Posted on 01/08/2012 7:45:04 AM PST by katiedidit1
Supporters of Newt Gingrich have bought the rights to a new short movie that is very critical of Mitt Romney’s tenure as head of Bain Capital.
Romney’s business career made him a very wealthy man, but has come under some criticism because Bain bought some companies and put them out of business.
The movie, called “King of Bain, When Mitt Romney Came to Town,” has not been distributed, but has been viewed by ABC News. It was made by former Romney supporters and intersperses interviews with some workers who blame Romney’s company for losing their jobs with ominous music. At one point it focuses on K.B. Toys, which made money for Bain even as it closed stores.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Newt’s Revenge? it is going to hit the fan!!!!!!
This is a BIG MISTAKE. Mittens’ involvement with Bain is the best thing he has ever done. He has a record to be proud of for his work with Bain. Any capitalist knows this. Gingrich is too cute by half for attacking this.
Why not attack Mittens’ record while governor? The more the candidates attack his time at Bain the more I think they are a bunch of McCains.
Never thought I’d see so much class warfare, and populist schlock in a GOP primary. I expect the Dems to harangue our candidates as greedy uncaring capitalists, but to get it from within is really sad. There’s a lot of reasons to dislike Mittens, but the fact that he made a lot of money isn’t one of them.
I think we should reserve our judgement on Bain until we watch folks that knew and worked with Romney and the story of what happened. Newt is no fool. He would not go with this unless there was substance UNLIKE what Mitt did to Newt with the super pac ads which were full of lies. Newt exposed Mitt for the lies in those ads this am during the debate and Mitt said HE never saw the ads????? and he didnt know the super pac BUT they were former friends and supporters of his? Bain had some shady dealings...we need to know the facts
Well said.
If this short documentary is true, I hope it becomes common knowlege among Republican voters.
Exactly. Many jobs could also have been created by the companies that had better uses (and hence paid more) for the sold off assets of the failing businesses that were ‘stripped.’
That said, how many people are interested in seeing a whole negative movie about a particular candidate. Certainly a fan of a candidate might enjoy seeing a positive movie about that person, but I can’t imagine that a bashing of someone I already don’t want to vote for would entice me to sit through a movie.
“Never thought I’d see so much class warfare, and populist schlock in a GOP primary.”
I wonder also. I noticed from the first two part that they never discussed the health of the companies that were being bought. If the companies were about to go broke anyway, it really wouldn’t matter. If they were making big bucks, then any buyer would not want to spoil the gravy train. In other words, I’d like to hear both sides this debate before passing judgment.
On the other hand, if he takes down Romney with it - more power to him.
Yes, this should be shown. Newt will not be apart of a movie that promotes lies. Why do so many think Mitt should be given a free pass and its okay to lie about Newt in super pac ads? I cant wait to watch it. “Background
In 1998, Value Partners, a smaller management consulting firm based in Milan, filed a lawsuit in U.S. federal court against Bain & Co., alleging Bain’s theft of Value Partners’ office in São Paulo, Brazil, including its clients, employees, and confidential and proprietary information.[14]
Value Partners, which was established in 1993, had expanded its operations to five offices worldwide with 80 professionals. In 1994, Value Partners opened an office in São Paulo, Brazil. By 1997, Value Partners’ Brazilian office was thriving and had grown to 25 professionals.[14]
Value Partners claimed that Bain unlawfully caused members of Value Partners São Paulo office to enter into a conspiracy with Bain to take-over Value Partners’ Brazilian office. Bain, which at the time had no business presence in Brazil, allegedly determined that it thereby could expand into the region, without incurring the associated start-up costs and risks of a new branch office.[14]
According to the complaint, unbeknownst to fellow members of Value Partners at the time, the co-conspirators remained with Value Partners even after agreeing to join Bain, so as to secretly work from within Value Partners to better effectuate the wholesale misappropriation of Value Partners’ São Paulo office.[14]
[edit] Post-trial outcome
In 2002 following a four-week trial, the jury found Bain liable for unfair competition and tortious interference under Brazilian law and awarded Value Partners $10 million in compensatory damages (the full award requested by Value Partners at trial). Value Partners was also awarded approximately $2.5 million in prejudgment interest.[15]
Bain’s post-trial motions were denied, and Bain appealed to the First Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. Value Partners filed a cross-appeal, contesting the District Court’s denial of its companion claim for treble damages for unfair competition under Massachusetts law.[15]
GO NEWT!
