ALL we need to know re: Romney

[kpete]

Romney's steel skeleton in the Bain closet
Candidate's investment in a steel mill offers perspective on his firm's brush with a bailout

An abandoned building from the bankrupt GST Steel Company is a silent memorial to a dead industry in Kansas City, Missouri.


It was a gamble. The old mill, renamed GS Technologies, needed expensive updating, and demand for its products was susceptible to cycles in the mining industry and commodities markets. Less than a decade later, the mill was padlocked and some 750 people lost their jobs. Workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they'd been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as $400 (258 pounds) a month. What's more, a federal government insurance agency had to pony up $44 million to bail out the company's underfunded pension plan. Nevertheless, Bain profited on the deal, receiving $12 million on its $8 million initial investment and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45900038/ns/business-us_business/#.Twm8V6VAY1J

[Skidmore]

1. One of the panel on "This Morning" suggested that Dems were hoping to paint Romney as the John Kerry

of the GOP. I say that Romney needs to be identified with Quark, the Ferenghi. Romney, the corporate raider, should be hung with all the jobs he destroyed because that is what venture capitalists do. They do not try to turn companies around. They dismantle them and leave wreckage behind while hauling cash. Romney can't prove jobs created when they are offset by those that were eradicated.

[banned from Kos]

3. Romney = Gordon Gekko

without the style.

[DCBob]

4. bingo. Romney's corporate/wall street connections will be an easy target.

Meanwhile Obama can push a poplulist message that will no doubt resonate with most voters.

[banned from Kos]

5. the ad writes itself

"Greed is good" speeches, firing workers, raiding pension plans, scheming with stockbrokers, breaking unions, sleaze.

[global1]

6. And Here's Some Commennts From Gordon = Romney ...

Check out this clip. Everytime I watch it I can't help but think that Gordon Gecko was patterned after Romney. This is the kind of guy that looks like the Repugs will nominate as their party's presidential candidate. This is what he is all about and this is what the Repug party is all about. I just don't understand why so many American people are fooled by this?

[banned from Kos]

2. the world of Private Equity is a fascinating one from good to bad

Angel Investors (Kleiner Perkins)

Vulture Capitalists (Bain)

[Scuba]

7. Workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they'd been promised...

Workers were denied the severance pay and health insurance they'd been promised, and their pension benefits were cut by as much as $400 (258 pounds) a month. What's more, a federal government insurance agency had to pony up $44 million to bail out the company's underfunded pension plan. Nevertheless, Bain profited on the deal, receiving $12 million on its $8 million initial investment and at least $4.5 million in consulting fees.

[banned from Kos]

8. here you go, pete - can you use this?

&via=mupload&newlp=1#

(I can't post pics without a widgit)

[riverwalker]

9. This should be an Obama campaign ad

it hits a gut level real people can relate to.