RSSPerot, Back On the Charts
The following column (excerpted), written by syndicated political columnist David Broder, appeared in the Sunday, June 15, 2008 edition of The Washington Post:
Perot, Back On the Charts
Sixteen years after he shook up American politics by launching an impromptu campaign for president, Ross Perot is about to dip a toe back into the public debates. And, yes, he’s bringing his charts with him to make his point.
Beginning today, people who go to http://www.perotcharts.com will find the Dallas billionaire waiting to challenge them on one of his favorite subjects — the “ruin” he says America is courting with its spendthrift ways.
“We are right at the edge of the cliff,” the voice with the unmistakable Texas twang informed me when I called him the other day to find out about this latest venture. “We can’t go on spending money we don’t have.”
That is not a new theme for Perot. It was his core message when he did his on-again, off-again, then back-on-again race against George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton in 1992. He led the field in the early months and, even after the confusing signals sent by his dropping out and coming back, he won more than 19.7 million votes — almost 20 percent of the total.
His real triumph, however, was a policy victory. With simple charts that he designed and displayed on prime-time television “infomercials,” he managed to convey to millions of voters the stark reality of what the record deficits of the 1980s really meant….
Read the full article in the Washington Post Op-Ed Page.
8 Responses to “Perot, Back On the Charts”
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June 19th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Right-on-Ross ; and I’m a left leaning liberal democrat =;~)
June 20th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Great web site and very interesting presentation.
The growing deficit is a tremendous problem that many have known about for quite some time. Where do we read more about the possible solutions that will move us in the correct directions?
June 27th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Dear Mr. Perot,
People are just now becoming seriouslly concerned about our country’s future especially economically. Too bad you (and others) could not get our countrymen’s attention whille there was still a chance to recover. Unfortunately this is one of the big flaws in a Republic type of govermennt as recognized by Mr. Ben Franklin when he stated that the Constitutional Convention has given us a Republic if we can keep it. For the past quarter century, millions of communications, warning of our economic policies that will destroy our country, have been sent to our elected officials, newspapers, columnists, TV and radio personalities and limelight individuals without striking an effective note of concern. The general population was thoroughly brainwashed into believing that thhe economy was booming without end. Little was said that truthfully we were booming by printing fiat money that was used in trade and government operation. The public was not told we were selling our country along with the means to create wealth. Most of our wealth is now already obligated, much in foreign hands, and little to bootstrap a new economy. It is my opinion that we are already in a serious depression (our President refers to as an economic slowdown) and economic collapse has begun. The dollar will lose it’s value. After giving up on getting pub lic attention with my thoughts, I compilled some of my studies in a book “Wake-up Call To an Incurious America” ( http://www.vicbrant.com ) which presents opinion and mathematical calculations to back them.