JLF: Bush Bankrupts Everything He Touches
Johnny Lead Foot here, and I'm pissed...
In July, President George W. Bush presented a record-setting budget deficit of $482 billion, and that doesn't include the tens of billions of dollars Iraq and Afghanistan will cost. In addition, the total could climb if the economy doesn't recover as the administration is predicting. Honestly, though, all of the administration's predictions seem to come true, so why bother? (We're screwed.)Bush has never been able to balance a budget. He took the largest surplus in U.S. history from Clinton and turned it around into the largest deficit ever. Despite the incredible knowledge Bush gained at Harvard Business School, he's managed to bankrupt almost everything he touches, including this country.
- Dorothy Bush (W's sister)
- Lewis E. Lehrman (previously the Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, now Senior Partner at L. E. Lehrman & Co. In 2005, he received the Humanities Medal by President Bush)
- William Henry Draper III (founder of Draper Richards, LP and Draper Investment Company)
- Bill Gammell (founder of Cairn Energy, and oil exploration and extraction company)
- James R. Bath (some dude)
It was called Arbusto Energy, and with W at the helm, it quickly found itself in financial peril. To help out, in 1982, the company changed its name to Bush Exploration (after W's father was planted in the White House as Vice President). A family friend, Philip Uzieli, came in with $1 million in exchange for a 10% stake in the company... that was worth only $400,000. In total. Shady, shady.
In 1984, two years later, the company slipped into financial collapse. It didn't take long for Bush to leave his mark... again. Arbusto was bought by Spectrum 7 Energy Corp. Spectrum 7 was started by William DeWitt (businessman, current owner of the St. Louis Cardinals and great contributor to Bush campaigns) and Mercer Reynolds (businessman and finance chair of President Bush's election campaigns) and they thought to keep the Bush name strong, and made him the CEO of the new company.
In 1986, two years later, Bush was running a $1.5 million net loss. Again, Bush left his mark rather quickly. Instead of dying, like it should, Spectrum 7 was bought by Harken Oil and Gas for $2.2 million. They even took on Spectrum's millions in debt. The new company knew better than to give Bush any control, and they paid him to be on the Board of Directors, with the standard salary that brings, plus paying him as a "consultant." Shady, shady.
By spring of 1987, Harken needed more money, and they ended up taking a chunk of change from a Saudi real estate tycoon and financier to keep the company going. (And so Bush's hand-holding with men started.)
In 1990, Bush walked away from the oil industry, selling 2/3 the Harken stock he'd received for almost $1 million. One week after Bush's sale, Harken announced a $23 million quarterly loss and the stocks dropped 60% over 6 months. That stock sell timing was SHADY, SHADY.
In fact, the stock sales were so blatantly a result of insider information, even the SEC felt compelled to look into it. Of course, no surprise, they finally concluded Bush didn't have "enough" information to have done insider trading. Seems inevitable when your father's in the White House. The SEC memo said, "it appears that Bush did not engage in illegal insider trading," but noted that the memo "must in no way be construed as indicating that the party has been exonerated or that no action may ultimately result." So, Bush probably knew things were looking grim, but maybe not EXACTLY how grim. SHADY, SHADY. At least they left the door open for further exploration.
Look at that... not knowing was even a convenient excuse for Bush back then. "I didn't have the information on Abu Ghraib." "I didn't have the information in the report given to me office that was titled Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the U.S." "I didn't know New Orleans was having problems after Katrina." "I didn't know the housing market was having problems." "I didn't know that we didn't know about Iraq's WMD's operations." "I didn't know about any CIA agent leaks by my administration." BLAH, BLAH.
Well, Bush's business career wasn't over. In 1989, Bush bought less than 2% of the Texas Rangers organization for $600,000-800,000. He was a managing general partner for the team. Under his helm, the team convinced the town to pay, entirely, for the new $200,000,000 stadium that was then handed over to the Rangers. The town even seized land to make the stadium (for less than $1.50 per square foot even though it had previously paid $10 a square foot for other land nearby). Shady, shady. Ten years after Bush came into the Rangers scene, the team was bought for $170 million, and Bush got $15 million. Now, Bush's 2% should be $3.4 million, yet he walked away with $15 million. Not even an alien can explain that. SHADY, SHADY.
So, that's Bush's history of bankrupting everything and getting insane favors because his daddy was a millionaire oil-man who had managed to get into the White House. In fact, even Bush used to say, "I'm all name and no money." I'd say it's not just money you're missing, Bush, it's common sense, fiscal responsibility and ownership of your actions. A half trillion dollar deficit? That's absolutely insane. Thanks for making the country one more of your botched companies. I wonder if you can get your oil friends to help us out? Oh, no? They are too busy making their own money?
Holy crap, I'm full HAWT.
Always your pleasure.
- JLF
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It could only take a failed businessman to build that big a deficit. It takes a special someone to thrice crash an oil company when your father's a famous politician.
Bloomberg? Sure you don't want to run?