Willard Romney says that the reason he is qualified to be President of the United States is because he knows how to take care of the economy and President Obama doesn’t.
He’s not saying that he had executive experience because he was the Governor of Massachusetts – something that he has completely run away from. Look at Willard’s campaign – it’s like his time as the Governor of Massachusetts just doesn’t exist.
He’s not running on foreign policy experience – remember the articles from last week about him ‘forming a foreign policy after the election’.
No. He’s staked his claim on why he should be President because he’s a rich White man, and the crux of that is Bain Capital.
I’m fine if he wants folks to judge him on his time at Bain Capital.
LET US DISCUSS HIS TIME AT BAIN.
Let us discuss the American workers that were given the shaft by Willard and Bain.
Let us discuss the fundamentals of how Bain made money. They weren’t about making jobs. They were about making money.
But, they don’t want to discuss that. They don’t want to talk about:
1. the jobs he shipped overseas
2. the companies he bankrupted
3. the people whose economic lives he ruined.
They wanna bullshyt and call that the President’s attempt at ‘character assassination’.
Just once I wish someone from the Obama campaign to retort – you’d actually have to HAVE CHARACTER in order for it to be assassinated, but I know they can’t.
It’s not character assassination to break it down to the American people that Willard and Bain didn’t give a rat’s ass about ‘creating jobs’. They were all about ‘ making money’. And, they rigged the game, so, whether the company succeeded OR FAILED – Bain made money.
The whole 99% vs. 1% isn’t about the 99% being ‘envious’. They just know unfair bullshyt when they see it.
People understand – if a company is doing successful, then yes, people should make money.
But, it’s hard to explain, in anything other than 1% ridiculousness, how, if you run a company INTO BANKRUPTCY, how your ass should walk away with MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
And, that is EXACTLY what Willard and Bain did – time after time.
Time after time, bankrupting companies, walking away from the pension and medical benefit obligations of employees and retirees, while making MILLIONS for themselves.
On top of that, not only walking away from those worker and retiree obligations, but putting the AMERICAN TAXPAYER on the hook for them.
All while Willard – AND BAIN – walked away with MILLIONS.
THIS is why Bain is fair game.
Willard has said he should be President because of his ‘ business experience’.
Therefore, every inch of what was done at Bain is part of what the American People have a RIGHT TO KNOW.
SB 1070, HB 56 and other copy-cat racist Jim Crow laws.
WHEN INJUSTICE BECOMES LAW, RESISTANCE BECOMES DUTY.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cuauhtemoc-hidalgo_villa-zapata/7758938472/in/photostream/
Nice post. You might want to read the following if you have a chance:
http://politicdiscourse.com/2012/07/16/america-is-not-a-business/
It echos much of what you have stated.
Pingback: Bain Capital is Romney’s Bain | Bridging the Gap
Great post! It doesn’t take long to realize that Romney’s experience at Bain is just one more reason to make sure he stays out of the White House. How can someone expect to run the country when they don’t understand what life is like for 99% of its citizens?
Hi – I love your blog – and have given you a Versatile Blogger Award – & of course now see you already have one!! Sorry, I guess I was focused on the blog not the side panel!
Here is the link where you are listed
http://akandrew.com/receiving-versatile-blogger-award
Keep on , keeping on
Best A.K.
Hi everyone…I think that you all need to see this and write about this here. Needs to be seen by everyone and understood for what it is. Planned treason against the people of the United States. Republicans should never be trusted with govt again. EVER.
Hi desertflower. Welcome to 3 Chics. Thank you. We always appreciate the sharing of improtant information and have already done a post on this topic. Feel free to peruse the blog and our other posts.
See link below:
http://3chicspolitico.com/2012/06/11/michael-brendan-dougherty-mitch-mcconnell-tells-gopers-not-to-pass-anything-until-after-the-election/
Thank you, Ametia…I stopped by from TOD and posted this here because of the importance…you beat me to it:) Thanks for the link, I will check it out now…I come here often, but lurk…and I must confess to liking that “swagger” video a little too much:) Thanks for all you do.
