia's circumstances and should bring at least a Democrat and Republican to the peace tables of Columbia with negotiations ongoing in Cuba.

US Troops need to come home.

October 28, 2015

by Cassandra Vinograd

The Iraqi government (click here) said Wednesday it didn't ask for — and doesn't need — the "direct action on the ground" promised by the Pentagon.
The revelation came a day after Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said the U.S. may carry out more unilateral ground raids — like last week's rescue operation to free hostages — in Iraq to target ISIS militants.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's spokesman told NBC News that any military involvement in the country must be cleared through the Iraqi government just as U.S.-led airstrikes are.... 

“We won’t hold back from supporting capable partners in opportunistic attacks against ISIL, or conducting such missions directly whether by strikes from the air or direct action on the ground,” Carter stated.

2013 Infosys and Tata, two leading offshoring firms, paid computer-systems analysts on H-1B visas $20,000 less than the average annual wage ($91,990) for analysts in Los Angeles that year — despite the legal requirement to pay H-1B employees the “prevailing wage” in an area for their given occupation.

But is there really a dearth of STEM-proficient American workers? (click here) Qualcomm, the San Diego-based cellphone smart-chip producer, announced last week that it plans to lay off 4,500 employees. But just four months ago, Qualcomm was “scrambling” to hire H-1B applicants. Likewise with Microsoft, which announced last year that it would be laying off 18,000 workers and introduced plans for another 7,800 cuts three weeks ago, even as it remains an enthusiastic supporter of the resurrected I-Squared bill co-authored by Marco Rubio earlier this year. That bill would triple the number of H-1B visas to 195,000.

It’s not hard to imagine that Qualcomm, Microsoft, and others hope to follow the Disney model. Late last year, Disney, a company with significant IT interests, laid off 250 workers. They were replaced by H-1B recipients. And, like some 400 workers laid off from Southern California Edison last year, the Disney employees were required to participate in a “knowledge transfer” — i.e., they were forced to train the foreign workers who took their jobs....

...2013 Infosys and Tata, two leading offshoring firms, paid computer-systems analysts on H-1B visas $20,000 less than the average annual wage ($91,990) for analysts in Los Angeles that year — despite the legal requirement to pay H-1B employees the “prevailing wage” in an area for their given occupation....

What the heck is this?

It wasn't enough to sell the USA to drug dealers in Columbia, Rubio is now pandering to Silicon Valley and Americans are losing jobs.

October 28, 2015
By Ian Tuttle

...The report rightly notes (click here) that Marco Rubio is an enthusiastic supporter of the H-1B program. His 2013 immigration bill would have increased the annual H-1B quota by 45,000 slots, “to fill jobs Americans can’t do.” (“Can’t”?) Although that effort failed, Rubio has resurrected the H-1B component with his “I-Squared” bill — and expanded it: The current bill would triple the number of H-1B visas to 195,000. Earlier this month, Wired magazine announced: “Marco Rubio Wants to Be the Tech Industry’s Savior.” Reporting on an address he gave to tech start-ups in New York City, Wired wrote: “Both Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush have made visits to Silicon Valley. But it’s Rubio perhaps more than any other candidate who’s been telling them precisely what they want to hear, from his thoughts on deregulating the sharing economy to his stance on immigration.”...

No word of a lie; Marco Rubio knows the US-Columiba Free Trade Agreement was dealing with one of the most violent drug cartels on Earth. The trade agreement is suppose to result in a peace agreement. Amazing. Rubio put a US free trade agreement in the middle of a drug war to hold it hostage to a peace agreement.

DOES Marco Rubio have Ruby Red Slippers, too? Because he ain't in Kansas anymore. I want to know if Rubio is meeting with FARC.

...Second, we must build on the success of Plan Colombia, (click here) one of history’s most successful counter-insurgency programs.
Until this week’s FARC kidnapping of a senior Colombian general, the government sat at the negotiating table with the FARC's leadership because its military has decimated this terrorist group. Especially in light of this kidnapping, now is not the time to ease up pressure. The FARC must be defeated. The U.S. role must be clearly defined as one of helping the Colombian government force the best possible outcome from any future dealings with the FARC. This outcome must ensure the best chance for the Colombian people to no longer be threatened by improvised explosive devices, grenade attacks, land mines, kidnappings and other terrorist acts....

