Posted on 01/13/2012 10:01:01 AM PST by bigbob
Mitt Romney and 100,000 jobs: an untenable figure
Romney is allot of things: What he isn't is a Capitalist or a Conservative.
The reason why Romney is a poor candidate is because he is everything that the Leftists so wrongly claim that the Republicans are. He is a son of wealth who has used his family's wealth and power to increase the wealth of himself and a small cadre of investors at the expense of the larger society. He is by definition not a capitalist, he is a corporatist.
It is highly beneficial that we as conservatives and free-marketeers expose him now before he becomes the nominee.
Well I don't consider it an attack on capitalism. There is more to the free Enterprise system than just PE venture capital(good) and LBO/consulting type models.
Remember the term LBO was not even common 30 years ago. The deficiency IMO is the weakening of checks and balances. If a single owner should decide to hire a management consultant, the owner just naturally is not going to risk the long term well being of the company and his livelihood just to enrich the consultant.
At Bain, they came up with a way that they had the say in company decisions, as management and as board members. Both management and the board of a company have a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders of the company they are “helping”, but at the same time are trying provide maximum returns to the Bain style company. So they are serving 2 masters.
I don't like the business model because in general they aim to get all their money and profits out in a 3-5 year time frame even if the company growth or turn around has not happened. Also, because so much debt is incurred to pay the dividends, consulting, and management fees, there is great potential of decreasing the long term viability of the firm.
To me it's kind of a mutation of capitalism. At any rate, a bank that looked at the loans would have had information to review the business projections(did Bain provide accurate numbers and good assumptions) to justify the loan.
If it was risky, they would increase the interest rate charged to reflect the risk, not necessarily deny the loan(especially during periods of easy money)and the interest rate would be pegged to prime, LIBOR, or some other index(not a fixed loan).
Naturally, if the Bain style company triples their investment, and their fees etc. are paid for by loans vs putting the loans into the business, and the company is so debt ridden it has to file bankruptcy a year or two later questions need to be asked.
Did the management firm fulfill it's fiduciary responsibility to both companies or did it enrich itself at the expense of the other. Also, did the management use good judgment, were the assumptions too rosy etc. etc. Loss of jobs is collateral damage, and while unfortunate, is not generic to my analysis.
So the real issue is Romney. Was there any mistakes? Was it poor judgment? Is he so honest that he would always be even handed with the interest of Bain vs the company being managed? Were there events that happened in the economy that should have been allowed for that were overlooked?
I worked for a company that did plenty of acquisitions and mergers, but I would never work as this type of management consultant. Equating this model to Capitalism is like equating a bounty hunter to Law Enforcement.
If I wanted a law in order candidate, I would not choose a bounty hunter. If I want a jobs creator I would not pick someone from the LBO/consultant type of business. Even if they are perfect, the model is not politically viable for too many voters.
If mittens had been the number 1 job creator in the USA as Mass. Governor, he could at least show he knew how to translate his knowledge into policies that help job growth, but his state was in the bottom 4.
The main concern of Americans in the swing states is jobs. I don't think Romney can win on this issue. In fact, defending him has already tainted the term Capitalism. Pubbies themselves should have never labeled these questions as attacks on capitalism. They should have just said, I am sure Romney can answer any questions there might be about this hand full of companies.
Now I don't use the term Vulture capitalism, but I don't ignore that the term exists. It is a well-known term. And like the definition of pornography, Americans know it when they see it. I'm afraid if Romney is the candidate, that's all they will be able to see.
>> “King of Bain”
LOL, now that’s funny.
Ping
:) Thanks!
This story was big on FNC today but not mentioned on MSNBC which is now the Bain's 24/7 channel. It is like Christmas every day now over there at MSNBC, they are celebrating that Republicans finally woke up to the evils of the rich and of capitalism that they lectured us about for years.
From what they were saying at FNC the 'King of Bain' had some very gross errors in it. I did find these with a few minutes of google search:
■The film talks about layoffs at DDi Corp. and discusses questionable manipulation of stock prices after the circuit board company went public. But Romney had left Bain Capital a year before any layoffs and a public stock offering that ultimately netted Bain and Romney a big payday. The company’s subsequent bankruptcy filing came two years after Bain had largely divested from the company, and was the result of the dot-com bust. Moreover, the company emerged from bankruptcy, and its current CEO credits those early Bain investments for setting the foundation for the company’s current success.