Pingback: Good article today over at PoliticusUSA.com: « Under The LobsterScope
Damn straight Bain Capital is fair game! Just ask the people who lost their jobs because of it.
Venture capitalism can and has made good strides in moving our economy forward, but morally it doesn’t have a leg to stand on. It is a process where you KNOWINGLY load up a company with debt, fire its work force if necessary, and do whatever else is necessary in order to turn a profit for investors. The workers at the companies themselves are a mere afterthought.
We did a post on it back during the GOP primary:
http://www.theurbanpolitico.com/2012/01/how-romney-destroyed-jobs-and-why-it.html
Good mroning, Janitor. Good to see you, this fine Sunday. Thank you for droping link/knowledge for our community. I’m Looking forward to reading your post too.
Ladies: I’m glad to see the dustup over Obama speaking on behalf of same-sex marriage hasn’t broken up the blog. I like all 3 of your contributions and as we begin this long hot summer, I look forward to reading all 3 of you.
Reblogged this on The Daniels Group Public Relations.
TRANSCRIPT
RATTNER: Romney Was Not A Job Creator In Private Sector Or Massachusetts
In a conversation on MSNBC in which Andrea Mitchell cited the view that Mitt Romney’s claim of job creation is “silly and contradictory” and discussed the Romney campaign’s “false accounting,” Steve Rattner today highlighted that Mitt Romney’s record in both the public and private sectors was about maximizing profits for himself and his investors, not creating jobs. He accused Romney of “misleading people” into believing he created jobs in the private sector. Below is the video and transcript of the exchange:
MITCHELL: Many people believe that what Mitt Romney has done in claiming he is a job creator and that is his record from Bain Capital is as you point out, silly and contradictorybecause Bain Capital was not in business to create jobs, they were in business to make money for investors. At the same time, was he that eager, so eager, to avoid being tagged as the former Massachusetts governor? That he doesn’t want to talk about the Massachusetts record for probably a number of reasons but also because that is not what he wants to be his calling card. He wants to be the businessman, the guy who can get things done, who can fix it, not… that liberal Massachusetts record, which is the sort of stereotype.
RATTNER: Well that liberal Massachusetts record and, of course, there’s the point thatMassachusetts was 47th in job creation when he was governor…. he seems to much prefer to be thought of as a business guy. I would have no problem with that. I think business is a useful experience, not saying it qualifies you to be president but as he said, it’s part of life’s experience. It’s when he reweaves history and tries to turn a perfectly respectable business career into some idea he was the world’s greatest job creator that I think he is misleading people.
MITCHELL: The Republicans including the other day when I was interviewing Eric Fehrnstrom claim that Mitt Romney has created more net jobs in his role as a governor and as a Bain Capital executive than President Obama has for the entire nation. And it just seems like that’s really false accounting because he’s counting every job that Bain Capital ever created before or after he even left the company and every job that was lost in the national economy during that first month or two when President Obama took it over when it was still recording the results .. of the Bush record.
RATTNER: That’s exactly right. You know the old joke about “lies, damn lies and statistics.” You can do whatever you want with numbers. To start with Romney’s numbers, you’re correct thatmost of those 100,000 jobs actually are Staples. 90,000 of those 100,000 jobs are a small investment that Bain Capital made in the late 1980s in Staples. Staples went public a few years later when it had 1,100 employees. when Romney left it had 40,000 employees but he’s taking credit for all 90,000. The flipside is when president Obama runs an ad talking about jobs that were lost at a steel company that Bain invested in, Romney says well I wasn’t there then, I was gone already.
See Mitt, REGULAR, HARD-WORKING AMERICANS ARE SPEAKING OUT AGAINST YOUR BRAND OF ECONOMIC LEADERSHIP.
