Biden's Costco Visit - A Publicity Stunt as Payback to Big Democrat Donor

COSTCO + BIDEN + OBAMA = CRONY CAPITALISM Democrat VP Joe Biden came down from Mount Olympus today to mingle with American commoners and to push his lefty agenda during his “surprise” stop at the opening of Washington’s first Costco store. This was simply a multi-pronged publicity stunt to pay back Costco, a big Democrat donor, and to campaign for tax increases (masked as “tax cuts for the middle class” and “tax increases for the rich”.) Joe Biden, a regular Costco shopper? Not really. Biden got his card reactivated just Wednesday for today’s photo op. Joe Biden goes to Costco after executives cozy up to the White House Via the Washington Examiner: Sinegal, Costco’s former CEO, gave a speech praising President Obama at the Democratic National Convention in September. Sinegal retired as CEO in January, but gradually took a greater interest in Obama’s re-election campaign. Sinegal hosted a fundraiser for Obama in July at his Seattle area mansion at Hunt’s Point. Tickets for the event ranged from $5,000 to $35,000 and reportedly raised more than $1.4 million. Sinegal also defended Obama’s record on small business, after the Romney campaign’s ads featuring Obama’s “You didn’t build that” remarks.

Costco’s co-founder and former CEO, Jim Sinegal, at the 2012 Democtratic National Convention:

Costco Executive Epitomizes Obama’s Love of Crony Capitalism Steven Greenhut from HumanEvents wrote this last September: Costco is not an aberration in its support for the Democratic platform. It is, in fact, the embodiment of the kind of pliant, government-subsidized corporation that Democratic leaders prefer these days. I’ve tussled with Sinegal in the past, back when his company was strong-arming local governments in Southern California into using eminent domain to clear away properties to make it easier for Costco to expand. Costco offers some great merchandise, but its success is built as much on special governmental privilege as it is on hard work and ingenuity. The company takes millions of dollars in subsidies from local governments chasing sales-tax revenue. As I wrote in the Orange County Register in 2002, …think carefully before you use the words ‘free enterprise’ and ‘Costco’ in the same breath. The company certainly knows how to market goods and services to budget-conscious customers and to maximize profits. Unfortunately, Costco also is adept at manipulating the political process on its own behalf, in a way that smacks of mercantilism (government-controlled markets) rather than capitalism.” I wrote about Costco’s “unholy scheme to deprive Cottonwood Christian Center of its 18-acre property in Cypress.” The Wall Street Journal also blasted the retailer in an editorial, which exhorted the privilege-seeking Costco to “buy their land in the open market instead of relying on local governments to seize a juicy location at below-market prices.” [...] …Costco [has] been involved in similar situations across the country…[s]uch as in Lancaster, Calif., where in 2000 a federal district court struck down the city’s attempted use of eminent domain on Costco’s behalf. According to the court documents, immediately after a competitor, 99 Cents Only Stores, moved into a vacant store next to Costco in Lancaster in 1998, Costco demanded that the city use eminent domain to literally give the 99 Cents Only space to Costco. Otherwise, Costco said it would move to neighboring Palmdale.” It seems fitting that the main corporate speaker at the Democratic convention comes right out of the crony-capitalism school of business. It seems fitting that it uses its muscle to arm-twist cities into taking others’ property and into filling its coffers with tax dollars.

99% of COSTCO contributions went to Democrats:

More here.

Obama economy has been a boon for Costco: [T]he Obama economy has been a boon for Costco, but not in the way some might think. In 2009, Costco surprised industry insiders when it announced it would begin accepting food stamps at its 420 stores. “Given the economy and layoffs, this was a positive for our members and the right thing to do,” Costco CFO Richard Galanti told the Wall Street Journal in 2009. At the time of Costco’s decision, 35 million individuals received food stamps. Today, that figure is 47 million. Costco Co-Founder Jim Sinegal maxed out his personal financial contribution to Obama and pushed for ObamaCare ABC reported on Jul 23, 2012: Sinegal’s support for Obama does not come as a surprise. A longtime and generous Democratic donor, he maxed out his personal financial contribution to Obama in 2008 and will host the president Tuesday at his Hunts Point, Wash., home for two high-dollar fundraisers for the 2012 campaign. Sinegal also publicly advocated for Obama’s health care law at the height of debate in 2009.

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