Posted on 06/30/2012 9:25:15 AM PDT by Kaslin
We all know the story by now. Mitt was the king of job killers during his time at Bain. Among his many sins, shipping tons of jobs overseas while leaving starving Americans holding out their hands. The oft maligned Factcheck.org takes a looks at the claims and – this time – finds them coming up short.
- One TV ad, called “Come and Go,” claims that Romney “shipped jobs to China and Mexico.” But two examples cited by the Obama campaign occurred after Romney left Bain. There’s no clear evidence that a third company shipped jobs to China under Romney.
- A second ad called “Revealed” mocks Romney’s tough talk about cracking down on China’s trade practices by saying “all he’s ever done is send them our jobs” and citing the Washington Post article. But the newspaper article contained no examples of U.S. jobs being shipped to China while Romney was working at Bain.
- The “Come and Go” ad casts Romney as a “corporate raider,” but that term, loaded with negative connotations, is simply inaccurate. Bain didn’t engage in hostile takeovers when Romney was at the helm.
- That ad also repeats the claim that as governor of Massachusetts, Romney was “outsourcing state jobs to India.” But it wasn’t the state that outsourced contracts. Rather, Romney vetoed a measure that would have prevented the state from doing business with a state contractor that was locating state customer-service calls in India.
Analysis
Ours was not a comprehensive review of every company Bain Capital invested in — there are hundreds — nor every one of the transactions the company undertook on behalf of those companies. It is incumbent upon the Obama campaign to back up its claims. Our conclusions are based on the examples provided by the Obama campaign and — because the Obama ads cited a Washington Post story — the examples cited in that newspaper’s account.
Outsourcing is a problem for the American economy,and anyone who denies that is living in a dream world. Recent reports have confirmed that some of our largest employers, most notably IBM, are still draining jobs like a whirlpool while expanding their total employment numbers overseas. But before one goes pointing that hot-button gun at a target they need to be able to back it up.
It’s important to note that Romney’s time at Bain was a while ago, when outsourcing was still just getting its feet under the table. Bain wasn’t specializing in sending jobs anywhere, though arguably some of the restructured companies moved their facilities to states with more favorable tax laws. But that’s very different from outsourcing as we know it today.
Patrick Pexton has some details on this you should probably read to fill in the blanks on both sides.
The companies that Bain identified and invested in, while Romney was at the helm, and that were the subject of the disputed June 22 Post article, were these U.S. companies helping the Microsofts of the world to outsource and offshore.
These companies were small in the late 1990s, but they’re giants today. Stream Global Services, ModusLink, and StatsChipPac — present-day descendants of three companies that Bain heavily invested in during Romney’s era — are now among the biggest outsourcing companies in the world, with call centers, factories and facilities, mostly in Asia, but also across the globe, that support U.S. high-tech companies.
Of course, it’s a buzz-phrase that polls pretty well so Team Obama will hit it as hard as they can. In this case, though, the attack comes up long on hyperbole and short on facts.
Of course, the Obamists will never mention all the free trade agreements Obama has signed since being in office...and there has not yet been a free trade agreement that has not shipped jobs out of America
Obama hypocrisy on steroids. Unfortunately, the liberal Free Traders in the GOP will not mention this about Obama...since they agree with Obama on free trade
But this thread is SOP because
RINO Romney, the Magic RINO, must again defend HIMSELF.
The fact remains that Romney, AUTHOR of ObamaCARE/RomneyCARE,
brought Massachusetts to its KNEES.
But when does TRUTH have to do with anything to Tyrants?
"As U.S. real output grew 13 percent between 2002 and 2006, Massachusetts trailed at 9 percent.
* Manufacturing employment fell 7 percent nationwide those years, but sank 14 percent under Romney, placing Massachusetts 48th among the states.
* Between fall 2003 and autumn 2006, U.S. job growth averaged 5.4 percent, nearly three times Massachusetts' anemic 1.9 percent pace.
* While 8 million Americans over age 16 found work between 2002 and 2006, the number of employed Massachusetts residents actually declined by 8,500 during those years.
"Massachusetts was the only state to have failed to post any gain in its pool of employed residents," professors Sum and McLaughlin concluded.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal."
[Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004.]
