"Fings Break"

[paft.livejournal.com]

From Monty Python:

Dino: You ought to be careful, Colonel.

Colonel: We are careful. Extremely careful.

Dino: Of course, uh, fings break, don’t they?

Colonel: Break?

Luigi: Well, everyfing breaks, don’t it Colonel (knocks a ceramic vase off the desk) Oh, there,

Dino: Oh see, my brother’s clumsy, Colonel. When he gets unhappy he, uh, breaks fings. Like, say he don’t feel the army’s playing fair by him, uh, he may start breaking fings, Colonel….

Colonel: Are you threatening me?

Luigi: No, no, no, no, no, whatever made you think that, Colonel?

Dino: The Colonel doesn’t think we’re nice people Louie,

Luigi: We’re your buddies, Colonel.

Dino: We want to look after you!

It's not just a few right wing crackpot business owners slipping their leashes and letting their enthused support for Romney carry them away to the point where they obliquely threaten the people who work for them. The idea comes from elected officials and candidates.

GOP Rep. Joe Walsh:

"If you run, manage or own a company tell your employees! What was the CEO this week that said, if Obama is reelected, I may have to let all of you go next year? If Obama's reelected, if the Democrats take Congress, I may not be able to cover your health insurance next year.

Mitt Romney, from Presidential Small Business Town Hall:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees…

Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well.

These people are scared. Republican efforts to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for many low income Americans to vote just aren’t enough. There are still a few members of the middle class, the ones who work in cubicles, who will likely get past the poll workers and actually get to fill out a ballot.

So, the GOP wants business owners to morph into the Vercotti Brothers. They want rank and file workers walking into the voting booth thinking, not of what a given candidate could do for them, but what their boss might do to them if his or her favored candidate doesn’t get elected.

Because the boss is worried! Honest! The boss wants to look out for you!

The boss just wants you to know that fings break.

Crossposted from Thoughtcrimes

Comments

[vitsli.livejournal.com]

>> How so, when the threat is to engage in mass layoffs if the candidate a boss dislikes gets elected? How would not knowing who each employee voted for prevent this?

I'm an idiot. I didn't didn't check the exact quote of David Siegel in the first place...
So, the exact quote - just as expected - says (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ceo-workers-youll-likely-fired-131640914.html):
"If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone."

Just as expected, a very strong mental Kung-Fu allows someone to read is as "I'll fire you if you don't vote for my candidate".

Just as expected.
Damn it.

[paft.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. You've reverted back to this, have you? As I said the last time you trotted this out:

No great "mental Kung Fu" is required to read saying to your employees, "If the candidate I want isn't elected, I'm going to fire people" as a not-so-subtle attempt at intimidation. The boss wants his employees to vote, not for the candidate they consider the best person for the job, but for whoever is least likely to upset the boss.

[vitsli.livejournal.com]

>>saying to your employees, "If the candidate I want isn't elected, I'm going to fire people" as a not-so-subtle attempt at intimidation.

Ha-ha, you did it again!
"If any new taxes are levied" turns into "If the candidate I want isn't elected"