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Subscribe to RSSThe Boston Globe clarifies Romney’s role at Bain after 1999: “Shortly after Mitt Romney took a leave of absence from Bain Capital to run the Olympics in February 1999, he made a trip to Palm Beach, Fla. The firm Romney founded was meeting to celebrate its 15th anniversary as well as the men he had helped make extraordinarily wealthy. Romney and his partners had decided that, in his absence, five managing directors would oversee the company. And in Palm Beach it became clearer that Romney was unlikely to return — but would retain his title as chief executive officer and sole shareholder. The Palm Beach meeting, which has not been previously reported, demonstrates the duality of Romney’s role as he parted ways with Bain, an issue that has sparked controversy in his presidential campaign.
“Romney has said in financial disclosure statements that he ‘was not involved in the operations of any Bain Capital entity in any way’ after Feb. 11, 1999. But he was still legally the CEO, with numerous duties and obligations that were his alone, until early 2002. Interviews with a half-dozen of Romney’s former partners and associates, as well as public records, show that he was not merely an absentee owner during this period. He signed dozens of company documents, including filings with regulators on a vast array of Bain’s investment entities. And he drove the complex negotiations over his own large severance package, a deal that was critical to the firm’s future without him, according to his former associates. Indeed, by remaining CEO and sole shareholder, Romney held on to his leverage in the talks that resulted in his generous 10-year retirement package, according to former associates.”
Reuters: “Mitt Romney has secrets. Lots of them, perhaps. That provocative claim is at the core of President Barack Obama's latest attacks on his Republican rival, a strategy that is dominating the narrative of the presidential campaign and leading anxious Republicans to question Romney's tactics. In ads, interviews and social-media blasts, the Democratic president's team is casting Romney as a mysterious figure who is guarding important secrets about his wealth and work history.”
In fact, The Atlantic lists 10 things he might be hiding in his tax returns. (H/t Political Wire.)
What does Bill Clinton’s underwear have to do with Mitt Romney not releasing his taxes? Peggy Noonan reveals.
Rupert Murdoch likes the new Romney.
Paul Krugman: “Businesses aren’t investing, they say, because business leaders don’t feel valued. Mr. Romney repeated this line, too, arguing that because the president attacks success ‘we have less success.’ This, too, is crazy (and it’s disturbing that Mr. Romney appears to share this delusional view about what ails our economy).”
Just to be clear, private equity is not venture capitalism, got it? “When staffers at the National Venture Capital Association see a report that refers to U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney's investments as venture capital, they grimace -- and then contact the author to explain politely why it's wrong,” Reuters writes. “The Republican White House hopeful was head of Bain Capital LLC, which does the bulk of its work in private equity and not venture capital, the NVCA would clarify. Venture capital backs companies from their earliest days, and some go on to create thousands of jobs; private equity typically comes in at later stages to turn around underperforming companies, sometimes via job cuts and other unpopular cost-savings moves.”
Watch Peter Alexander play word association with the five Romney sons. Here Peter asks why they didn’t want their dad to run this time, and here they talk about their dad’s sometimes awkward phrasing.
The Globe on Romney’s event yesterday: “Mitt Romney, speaking this afternoon in Roxbury, accused President Obama of misunderstanding the nature of American entrepreneurship by suggesting that government assistance plays an equal role as hard work in creating small businesses.”
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Venture capital backs companies from their earliest days, and some go on to create thousands of jobs; private equity typically comes in at later stages to turn around underperforming companies, sometimes via job cuts and other unpopular cost-savings moves
Got it now! Romney was not a venture capitalist, he was a vulture capitalist. Thanks for clarifying!
it's Bain, it's Pain
Romney will say anything, everyone already knows that. But by being so adamant and using such black-and-white terms like "in any way," he really boxed himself into a world of trouble.
So now he is trying to defend himself by throwing not just the kitchen sink, but more like half-baked stuff at the president. Take the recent idiocy about the president's supposed involvement in Fisker Automotive. You'd think Romney would have learned a lesson after getting tagged for the Solyndra lie.
