OPINION:
Facebook is the Titanic. Perhaps the most embarrassing initial public offering (IPO) in history. Certainly it was the biggest bust in modern history - based on the highest expectations ever. The more I think about it, the more Facebook reminds me of Barack Obama. They have so much in common.
Facebook has never proved a thing. Results? There are no results. Profits? It’s living on hope. Sales? What does it sell? It’s all about potential and hype. There is no there there.
Exactly the same set of issues plagues President Obama. Results? What results? Mr. Obama never created a job in his life before winning the presidency. Congratulations are in order - his record remains intact. He still hasn’t created one job.
Mr. Obama was elected based 100 percent on potential and hype. Like Facebook, he entered office with the highest expectations ever. All based on - nothing, just pie-in-the-sky promises. The joke in both cases is on us. This is what you call egg on our face(book).
History proves that hype rarely measures up to reality. Mr. Obama promised to turn around the U.S. economy, create jobs, save us from a real estate collapse, reduce the debt, give everyone student loans and, of course, provide free health care for all. Americans couldn’t wait for Mr. Obama to perform magic and spread the wealth around. Similarly, naive stock investors couldn’t wait to get their hands on Facebook IPO shares so they could become instant millionaires. So how’s all that working out for you?
Mr. Obama’s wealth-creation skills also are right on pace with Mr. Zuckerberg’s. These two are great at creating wealth and fame - for themselves. But as far as creating wealth for the rest of us - not so much. As a matter of fact, Mr. Obama and Mr. Zuckerberg might better be described as wealth-destruction machines. Put these two in charge, and billions of dollars disappear in the blink of an eye. Betting on Mr. Obama and Mr. Zuckerberg is like winning the reverse lottery.
But Facebook has even more in common with Mr. Obama. Let’s start with the hoodie-wearing “genius” who runs the Facebook show - Mark Zuckerberg. What was his experience? What major success did he have before he was named the smartest guy in the room? What was his lifetime of business experience?The answer to all those questions is - nothing. There never was any there there. Mr. Zuckerberg hadn’t ever proved anything. He hadn’t ever built anything. He is just an empty hoodie. Sound familiar?
But a lack of accomplishments and a thin resume never stopped Mr. Obama. With that track record (or lack thereof) perhaps Mr. Zuckerberg should be our next president. We certainly couldn’t do any worse.
But the similarities don’t end there. Facebook isn’t just an embarrassment. Like Mr. Obama, Facebook got where it is by fudging the facts. By forgetting to mention to its supporters that ad-revenue prospects were dimming. Heck, General Motors canceled a $10 million ad campaign just days before the IPO. The bricks already were tumbling down, but greedy investors were so star-struck they never noticed. Sound familiar?
Mr. Obama wasn’t elected president - he was elected “American Idol.” People were so infatuated they never noticed the many flaws, the lack of performance, the Marxist and terrorist-friendly upbringing, the lack of detail in his past. Many still don’t.
The U.S. economy has been wrecked from sea to shining sea by Mr. Obama’s massive, reckless spending; unprecedented debt; an unimaginable 60,000 new rules, regulations and mandates; his never-ending campaign for more taxes; and nonstop demonization of the wealthy and business owners. The economy is at the edge of a cliff. The real estate collapse is worse than at the peak of the Great Depression. Unemployment is getting worse by the day - only looking slightly better because so many millions of Americans have given up looking for work ever again. Yet a leftist newspaper columnist just days ago described a vote for Mitt Romney as a “risky proposition.”
This is exactly how idiots with low self-esteem feel about Facebook and Mr. Zuckerberg. They idolize him as a star. He can do no wrong. They live to revolve around his universe. The tragic lack of actual performance? The lack of disclosure about revenue shortfalls? All just blips on the radar for sycophants. Then we come to the saddest commonality: cronyism and favoritism for rich friends. Investors wonder if the Facebook game was rigged. Were big investment banks told about revenue shortfalls while small investors were left in the dark? Did JP Morgan know its own IPO was a dog and warn off its best clients while selling the dog food to the masses? Can a small player ever get a fair shake on Wall Street?
The Facebook scandal sounds suspiciously just like the Obama game plan. Mr. Obama promised the cleanest administration ever. Then he named a long list of tax cheats to his Cabinet. He created an almost trillion-dollar stimulus to stimulate nothing but unions and the biggest Democratic contributors. He stole GM and Chrysler from their own bank lenders and stockholders and handed ownership to his union cronies. And he handed out hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to green-energy scams with no chance of success - all, coincidentally, headed by his biggest Democratic donors. Just as with Facebook, the game was always fixed.
But while Mr. Obama serves virtually no good purpose, Facebook does have one redeeming value. We might still have a shot to save bankrupt California (our Greece) if we’re smart enough to take the entire Golden State budget and sell Facebook short.
Wayne Allyn Root, former Libertarian vice-presidential nominee, is author of “The Conscience of a Libertarian: Empowering the Citizen Revolution With God, Guns, Gold, Gambling & Tax Cuts” (Wiley, 2009). He writes at RootForAmerica.com.
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