by stahrgazer on Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:10 am
Any of you read, really read, the reports on HOW Romney "balanced the budgets" of several companies?
Ever see the movie, "Pretty Woman"? Richard Gere before he got a change of heart and let that old man's company live, that's what Romney did to "balance budgets" of companies. His personal company, which he brainstormed and was CEO of, Bain, made hundreds of millions but left the original companies they took over, holding more hundreds of millions in debt.
(Some claim all the icky stuff happened after "Romney left" but that's not true. Romney planned some of the "icky stuff" and even when he went on to "balance the Olympics budget" he was still CEO of Bain until at least 2002.)
What he'd do is, put up 5m or so, borrow a few hundred mill for a takeover bid, usually encouraging the target company's managers to accept the bid for a nice bonus in their pocket, which they'd take. Then, with the "promise" of all this new capital, Romney'd arrange for the target company to borrow hundreds of millions, which then would get paid out to the upper echelons. Then, this "robust new company" stock would rise, and Romney would arrange the sales and get out. A majority of the targeted companies went bankrupt within 1-2 years, overwhelmed with hundreds of millions in debts. Approximately 20k United States jobs LOST from his schemes.
And, yeah, Romney "balanced the Olympics budget." Read how? He got grants from the United States Federal Government and used that, then spent enormous amounts, much more than was originally budgeted, for that Olympics.
Also, he arranged much of his "salary" to be given as stock instead of salary, which enabled him to skip out on paying any taxes on those earnings. (There are real reasons he alone, out of every "modern day" Presidential, Congressional, or Senate candidate; yup, Mitt and only Mitt, refuses to release decades of tax returns even though EVERYONE ELSE has.)
Now, Romney is definitely better than Obama at concealing immoral unpatriotic behaviors, and is better than Obama at finding all the tax loopholes that keep him getting rich on the backs of those beneath him. But a better candidate for President? Only for liars, semi-cheaters, and flip-floppers just like him, or those who wish to hate Obama so much that they won't even read "the goods" on Romeny, that are available all over the web. Rolling Stone articles are a good place to start.
Reading other information about how "leveraged buyouts" and "hostile takeovers" occur would give you a set of other resources to see just how Romney "balances budgets."
He's good at making money for himself and those he considers to be his peers, but unless you've got hundreds of millions to help finance similar schemes, he may not be the President for you after all.
And as for foreign affairs? He either wants to be just like Bush only moreso, or wants to be just like Obama only moreso; depends on which phase of the campaign he was in or who his audience is within the same phase of his campaign. He either wants us to stay in Afghanistan with about 20k troops for a good long time, or wants us to phase out in 2014 like is currently planned. He either wants to be buddies with China or wants to start a trade war by labeling them "currency manipulators." He thinks Russia is our biggest foe, decades after the Berlin Wall came down, and a scant ten years after we realized Al Qaeda and other middle east terrorists are truly our biggest foe.
Romney might also be totally against abortion under any circumstance or totally pro choice, depending on which day someone asked him the question.
If you like Medicare but you're not 55 or older, forget about it. Romney and Ryan want voucher systems for anyone younger than the seniors who qualify as baby boomers (like himself) which means, when your voucher is up, it doesn't matter how much it costs, the cost is on you - because his "voucher system" does not build in cost increases. At all.
He may wish to repeal Obamacare "today" but remember, it was his brainchild first and when he had that brainchild, he suggested it would be a fantastic national model. Oh. But wait. That was his opinion "yesterday," his opinion differs today, and tomorrow, who knows whose idea he'll go for?
Finally, he claims a budget balancing and tax lowering for the rich along with changes to deductions (limits for everyone) that will "create 12 million new jobs," yet when pressed for details, he tells his questioner to pick a number, any number... which means, HE did NOT pick a number, which means he CANNOT KNOW how many jobs his plan will gain - or lose - because he never ran the damned figures. If he had, he'd KNOW what the numbers need to be, not tell his questioners to pick their own numbers!
Listen up, folks, Obama may not be perfect but he's a helluva lot more honest about his ideas, how they will work, why they will work, than Mitt.
But. Admittedly, romney is alot better than Obama at making the types of soundbites he thinks his audience wants to hear.