Thread: Mitt Romney

so how is it possible for romney to be the sole share holder, CEO and president of bain capital up to 2002...and still claim he had nothing to do with the company after 1999?

he "retired retroactively".

seriously.

this is what his campaign is putting out....with a straight face, no less.

Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to Mitt Romney, on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley. Gillespie told Crowley on Sunday that Romney, who has faced a slew of criticism this week over when exactly he left Bain Capital, "retired retroactively" from Bain.

Read more: Ed Gillespie: Mitt Romney 'Retired Retroactively' From Bain Capital - Business Insider

oh man.

retired retroactively.....that one is going to go down in presidential campaign lore.

There is of course no such thing as 'retiring retroactively'. Mitt's been caught red handed telling porkies, and that won't help his chances one iota. Character matters, Mitt.

Huffpo's poll of Polls currently has Obama winning the election on strong and 'Obama leaning' states alone, which would deliver 281 electoral college votes against the 270 needed for victory.. he can thus lose all four of the current 'toss-up' states including Fla, but even that is unlikely. It's smelling like burnt toast over there in the Romney bus, unless they can pull something big out of the bag.
http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/...ectoral-map?hw

Originally Posted by Boon Mee

Source

your source,......

American Enterprise Institute

Some AEI scholars are considered to be some of the leading architects of the second Bush administration's public policy.

^
Doesn't deny the facts of the issue tho does it? When even CNN, the Washington Post and Factcheck.org state that a Democrat National Socialist is full of shit, then it’s fair to assume that he is. But that’s all that he has to run on and, as one of the Socialists’ great philosophers said:

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State."

To start this early in the campaign with such blatant, outrageous lies shows how pathetically desperate they are.

^My god what a whine! I guess somebody hit a nerve.

A big FU to Romney

The buck stops with me

Noted left-wing moonbat site Bloomberg.com is having a go too...

bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/romney-s-bain-yielded-private-gains-socialized-losses.html

(I can't post links because my post count is too low apparently, stick in the usual h t t p : / / w w w at the front of the link and C&P)

Mitt Romney touts his business acumen and job-creation record as a key qualification for being the next U.S. president.

What’s clear from a review of the public record during his management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors. When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain. Romney privatized the gains and socialized the losses.

What’s less clear is how his skills are relevant to the job of overseeing the U.S. economy, strengthening competitiveness and looking out for the welfare of the general public, especially the middle class.

Thanks to leverage, 10 of roughly 67 major deals by Bain Capital during Romney’s watch produced about 70 percent of the firm’s profits. Four of those 10 deals, as well as others, later wound up in bankruptcy. It’s worth examining some of them to understand Romney’s investment style at Bain Capital.

In 1986, in one of its earliest deals, Bain Capital acquired Accuride Corp., a manufacturer of aluminum truck wheels. The purchase was 97.5 percent financed by debt, a high level of leverage under any circumstances. It was especially burdensome for a company that was exposed to aluminum-price volatility and cyclical automotive production.
Casino Capitalism

Forty-to-one leverage is casino capitalism that hugely magnifies gains and losses. Bain Capital wisely chose to flip the company fast: After 18 months, it sold Accuride, converting its $2.6 million sliver of equity into a $61 million capital gain. That deal, which yielded a 1,123 percent annualized return, was critical to Bain Capital’s early success and led the firm to keep maximizing the use of leverage.

In 1992, Bain Capital bought American Pad & Paper by financing 87 percent of the purchase price. In the next three years, Ampad borrowed to make acquisitions, repay existing debt and pay Bain Capital and its investors $60 million in dividends.

As a result, the company’s debt swelled from $11 million in 1993 to $444 million by 1995. The $14 million in annual interest expense on this debt dwarfed the company’s $4.7 million operating cash flow. The proceeds of an initial public offering in July 1996 were used to pay Bain Capital $48 million for part of its stake and to reduce the company’s debt to $270 million.

From 1993 to 1999, Bain Capital charged Ampad about $18 million in various fees. By 1999, the company’s debt was back up to $400 million. Unable to pay the interest costs and drained of cash paid to Bain Capital in fees and dividends, Ampad filed for bankruptcy the following year. Senior secured lenders got less than 50 cents on the dollar, unsecured lenders received two- tenths of a cent on the dollar, and several hundred jobs were lost. Bain Capital had reaped capital gains of $107 million on its $5.1 million investment.

