Why bother paying your debts when you can burn it all down?
 

The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney | Politics News | Rolling Stone

I DARE you to read the whole thing, I'll leave you with some key parts.

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.

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According to the government records obtained by Rolling Stone, Bain & Company "defaulted on its debt obligations" at nearly the same time that "W. Mitt Romney . . . stepped in as managing director (and later chief executive) in 1990 and led the financial restructuring intended to get the firm back on track."

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Under normal circumstances, such ample reserves would have made liquidating Bain an attractive option: Creditors could simply divvy up the stockpiled cash and be done with the troubled firm. But Bain had inserted a poison pill in its loan agreement with the banks: Instead of being required to use its cash to pay back the firm's creditors, the money could be pocketed by Bain executives in the form of fat bonuses – starting with VPs making $200,000 and up. "The company can deplete its cash balances by making officer-bonus payments," the FDIC lamented, "and still be in compliance with the loan documents."


Stay classy mittens!

Are you surprised?
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no need to dare me, I am happy to read. Looks like Mitt is an extremely astute businessman, has an incredible understanding of finances and banking. And maybe I misunderstood, but did noting illegal or immoral.
The reality is , in one month in the office, Mitt had more exposure and experience than in Obamas entire career as a community organizer or college professor. Think of it, has Obama every had to neogitate contracts, balance a budget, fire people, present to board of directors? Never. He never had to make a big deal, never worked with billions of dollars, actually, never worked with millions of dollars! I am not a huge fan of Mitt, but that arcticle makes me want to vote for him, if he was that creative to pull off complicated financial moves, think of what he can do for this country.

Yes, the opinion of someone who works for a financial firm saying threatening to take the cash and run with it while leaving the debt on the backs of the taxpayers isn't immoral. Right. Uh huh.

This isn't an Obama thread, go make your own. Shoo.

did he do it, or did he threaten to? Welcome to the business world


and by the way, millions of americans will retire, millions will have pensions, millions will send their kids to college because of financial firms. I feel very good about what I do for a living. Peoples dreams come true.

geez, at least you can count on social security and govt loans!

what docs...U can not read them....so R U assuming likwid?

Actually anyone can read them. Click on the link.

Ten million right? Ten million? How many hundreds of millions of dollars did the taxpayers get screwed out of with Solyndra? 535 million dollars! The funny thing about that is Two weeks before Obama took office the Energy department panel
Unanimously decided not to proceed with the loan. Then as late as March 2009 One of Obamas budget analysts also stated Solyndra was not ready for the loan. But somehow the loan was approved on March 20 2009? Two years later they were out of business.
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Threatening tax pay dollars is par for the course for you?

We are so goddamn screwed.

"and still be in compliance with the loan documents"

Likwid, if you're going to argue a point then argue the point....no need for the above post

Keep drinking the left wing look aid that who ever is feeding you. I am not even a republican. But I know a raw deal when I see one. I don't even consider Romney to be the right guy for the job but he has one thing going for him. He has held a real job. He has worked in the real world. Regardless of what Rolling Stone says he has performed in a real position that required him to make money for others as opposed to collecting money from others

By the way I took that link personally.
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Thank you
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Tax pay $ were not part of the discussion. FDIC funding was. It was a tough negotiation with the government. yes the government is funded by tax payer dollars. But thats not how the discussion would have went.
I highly doubt every government employee says "Im spending tax payer dollars" when they go to work. Obama doesnt say Im spending tax payer dollars to support under water homeowners.
Romney played hardball with an entity - the government.
These things happen all the time.
You dont think businesses threaten govt to pull money out of towns if they dont get their way? Dont governments ALL the time spend "tax payer dollars" to give incentives to businesses?????????

You want answers?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXoNE14U_zM

Just look at any major Ballpark/Stadium thats has been built the past 20 years....and longer

who do you want negotiating with big banks, big corporations, big insurance companies?

A civil rights lawyer, law professor or the guy detailed in the Rolling Stone article?
Take away all politics, all media, all noise and 99% of rational people would choose romneys background to help this country reduce debt, straighten up business and get us financially on track. the shareholders he will be working for are the taxpayers. His history is pretty solid on delivering for shareholders.

Even the one in Tampa currently being used for the RNC? :confused:

Yep...

"The venue, located in Downtown Tampa's Channelside District was a secondary location chosen after the failure of Tampa Coliseum Inc. to secure funding to construct an arena on Tampa Sports Authority land near Tampa Stadium. The government paid $86 million and the Tampa Bay Lightning paid $53 million for the venue's construction and infrastructure. It opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace."

I was dripping with sarcasm when I wrote that....

You....Sarcastic...Never :hihi:

I don't understand. So is Romney a liar and a hypocrite or just a hypocrite?

Well, I do agree with Jimmy that he helped keep people employed. His altruistic devotion to labor shouldn't be overlooked.

-spence

Then delete the Obama crap.
This isn't an Obama thread.

Is it really that hard?


Yes, Mumbai is grateful. :hihi:

How is Romney relevant without Obama?