In VA, Romney, Outsourcer-In-Chief Ignored His Record Of Shipping American Jobs Overseas

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns at Carter Machinery Company, Inc., in Salem

Update with video

The first 3 years of the Obama’s administrations will be a failure if SCOTUS strikes down Obama Care , says Mitt Romney.

While distorting the President’s record in Virginia today, Mitt Romney failed to mention his long record of outsourcing and offshoring American jobs. Just last week, the Washington Post reported that as a corporate buyout specialist, Mitt Romney’s companies were ‘pioneers’ in shipping American jobs to low-wage countries like China and India. As Governor, Romney vetoed a bill preventing Massachusetts from sending state jobs overseas and signed a contract setting up a state call center in India. And that’s not just Romney’s record, it’s what he’s proposing today. In fact ,he’s promised to allow corporations to avoid U.S. taxes on overseas profits, which would encourage companies to shift the manufacturing of products like those sold at Carter Machinery, where Romney campaigned today, overseas. America can’t afford an outsourcer-in-chief in the Oval Office.”—Lis Smith, campaign spokeswoman

Here’s the Obama AD running in Virginia:

Here we go with those PESKY old FACTS, Shall we?:

WASHINGTON POST: “ROMNEY’S BAIN CAPITAL INVESTED IN COMPANIES THAT MOVED JOBS OVERSEAS”

Washington Post: “Mitt Romney’s Financial Company, Bain Capital, Invested In A Series Of Firms That Specialized In Relocating Jobs Done By American Workers To New Facilities In Low-Wage Countries Like China And India.”[Washington Post, 6/22/12]

Washington Post: “Bain … Owned Companies That Were Pioneers In The Practice Of Shipping Work From The United States To Overseas Call Centers And Factories.”“During the nearly 15 years that Romney was actively involved in running Bain, a private equity firm that he founded, it owned companies that were pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.” [Washington Post,6/22/12]

Washington Post: “According To A News Release Issued By Modus Media In 1997, Its Expansion Of Outsourcing Services Took Place In Close Consultation With Bain.” “According to a news release issued by Modus Media in 1997, its expansion of outsourcing services took place in close consultation with Bain. Terry Leahy, Modus’s chairman and chief executive, was quoted in the release as saying he would be ‘working closely with Bain on strategic expansion.’ At the time, three Bain directors sat on the corporate board of Modus.” [Washington Post ,6/22/12]

Washington Post: “In Addition To Taking An Interest In Companies That Specialized In Outsourcing Services, Bain Also Invested In Firms That Moved Or Expanded Their Own Operations Outside Of The United States.”[Washington Post, 6/22/12]

BAIN CAPITAL INVESTED IN COMPANIES THAT BUILT CALL CENTERS AND MANUFACTURING FACILITIES OVERSEAS

Washington Post: “Two Years After Bain Invested In The Firm, CSI Merged” To Form Stream International And Became “Active In The Growing Field Of Overseas Call Centers.” “Two years after Bain invested in the firm, CSI merged with another enterprise to form a new company called Stream International Inc. Stream immediately became active in the growing field of overseas calls centers. Bain was initially a minority shareholder in Stream and was active in running the company, providing “general executive and management services,” according to SEC filings.” [Washington Post,6/22/12]

  •  Washington Post: “By 1997, Steam Was Running Three Tech-Support Call Centers In Europe And Was Part Of A Call Center Joint Venture In Japan.” “By 1997, Stream was running three tech-support call centers in Europe and was part of a call center joint venture in Japan, an SEC filing shows. “The Company believes that the trend toward outsourcing technical support occurring in the U.S. is also occurring in international markets,” the SEC filing said.” [Washington Post, 6/22/12]
  • Washington Post: The Corporate Merger That Created Stream Also Created Modus Media, “Which Specialized In Helping Companies Outsource Their Manufacturing.” “The corporate merger that created Stream also gave birth to another, related business known as Modus Media Inc., which specialized in helping companies outsource their manufacturing. Modus Media was a subsidiary of Stream that became an independent company in early 1998. Bain was the largest shareholder, SEC filings show.” [Washington Post, 6/22/12]
  • Washington Post: “Modus Media Grew Rapidly,” With Operations In Asian Countries Including China. “Modus Media grew rapidly. In December 1997, it announced it had contracted with Microsoft to produce software and training products at a center in Australia. Modus Media said it was already serving Microsoft from Asian locations in Singapore, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan and in Europe and the United States. Two years later, Modus Media told the SEC it was performing outsource packaging and hardware assembly for IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Computer Corp. The filing disclosed that Modus had operations on four continents, including Asian facilities in Singapore, Taiwan, China and South Korea, and European facilities in Ireland and France, and a center in Australia.” [Washington Post,6/22/12]