Bain Capital’s acquisition in 1994 of Dade International, a supplier of in-vitro diagnostic products, was 81 percent financed by debt. Of the $85 million in equity, about $27 million came from Bain with the rest coming from a group of investors that included Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

From 1995 to 1999, Bain Capital tripled Dade’s debt from about $300 million to $902 million. Some of the debt was used to pay for acquisitions of DuPont Co.’s in-vitro diagnostics division in May 1996 and Behring Diagnostics, a German medical- testing company, in 1997. But some was used to finance a repurchase of half of Bain Capital’s equity for $242 million -- more than eight times its investment -- and to pay its investors almost $100 million in fees.
Bankruptcy Filing

Dade was left in a weakened financial condition and couldn’t withstand the shocks of increased debt payments when interest rates rose and revenue from Europe fell because of a decline in the value of the euro. The company filed for bankruptcy in August 2002, because of its inability to service a $1.5 billion debt load. About 1,700 people lost their jobs while Bain Capital claimed capital gains (net of its losses in the bankruptcy) of roughly $216 million, an eightfold return.

There are many other examples of this debt-fueled strategy. In the two years following the acquisition in 1993 of GS Industries, a steel mill, for $8 million, Bain Capital increased the company’s debt to $378 million on operating income of less than a 10th of that amount. Some of this was used to pay Bain Capital a $36 million dividend in 1994. That degree of leverage was excessive in light of the cyclicality and capital-intensive nature of the steel industry.

By the time the company went bankrupt in 2001, it owed $554 million in debt against assets valued at $395 million. Many creditors lost money, and 750 workers lost their jobs. The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures company retirement plans, determined in 2002 that GS had underfunded its pension by $44 million and had to step in to cover the shortfall.

Bain Capital’s acquisition of Stage Stores, a department- store chain, in 1988 was 96 percent financed by debt (mostly in junk bonds) -- an extreme level for a cyclical and very competitive low-margin business. Bain sold a large part of its stake in 1997 for a $184 million gain, three years before the company filed for bankruptcy because of its inability to service its $600 million debt.

Success, entrepreneurship, risk taking and wealth creation deserve to be celebrated when they are the result of fair play and hard work. President Barack Obama is correct in distinguishing the patient creation of value for the benefit of investors through genuine operational improvements and growth -- the true mission of private equity -- from the form of rigged capitalism that was practiced by some in the industry in the past when debt was cheap and plentiful.

While Bain Capital wasn’t alone in using financial engineering to turbo-charge its returns, it was among the most aggressive under Romney’s leadership. Enriching investors by taking leveraged bets isn’t a qualification for a job requiring long-term vision and concern for public welfare. It is appropriate to point that out to voters.

Why all this racist bigoted hate?
It's because he's white, isn't it?

The problem with Romney is not hate at all- for a dwindling minority, that is more Obama's problem.
The problem with Romney is that nobody can warm to him. And it just gets worse.

^"Can you give an example of anyone else you personally know getting a six figure income, not dividend or investment return, but actual income, from a company they had nothing to do with?" Nice work if you can get it.

Originally Posted by robuzo

"Can you give an example of anyone else you personally know getting a six figure income, not dividend or investment return, but actual income, from a company they had nothing to do with?"

No,.and I don’t think it happens (and not in this case either).

The thing that gets me, is this question,……….

31. If Obama owned slum apartments in Chicago that horribly mistreated poor people and didn’t provide them heat or running water, but Obama hired a real estate management firm to manage the building and collect rent, do you think it would be fair to criticize him for being a hypocritical slum lord who showed no compassion for poor people?

Now if this were true the rethugs would be jumping for joy.

Originally Posted by quimbian corholla

Noted left-wing moonbat site Bloomberg.com is having a go too...

bloomberg.com/news/2012-07-15/romney-s-bain-yielded-private-gains-socialized-losses.html

(I can't post links because my post count is too low apparently, stick in the usual h t t p : / / w w w at the front of the link and C&P)

Mitt Romney touts his business acumen and job-creation record as a key qualification for being the next U.S. president.