RETHUGS ON ROMNEY & VENTURE/VULTURE CAPITALISM
Obama On Romney’s Bain Experience: The President’s Job ‘Is Not Simply To Maximize Profits’
By Igor Volsky on May 21, 2012 at 5:00 pm
During a press conference Monday afternoon, President Obama hit back against critics — including surrogate and Newark Mayor Cory Booker — who have expressed disappointment over his campaign’s effort to attack Mitt Romney’s record of job creation at Bain Capital, a leveraged buyout firm the former Massachusetts governor headed from 1984 to 1999.
“The reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president, is his business experience,” Obama said. “He is not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He’s saying, ‘I’m a business guy, I know how to fix it.’” Obama explained that while private equity is “set up to maximize profits” for shareholders, the president is responsible for the health of the economy as a whole and fostering job creation:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/05/21/487963/obama-romney-private-equity/
Former Bain Executive: Romney Bears Blame For Ampad Layoffs
A former Managing Director of Bain Capital who sat on Ampad’s board said in 2002 Romney carries responsibility for the plant’s closing.
Posted May 21, 2012 1:10pm EDT
The Obama campaign continued its attack on Mitt Romney’s business today, releasing an ad about the controversial closing of Ampad, a paper company in Marion, Indiana. The ad uses many of the same people featured in an ad released by Ted Kennedy in his 1994 Senate race against Romney, which was viewed as helping to torpedo Romney’s campaign.
In 1994 Romney sidestepped questions related to the plant’s layoffs by saying he was on a leave of absence from the company at the time during his run for Senate. Romney’s explanation is similar to that he recently used to deflect recent Democratic criticism of Bain layoffs at GTS Steel, saying he had already left to run the Olympics when Bain acquired the company.
But according to a 2002 interview with former managing director of Bain Capital Marc Wolpow, Romney was directly responsible for Ampad’s layoffs. Wopow and a fellow Bain partner sat on the board of directors of Ampad, and were responsible with carrying out the Bain business plan that caused the layoffs.
“My job was to maximize the profits to Bain Capital’s partners from the Ampad transaction,” Wolpow told the Globe in 2002.
Wolpow said Romney was responsible for the business plan carried out by Bain in Indiana.”Mitt’s employees executed that transaction,” he said. “We carried out the business plan. He was CEO of the firm.”
http://www.buzzfeed.com/andrewkaczynski/former-bain-executive-romney-bears-blame-for-ampa
Booker, you must have gotten too much HEAT from saving that lady in the house fire last month, because your GOOSE IS COOKED!
VIDEO: Romney Ecomics: Ampad
The Obama campaign has released another online video called about another company that Bain Capital bought, loaded with debt, and then bankrupted. This on is called Job Loss and Bankruptcy at Ampad. In it, former workers at American Pad & Paper (Ampad), located in Marion, Indidana, describe what happened after Bain Capital became the majority owner. Bain is the the the venture capital firm that Mitt Romney started, the source of his great wealth.
http://www.dirigoblue.com/2012/05/video-romney-ecomics-ampad/
THE BAIN GOES ON…
This Is Mittens Romeny’s Idea Of Job Creation
May 21st, 2012 · No Comments
The Obama Camp has a nice new video about Mittens Romney that focuses on job loss and bankruptcy at a company called Ampad.
Ampad’s a paper company that purchased and quickly closed a plant in Marion, IN – killing all 250 jobs. The company went on to shed a total of 1,500 jobs while Mittens and his investors pocketed more than 20 times what they initially invested.
Mittens loves to talk about his business experience as his main qualification for being president. His most frequent claim is that he’ll use that experience to boost the economy, create jobs and reduce the deficit.
http://pageonekentucky.com/2012/05/21/this-is-mittens-romenys-idea-of-job-creation/
FULL TEXT
” President Obama’s comments on Romney Economics
“I think it’s important to recognize that this issue is not a, quote, distraction. This is part of the debate that we’re going to be having in this election campaign about how do we create an economy where everybody from top to bottom, folks on Wall Street and folks on Main Street, have a shot at success, and if they’re working hard and they’re acting responsibly, that they’re able to live out the American dream. Now, I think my view of private equity is that it is – it is set up to maximize profits and that’s a healthy part of the free market. That’s – that’s part of the role of a lot of business people. That’s not unique to private equity, and as I think my representatives have said repeatedly, and I will say today, I think there are folks who do good work in that area, and there are times where they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. But understand that their priority is to maximize profits. And that’s not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers.
