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Perot: Making sure "everybody has access to the truth"

By | August 28, 2008, 6:40am PDT

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He doesn’t “do a lot of Internet work.” He’s not on Facebook, LinkedIn or MySpace. He’s not an iPhone guy. He prefers to get “instant feedback from the people,’’ from face-to-face contact and phone calls.


But Ross Perot, now 77, is back and using the Internet to try and influence the Nov. 4 presidential contest between the newly crowned Democratic nominee Barack Obama and next week’s Republican nominee, John McCain. The signature form of communication from his independent 1992 run for the president – the statistical slide – has been resurrected at PerotCharts.com, which attracts 3 million visitors a month, according to the site’s developer.The founder of Electronic Data Systems and chairman emeritus of Perot Systems considers the site the embodiment of the “electronic town hall’’ idea he propounded in his direct-dial candidacy, with the ability to, soon, contact their representatives in Congress through the site to tell them, for instance, that only 2% of doctorates granted from America’s most elite engineering schools actually go to Americans. Or that the federal budget deficit projected in July for 2009 ($482 billion) is 50% worse than the worst-case estimate in January.

The point of PerotCharts.com and this latest quixotic quest to influence a presidential contest and federal spending: “Make sure everybody has access to the truth.”

The truth, as pulled together by Perot.

PHOTO SOURCE: perotnader.com

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Microsoft Access, Nominee, Ross Perot, Internet, Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld is editor-in-chief of Securities Industry News, as well as a long-time media, technology and business journalist.

Disclosure

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld has interests in two Web startups, which he cannot disclose until formally launched. They do not involve enterprise computing. He holds interests in technology companies only through mutual funds in which he has no say in their selection of investments. He has worked for Reed Elsevier PLC, Ziff Davis Media and the A.H. Belo Corporation.

Biography

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld is editor-in-chief of Securities Industry News, as well as a long-time media, technology and business journalist.

He experimented with online news delivery a quarter century ago, with a text-only online service called StarText at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in Texas.
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No-one listens to the GAO, either.
seanferd 1st Sep 2008
And it's been around for years.
View in thread
0 Votes
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that's anti American FUD!
Linux Geek 28th Aug 2008
I wodn't lose any sleep over over these issues.
Perot did not see the 3 easiest solutions.
1.Just don't pay the debt and settle it for a few penies on the dollar.
2.Print enough dollars to make the deficit smaller relative to the GDP.
3.Just invade your foreign creditors and plant your hand picked government that forgets your debt.
You don't need a phd in economics to do this, just learn something from history.
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RE: Perot: Making Sure
Monosdeja 28th Aug 2008
who cares what perot says, he only looks out for HIMSELF

he's a wannabe/nobody

bad as the female/comic whom got fired from the view - whatever her name was!
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Interesting information. I like the perspective
Prognosticator 28th Aug 2008
Kudos to Perot for trying to bring this topic to forefront. While the data and conclusion is debatable, it's about time more and more people get up to speed on this.

The conclusion I draw is pretty much what I already concluded and look to do - get rid of the GOP dinosaurs and 60's mindset running this country.
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Clinton mentioned it last night in his speech..
Been_Done_Before 28th Aug 2008
It needs to be in the top 5 priorities of whoever takes office. They need to bring responsibility back to the office and drag this country out of the dark ages... kicking and screaming if they have to.

He said it perfectly, "People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power." This applies both financially and militarily.
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Congress needs to hear this.
aureolin 29th Aug 2008
Congress has passed 19x the number of "symbolic resolutions" as actual, real, law making resolutions. They are the greatest ever do-nothings in a time when we need our leaders to do *something*. Everyone goes on about Bush, when Congress is far, far worse - and their ratings show it.
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No-one listens to the GAO, either.
seanferd 1st Sep 2008
And it's been around for years.
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Interesting...
aureolin 29th Aug 2008
It's interesting that Perot is only interested in promoting his version of the truth - carefully selected (albeit true) nuggets that reinforce his point of view.

"The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is just a line from the old Ironsides TV show and has no bearing on reality any more.
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Let's all snipe
archetuthus 29th Aug 2008
Steinert-Threlkeld disappoints by ending what was nearly a thoroughly professional piece with what he perhaps thought was a witty or perceptive quip. Gossip columnists do that.

If S-T wanted to cast doubt on Perot's veracity, he could have cited verifiable facts opposing named Perot charts, or by showing glaring omissions.

Such trenchant fact-finding would be column worth reading!
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RE: Perot: Making Sure
ranchgirl2 29th Aug 2008
Who's truth? All information is supposed to be unbiased, yet, I must in my quest for the truth, decearn who is really giving us facts or their version of what they think they heard or saw. I cannot trust anyone to give my just the facts and omit their feelings, values and morals. Mind you that I do not have a degree in anything other than common sense and the ability to to laugh at the aburdity of life.
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RE: Perot: Making Sure
jrdickerson@... 29th Aug 2008
"The truth, as pulled together by Perot."

Tom Steinert-Threlkeld could do us a real favor by pointing out what he thinks is suspicious about Perot's charts. But casting suspicion is a lot less work.
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Charts Not Suspicious
Tom Steinert-Threlkeld 30th Aug 2008
We just all have our own vision of what the truth is.
We select what charts to present. What text to
present. What ideas to present. This is Perot's view
of the world, which is the only point I was trying to
make. TST

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