How Romney grew rich by plundering companies

[bigtree]

November 12, 2011

If Mitt Romney wins the GOP nomination for president, the narrative for his 2012 run is pretty clear. He will tout his credentials as a savvy businessman who knows how to create jobs.

What Romney won’t tell you is that what he really knows how to do is create massive amounts of wealth for himself and his partners . . .

Romney co-founded the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1984, and owned 100 percent of the firm from approximately 1992 to 2001. During that time, he made a fortune while thousands of employees in some of the businesses Bain acquired lost their jobs.

The actions of Romney’s firm are detailed in the 2009 book by financial reporter Josh Kosman, The Buyout of America: How Private Equity is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy. The chapter that focuses on Romney and Bain Capital is aptly titled “Plunder and Profit.”

Romney’s Bain Capital also figured out another way to make money from the companies it bought: have the companies borrow even more money and use it to pay the owners (themselves) distributions and dividends . . .

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read more: http://www.suntimes.com/news/otherviews/8766110-452/how-romney-grew-rich-by-plundering-companies.html

[grantcart]

1. k and r

[jpak]

2. Flaming GOP Douchebag

but the morans will vote for him

yup

[emulatorloo]

3. Every DU'er needs to read this story.

Every U.S. voter needs to know about it.

[onehandle]

4. He will be the nominee and his proposal to privatize military health care is the end of him. nt

[PearliePoo2]

5. "Romney figured out another way to make money from the companies it bought"

"have the companies borrow even more money and use it to pay the owners (themselves) distributions and dividends."
“Millions for me, a pink slip for thee,” is the playbook of many private equity firms, and Romney was one of their savviest players.

[nc4bo]

6. What a guy!

Another epic fail GOP candidate.

Thanks for posting this!

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. I heard he made lots of money by firing employees and that the Obama campaign will bring it up at

the appropriate time.

[Doc_Technical]

8. A poster boy

for the term "Capitalist Jackal"

[Old and In the Way]

9. Mitt "Corporations are people, too" Romney

Yes, this will be Mitt's Achilles heel because the results of his 'shorting America for personal profit' philosophy are becoming apparent to anyone with a functioning brain. He can't run from his history of buying and breaking companies for his own economic gain. He'll wear Bain around his neck like a millstone before this campaign is over.

In another era, he'd have dressed as a pirate instead of a business suit.

[girl gone mad]

13. "Corporations are people, too"

I guess that makes him a serial killer.

[ehrnst]

21. And he's Dr. Kevorkian... (nt)

[Octafish]

10. He's what capitalism is all about.

Making a buck.

[louis-t]

11. Repugs are fixated on electing "businessmen" who pillage economies

to enrich themselves. They just...don't... get it.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

12. Mr. Plunder & Profit should be a big story in the media, especially MSNBC

Instead, it's focusing on Mr. Oops and the serial blowjob maniac. How is it that Cain and Perry are getting all the scrutiny while Romney escapes criticism for what should be a major story, given our tough economy and the focus on the nefarious activities of the investor class?

[malaise]

14. K & EffingR!! n/t

[bigtree]

15. more

November 12, 2011

After a Romney Deal, Profits and Then Layoffs

. . . By the time the Harvard M.B.A.’s from Bain were finished, sales at the medical company, Dade International, had more than doubled. The business acquired two of its rivals. And Mr. Romney’s firm collected $242 million, a return eight times its investment.

But an examination of the Dade deal shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that Mr. Romney practiced for 15 years.

At Bain Capital’s direction, Dade quadrupled the money it owed creditors and vendors. It took steps that propelled the business toward bankruptcy. And in waves of layoffs, it cut loose 1,700 workers in the United States, including Brian and Christine Shoemaker, who lost their jobs at a plant in Westwood, Mass. Staggered, Mr. Shoemaker wondered, “How can the bean counters just come in here and say, Hey, it’s over . . .?”

From 1984 to 1999, Mr. Romney and his deputies made fortunes by investing in, acquiring and then selling about 150 companies. It was high-stakes work that shaped Mr. Romney’s values and views, taught him the art of salesmanship and negotiation and took him deep inside the boardrooms and factories of American business . . .



read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/13/us/politics/after-mitt-romney-deal-company-showed-profits-and-then-layoffs.html?pagewanted=print

[Angry Dragon]

16. the man is evil

[Donnachaidh]

17. you know, when the Mafia did this shit it was called a *breakdown*

"Romney’s Bain Capital also figured out another way to make money from the companies it bought: have the companies borrow even more money and use it to pay the owners (themselves) distributions and dividends."

And the FBI would go after them with RICO. But thanks to zombie Reagan this has become the elite's version of a big game hunt.

[bigtree]

18. .

[HCE SuiGeneris]

19. "Get a job!" Then I'll sack you and ravage the firm...

Fuck you, Mittens.

[bigtree]

20. kick

[treestar]

22. Already heard that one

Obama has never run a business/ Romney/Cain has. They claim that as "executive" experience!

[backscatter712]

23. I keep telling people - he's Gordon Gekko with magic underwear. n/t