What’s clear from a review of the public record during his management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors. When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain. Romney privatized the gains and socialized the losses.

What’s less clear is how his skills are relevant to the job of overseeing the U.S. economy, strengthening competitiveness and looking out for the welfare of the general public, especially the middle class.

Thanks to leverage, 10 of roughly 67 major deals by Bain Capital during Romney’s watch produced about 70 percent of the firm’s profits. Four of those 10 deals, as well as others, later wound up in bankruptcy. It’s worth examining some of them to understand Romney’s investment style at Bain Capital.

In 1986, in one of its earliest deals, Bain Capital acquired Accuride Corp., a manufacturer of aluminum truck wheels. The purchase was 97.5 percent financed by debt, a high level of leverage under any circumstances. It was especially burdensome for a company that was exposed to aluminum-price volatility and cyclical automotive production.
Casino Capitalism

Forty-to-one leverage is casino capitalism that hugely magnifies gains and losses. Bain Capital wisely chose to flip the company fast: After 18 months, it sold Accuride, converting its $2.6 million sliver of equity into a $61 million capital gain. That deal, which yielded a 1,123 percent annualized return, was critical to Bain Capital’s early success and led the firm to keep maximizing the use of leverage.

In 1992, Bain Capital bought American Pad & Paper by financing 87 percent of the purchase price. In the next three years, Ampad borrowed to make acquisitions, repay existing debt and pay Bain Capital and its investors $60 million in dividends.

As a result, the company’s debt swelled from $11 million in 1993 to $444 million by 1995. The $14 million in annual interest expense on this debt dwarfed the company’s $4.7 million operating cash flow. The proceeds of an initial public offering in July 1996 were used to pay Bain Capital $48 million for part of its stake and to reduce the company’s debt to $270 million.

From 1993 to 1999, Bain Capital charged Ampad about $18 million in various fees. By 1999, the company’s debt was back up to $400 million. Unable to pay the interest costs and drained of cash paid to Bain Capital in fees and dividends, Ampad filed for bankruptcy the following year. Senior secured lenders got less than 50 cents on the dollar, unsecured lenders received two- tenths of a cent on the dollar, and several hundred jobs were lost. Bain Capital had reaped capital gains of $107 million on its $5.1 million investment.

Bain Capital’s acquisition in 1994 of Dade International, a supplier of in-vitro diagnostic products, was 81 percent financed by debt. Of the $85 million in equity, about $27 million came from Bain with the rest coming from a group of investors that included Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

From 1995 to 1999, Bain Capital tripled Dade’s debt from about $300 million to $902 million. Some of the debt was used to pay for acquisitions of DuPont Co.’s in-vitro diagnostics division in May 1996 and Behring Diagnostics, a German medical- testing company, in 1997. But some was used to finance a repurchase of half of Bain Capital’s equity for $242 million -- more than eight times its investment -- and to pay its investors almost $100 million in fees.
Bankruptcy Filing

Dade was left in a weakened financial condition and couldn’t withstand the shocks of increased debt payments when interest rates rose and revenue from Europe fell because of a decline in the value of the euro. The company filed for bankruptcy in August 2002, because of its inability to service a $1.5 billion debt load. About 1,700 people lost their jobs while Bain Capital claimed capital gains (net of its losses in the bankruptcy) of roughly $216 million, an eightfold return.

There are many other examples of this debt-fueled strategy. In the two years following the acquisition in 1993 of GS Industries, a steel mill, for $8 million, Bain Capital increased the company’s debt to $378 million on operating income of less than a 10th of that amount. Some of this was used to pay Bain Capital a $36 million dividend in 1994. That degree of leverage was excessive in light of the cyclicality and capital-intensive nature of the steel industry.

By the time the company went bankrupt in 2001, it owed $554 million in debt against assets valued at $395 million. Many creditors lost money, and 750 workers lost their jobs. The U.S. Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., which insures company retirement plans, determined in 2002 that GS had underfunded its pension by $44 million and had to step in to cover the shortfall.

