Posted on 01/11/2012 8:50:22 AM PST by Daveinyork
About the best that can be said about the Republican attacks on Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital is that President Obama is going to do the same thing eventually, so GOP primary voters might as well know what's coming. Yet that hardly absolves Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and others for their crude and damaging caricatures of modern business and capitalism.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
The attacks on Romney in regards to Bain are being portrayed by the Romney lovers as a left wing attack on capitalism.
BS
Romney used Bain to raid workers pension funds then stuck the government (US taxpayers) with the bill. If criticism of that is anti-capitalist then I guess I am not a capitalist.
Go Newt!
Except Romney has decided the best way to put it in context is to say “Hey, Obama did the same thing trying to save GM”. That will go over well.
Romney went negative first.
Yeah, let us not let moralaity get in the way of capitalism right? Sorry, I’m one of the biggest supporters of capitalism, but I don’t believe you rape companies in order to get ahead. I know it’s a tough world out there, but enriching your stockholders by stealing from taxpayers is not what I consider capitalisam. Cleaning out a company and leaving the wreckage for us to pick up is not my idea of what makes this country great.
"We have our policy differences with Mr. Romney, but by any reasonable measure Bain Capital has been a net job and wealth creator. Founded in 1984 as an offshoot of the Bain consulting company, Bain Capital's business is a combination of private equity and venture capital. The latter means taking a flyer on start-ups that may or may not pan out, something that neither Mr. Gingrich nor Mr. Obama seem to find offensive when those investments are made by Silicon Valley firms in "clean energy."
Fact:
Romney said yesterday “he likes to fire people”
Fact:
Today Romney likened what he did at Bane to the Obama auto bailouts.
Fact:
Bane Capital the company Romney co-founded bought a steel mill, bankrupted it and fired all the employees after looting their pension plans, then stuck the US Taxpayers with the a bill ($44 Million) for it.
Those are the facts.
Does anyone think Obama would not go after Romney on the same issue even without the other GOP candidates doing so first? It seem ludicrous to think not. It will be that and much more.
This is like Larry Flint saying that an attack on Hustler is an attack on capitalism.
I read the editorial this morning and I was puzzled by it. Unless I’ve missed something big, neither Perry nor Gingrich is criticizing capitalism.
Romney was trying to portray himself as a sort of captain of industry but he was actually involved in a speculative and potentially rapacious form of investment (not venture capitalism, but the so-called vulture capitalism) which led to great grief in the 1980s. Remember the raids on pension funds?
Romney needs to be truthful, come forward and explain exactly what he was doing, and he also has to do some explaining about how Bain got bailed out for several million dollars after a deal went bad. I fail to see how expecting him to be honest and explain this amounts to an attack on capitalism.
I’m starting to wonder if the people being critical of Newt on this are just conservatives looking for cover when backing Romney, but not wanting to look like sellouts.
The thing that bothers me is the fact that the sorts of things that went on with Bain have been going on for decades. If those practices were legal its only because federal regulators have ignored them or worse yet, made them legal to begin with.
Maybe its time to look at the regulators and regulations.
The difference is...Romney is running for President. We should know EVERYTHING before this man gets the nomination.
I really don’t care if, as a private citizen, he fires people, loots company pensions or is cruel to dogs: but I don’t want him as my President.
Do you get it now?
Agreed. I’ve seen enough corporate raiders come in saying “nothing is going to change” and “bam” they sell every little piece of whatever is valuable and burn the rest, in a manner of speaking, leaving nothing but the cash in their pockets. To me, this is not capitalism. It is pure greed and I am a saying this from the position of a Christian conservative. Anyone who says different can kiss my behind. Romney will never get my vote nor the vote of anyone in my household.
And I can guarantee you all of the prissy whining you hear now because Newt said it will be soundly ignored by the MSM.
I’m not voting for Romney, but if he gets elected, I hope he still enjoys firing people. I hope he fires a lot of federal employees.
Actually, I think he said that he likes being able to fire people - a big difference. I hate firing people, but I like being able to.
If he gets to be president, I sure hope he fires a lot of people.
I don’t think this whole attack is going to work out for Gingrich. I just heard a 2010 clip of Newt praising Mittens for all of his work at Bain. The clip was a total 180 of what he is saying today. This is reminiscent of the attacks Gingrich made of Mittens mandates even though very recently, he was praising them.
Newt is coming off as the type of guy that will say whatever is politically expedient at the time. At least some of the Conservatives running have been consistent on their views over the years whether you agree with them or not.
The name Bain is unfortunate to begin with. I realize it was probably a guy’s name but the homonym bane has some pretty dire connotations.
[Yet that hardly absolves Newt Gingrich...]
To hell it doesn’t...he is the early warning system for our Republic.
Disregard it at your peril.
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