I hope news outlet after news outlet runs with this story!
“MAY Bain be Romney’s bane!”
Found this on Think Progress. Romney and Bain!!! check it out. Romney has had to contend with the fact that Bain made a lot of its money buying up companies, then laying off workers and reneging on benefits to gut those companies, burying them with debt as Bain walked away with millions. In fact, one of his former business partners has explicitly said, “I never thought of what I did for a living as job creation.” And as it turns out, even after Romney left the firm, he was profiting from Bain’s activities due to a lucrative retirement deal:
In what would be the final deal of his private equity career, he negotiated a retirement agreement with his former partners that has paid him a share of Bain’s profits ever since, bringing the Romney family millions of dollars in income each year and bolstering the fortune that has helped finance Mr. Romney’s political aspirations.
The arrangement allowed Mr. Romney to pursue his career in public life while enjoying much of the financial upside of being a Bain partner as the company grew into a global investing behemoth.
Since Romney left, Bain has made its money gutting companies like KB Toys and Clearchannel, laying off thousands of workers and leaving the companies under heavy debt loads, while Romney has reaped the benefit. Adding insult to injury, the money Romney has been collecting from Bain is likely not taxed as normal income but as “carried interest,” meaning it is subject to the capital gains tax rate of 15 percent rather than the top income tax rate of 35 percent:
[S]ince Mr. Romney’s payouts from Bain have come partly from the firm’s share of profits on its customers’ investments, that income probably qualifies for the 15 percent tax rate reserved for capital gains, rather than the 35 percent that wealthy taxpayers pay on ordinary income. The Internal Revenue Service allows investment managers to pay the lower rate on the share of profits, known in the industry as “carried interest,” that they receive for running funds for investors.
Because Romney’s income is almost exclusively derived from what are qualified as investments (he recently said he has no income that qualifies for the personal income tax), he is able to drive his tax rate to absurdly low levels for someone making as much as he does. Citizens for Tax Justice estimated that Romney pays about a 14 percent tax rate, below the level at which many middle-class families are paying. And he’s paying that low rate on money made via dismantling companies and eliminating jobs.
Not sure if you read my post the way I intended - I am a big fan of the great and beneficial work that Romney did while he was at Bain. I am not a fan of his work as Governor.
Great!!!!!!!!!!!! when is it coming out? hey Rooster Redux check out the post to onyx on Romney and Bain. KB Toys and Clear Channel....this is not good for Mittens
It is posts like yours and other anti-Bain posts that are making me reluctantly defend Romney. I am scared that a moderator is going to think I like him if I am not careful.
I thought I was agreeing with you. What part of my comment shed doubt on that?
I must say this is very odd. Freepers backing a NYT socialist hit piece on Romney. Creative destruction is the backbone of the free enterprise system. Granted, it is tough for those losing their jobs and having to find a new career. But the alternative is socialism.
Again, this is a NYT backed hit piece!
Yup, it is one of the only things about Romney the chameleon I actually like. The man took companies that would otherwise have died on the vine and made many of them more efficient and successful. Part of doing that is reorganizing and firing redundancy and overhead. That is how the system is supposed to work. Sad to see Republican candidates who know better using this lefty line of attack.
Too bad! Romney does NOT nor is he entitled to a free pass. Many that worked with Bain and had connections with Romney do not share your sentiments. He should be vetted just as Cain, Santorum, Bachmann and Newt have been. If you don’t like my anti ROMOBAMA posts ..dont read them
This is politics. If Romney is vulnerable to these types of attacks in the general election (and I think this is Obama’s only hope of winning) then it’s best to come out with it now.
There are different ways to make money and not all of them are good. Republicans don’t need to bow at the alter of some guy just becasue he is a “capitalist”.