FARC is one of the most deadly and corrupt organized crime drug networks on Earth and Rubio put the USA right in the middle of a drug war. How many H1B Visas are going to FARC? 

This is what Marco Rubio does with US power? He deals with organized drug crime networks?

Reuters

October 28, 2015 7:40 PM 

Bogota-

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos (click here) said on Wednesday he is confident he will be in a position to call a ceasefire with Marxist FARC rebels starting New Year's Day if the fifth and final agenda point at peace talks is completed.

The government and leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have waded through a five-point agenda during negotiations to end 51 years of war. So far three items have been agreed since talks began in Havana in late 2012.
The FARC called a unilateral ceasefire in July, but the government has kept up ground attacks even while stopping air raids. Santos has refused to reciprocate on the ceasefire because in past negotiations the rebels have taken advantage of peaceful conditions to build up their forces and re-arm....

I thought the USA doesn't negotiate with terrorists.

...While most Colombians are anxious for an end to a war that has killed more than 220,000 people and forced millions from their homes, many fear former FARC rebels will join organized crime gangs.

H1B Visas are an legitiamte issue with American labor.

Zuckerberg (click here) is one of the leading tech executives who has called for a more open immigration policy. Specifically, he wants to make more H-1B visas available to tech employers so they can hire foreign skilled workers.

Trump said he wants to require employers to pay H-1B workers much more money, which he said would discourage companies from hiring them and boost job prospects for Americans. He also wants to have tech jobs offered to unemployed Americans before they can be filled by workers with H-1B visas.

"This will improve the number of black, Hispanic and female workers in Silicon Valley who have been passed over in favor of the H-1B program. Mark Zuckerberg's personal Senator, Marco Rubio, has a bill to triple H-1Bs that would decimate women and minorities," Trump wrote in his immigration plan. Rubio is also seeking the Republican nomination for president.... 

Mark Zuckerberg might be an interesting study in H1B Visas, but, his focus is on foreign workers for some reason. I doubt he is focused on asking for influence in a criminal way. 

Mark Zuckerberg (click here) made a donation of $5 million to a college fund for undocumented immigrants.
The Facebook CEO and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave the money to the "I'm In" campaign launched by TheDream.us, a national scholarship fund for undocumented immigrants...

It is my guess Marco Rubio's bill to H1B Visas is more about CAFTA.  Wow, there is a lot of 'stuff' going on with CAFTA-DR (Dominican Republic). There was a study done in 2013 about the abuses that have occurred because abuses of the law. There is no enforcement.

This is a picture of a sugar worker in the Dominican Republic. If the USA is going to have trade laws that rob wages from the American people, they need to know it isn't just the American people that are victims to trade laws.

Andrés Michel, 75, (click here) lost an eye cultivating cane meant for the sugar company Central Romana. He still works the fields.

This report responds to U.S. Submission 2011-03 (click here) (Dominican Republic), filed by Father Christopher Hartley on December 22, 2011, with the Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA) of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of International Labor Affairs. The submission alleges violations of the Labor Chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR), which has been in force between the United States and the Dominican Republic since March 2007....

Rubio pushed through US - Columbia Free Trade Agreement (click here) almost from the first day as a US Senator. I am sure his H1B Visa bill is more of the same.

This can start a conversation . Republican electorate needs help with the multiple tax issues presented by their candidates.

This a California site. It clearly states there are definitely taxes on $50,000 income.

 

$2000 off a person's tax sounds interesting, but, for the working poor with an income of less than $50,000 zero tax is a better option.

Any annimosity about wealth inequality is politics and not fact.

The facts are known.

Wealth inequality in the US is at near record levels (click here) according to a new study by academics. Over the past three decades, the share of household wealth owned by the top 0.1% has increased from 7% to 22%. For the bottom 90% of families, a combination of rising debt, the collapse of the value of their assets during the financial crisis, and stagnant real wages have led to the erosion of wealth....

Mannatech is an international company.

"glyconutrients"

I think the states from Memorial Sloan Kettering relays the position of main stream medicine. 

...Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (click here) makes no warranties nor express or implied representations whatsoever regarding the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, comparative or controversial nature, or usefulness of any information contained or referenced on this Web site. Memorial Sloan Kettering does not assume any risk whatsoever for your use of this website or the information contained herein. Health-related information changes frequently and therefore information contained on this Web site may be outdated, incomplete or incorrect. Statements made about products have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Use of this Web site does not create an expressed or implied physician-patient relationship....