In reality Romney doesn't care. He has been criticized for ads such as the one where he makes the president's quoting McCain appear to be what the president is saying himself. And many others, now an ad taking the president's speech out of context about businesses not building the roads that help them to be successful. Those ads--including the one about Solyndra and the president's supposedly funneling money to friends (not)--keep airing.
As a side note -- This crap about the president and "crony capitalism" is spewed one day, and then the next day the president has "foreign" ideas, i.e., European socialism. The flip-flop contradictions are beyond crazy.
Romney breaks new records on a regular basis. Whether it's not pulling ads that are clearly lies, or thinking he doesn't have to play by the rules others play by--not just releasing 8-10 years of his tax returns per tradition, but paying taxes.
Romney is a weak, capitulating, hack job who's not ready for prime time. He's not even a good example for our children.
Chris Hayes made a very insightful comment last night. He said that when the rich become above reproach in a society, it is a sign the country is in decline. For example Greece, where folks, especially the rich weren't paying taxes at all.
"The Boston Globe clarifies Romney’s role at Bain.."
The Boston Globe doesnt "clarify" , it smears and distorts..... is a liberal shill, a disgrace to journalism...
hat's the matter Bob. As a typical tea pub, you can't handle the facts. The Boston Globe did its homework. So slither back under your rock A$$HOLE!!
Bob in Virginia...
You cannot deal with the truth? Hop aboard!'
The new Republican Clown Car is making the rounds, along with the banner on the side of it:
ROMNEY IS NOT AS BIG A CROOK AS NIXON....
Republican Clown Car...All the greats! Nixon, Agnew, Ford, Reagan, Bush 1, Quayle, Bush 2, Cheney, Portman,Pawlenty, Christie, Rubio, Gingrich, Palin, McCain, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum, Foley,and of course the Felon-To-Be Romney!
What a proud tradition the GOP has!
CAIN / SANDUSKY 2012 For real Republican Family Values
CAIN / FOLEY 2012 Another dose of Republican Family Values...
Republicans and diapers need to be changed often.....for the same reason.
Really, seriously?
The Romney’s excuse for not releasing tax returns is that the Democrats will scrutinize and criticize anything they find questionable. That’s the reason, that there are things that would be questioned so they aren’t going to provide the documents to the public.
Obama and Biden’s tax returns are out there. Their tax returns are open to attack – that’s the way politics go. Well for everyone but the privileged elite like the Romneys?
However, rightwing pundits and politicians are now asking for more of Romney’s tax returns to be released as well. And now Bob, let us know how this feels to you:
Perhaps readers get the point being made above, that Romney has NO idea what it is like to be unfairly attacked about anything. Especially in regard to the most basic transparency expected from all presidential candidates.
Romney -- Stop throwing a temper tantrum, stop making lame excuses, stop blaming the Democrats, and just come clean.
The Bain Story.
Look here so you do not think about the Presidents failed leadership.
That's all it is.
Typical Liberal BS.
Hey rukidding47, can't handle the facts? Typical Teapub.
CAIN / SANDUSKY 2012 For real Republican Family Values
CAIN / FOLEY 2012 Another dose of Republican Family Values...
Republicans and diapers need to be changed often.....for the same reason.
Just to be clear big businesses are not investing in American workers is because they want a republican because republicans don't care about the environment, American workers, or whether jobs are outsourced to China. Yesterday repubicans in the house had the opportunity to vote for American workers by passing a bill that would give big businesses a tax break if they brought American jobs back to America. Agains, we see that republicans don't care about America and American workers. Romney started his business with money from companies who want to outsource jobs to China and Romney is the worse person to protect jobs here in the US for American workers.
A key element of President Obama’s corporate tax reform plan has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) and in the Senate by Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). Called the “Bring Jobs Home Act” (H.R. 5542), the bill would give eligible firms a tax credit equal to 20 percent of the cost of relocating overseas jobs back to the U.S.
Of course, the premise behind this legislation is that U.S. companies are “shipping jobs overseas” because of various perceived loopholes in the tax code and that a new tax break will encourage them to bring those jobs home.