“And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He’s not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He’s saying,’ I’m a business guy and I know how to fix it,’ and this is his business.
“And when you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off and how are we paying them for their retraining? Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so that they can attract new businesses. Your job as president is to think about how we set up an equitable tax system so that everybody’s paying their fair share that allows us then to invest in science and technology and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow. And so, if your main argument for how to grow the economy is, ‘I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,’ then you’re missing what this job is about. It doesn’t – it doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity, but that’s not what my job is as president. My job is to take into account everybody, not just some. My job is to make sure that the country is growing not just now, but ten years from now and twenty years from now.
“And so, to repeat, this is not a distraction. This is what this campaign’s going to be about, is: what is a strategy for us to move this country forward, in a way where everybody can succeed? And that means I’ve got to think about those workers in that video just as much as I’m thinking about folks who have been much more successful.”
GO AHEAD, MR. PRESIDENT.
GET ‘EM!!
MItt Romney
Romney Economics, Ampad Edition
By Oliver Willis
May 21,2012
The Obama campaign has released a new video detailing what Mitt Romney did at Ampad, another company unlucky enough to get in the way of the “vulture capitalists”* at Bain Capital.
http://www.thedailybanter.com/2012/05/romney-economics-ampad-edition/
PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS SPOKEN
““Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He’s not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts. He’s saying, I’m a business guy, and I know how to fix it, and this is his business.
And when you’re president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. Your job is to think about those workers who get laid off, and how are we paying for their retraining. Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so they can attract new businesses. Your job as president is to think about how do we set up an equitable tax system so that everybody’s paying their fair share, that allows us then to invest in science, and technology, and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow.
And so if your main argument for how to grow the economy is “I knew how to make a lot of money for investors,” then you’re missing what this job is about. It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity. But that’s not what my job is as president.
My job is to take into account everybody, not just some. My job is to make sure the country is growing not just now, but 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”
Obama: Bain Is Romney’s “Main Calling Card” Monday, May 21, 2012
At NATO Summit, POTUS says, “This issue is not — quote — a distraction. This is what this campaign is going to be about.”
Obama: “His main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. He’s not going out there touting his work in Massachusetts.”
Halperin’s Take
Praising Booker as a “great mayor” and slamming Romney was the wise move, and a well executed one. The similarities between Bush ’04 and Obama ’12 persist. The President just lays in wait for questions about his Massachusetts challenger, then hits with humor, conviction, and incredulity
Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2012/05/21/obama-bain-is-romneys-main-calling-card/#ixzz1vXfTxpVm
Reince Prebius and nem can whine all they like. BAIN IS “SANE” campagin issue. Tee hee hee
Pingback: Mitt-Wit’s Bain Problem | A Feather Adrift
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9xz4YkUurQ
See the result of your NAUSEA, BOOKER?
BOOKER & FORD; these two right here.. Confederate Flag-posing nappy-headed Ford, and staged rescue from snows and fire Booker, trying hard MUCH!
TEE HEE HEE! I guess Bain is IMPORTANT.
Campaign 2012 , President Obama , Politics
President Obama’s campaign shifts attack on Mitt Romney to story of American Pad & Paper
05/21/2012 7:23 AM
After attacking Mitt Romney and Bain Capital last week for their dealings with a Missouri steel company, the Obama campaign today is turning to the tale of a closed Indiana office supply company that then-Senator Edward M. Kennedy used to repel Romney in their 1994 race.
The saga of SCM Office Supplies Inc. in Marion, Ind., was used by Kennedy in television ads and campaign trail appearances by SCM workers to undercut Romney as he mounted the most serious reelection challenge of Kennedy’s career.