Herbs and alternative therapies within diets, etc. are usually not recommended by physicians, surgeons and health institutions because there are no GUARANTEES to the outcome of Chemo and other treatments. Frequently, physicians will steer their patients from any supplements during treatment of cancer because they cannot predict the effectiveness of the treatments. Usually, if patients decide to take these supplements it is at thier own risk.

I don't want to simply be political here, but, I find it a concern a pediatric physician would endorse this product UNLESS it was not available to his patients in the USA. I don't know exactly how the company markets their products and where their largest markets exist.  

Sometimes, when impoverished folks can't afford treatment they use supplements as if they are just as good as treatment. I simply don't know enough about the customer base and their 'ideas' for using the product. 

Bushes claims for fiscal improvements in Florida was due to tax cuts. Those tax cuts were federal in the Estate Tax. It didn't have anything to do with Florida.

October 7, 2015
By Michelle Ye Hee Lee

...Twenty other states (click here) either imposed inheritance taxes separate from the estate tax credit, or “decoupled” from the federal law (meaning they enacted new state estate taxes to make up for lost federal tax credit). Five other states repealed their state estate taxes completely.
Norton Francis, senior research associate at Urban Institute State and Local Finance Initiative who studied how states reacted to the credit phase-out, said “dormant states [like Florida] didn’t impose a new tax on taxpayers, but they can’t really take credit for cutting taxes on taxpayers.”
In the $19.3 billion figure, the campaign included the reductions in state estate tax revenues as a result of the phase-out. Bush supported the phase-out, saying he supports Congress’s efforts to “alleviate the tax burden on all Americans, even when those reductions directly affect our state budget.” His campaign said Bush should get credit for supporting the repeal of the estate tax and refraining from circumventing the cut, like some other states did.

Does Bush know his facts reflect an Estate Tax cut from the federal level? If he does then he is deceiving everyone. I really do believe Bush is an empty suit. He probably doesn't even realize what he is saying, he is just saying it.

Fiorina treated her CEO job as if it were a private equity firm.

The time to buy companies is when they are under economic stress and that is what she did. The industry was going through change and she took advantage of it. She then did the very same thing a private equity firm would do and removed jobs. 30,000 jobs. She claimed those lay offs saved HP in a difficult market. The merger would have brought downsizing of the two companies anyway. She didn't do anything to save HP, it happened because the liquid assets of Compaq provided a better fiscal environment for HP. 

...Fiorina's involvement in politics (click here) includes an advisory role for Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. She lost a Senate race in California in 2010 to incumbent Barbara Boxer.
But, it is Fiorina's tenure as the head of HP that gets the most attention. While holding the company's top job from 1999-2005, she oversaw a merger between HP and rival company Compaq that cut jobs. HP's board later fired Fiorina in 2005.
A website, CarlyFiorina.org, attacks Fiorina's record at HP, alleging she laid off 30,000 workers. Fiorina said that while "there's nothing worse than laying someone off," many technology companies went by the wayside in that era.
"What people fail to comment on is the fact that we doubled the size of the company ... We went from lagging behind in every product category to leading in every product category. And yes, in fact, we grew jobs here in the U.S. and all over the world," she said. "You can't just leave those facts out. Because they are as vital to the record to the fact that yes, indeed, I had to make some tough calls during some tough times."...

There are continued criticisms about the loss of Compaq from the Industry. 

October 26, 2015
By Rob Enderler

Why do some big mergers succeed while others fail? (click here) This seems to be a common question, and some of the research I've read about the Dell-EMC merger tries to connect it to the HP-Compaq merger, which apparently cost Carly Fiorina her job.

I'll close with my product of the week: the Surface Pro 4 -- my current favorite 2-in-1 since Microsoft fixed every problem I had with the Surface 3.... 

She cut corners until the Board found out she cut corners. There was a lot of concern by the Board the merger would fail. I can see why. When a major merger instruments is circumvented I'd be worried, too.

...The irony was that when I did the post mortem, I found out some interesting things. One was that nobody had done an initial merger plan. That alone would have meant disaster, regardless of the board's position. However, the proxy fight that resulted between Carly Fiorina and Walter Hewlett forced her to commission one of the best merger plans ever seen at the time....