But the facts show that the outsourcing issue may be one of the most over-hyped issues in American politics.
Hard data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that only a small fraction of the mass layoffs in any given year are moved offshore. The vast majority of layoffs that result from the movement of jobs from one location to another are domestic – meaning that U.S. workers have more to fear from their job being moved from one state to another rather than to another country.
The table below shows the total number of job losses resulting from mass layoffs (layoffs of 50 workers or more) from 2008 to 2010. In 2010, just 3.1 percent of the nearly 1.3 million total layoffs were the result of relocating jobs from one location to another. Of those three years, 2008 had the largest percentage of relocation-driven layoffs at 4.0 percent.
BLS and the employers cannot always document where those jobs are move to, but the data clearly indicates that the vast majority of those jobs are domestic relocations and within the parent company. For example, in 2010 BLS was able to identify the destination of 18,622 job losses resulting from the movement of work (just 1.2 percent of the total layoffs that year). Of those identified, 71 percent were domestic relocations. By contrast, 5,336 of those job losses (29 percent) were relocated abroad and the majority of them were within the parent company.
The bottom line is that the outsourcing of U.S. jobs abroad has become a political urban legend that has little basis in fact. As such, policies such as the Bring Jobs Home Act are likely to play well politically but have little impact on creating jobs here in the U.S.
JFK2112 - Please explain how it is that everything that I look to see where it was manufactured, clearly states, "made in China"or Mexico or Korea or Malaysia or Japan ?
Even the foreign autos that are supposedly made in the U S A, the components (80%) are made in foreign countries.
The so called domestic autos and trucks contain components (30%) manufactured in foreign countries.
Me thinks you have swallowed a talking points fairy tale!
No matter how you slice it, Rmoney was the CEO of Bain until 2002 - he had legal obligations as CEO and it seems he took the time to fulfill some of them because he signed several legal documents as CEO during that time. So he was NOT UNINVOLVED. He was the CEO in name and at least sometimes in spirit. What does this tell us about his character? He will do his job only when it is convenient and serves his own personal interests. Do you really want someone like that as president?
Just thinking aloud, was it not Carvel who said during the Clinton pursuit of the presidency and asked, "is the economy stupid"? And President Clinton went on and created 23 million jobs during his tenure. The irony is that the same Carvel has just published another book and this time the title is "Is the middle class stupid"? I read all these middle class republicans and they sound like idiots and morons who vote against their very best interests. Why is it that their reasoning faculty is so jaded and out of wack that it begs the question, are these people plain bloody fools or just jokers. Romney and company said that they will not release his tax return because it maybe negatively scrutinized by the Obama opposition research. Why is it that this does not raise a red flag in everybody mind that this guy Romney might be a crook. He thinks he can take his lumps and better if he did not release his taxes than the Armageddon that will destroy him based on his greed and abracadabra inclinations. Is this the guy they want to lead this gods own country of shared aspirations.
And the war on Bain continues......... why not run on the record of your administration, Mr. President?
Obama's record, despite the Great Obstruction Party, is much more solid than Repubs will admit to.
The new Republican Clown Car is making the rounds, along with the banner on the side of it:
ROMNEY IS NOT AS BIG A CROOK AS NIXON....
Republican Clown Car...All the greats! Nixon, Agnew, Ford, Reagan, Bush 1, Quayle, Bush 2, Cheney, Portman,Pawlenty, Christie, Rubio, Gingrich, Palin, McCain, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum, Foley,and of course the Felon-To-Be Romney!
What a proud tradition the GOP has!
CAIN / SANDUSKY 2012 For real Republican Family Values
CAIN / FOLEY 2012 Another dose of Republican Family Values...
Republicans and diapers need to be changed often.....for the same reason.
Republicans are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason.
Why doesn't Willard and Ann run on his record as Governor of Ma. And yes the war on Bain continues, as long as Willard keeps lying about it, and everything else.
Gee, Romney keeps lying, just as the sun keeps rising. Shockamoly!
