Posted on 01/07/2012 9:10:07 AM PST by Qbert
Reuters published a blockbuster story today on GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City that was acquired by Bain Capital, leading to the layoffs of some 750 workers. In this case, the workers lost promised severance pay and health insurance; their pension benefits were slashed. and a federal government insurance agency had to bail out the company’s pension plan — even as Bain raked in millions and millions of dollars in profits.
Now a man who says he worked at the plant for 34 years — a self-described conservative — is speaking out about Romney.
Glen Patrick Wells, who lives in Peculiar, Missouri, agreed to appear in a new MoveOn.org video in order to speak out about what the layoffs did to the surrounding community.
[Snip]
“I spent 34 years in this steel mill,” Wells says in the video. “They walked out of here with millions. They left us with nothing.”
I reached Wells today, and unlike Box, he tells me he’s a conservative, who has switched back and forth from Republican to independent, and says he voted for George W. Bush for president in 2000 and 2004 and John McCain in 2008. (He has also supported Claire McCaskill for Senate.) Yet despite his leanings, he was willing to conspire with MoveOn to produce this video, which is a pretty good preview of the sort of thing you’ll be seeing in ads in struggling Rust Belt communities against Romney, should he become the GOP nominee.
[Snip]
“Right now, if Romney gets in, I am so disgusted that I will probably vote for Obama and I detest him,” Wells says. “Anyone who is willing to put a predatory capitalist in office deserves to get Obama.”
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
"i don’t like Mitt
but this sorta stuff reeks of populist resentment
I understand that, and I'm sure most Conservatives do, as well. But he hasn't effectively addressed this. And if Romney thinks he can just sit back if he gets the nomination and let the MSM and Obama punch him in the face like McCain did, and not fight back, there's going to be trouble. (And it wouldn't hurt to whip up a little of his own populist frenzy in the process, IMO).
One customer outforced overseas by Democrat policies, the other forced to CLOSE due to Democrat environmental policies, so it must be - - ROMNEY’S FAULT!
Looks like Bain managed the eventual death of one steel plant (out of 100’s - see Youngtown and Pittsburgh).
In the long run, we’re all dead....;-)
The MSM knows that Democrats don’t hurt people, Republicans do.
Obama's stuffed his pockets with money from 'predatory capitalists'. I doubt this will stick. 750 jobs lost that very well might have been lost anyway v. millions of jobs lost unnecessarily due to Obama's policies.
Mr. Wells is ignorant.
Great points.
Why the conservative candidates are not using this against Mitt is beyond me.
Let’s not let the Left get away with a condemnation of capitalism via Romney. Here’s a great article by Jim Pethokoukis:
Whether Romney wins or loses, Newt, Santorum, FReepers, the TEA Party, and the GOP better defend capitalism because Obama’s putting it on trial. If we lose you get Cook County, IL on a national scale.
I hope you’re right.
GS Technologies, a steel mill in Kansas City that was acquired by Bain Capital, leading to the layoffs of some 750 workers. In this case, the workers lost promised severance pay and health insurance; their pension benefits were slashed. and a federal government insurance agency had to bail out the company's pension plan -- even as Bain raked in millions and millions of dollars in profits.The closing of steel mills in the US resulted from environazi laws and regs, along with labor union greed.
Ohhh, that capitalism makes everyone so miserable! Hey, let’s you and me head over to the people’s paradise - North Korea or if you like it warm - Cuba.
You seem to post straw man arguments on FR with regularity.
That strikes me as intellectual laziness on your part.
Try again.
We’re not in the general election yet, its good to hear about this now rather than in September.
Romney needs to go home
Some analysts say Bain should not be blamed for the company’s failure, noting that a wave of cheap imports forced nearly half of the U.S. steel industry into bankruptcy during that period. Another company set up around the same time, in which Bain took a minority stake, Steel Dynamics in Fort Wayne, Indiana, thrived.
“GS and Steel Dynamics were about as different as it gets,” industry analyst Michelle Applebaum said. GS’s core products were vulnerable to competition while Steel Dynamics became “one of the country’s lowest-cost manufacturers of steel sheet,” a product with more staying power. Steel Dynamics was also a non-union shop.
From this HuffPo story: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/mitt-romney-bain-capital-bailout_n_1189227.html
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This is union babies crying for their overpaid jobs back:
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ON STRIKE
In 1997, with Armco’s pension guarantees set to expire in one year, the United Steelworkers local at the Kansas City plant was worried that GS was not setting aside enough money to cover pension obligations and other benefits in the event of a shutdown.
David Foster, the negotiator for the union, said labor talks were typically more tense at companies owned by private equity firms because the high level of debt left managers with less flexibility.
Contract talks foundered and the union went on strike in April 1997. The first standoff since 1959 quickly turned nasty. Workers shot bottle rockets at security guards, tossed nails in the roadways to flatten the tires of nonunion trucks and pounded on the windows of vehicles as they left the plant.
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Did the 750 who lost their jobs vote to decertify? Remember the plant that thrived, Steel Dynamics, is a non-union shop.
There is a downside to leveraged buyout firms like Bain and others.
It values the highest use of the dollar in the short-term over the highest value of the dollar in the long-term.
So listen, you give me $10,000 right now and I'll send you $100,000 in twenty years, OK? Since you value the highest value in the long-term.
I’ve witnessed it first hand.
Give us the details of your experience.
“Thanks for interjecting some facts about the GS buyout.”
Took me all of FIVE MINUTES worth of googling to learn what the truth was. That either was beyond the ability of the “Reporter” to do, or it didn’t fit the pre-approved narrative.
This one has to be called on the carpet, no matter what you think of Romney.
Had I wanted to share inside details publicly, I would have. I can not do so without revealing my identity to those who use google. I prefer staying anonymous. My observation stands.
Your comment was a nonsensical straw-man argument.
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