Bain-owned American Pad & Paper bought SCM in 1994, only to cut wages and benefits before closing the Marion plant a year later. Over 200 workers lost their job.
By 2000, Ampad itself was declaring bankruptcy, while the Romney-led Bain and its investors had reaped over $100 million in profits.
http://www.boston.com/politicalintelligence/2012/05/21/president-obama-campaign-shifts-attack-mitt-romney-story-american-pad-paper/GTIylGeTzMj7nULqrB6FeM/story.html
By MAGGIE HABERMAN |
5/21/12 10:08 AM EDT
The Obama campaign is opening up a fresh line of attack on Bain Capital using the story of Ampad, an ultimately bankrupt company backed by Bain that laid off all 250 workers at an Indiana factory it purchased in 1994 and added debt to its rolls for years after.
The story of the workers laid off by Ampad — who had to reapply for their jobs with smaller wages and benefits, only to see their Indiana plant close within a year — has been told to great effect in the past, particularly in Mitt Romney’s 1994 U.S. Senate race against the late Ted Kennedy. The company kept adding other firms to its rolls, amassing debt while several hundred workers were laid off between 1995 and 1999.
The company went into bankruptcy in 2000, holding a debt load of more than $400 million. Bain’s return on its $5 million investment was $100 million.
But a final bankruptcy filing on the firm in last December also shows what happened to Ampad creditors. Out of a debt load of $170 million owed to unsecured creditors, Ampad ended up paying out less than $330,000, the filings show.
That amounts to two-tenths of a cent for every dollar owed in that case.
Among those owed money was the pension fund for Niagara Envelope, a New York-based company that Ampad picked up during Bain’s tenure, and where there were a number of job losses. It was owed over $700,000, but was on track to get back under $1,500, the records show.
Ampad also owed more than $240,000 to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., but it was granted a recoup of only $458.07.
The Obama campaign is holding a call this morning to double down on Bain, and the Ampad filing will be part of the line of attack.
The campaign is also out with a new video showing laid-off Ampad workers.
A Romney spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to an email for comment.
http://www.politico.com/blogs/burns-haberman/2012/05/bankruptcy-report-on-bainowned-ampad-creditors-repaid-124072.html
Mon May 21, 2012 at 06:41 AM PDT.
Obama campaign continues attack on Romney economics, hitting Bain’s profit from Ampad bankruptcy
Following last week’s video focusing on how Mitt Romney’s Bain Capital profited from the bankruptcy of GST Steel, the Obama campaign is today releasing a new video (above) and slideshow focused on how Romney’s company made $100 million while sending Bain-owned American Pad and Paper into bankruptcy and destroying hundreds of jobs at SCM Office Supplies in Marion, Indiana.
The video and slideshow is the second installment in a series of what the campaign is calling “case studies” focusing on “Romney Economics.” Although last week’s video included a two-minute spot for television advertising, there doesn’t seem to be a paid media component to this week’s ad. Although the Obama Super PAC Priorities USA is running a strong 30-second spot, the campaign hasn’t yet released a 30-second ad hitting Romney for Bain, but you have to figure that’s coming soon.
While Bain walked away from the bankruptcy and plant closing with $100 million, as The Boston Globe’s Glen Johnson points out, the saga helped ensure Mitt Romney’s defeat in his 1994 U.S. Senate race against Ted Kennedy:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/21/1093421/-Obama-campaign-continues-attack-on-Romneynomics-hitting-Bain-s-profit-from-Ampad-bankruptcy
Hi Everyone. I’ve just completed a conference call on Romney Economics video AMPAD hosted by Ben LaBolt, OFA national Press Secretary. Here’s a recap:
Love the new title given to Mitt Romney: “CORPORATE BUYOUT SPEACIAL”
Ben repeated this throughout the call. I snicked every time he said it too! :-)
*Ben started the call immediately addressing Booker’s comment on MTP regarding private equity. He said we are not trying to dog priviate equity. This is all about VALUES AND LESSONS from the experience. He said Booker later expanded on his comment and said that Romney had not been forthright about his tenure at Bain. Romney’s economics was all about maximizes for profits for him and his partners. They succeeded and the workers FAILED.