As someone who spent a career on Wall St, I can assure you that there are plenty of raiders who know how to butcher companies for quick profit in ways that are not productive, constructive, or humane. It is usually a matter of choosing short-term profit over long-term commitment (even when the long-term means potentially higher profit and certainly higher employment).
is it as OLD as the constant pictures of Newt and Pelosi? which are posted over and over and over? there are former associates of Bain that knew Romney and went broke. They have a right to tell their story. I am glad there will be a short movie on it and we the voters can decide. Gee! there is a media that attacks Mitt? how rare
I hope this is “good riddance, Mittens.”
“This is politics. If Romney is vulnerable to these types of attacks in the general election (and I think this is Obama’s only hope of winning) then it’s best to come out with it now.”
That’s and EXCELLENT POINT. It really doesn’t matter whether Bain was moral or not...if it can be used against him in a populist way, which it obviously can be, then the so-called ‘electable’ Romney might not be so electable after all.
Sorry - you did agree. I need to improve my reading comprehension.
“Newt’s Revenge? it is going to hit the fan”!!!
Yes all 10 of the idiots who see this will be enthralled.
Well if these other companies you speak of had a better use for the assets they would have had a better offer than Bain.
katie, as I see it, the purpose of exposing this video, from Gingrich’s perspective is to show the difference between corporate-level consolidation as one aspect of healing over-bloated dying companies, and a comprehensive business model that enables ground-level, small business creation.
Romney is a corporate guy. There is nothing wrong with that - I have worked for some of the biggest corporations and endured restructurings and staff reductions for 30 years. Newt’s angle is that Romney may know how to make money, but he does not know how leaders drive public policy to trigger a wide-spread economic expansion. Listen to what Prof. Art Laffer says: “You know, economics is my profession, and I’ve specialized in it all my life, especially public policy economics. I feel sort of like a doctor in a hospital, choosing which surgeon is going to operate on my child. And, you’ve got a bunch of good candidates out there but Newt Gingrich has done it before. His plan is pure and simple supply-side Reaganomics all the way,” he said.
The point is that Romney is a corporate rebuilding expert for creating profits. The Reagan model is supply-side driven, driving tax-rate reductions, deregulation, consumer based ground up growth. This is where Newt has credibility. There is a big difference between creating profits and growing a ground-up economy. This is where Newt has an advantage because as Prof. Laffer states, Newt has credible experience doing this. Newt can lay claim to helping create 11 million jobs. Romney did create profits but in no way does his model comprehensively trigger consumer confidence and wide-spread growth. This is what I hope is clear to the SC voters.
Is it possible that with Santorum’s “surge” the media has decided he would be even easier for Obama to defeat (than Romney) and that is why they are going after Romney now for the first time? I have just detected this subtle shift since Iowa, maybe I am just paranoid. But I support Newt, so it is probably good to be paranoid...
PING
Some of it is destruction by corporate and legal ledgerdemain in ways that profit only the raiders (and stiffs everyone else including not only employees but bondholders, contract-holders and even other classes of shareholders).
If Mitt is vulnerable here, the GOP needs to know.
You stated the point exactly. Creating corporate profits is not the same as building an economy. I have spent my career with some of the biggest multi-national corporations in the world, and after many years of restructurings, sell-offs, layoffs contract cancellations and on and on, I learned years ago that I could not put my family’s and my own financial security in the corporation’s hands. That is why I also started a small business 14 years ago and grew it in parallel to maintaining my corporate job. I have been in a situation last year where I nearly had to choose keeping my corporate job and relocating in a risky situation, or insist on staying where I am and keeping my small business. I chose to stay with my small business. I don’t regret the decision - I luckily have been able to keep both for now, but the corporate climate is still not secure as opposed to the forecast for small business.
Prof. Art Laffer is one of the greatest if not the greatest economist of our time. He is with Newt because he knows that Newt understands how to grow an economy as opposed to what you talk about - short-term profit. There is a very big difference here and we need the candidate to create confidence at the working level, not scare them with corporate slashing that feeds instability in local and national economies.
There were 17,000 employees who lost their jobs. People that knew Romney and are very familiar with Bain. I would like to hear their story and there will be a hell of a lot more than just 20 people that watch it. The silence of the msm, some freepers and Fox News was deafening as lies were told about Gingrich via Mitt’s super pacs.
On Bain...although so many suffered and went down..Mitt escaped unscathed and made millions. He paid an absurdly low tax of 14%. Not many accomplish that...I say let the movie air and the voters decide.