She isn't a good communicator. A CEO (similar circumstance electronic company Steve Jobs). That matters.

...Michael Capellas, who had been a high-level management consultant before taking the CEO Job at Compaq, and he sold the deal. The reason I knew this is I had these big investors as clients, and I typically followed those traveling executives because the investors wanted our opinion of the deal. 

Carly later forced Capellas out of the company, and she was fired largely because she sucked at what he did but she refused to let someone like Capellas work for her....

The Sun Sentinal has a right to complain.

When the newspaper endorsed Senator Rubio in the past I am sure the editorial staff didn't expect Marco Rubio to be a candidate for President and simply abandon the needs of Florida.

October 27, 2015

After five years in the U.S. Senate, Marco Rubio (click here) does not like his job. A long-time friend told The Washington Post "he hates it." Rubio says hate might be too strong a word, but he sure acts like he hates his job.
Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he's MIA from his J-O-B because he finds it frustrating and wants to be president, instead.
"I'm not missing votes because I'm on vacation," he told CNN on Sunday. "I'm running for president so that the votes they take in the Senate are actually meaningful again."
Sorry, senator, but Floridians sent you to Washington to do a job. We've got serious problems with clogged highways, eroding beaches, flat Social Security checks and people who want to shut down the government....

There are other candidates running for President while governing today and have not missed votes in their capacity, including that of Democrats.

Federal agencies are spread across this entire country and frequently the only authority in a city or town. They are vital to the American people and to remove them as if they were all in Washington, DC is a frivolous statement.

There has been successful programs to eliminate unused federal buildings. There is no pork in the federal agencies across the country.

Cutting Costs by Getting Rid of Buildings We Don't Need (click here)

This map visualizes a sampling of about 14,000 buildings and structures currently designated as excess. These properties range from sheds to underutilized office buildings and empty warehouses. Many of these assets will be disposed through demolition and transfers. Every excess asset taken off the books represents progress in the form of reduced operating and maintenance expenses, which cost the taxpayers almost $190 million a year.

Carson doesn't know what he is talking about.

The assault against minority citizens in the USA is unprecedented.

The Florida legislature attempted to gerrymander new districts in Miami Dade County. These are citizens. This has nothing to do with the Undocumented.

By Mary Ellen Klas
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau

Tallahassee 

Faced with a close vote on a leadership-backed map (click here) to redraw state Senate districts, the Florida Senate agreed to modify three minority-based districts in Miami-Dade County on Tuesday, hoping to win the crucial votes needed to send the proposal to the House and win support for the revision in court.
The sponsor of the amendment, Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, R-Coral Gables, argued that change was needed to make the districts more compact, in compliance with the anti-gerrymandering provisions of the Florida Constitution, and to preserve the voting strength of Hispanic voters.
He argued that the original map, which was drawn by House and Senate staff and approved on a party-line vote last week by the Senate Reapportionment Committee, diminished the ability of Hispanics to elect a candidate of their choice....

Hispanic Americans make incredible contributions to the American economy. When the global economic collapse hit Veronica Edwards invested and did not practice austerity. That is exactly what a company is suppose to do. With a collapsing economy there is enormous room for strong companies to expand and if they don't expand they should be dedicating more resources to R&D.

...Veronica Edwards, President and CEO of InGenesis, Inc., (click here) was recognized as the 2011 Hispanic Businesswoman of the Year.  InGenesis is a diversified healthcare solutions firm based out of San Antonio, Texas, which specializes in sourcing, recruiting and managing healthcare providers. The company employs over 635 people and services 80 client facilities in 34 states. Edwards is the sole proprietor of InGenesis and under her leadership the company achieved significant growth during one of the worst economic downturns in U.S. history.  InGenesis increased revenues from $5 million in 2008 to over $51 million in 2010....

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article41627619.html#storylink=cpy

This should be interesting, a neurosurgeon economist.

Donald Trump should know Ben Carson has simply assimilated Trumps message into a 'soft spoken tone.' So this should be an interesting debate. Hopefully the record can be set straight.

That is Ben Carson, by the way. Since the beginning of his candidacy he has done little else by wandering among right wing popularity and assimilating the message to his particular delivery style.

For Ben Carson, Donald Trump has been a great mentor. 