Which is worse? Doing it voluntarily and privately like Romney, or doing it through coercion and presidential dictate like Oboma?
Which is better? A free market, or governmental slavery?
You choose in November.
One of the realities about freedom is that it sometimes allows people to do things that you may not like. If I want to buy something made in China, or Korea, or Indonesia, I should be free to do so. If I have a company, and it makes me more competitive to have my products made overseas, I should be free to do so. Free trade means freedom. Labor should not be protected from competition. It makes them inefficient and, well, lazy. If you want to buy thing made only in America, you are free to do that too. Outsourcing just is not an issue with me, and it never will be.
One of the realities about freedom is that it sometimes allows people to do things that you may not like. If I want to buy something made in China, or Korea, or Indonesia, I should be free to do so. If I have a company, and it makes me more competitive to have my products made overseas, I should be free to do so. Free trade means freedom. Labor should not be protected from competition. It makes them inefficient and, well, lazy. If you want to buy thing made only in America, you are free to do that too. Outsourcing just is not an issue with me, and it never will be.
Four reasons why jobs are shipped overseas:
1.) Unions
2.). OSHA
3.). EPA
4.). IRS
93% of private sector workers in the USA are NON-Union. The jobs were not shipped because of unions so take that one off your list.
And we are free to slap a tariff on your ass.
So the lower 50% of the country with below 100 IQ's should find other work like community organizing? The social chaos of off shoring is inexcusable. It is a zero sum game. It costs us national security. We can recruit and train troops in a hurry, you can't build a steel mill over night.
Exactly
Which is worse? Doing it voluntarily and privately like Romney, or doing it through coercion and presidential dictate like Oboma?
Which is better? A free market, or governmental slavery?
My choice on November 6 will be Mitt Romney and my reason is that he is 1000 times better then that arrogant, lazy, lying pos occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and nothing will change my mind You choose in November.
What do you consider private sector jobs? Working in office or in factories? I got news for you factory jobs are indeed being shipped overseas. You better take your blinders down
Keep your terms straight, please. You're making the same mistake Obama's making.
"Outsourcing" is a company hiring another company to perform a task previously done in-house. For example, hiring Paychex in Rochester, NY to do your payroll is outsourcing.
"Offshoring" is outsourcing to a company in another country. Which, by the way, I don't find objectionable at all if it saves your company some bucks.
Bain Capital did virtually no offshoring while Romney was there. There are many reasons to criticize Romney; offshoring isn't one. And for so many to complain about outsourcing is just ignorant.
There are no shortage of sell outs, traitors.
The textile industry is a prime example of this.
Same can be said of steel
Same can be said of aviation
All three were union heavy before they declined
How many textile mills are there now compared to 10, 20, 30, or even 40 years ago?
How many large steel mills are there now?
How many large aircraft manufacturers are there now?
The greedy unions have collective bargained themselves out of their jobs.... That's a fact.
Well I am (only partly) in agreement, and frankly less and less now by the day.
You had said:
“Offshoring” is outsourcing to a company in another country.
China is manipulating trade. And there seems (nothing) from either party being done to stop that.
Nothing.
The Fed attempts to manipulate trade all the time by printing dollars to keep the exchange rate lower than the market would put it. It's the primary reason central banks exist.
It's also why Obama came out with a goal of increasing exports. We all know he has no plan to do so, but Bernanke has assured him that devaluing the dollar will increase our exports. It won't -- or at least won't for very long
Now, if by "China manipulating trade," you mean trying to keep the Yuan stable against the dollar, you're right. But, as I said before, virtually every country on earth is doing the same to its currency. China's no different.
It's a stupid game, but don't think for a minute that the United States is some poor, little weakling destined to suffer a trade deficit. We're not.
You see, the flip-side to Bernanke's money printing to lower the exchange rate is that prices and wages inflate here keeping foreign goods more competitive. By the way, you've probably read that since China's inflation has gone out of control, their trade surplus is starting to decrease.
Seems they've learned from the masters [us] how to screw a good thing.
P.S. Watch Japan this year. After a decade of keeping the money supply stable, the Bank of Japan has started to inflate. Why? To drive down the price of Yen, of course. Japan's trade surplus will be gone before long.
And Free Trade will have had nothing to do with it.
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