Mitt Romney likes to say he won't "apologize" for his success in business. But what he never says is "thank you" – to the American people – for the federal bailout of Bain & Company that made so much of his outsize wealth possible.

According to the candidate's mythology, Romney took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began. When The Boston Globe reported on the rescue at the time of his Senate run against Ted Kennedy, campaign aides spun Romney as the wizard behind a "long-shot miracle," bragging that he had "saved bank depositors all over the country $30 million when he saved Bain & Company."

In fact, government documents on the bailout obtained by Rolling Stone show that the legend crafted by Romney is basically a lie. The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC – the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers – out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds.

http://m.rollingstone.com/?redirurl=/pol...romney-20120829

Fishy

Nothing, not one word about ole Mitty?


Fishy

ssf, why do you hate 'Merica so much? Using taxpayer dollars to make yourself rich while calling yourself a capitalist is "the" American Way.

It's only socialism when you have to help someone else...not when you take it from others.

Fish on...

Todd

I guess I just hate hearing how Mitty worked so hard and did so much for the local economy when in fact he raped and gouged this company and then left us " the non- job creators" with the bill.

Yep I hate how corporate merica has raped, pillaged left us holding the bill!


Fishy

Read the comments after the article for a different perspective.

Lets put aside the blatant bias of the writer.

Bill Bain raped the place clean. (Bias showing) Bill Bain cashed out his equity in the firm. (So its been 27 years, how come no law has been written to prevent that, or force the company into BK, under those circumstances?)

Business began to drop off.

A Bain consultant was tied up in a stock manipulation scheme in London. (results no reported)

Goldman Sachs, is the good guy.....

I like this quote. "No matter who got screwed in the process." Like no one gets screwed under a bankruptcy...

Romney moved decisively... Unlike others we know... He clawed back 25 million (that now is referred to as raided money), as opposed to proceeds of equity.

Romney consolidated the outstanding debt into one loan with four banks (common actually) and the loan is secured with assets.

1992 recession ooops, its really Bush 41 fault....

Trying to save the company, Romney goes back in for more debt restructuring.

But, to make Romney the fall guy, its him thru his super powers, he installs a poison pill, which the banks and FDIC have to swallow.
Really? If the banks saw no future or other reasons to save Bain, why let it go on? The article is incomplete.

According to the article, Romney played hardball because the banks gave him what he wanted. America could use someone who knows how to play hardball.


There isnt much to like about the situation. Ive seen the interview and Romney did not want to be in charge of the spin off company. The deal was reach, he could come back to Bain if the new company did not work out.
He took over a bad situation that someone else created and tried to salvage the company, based on the rules of the day.

In reality, you could change the players and the company.

The company is GM.
Romney is played by Obama
Goldman Sachs is played by Romney.
But in both cases, Romney is the bad guy. So WTF else is new?

In each case, people lost money and jobs. Bain is still running and Obama just hired one of them. GM is still running and wont pay taxes on profits for some number of years and there is some other debt situation with GM that is not resolved, or resolved in a negative loss to someone.

But Obama gets the credit, even though GM is not going to pay their fare share...



I dont know if its different for corporations, but if you write off a debt to a creditor, the IRS counts that as income.

I guess more will come out in the weeks ahead. All democrat talking points will be based on a biased article.

Romney did not rape the company of money. He clawed back 25 million from other officers. Some how the company survived and donated money to Obamas campaign.

Go look up the Solyndra deal. You wont like it. Its not Obamas only start up that went bust, either.

Do you really think its going to change under any president?

Draft Lee Iacocca,