Ok so I am hoping this thread actually gets some attention. I was hoping the ATS community would help get something started here. I was thinking that,
though the search engine is nice... It would be awesome if for a topic on something like a "famous" person, there would be just one big thread you
could go to for research. If you could try posting a link and a quote from the article that stands out to you for information, that would be perfect.
Then just post what you think, of course, and a link with the article's name hyperlinked at the bottom. To avoid duplicating articles, if someone
posted an article that you like, but you think a different quote is important then simply reply to that poster with a different quote. Hope this
works, I'll start with the Bain Capital stance.
P.S. with statistics, for flow, I just put 'em into the article with a link as to not clutter the post.
Mitt Romney biography
Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947 in Detroit. The son of Michigan governor, George Romney, Mitt founded the investment firm Bain Capital. He
ran for Massachusetts Senate but was defeated by incumbent Edward Kennedy. Romney took over the Salt Lake Organizing Committee and helmed a successful
2002 Olympic Games. He was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2003 and made a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, but lost to
John McCain. In June 2011 Romney announced his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
So in the whole biography, Bain Capital only exists in that one sentence, though it is such an important part of Mitt Romney's life, being that
because of it he is among the top
0.001% of
America financially...
Now,
Mitt Romney's Official Website does mention Bain capital, and here is what it has to say about it:
After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1971, he earned dual degrees from Harvard Law and Harvard Business School. After working as a
business consultant for several years, Mitt founded the investment firm Bain Capital in 1984. Under his leadership, Bain Capital helped to launch or
rebuild hundreds of companies, including household names such as Staples, Domino's Pizza, and The Sports Authority. As Bain Capital was growing in
prominence, Mitt returned to his old consulting firm, Bain & Company, as CEO. In a time of financial turmoil at the company, he led a successful
turnaround.
Never does his site mention all the negativity that encompasses the coupling of him and Bain Capital...
In an analysis of Bain Capital under Romney, the Journal estimated that Bain made $2.5 billion in profits on $1.1 billion invested in 77 separate
deals. Of those 77 transactions, 22 percent ended with the firms in bankruptcy after the eighth year of the Bain investment. Bain disputes the
Journal’s account as inaccurate.
Romney acknowledges he made millions, but says the reward was for hard work and risk-taking.
is what
Th
e Christian Science Monitor says about what went on there. With 22%, nearly one fourth of all the transactions ending in bankruptcy, I fail to
believe that this is what a healthy American economy is supposed to look like. If he really cared about the people in a way enough to help them,
perhaps he would split some of his potential
"101.6 million parked in his
IRA", or his
$250 million
personal fortune and actually let businesses grow instead of destroy them. (Just maybe he could start paying past 15% in taxes too imo.)
Mitt Romney has undoubtedly benefited from the loss of others, as
after Bain bought a paper and office supply company, American Pad & Paper, or
Ampad, from Dayton-based Mead in 1992, Ampad filed for bankruptcy protection and cut jobs, albeit eight years after the Bain purchase. Bain reportedly
made more than $100 million on Ampad, and the job losses dogged Romney in later political races.
Mitt Romney's Bain Capital has an Ohio record of success,
bankruptcies
And make money he did — Mitt loads of it. For an eight year period starting in 1987, Romney’s Bain invested 22 percent of the money it raised
in five businesses that ended up filing for bankruptcy and walked away with a $578 million in profit. Judging by the photos at the time, finding
places to stuff all those profits became something of a joke among the Bain cohorts. Such a display of greed and excess that would make Gordon Gekko
— the fictional cut-throat corporate raider in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street — blush. Romney left Bain with a staggering $4 billion in
assets.
Mitt Romney and Bain Capital
So where does this leave Romney? He has practically an unlimited amount of campaign money, making him far better off than candidates like Ron Paul who
refuse to be corrupt.
Anyway, vote for Romney, I urge you. He is obviously NOT in it for personal gain
**I can't find the link to it, but I believe that Mitt gains an average salary of something like $1.2 million from Bain every year (which seems like a
low number to me) to this day, without working there anymore.
edit on 19-1-2012 by PhysicsAdept because: (no reason given)