October 28, 2015
By Rebecca Shabad

Tensions (click here) between Ben Carson and Donald Trump will be on full display Wednesday night at the third GOP presidential debate where issues like the economy, jobs and taxes will be the center of attention.
At 8 p.m. ET, the top tier of Republican candidates will face off on CNBC. They are Trump, Carson, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Mike Huckabee.
CNBC says the moderators -- Carl Quintanilla, Becky Quick and John Harwood -- are planning to ask contenders about Americans' financial freedom, the health of the economy as well as jobs, taxes and the deficit.... 

Ben Carson on Abortion has been an evolution: 

Ban abortion more than 20 weeks after fertilization. (May 20) (click here)
No abortion for convenience. (Jan 2014)  

I love that one. Pregnancy is an inconvenience that has to change. Amazing. Let's see, "I was drunk and went to bed with an unknown tool and now I'm pregnant." Oh, yeah, it is all about convenience. There is also a strong socioeconomic correlation to abortion. Poor women seek it out more often than any other economic group of women who do not have equal wages with men doing the same job.

'The thought of abortion for convenience is repugnant. (Jan 2014)
Persuaded mother of hydrocephalic baby to cancel abortion. (Jan 2012) 

Oh, yeah it is all about the inconvenience of pregnancy.

It isn't about inconvenience, it is about lifestyle and all too frequently teen pregnancy. Abortion is important for women, it has to stay that way. Women also need contraception.

These are Carson's economic genius.

Let the economy work the way it's supposed to. (Jan 2014) 
The free market works. (Jan 2014) 

Standard Republican dialogue.

1990s deregulation paved way for 2008 economic meltdown. (Jan 2012) 

Evidently, Carson believed the regulation destroyed by Congress caused 2008 global economic collapse. Interesting.

Cut every agency spending by 10%, with no exceptions. (Jan 2012) (The Sequester)

Tithing teaches about not hoarding as capitalist greed. (Jan 2012)

What the heck? Tithing to churches teaches the moral use of money? Wow. A profound lesson to Wall Street.
 
Highest corporate tax rate causes highest national debt. (Jan 2012) 

Carson disagrees with Warren Buffet. It is biblical. God is a capitalist. It must be expensive to run heaven.

Is it acceptable to pause tithing in tough financial times? (click here)

The Bible does not mention anything about "pausing" tithing. Neither does it say that we will go to Hell if we do not tithe.
The tithe, which is a scriptural mandate, was not instituted for God's benefit because He already has all the money He needs. He does not need our money.
So why does He ask us to give 10% to Him? Tithing was created for our benefit. It is to teach us how to keep God first in our lives and how to be unselfish people. Unselfish people make better husbands, wives, friends, relatives, employees and employers. God is trying to teach us how to prosper over time.
Many people have observed that after they stopped tithing, their finances seemed to get worse. In the Book of Malachi, God promises that if you do not rob Him of your tithing, He will rebuke your devourers and protect you....

On children and families
  
I'm a pediatrician and concerned about children's future. (Sep 2015) 

That is not a policy. That statement stops discussion. Someone Carson sees himself as an omnipotent god without reproach. This statement requires a mind reader.

The Republican "Goldilocks" candidate promises more cuts as an economic policy.

Nothing is going to change. Be it Boehner or Ryan the same deadlock will take place. Stating cuts was the right path for the USA automatically sets up Congress to fail. This is a Congress that added $80 billion US to the last budget. Ryan is lying from the start. Rhetoric, that is all the Republicans know and understand. This is a good race for Ryan, he can actually stop lying about having fiscal answers for the USA. Ryan is an austerity guy. He doesn't know why he is an austerity guy except it makes Grover Norquist happy.

Washington — Paul Ryan's election as House speaker (click here) was all but assured Wednesday as the GOP conference voted in a closed-door meeting to nominate the 45-year-old Wisconsin Republican as their top leader.
The nine-term congressman still must be elected Thursday in a public vote by the full House. But he cleared the biggest hurdle Wednesday when the fractious, 247-member Republican conference largely united behind him. If he is elected, Ryan will be one of the youngest speakers in history.
"This begins a new day in the House of Representatives," Ryan said after the vote. "(Speaker) John Boehner served with humility and distinction and we owe him a debt of gratitude. But tomorrow we are turning the page...Our party has lost its vision and we're going to replace it with a vision."
Ryan said the country is "on the wrong track."...