Bain Capital’s acquisition of Stage Stores, a department- store chain, in 1988 was 96 percent financed by debt (mostly in junk bonds) -- an extreme level for a cyclical and very competitive low-margin business. Bain sold a large part of its stake in 1997 for a $184 million gain, three years before the company filed for bankruptcy because of its inability to service its $600 million debt.

Success, entrepreneurship, risk taking and wealth creation deserve to be celebrated when they are the result of fair play and hard work. President Barack Obama is correct in distinguishing the patient creation of value for the benefit of investors through genuine operational improvements and growth -- the true mission of private equity -- from the form of rigged capitalism that was practiced by some in the industry in the past when debt was cheap and plentiful.

While Bain Capital wasn’t alone in using financial engineering to turbo-charge its returns, it was among the most aggressive under Romney’s leadership. Enriching investors by taking leveraged bets isn’t a qualification for a job requiring long-term vision and concern for public welfare. It is appropriate to point that out to voters.

Here's the link Romney Must-read story, not just for a glimpse at how Mitt and Bain operated, but for a good summary of what firms like his do. Or, for a quicker and easier summary, as was pointed out on the Balloon Juice blog, just watch this snippet from "Goodfellas"- practically the damned thing. Gangster economy folks, welcome to Thugworld:

there's been a bit of a kerfuffle in america recently about the US olympic uniforms being made in china....politicians on both sides of the aisle are speaking out about it....some quite strongly...but the point is that everyone is speaking out against it

everyone except mitt romney. now why wouldn't romney have weighed in on this:

Romney's Olympics uniforms made in Burma

According to reports in 2002, the decision to outsource the torchbearer uniforms to Burma caused an uproar among human rights advocates and trade groups. It prompted the head of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) to write a letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), stating that "No responsible organization or body should make use of products originating in Burma."

The American Anti-Slavery Group (AASG) and the Free Burma Coalition (FBC) launched a campaign to protest the uniforms and called on the IOC to apologize and “promise to never support -- indirectly or directly -- the Burmese regime."

Torchbearers, too, were shocked to see the “Made in Burma (Myanmar)” label on their tracksuits. "When I looked at the label for the uniform, I went nuts,” said 2002 torchbearer Susan Bonfield in an interview with the Guardian. “When you are sending work representing the U.S. to a military dictatorship, I have an issue with that."

Romney's Olympics uniforms made in Burma - POLITICO.com

^I apologize if this is taking us off topic a bit but I think this story is interesting.
I happen to like Ralph Lauren a lot and think he is getting a bit of a bad rap.
After all, its no secret that almost all apparel is outsourced from countries that
we have political differences with.

http://stylenews.peoplestylewatch.com/2012/07/16/olympics-2012-ralph-lauren-controversy/

Ralph Lauren Responds to Olympic Uniform Controversy

When it was reported that the U.S. Olympic Opening Ceremony uniforms were actually made in China, many people spoke out, criticizing the uniforms. The Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid even went so far as to say they should be burned.
But amidst all the controversy, the brand behind the clothes — Ralph Lauren — remained quiet. Until this weekend, when the company broke its silence. They seemed to acknowledge their misstep with the following statement:

“For more than 45 years Ralph Lauren has built a brand that embodies the best of American quality and design rooted in the rich heritage of our country. We are honored to continue our longstanding relationship with the United States Olympic Committee in the 2014 Olympic Games by serving as an Official Outfitter of the US Olympic and Paralympic teams. Ralph Lauren promises to lead the conversation within our industry and our government addressing the issue of increasing manufacturing in the United States and has committed to producing the Opening and Closing ceremony Team USA uniforms in the United States that will be worn for the 2014 Olympic Games.”

^I'm no fan of Ralph Lipschitz, but I think this issue is a case of Americans not seeing the forest for the trees. Don't think it is something that can be pinned on Romney or Obama. . .maybe Clinton . . .

^agree. I defy anyone to find any item of apparel or footwear in any American department, specialty or discount store that is made in the US. Those industries went off shore decades ago.

Earlier today, Mitt Romney spoke with NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE about life on the trail: Romney on Tax Returns:, ………

Snip

(Dim Mitt) And I’m simply not enthusiastic about giving them hundreds or thousands of more pages to pick through, distort, and lie about.

