Mitt Romney, Financier

Mitt Romney, Financier

Mitt Romney, Republican candidate for president, earned his fortune the old-fashioned way, by gambling speculating with other people’s money. It wasn’t a great deal for investors, but Mr. Romney did just fine. We have every confidence he’d use the same methods with your money if he got his hands on the Federal Treasury.

Mr. Romney brags about his record as a businessman, but his private sector experience has been in finance, not manufacturing or a service business. He’s never made anything but Private Equity deals. Can’t understand how Private Equity works? PE firms like to pretend they’re venture capitalists, but look up “Leveraged Buyout” and you’ll see why PE is called “Vulture Capitalism.” It’s also been called “Casino Capitalism,” and not just because a Bain-related firm financed Sheldon Adelson’s gambling joints. Outfits like Bain always bet with the house — they privatize gains and socialize losses.

After his single term in public office, Mitt Romney used his deal-making skills to “save” the scandal-plagued 2002 Winter Olympics. The Games were in debt, so Mr. Romney, a registered lobbyist, got the Republican Congress to slide him a billion dollar earmark. That’s the kind of management excellence a Romney Administration would bring to the White House.

If elected, Mitt Romney would be the second Harvard MBA to serve as U.S. President. The first: George W. Bush, the man who crashed the U.S. economy.

Related:

“Mitt Romney, Bain Capital and the New Gilded Age,” Robert Reich, Christian Science Monitor blog

“Mitt Romney, Bain Capital, and the One Percent Economy,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Private Equity’s Political Woes? Blame A Legacy of Leverage and Privacy,” Jonathan Shieber, Wall Street Journal blog

“Should Mitt Romney Embrace His Rich-Guy Image?”  David Futrelle, Time

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Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

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5 Responses to “Mitt Romney, Financier”

  1. Meet Mitt Romney « NotionsCapital Says:

    […] his daddy gave him, and achieved financial success the traditional American way, though plain old leveraged buyouts. And whether you watch the broadcast or not you owe it to yourself to read the affectionate account […]

  2. Mike Licht Says:

    UPDATE:

    “Greed and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital,” Matt Taibbi, Rolling Stone

  3. Ron Paul Rumble at Republican Convention « NotionsCapital Says:

    […] convention just because he doesn’t back the party’s billionaire-anointed candidate, financier Mitt Romney. Oh, and also because he sounds like a crazy old coot, even compared to delusional loons like Rick […]

  4. Self-Deportation « NotionsCapital Says:

    […] easier than figuring out real immigration policy. The GOP succumbed to the bargaining skills of ex-financier Romney, and “ Self-Deportation” is on the 2012 Republican Platform. In the event of a […]

  5. Mitt Romney, International Statesman « NotionsCapital Says:

    […] were at variance with the facts, he repeated them. Perhaps that works in the murky world of private equity, but it’s less effective in international relations, where lives are at stake, not just […]

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