AMPAD ended in bankruptcy wno jobs, just profts. The workers got the shaft, while investors reaped millions. It took 11 years for creditors to get any compensation. Romney would bring those same values to his position as POTUS and we would have servere consequences. We can play by 2 sets of rules here.
Randy Johnson, former AMPAD employer said Bain bought AMPAD, fired the workers, sending in security guards to escort them out of the plant.
1. They received a one page note saying they were layoff/firing, and weren’t given any reasons for the fired.
2. Some of them were rehired
3. Slashed benefits and no retirement
4. GA, TX, CA and Ny Ampad closings
5. Romney stands for NO JOBS, JUST PROFITS
Randy said he and his family,a nd co workers were devasted from the firing, and if Romney took these values to the WH, it would be devasting for Americans. Romney is DISQUALIFIED TO BE POTUS.
Randy said:
President Obama “sticks up” for the Middle class. Romney “sticks it to us.”
Caller Josh said he’d heard that the AMPAD workers received a “quasi” apology letter from Romney, so he asked Randy Johnson to explain. Randy said he’s written Romeny a personal letter the day the plant closed. Romney sent a faxed note stating he’s hoped that the workers weren’t being “decieved” by Ted Kennedy’s statements about the closings. Randy said the letter was very “condescending.” The note came too late, Romney had already lost the election to Kennedy and was back at BAIN CAPITAL. Randy said he’d tried earlier to get Romney to engage him to no avail.
Caller Robert stated that many candidates get elected with a business background, why wouldn’t Romney qualify to create jobs? Randy said Romey never created products nor jobs to raise his family. He only destroyed jobs and working class families by investing in companies and profitting off their bankruptcies.
Caller John stated that Mitt campained in 1994 and had no decision-making authority at Bain Capital at that time. Ben said if you follow the timeline, Mark Walbury (sp) the managing director at Bain worked directly under Mitt Romney, and Romney knew exactly what was going down.
Caller Zeke asked Ben if he thought the Obama campaign was going negative, after PBO ran on a promise to change the way things were done in Washington, including negative campaigns.
Ben said NOT.AT.ALL. The Repbulicans have been tearing down the president for years. The Obama camp will run on a campaign with his record. And that includes Romney’s claim to job creation and economy with his record. Romney thinks that anything that is said about his years at bain is negative, but if he wants to run on Bain, we’re game.
1,500 hard-wroking Amercian workers unemployed. the bucks stops at Romney’s desk. He was concerned only with cashing in on his investments.
Well, folks, that’s it for now. It was a quick call, and I felt I got my questions answered, without asking. I’d recommend keepin a list of questions handy, and we’ll see if they can be asked on the next call.
I appreciate all the folks sharing their stories. And the black woman sharing that she wasn’t raised by her parents to look for handouts, this rings true for many black families. The sterotypes about welfare queens and blacks are lazy meme is bullshit. I can’t think of any one I’ve known in my communitiy that didn’t work and earn their living. Even those who lost a job, looked and received some help, unitl they found another one.
I think it’s a damn shame what Mitt Romney and his buddies have done to the folks in Marion, IN. Who wants this kind of leadership in the WH?
If that man gets in office…man oh man.
Hi SHO; please feel free to share this link with friends and family:
http://www.romneyeconomics.com/ampad
I try to always share.
Thanks for the post, rikyrah. And you’re spot on about Romney having a character to assassinate.
If he has learned anything from the Rove playbook, it’s PROJECTION!
I’ll be on a conference call this morning at 10:30 a.m. to discuss the AMPAD video above. Please post any questions you’d like me to ask on the call. Randy Johnson, former Ampad worker w’ll be on the call too.
THANKS!