ROMNEY VETOED A BILL TO PREVENT MASSACHUSETTS FROM SENDING STATE JOBS OVERSEAS AND SIGNED A CONTRACT FOR A CALL CENTER IN INDIA

2004: Romney Vetoed Legislation That Would Have Barred Outsourcing of Massachusetts State Jobs Overseas. “In a surprise move, Romney also vetoed a provision barring overseas outsourcing by vendors doing business with the state, even though in March he proposed a $29 million package of incentives designed to discourage Massachusetts companies from moving jobs out of state. Romney said that the plan included in the budget was hastily crafted and would drive away some businesses while failing to create jobs here.” [Boston Globe, 6/26/04]

Romney’s Administration Signed A Contract For A Food Stamp System That Involved A Call Center In India. “When Romney was governor of Massachusetts, his administration signed a $160,000-per-month contract with Citigroup to operate an electronic food stamp system that included a consumer call center in India.” [Boston Globe, Political Intelligence, 5/1/12]

Boston Herald: “Gov. Mitt Romney Admitted Yesterday That He Sent State Jobs To India And Then Utah.” [Boston Herald, 2/23/06]

ROMNEY WOULD ALLOW CORPORATIONS INVESTING OVERSEAS TO AVOID U.S. TAXES

Romney Corporate Tax Plan Included Allowing Multinationals Investing Overseas To Avoid U.S. Taxes By Creating A “Territorial” System. “The United States currently operates under what is known as a ‘worldwide’ tax system, meaning that business income is taxed at the U.S. rate regardless of whether the income is earned within American borders or overseas… It needs to be changed. Other nations have noted the competitive disadvantage inherent in a worldwide tax system, resulting in a gradual movement of countries converting from a worldwide to a ‘territorial’ system, in which income is taxed only in the country where it is earned… Romney supports the recommendation of the Bowles-Simpson Commission to make the switch to a territorial system.” [Romney’s “Believe In America” Jobs Plan, Page 45-46, released 9/6/11]

New York Times Fact Check: A Wide Range Of Economist Who Have Studied The Idea Say That That Eliminating Taxes On Companies’ Foreign Income Would Do Little To Economic Growth.“Mitt Romney said at the debate that he favored a tax holiday that would let companies bring back profits earned in foreign countries… But a wide range of economists who have studied the idea say that such a tax holiday would do little to spur economic growth. The conservative Heritage Foundation, for example, said in a report published last week that a tax holiday on foreign profits would ‘have a minuscule effect on domestic investment and thus have a minuscule effect on the U.S. economy and job creation.’ One big reason: companies are already sitting on record amounts of cash. Money is not the reason that companies are holding back. If they wanted to invest in research, or build new factories, or hire workers, they could. The problem, according to corporate executives, is a lack of demand for their products. Another reason: A tax holiday has been tried before, in 2004, and it did not work. The Internal Revenue Service reported that 843 corporations brought back $312 billion to the United States. But a 2009 study by the published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the corporations mostly gave the money directly to shareholders in the form of dividends.” [New York Times,10/11/11]

National Bureau Of Economic Research: “Repatriations Did Not Lead to An Increase In Domestic Investment, Employment” Or Research And Development. [Boston Globe,3/11/11]

Now who is the FAILURE? Empty rhetoric, NO PLANS, no FACTS, OUTSOURCER-IN-CHIEF, MITT ROMNEY

Will post a video when available.

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