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Kurovski

(34,655 posts)
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 05:07 AM Oct 2012

Pass It On: What Romney Did At Bain Is The Same Thing Gangsters Did In Goodfellas...Rolling Stone

Last edited Wed Oct 3, 2012, 08:12 AM - Edit history (3)

From Matt Tiabbi's Rolling Stone article:

...This business model wasn't really "helping," of course – and it wasn't new. Fans of mob movies will recognize what's known as the "bust-out," in which a gangster takes over a restaurant or sporting goods store and then monetizes his investment by running up giant debts on the company's credit line. (Think Paulie buying all those cases of Cutty Sark in Goodfellas.) When the note comes due, the mobster simply torches the restaurant and collects the insurance money. Reduced to their most basic level, the leveraged buyouts engineered by Romney followed exactly the same business model. "It's the bust-out," one Wall Street trader says with a laugh. "That's all it is."


...But there's a key difference between private equity firms and the businesses that were America's original industrial cornerstones, like the elder Romney's AMC. Everyone had a stake in the success of those old businesses, which spread prosperity by putting people to work. But even private equity's most enthusiastic adherents have difficulty explaining its benefit to society. Marc Wolpow, a former Bain colleague of Romney's, told reporters during Mitt's first Senate run that Romney erred in trying to sell his business as good for everyone. "I believed he was making a mistake by framing himself as a job creator," said Wolpow. "That was not his or Bain's or the industry's primary objective. The objective of the LBO business is maximizing returns for investors." When it comes to private equity, American workers – not to mention their families and communities – simply don't enter into the equation.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829#ixzz28E0jxJdA
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malaise

(269,182 posts)
1. I suspect that of all the sleazy men who ran for President
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 05:09 AM
Oct 2012

WilLIARd Rmoney must be the sleaziest.
I hope he ends up in Federal prison.

JI7

(89,274 posts)
2. the foreign accounts reminds me of the dictators who rip off the people of their nations
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 05:13 AM
Oct 2012

they always have some foreign accounts where they stash away the money they stole.

romney stole money from the employees and stashed it away in the same way.

Kurovski

(34,655 posts)
5. Maybe he messed up on taxes, because I think the Bain stuff was legal.
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 06:42 AM
Oct 2012

And shit's just gonna get legal-er and legal-er of Romney-Ryan can help it.

treestar

(82,383 posts)
3. Nothing is more annoying than Republicans going on about Rmoney as
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 05:35 AM
Oct 2012

"successful businessman." They try to make him sound like someone who built a business from the ground. That's simply not the case.

 

whistler162

(11,155 posts)
4. I hope Tiabbi apologizes
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 06:35 AM
Oct 2012

to gangsters! I doubt they appreciate being compared to Romney and may take umbrage at that.

catbyte

(34,455 posts)
10. I've been saying the same thing for months. Only difference is that Bain didn't torch the companies
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 08:08 AM
Oct 2012

they destroyed.

myrna minx

(22,772 posts)
13. Thanks, I missed the article because I was too busy swimming in your eyes.
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 06:45 PM
Oct 2012
Actually I really did miss the article, thanks for posting.

Kurovski

(34,655 posts)
15. Yet another susceptible individual, lost in my gaze.
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 07:29 PM
Oct 2012

Well, step to the rear with the rest, over there, by the medulla oblongata. There's plenty of room.

*sigh* We'll call your parents.

 

RBInMaine

(13,570 posts)
14. So what happens is they have bought all kinds of stuff they can sell off, go chapter 11 so no debt,
Wed Oct 3, 2012, 06:49 PM
Oct 2012

and walk off with the ins. $. They lose NOTHING and make off like bandits. It is like Gekko killing the airline and bailing out with MILLIONS from the pension plan.

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