■The film claims Romney was involved in the acquisition, management and demise of the now-defunct KB Toys. He wasn’t. Bain bought the toy company nearly two years after Romney left Bain.
■Likewise, the closing of UniMac’s plant in Marianna, Fla., occurred seven years after Romney left Bain and nearly two years after Bain sold UniMac’s parent company to another private equity house
Facts Strained in ‘King of Bain’
This other vid has been posted online by a pro Gingrich PAC called 'Winning Our Future.' and I found it posted on FNC.
FNC Politics , January 11, 2012, HERE IT IS...The Full Romney/Bain Documentary
The King of Bain mini doc/ad is very similar to a Michael Moore movie... in fact it reminds me of his movie ‘Capitalism a Love Story’
After the MSM found and reported a number of gross ‘errors’ in King of Bain accusing Romney of doing things at Bains at times he wasn’t even working there.
Bumping all of your posts!
You are one of the most financially savvy people I know.
Apparently, he’s still being paid by Bain, though.
I’d love a retirement that is that lucrative.
I was really hoping Cain was the real deal. I always said (here) that Romney was the worst candidate the Republicans could represent themselves with. But that was because up until the last few months Newt (before Cain resigned) was not even a possibility. Now I got two 'worst' to live with.
I don't at all like what we are left with to pick from the R party to go against Obama. But to me Newt and Romney are the the same, completely dishonest, unethical and downright immoral
Newt playing the Romney killer does nothing for me if it gets him the nomination. We live in terrible times.
Like you, I’m not happy with the current field of candidates. Romney has no core values, though. I absolutely don’t like that in a person, much less a candidate.
Newt, for all of his flaws, was my last “go to” guy. He’s certainly stirred things up, and is rising in the SC polls.
Newt spent most of his candidacy and the debates going after Obama and the media, and not attacking his fellow candidates. Romney’s guys made a huge mistake in Iowa, though. Spending that kind of money on all of those horrible attack ads against Newt was a recipe for disaster.
People defending Romney’s business practices don’t sway me at all. It was all about getting the “right economics” for Bain and to heck with everything else.
I have no respect for them, or for him.
I certainly don't want you to support Romney as I never would but his fellow viper Newt has become a cult hero at MSNBC the whole last week or so, The rally OWS progressive gang, Sharpton, O Donnel, Maddow, Schultz, all the leftists are cheering him daily over there on their shows.
And his Newt PAC documentary “King of Bain” that documented the story accuses Romney of doing a number of diabolical things that happened before he even worked for Bain. FNC has been reporting it today and its on the internet. Remember the Dan Rather CBS memo in 2004?
This is very bad, Obama must be in joy.
Maybe I’m a tad too close to the kind of business practices that Romney’s firm used.
But, I can tell you this...while what his firm did was legal, even though they were close to skirting the law, sometimes their practices were immoral.
I would love to see that done away with, though I would hope men of principle wouldn’t adhere to those particular business practices.
Frankly, I don’t care who is reporting what. It’s just spin, and FNC is one of the worst at this stage of the game. They love them some Romney!
As far as Obama being in joy, I don’t think so. He and his team were going to hit him over the head with this in October. At least some of the sting has gone out of that swat.
Newt is a big government guy whose record is in some ways worse than Romney's, His ‘work’ after congress had to do with the government enterprises: Fannie and Freddie, Ethanol, Global warming. It all had to do with federal laws and regulations and spending.
As I said, much of the Newt propaganda was based on a video that accused Romney of doing things at Bain BEFORE he even worked there. Its typical but it's been caught.
Did Bain kill more jobs than they created? Would that matter to you?
■The film talks about layoffs at DDi Corp. and discusses questionable manipulation of stock prices after the circuit board company went public. But Romney had left Bain Capital a year before any layoffs and a public stock offering that ultimately netted Bain and Romney a big payday The company’s subsequent bankruptcy filing came two years after Bain had largely divested from the company, and was the result of the dot-com bust. Moreover, the company emerged from bankruptcy, and its current CEO credits those early Bain investments for setting the foundation for the company’s current success.
■The film claims Romney was involved in the acquisition, management and demise of the now-defunct KB Toys. He wasn’t. Bain bought the toy company nearly two years after Romney left Bain.
■Likewise, the closing of UniMac’s plant in Marianna, Fla., occurred seven years after Romney left Bain and nearly two years after Bain sold UniMac’s parent company to another private equity house
Facts Strained in ‘King of Bain’
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