Here are the TOP TEN QUESTIONS that Mitt Romney is using to vet his Vice Presidential hopefuls:
1. How far back in the past can you backdate a corporate resignation?
2. What are the best offshore banks and countries to hide your wealth in?
3. If you had a choice to rebuild a troubled business, or max out it's loan potential and then cash it out and outsource the jobs while keeping all the money for yourself, what would be the most profitable thing for you do do?
4. Do you like to fire people?
5. Are corporations people too? (Follow-up: But you don't like to fire them, right?)
6. Are you concerned about the very poor; after all, they do have their own safety net already; so, do we really need to be concerned about them, the very poor, the regular poor or even the middle class?
7. Can you endear yourself to African Americans? (Like, can you sing "Who let the dogs out? Woof! Woof!")
8. Speaking of dogs, When going on a driving vacation, where do you strap the dog?
9. What is you ideal friendly bet? (Multiple choice: (a) one dollar, (b) five bucks, or (c) TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!
10. Finally, will YOU give me 23 years of your Tax Returns so that I can make sure YOU have nothing to hide?
Republicans are like diapers; they need to
be changed often and for the same reason.
Senator John McCain stated not long ago that the US needs to lead a coalition into Syria and defeat Assad. Today, he again called on Obama to do something about Syria!
Yessir, the Repubs cannot stand it without a fresh war starting, which will yield freshly killed military people, and, if they are lucky, some freshly maimed soldiers.
Can you think of anything more seraphic, than the look on a freshly maimedsoldier's face, when he reaches in his pocket, with his remaining hand, and finds his healthcare vouchers are still valid?
Republicans are like diapers; they need to be changed often and for the same reason.
This has to be the dumbest post of the week. You libtards care so much about the human race and the poor, but when innocent people get slaughtered and you have a chance to do something about it you look the other way. Moron.
JFK....
So,you are in favor of the US getting into another war? How many relatives have you lost in Iraq or Afghanistan? I lost 2 grandchildren....FOR WHAT?
Get in the car, idiot......your seat awaits....
The new Republican Clown Car is making the rounds, along with the banner on the side of it:
ROMNEY IS NOT AS BIG A CROOK AS NIXON....
Republican Clown Car...All the greats! Nixon, Agnew, Ford, Reagan, Bush 1, Quayle, Bush 2, Cheney, Portman,Pawlenty, Christie, Rubio, Gingrich, Palin, McCain, Cain, Bachmann, Santorum, Foley,and of course the Felon-To-Be Romney!
What a proud tradition the GOP has!
CAIN / SANDUSKY 2012 For real Republican Family Values
CAIN / FOLEY 2012 Another dose of Republican Family Values...
Republicans and diapers need to be changed often.....for the same reason.
JFK....Question: What exactly do you suggest the US do about Syria? Full scale invasion? Nuclear weapons? Gassing?
What did you have in mind, if you pardon the expression....
JFK, Republicans, and diapers need to be changed often.....for the same reason.
The BAIN/ROMNEY BUSINESS MODEL NEVER CREATED ANYTHING OF VALUE to the AMERICAN ECONOMY.
The BAIN/ROMNEY BUSINESS MODEL "EXTRACTED CAPITAL" (financial business resources) from the AMERICAN ECONOMY.
OPERATING CAPITAL is what is required by business to create goods or services and create jobs.
ROMNEY & BAIN ASSOC, took the "EXTRACTED CAPITAL" (removed from the business operating capital) and placed that "CAPITAL" in foreign accounts, sheilded from U S A TAXES. That CAPITAL was then NO LONGER available to provide OPERATING CAPITAL to American Business to create goods, services or jobs!
The BUSINESSES that ROMNEY/Bain EXTRACTED THE CAPITAL FROM then had to find CAPITAL TO OPERATE, they had to find lenders to borrow operating capital from, the borrowed funds required repayment with interest and many of these businesses could not generate enough revenue to pay the interest and debt, they were forced into bankruptcy and the employees were laid off. In many of the cases we, the taxpayer, had to provide tax paid money to fund the pension plans that were depleted. The funds that the loan providers provided, in the end, is added to the cost of financing and the general public pays for this cost also.