Snip

(Dim Mitt) Well, first of all, all of my investments are managed in a blind trust (again he's trying to soften the blow)


Dim I am a felon Mitt is diggin’ a deep DEEP hole. Most Americans will not tolerate this for an answer.

Even some of the rightest right wing sites are starting to question this asshole mitt: Four Arguments Against Romney Releasing More Tax Returns

I'm of mixed mind on this. As I see it, there are four arguments against Romney releasing any additional tax returns:

4) Real damages: It's possible -- though I'd say quite unlikely -- that Romney has something buried in recent tax releases that isn't just mildly embarrassing, but hugely problematic. The revelation of this malfeasance could cripple Romney's campaign, assuring a victory for Barack Obama, which many of us believe would be profoundly detrimental to the country in the long run

Whatcha hiding Dim?

don't make me wonder. come clean mitt and be more like your daddy

$102 million in an IRA account. Multiple secret accounts in tax havens all over the world. Mitt's going down over this. You can bank on it.

Great article in Vanity Fair: http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

"For all Mitt Romney’s touting of his business record, when it comes to his own money the Republican nominee is remarkably shy about disclosing numbers and investments. Nicholas Shaxson delves into the murky world of offshore finance, revealing loopholes that allow the very wealthy to skirt tax laws, and investigating just how much of Romney’s fortune (with $30 million in Bain Capital funds in the Cayman Islands alone?) looks pretty strange for a presidential candidate..."

Sarah Silverman makes an immodest proposal to Sheldon Adelson:
Scissor Sheldon
"Do you how many Republican billionaires are giving money to Romney? All of them. How many of them are getting scissored by a bikini-bottomed Jewess with big naturals? How many, Sheldon?"
All about Sheldon:
Who is the $100 Million Man? | Scissor Sheldon
Top 10 Things you need to know about Mitt Romney’s sugar daddy, Sheldon Adelson

He is listed in the Forbes 400 as the eighth wealthiest American. His personal wealth is estimated to be $24.9 billion.
He’s totally open about buying elections. He said he’s “against very wealthy [at]people attempting to or influencing elections. But as long as it’s doable I’m going to do it.”
He’s willing to do “whatever it takes” to defeat Obama including “limitless” donations to Romney’s campaign.
He likes his casinos to be loan-shark and gangster-friendly.
He is under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission and the target of a civil lawsuit.
His donations to Romney make liberals like John McCain really angry.
He was a Democrat until he got really, really rich and didn’t want to pay taxes.
He hates unions and free speech. And he’s not afraid to show it.
He thinks that the Palestinians are an invented people and hates on AIPAC for being too pro-Palestinian.
His first choice candidate in 2012 was… Newt Gingrich.
---
McCain apparently hates him and also is appalled by Citizens United. Good old McCain. Too bad they saddled him with Snowmobile Snookie.
McCain says casino mogul is putting
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Friday said Mitt Romney is benefiting indirectly from "foreign money" after casino mogul Sheldon Adelson pledged $10 million to a super-PAC that supports his presidential bid. . .
<snip>
McCain also called the Citizens United decision "the most misguided, naïve, uninformed, egregious decision of the United States Supreme Court in the 21st Century."
---
So, the good Christian Republicans are going to vote for a Mormon who takes a hundred million plus from a Jewish casino magnate (or, in common parlance, a gangster)?

Here Are All Of Mitt Romney's Personal Financial Disclosure Filings From 2001-2005

You want 'em, you got 'em:


"The forms, filed with the Massachusetts State Ethics Commission during Romney's run and tenure as Governor, show various Romney investments in Bain Capital funds and membership of boards until 2003. After 2003 time all of Romney's assets became listed in a blind trust. While the years 2001,2002 are 27 pages long each, after 2003 the forms are just seven to ten pages long."


So where are Obama's transcripts, eh?


Source

Originally Posted by Humbert

I defy anyone to find any item of apparel or footwear in any American department, specialty or discount store that is made in the US. Those industries went off shore decades ago.

It's difficult for many items, but especially clothes. My wife and I check. It's been that way for years.