Your analogy of the difference between Newt and Romney is well taken. Bain had it’s risks and quite a few workers were hurt. Reaganomics also the Newt way is the right idea. Hopefully, voters will note the difference between the two.
I know that Prof. Laffer is not a politician, but I really wish Newt would set up a public policy speech and bring Laffer with him to speak and clearly lay the situation out, before SC.
Absolutely right Rooster Redux. 17,000 lost their jobs. Mitt made millions and paid a very low tax rate...good for him. There is another side of this story we need to know. I am glad it is being aired.
I guarantee you it will go viral on the internet. There is nothing more that I would like than to see Mitt go down. I am sure Rove will be there to cover his back and spin it.
“.......You got ninety percent of the American public out there with little or no net worth. I create nothing. I OWN. We make the rules, pal. The news, war, peace, famine, upheaval, the price per paper clip. We pick that rabbit out of the hat while everybody sits out there wondering how the hell we did it. Now you're not naive enough to think we're living in a democracy, are you buddy? It's the free market. And you're a part of it. You've got that killer instinct. Stick around pal, I've still got a lot to teach you.’
Mitt Romney? Oops wrong movie, Gordon Gekko.
“What's worth doing is worth doing for money”
Mitt Romney? Oops wrong movie, Gordon Gekko.
“Bud Fox: Why do you need to wreck this company?
Gordon Gekko (insert Romney): Because it's WRECKABLE, all right? I took another look at it and I changed my mind!
Can't wait for the DVD.
“Romney’s business career made him a very wealthy man, but has come under some criticism because Bain bought some companies and put them out of business”
Thats what corporate raiders do. Its not pretty but its darn lucrative. I’ll be Mitt is not happy about this movie coming out. He likes to tell you how he saves companies.
Why attack him? Easy. We want him to go away and never come back as a candidate again. He can never defeat Obama.
"During his campaign, Republican candidate Mitt Romney has preached a message of economic populism by vowing to fight to keep jobs in America. We take a look at Romney’s days heading up the buyout firm Bain Capital with Los Angeles Times reporter, Bob Drogin. He writes, "From 1984 until 1999, Romney led Bain Capital, a Boston-based private equity group that earned jaw-dropping profits through leveraged buyouts, debt hedge funds, offshore tax havens and other financial strategies. In some cases, Romney’s team closed U.S. factories, causing hundreds of layoffs, or pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapsed."
Georgia Girl 2, I think we should hear the other side of Bain from the workers. Romney brags on creating 100,000 jobs but now he backtracks on that...like he does on so many issues. There is a lot online about Bain and while some is good...some is shady. Mitt must be having fits about this movie coming out. I guarantee you his advisors are working on damage control right now
Obama was a community organizer. Sounds great
Not sure what exactly he did there.
Move Along, Nothing To See Here (sarc)
Great. So now Republicans are going after capitalism?
Obama and the democrats licking chops awaiting nominee Romney!
Aside from an abortion loving hypocrite, and serial liar, he’s a cut throat, corrupt politician and up to his neck in off shore business dealings that prevent him from showing his tax returns.
Gingrich embraces Socialism again. WTF? Since when do people have a RIGHT to a job? If a company is run like crap, and 5,000 people were hired stupidly, then they need to be fired, or the company will DIE, jeopardizing far more jobs. The only person Newt helps by denouncing venture capitalism is Obama.
With all the slime Romney’s buds have been hammering Newt with, Newt’s earned the right to hit back with anything as long as it factual. Bain sounds like a very predatory holding company and Mitt was the driver.
Mitt started the mud, if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.
I think we’ve entered the twilight zone. What we’re being told:
Big Government DC Experience > Successful Business Experience
I wholeheartedly disagree. Bain was enriched many times by anti-free market practices that are not free market capitalism.
They would buy a company like AMPAD, have it borrow enormously, would take huge fees out of that borrowed money, and would then so over-burden that company with acquisitions and hyper-borrowing that it would fail, declare bankruptcy, pay pennies on the dollar to creditors in bankruptcy court, and Bain, in the meantime would be laughing as they socked away millions via manipulating bankruptcy laws. That is not free market capitalism. It is corruption.
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