Tag Archives: Bain Capital

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“Pioneers” of outsourcin​g … Stephanie Cutter, BarackObama.com

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The Washington Post reported that “Mitt Romney‘s financial company, Bain Capital, invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India.”

This is the same guy that goes around the campaign trail talking a huge game about being able to protect American jobs by standing up to foreign countries like China. But now we know that Romney and his partners made millions while sending American jobs overseas.

This is a critical point, and we need to make sure everyone knows it. Check out this video I recorded today, and share it far and wide:

Romney’s support of outsourcing didn’t just happen in the private sector. As governor of Massachusetts, he vetoed legislation that would have banned companies from shipping state jobs overseas — and he actually outsourced state jobs to a call center in India.

In contrast, President Obama has a jobs plan that could put up to a million people back to work — including teachers, cops, firefighters, construction workers, and veterans — help small businesses create jobs right now, and help to put an end to American jobs being shipped overseas. He’s also fighting for tax breaks for companies that bring jobs back to America.

Mitt Romney is fighting for tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas — the type of companies he ran in the private sector.

This isn’t just a policy position for Romney, it’s his economic philosophy — and it’s his record.

Read the article, watch the video, and share them both far and wide — doesn’t get a lot more important than this one:

Thanks,

Stephanie

P.S. — Chip in $5 or more today, and help make sure we have the resources to spread the truth about Romney’s record.

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The Top 10 GOP Attacks on Bain Capital


When Republicans Thought Bain Capital Was Fair Game

Just as it did earlier this year during the Republican primary, Mitt Romney’s record of amassing a quarter-billion dollar fortune by bankrupting companies, shipping jobs overseas, and laying off thousands of American workers is dominating the headlines.

The Romney campaign is claiming that the attacks amount to unfair “character assassination” (even as one of Romney’s top surrogates today declared discussion of Romney’s experience at Bain “fair game”). President Obama himself addressed the issue yesterday:

And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be President is his business expertise.  He is not going out there touting his experience in Massachusetts.  He is saying, I’m a business guy and I know how to fix it, and this is his business.

And when you’re President, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits.  Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot.  Your job is to think about those workers who got laid off and how are we paying for their retraining.  Your job is to think about how those communities can start creating new clusters so that they can attract new businesses.  Your job as President is to think about how do we set up a equitable tax system so that everybody is paying their fair share that allows us then to invest in science and technology and infrastructure, all of which are going to help us grow.

And so, if your main argument for how to grow the economy is I knew how to make a lot of money for investors, then you’re missing what this job is about. It doesn’t mean you weren’t good at private equity, but that’s not what my job is as President.  My job is to take into account everybody, not just some.  My job is to make sure that the country is growing not just now, but 10 years from now and 20 years from now.

Just a few short months ago, Romney’s Republican rivals for the GOP nomination thought Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital was very relevant. As ThinkProgress’ Judd Legum notes, the Republican attacks “make Obama’s remarks sound tame by comparison.” He rounded up the top 10 GOP attacks on Bain. Here they are:

1. “The idea that you’ve got private equity companies that come in and take companies apart so they can make profits and have people lose their jobs, that’s not what the Republican Party’s about.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/12/12]

2. “The Bain model is to go in at a very low price, borrow an immense amount of money, pay Bain an immense amount of money and leave. I’ll let you decide if that’s really good capitalism. I think that’s exploitation.” — Newt Gingrich [New York Times, 1/17/12]

3. “Instead of trying to work with them to try to find a way to keep the jobs and to get them back on their feet, it’s all about how much money can we make, how quick can we make it, and then get out of town and find the next carcass to feed upon” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]

4. “We find it pretty hard to justify rich people figuring out clever legal ways to loot a company, leaving behind 1,700 families without a job.” — Newt Gingrich [Globe and Mail, 1/9/12]

5. “Now, I have no doubt Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips — whether he was going to have enough of them to hand out because his company, Bain Capital, of all the jobs that they killed” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/9/12]

6) “He claims he created 100,000 jobs. The Washington Post, two days ago, reported in their fact check column that he gets three Pinocchios. Now, a Pinocchio is what you get from The Post if you’re not telling the truth.” — Newt Gingrich [1/13/12, NBC News]

7. “There is something inherently wrong when getting rich off failure and sticking it to someone else is how you do your business, and I happen to think that’s indefensible” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]

8. “If Governor Romney would like to give back all the money he’s earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years, then I would be glad to then listen to him” — Newt Gingrich [Mediaite, 12/14/11]

9. “If you’re a victim of Bain Capital’s downsizing, it’s the ultimate insult for Mitt Romney to come to South Carolina and tell you he feels your pain, because he caused it.” — Rick Perry [New York Times, 1/8/12]

10. “They’re vultures that sitting out there on the tree limb waiting for the company to get sick and then they swoop in, they eat the carcass. They leave with that and they leave the skeleton” — Rick Perry [National Journal, 1/10/12]

Tomorrow, we’ll run through how Mitt Romney’s time at Bain Capital fits in to the debate about building an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy few or doubling down on an economy that’s rigged to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the middle class.

Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed

Can Ryan Murphy write another show about gay characters without making them trite and shallow?

A top Romney aide attacked workers fired by Bain Capital who have been telling their stories of devastation as “performance art gibberish.”

Sheriff Joe Arpaio doesn’t care that he used taxpayer funds to pursue his investigation of President Obama’s birth certificate.

The new GOP’s women caucus actually has a record of voting against equality for women.

Economists are starting to be cautiously optimistic about the housing market’s recovery.

These charts help bust the oft-repeated GOP myth that Obama’s spending is out of control.

Texas launches another war on history.

It’s official: Watching Fox makes you stupider.

Ohio’s prioritizes tax cuts for banks over funding for health care and education.

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Truth to Power – just the facts from Stephanie


President Obama had some pretty powerful words on what this campaign is going to be about — and I wanted to make sure folks on the Truth Team heard them.
At a press conference Monday, the President was asked why the campaign is taking a look at Mitt Romney‘s record as a corporate buyout specialist,  a record Romney’s been claiming as his chief qualification for the presidency.
The President said that while there’s nothing wrong with private equity, Romney’s priority wasn’t to create jobs — it was to maximize profits for partners and investors. A president has to focus on more than just that.
Watch the rest of his response on why Romney’s record should be looked at, then share it far and wide:

Video: President Obama on Romney's record
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President Obama said of Romney, “his main calling card for why he thinks he should be President is his business expertise … And when you’re President, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot.”
Folks, that’s what we’re going to be fighting for this year — and it’s up to us to lay out the stark differences between Romney’s views and our President’s. Get our President’s back — pass it on:

http://my.barackobama.com/Truth-Team-May22


Thanks,
Stephanie
P.S. — Here’s the video the President refers to in his response. Definitely worth a watch.

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Sign our petition. It says: “I like leaders who hire people.” … AFL – CIO


  
Former corporate raider and presidential hopeful Mitt Romneyrecently said “I like being able to fire people”—and his record as a corporate raider backs that up.He supports laws that attack workers’ rights and make it easier to fire people.Sign our petition. It says: “I like leaders who hire people.”

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Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney—who killed thousands of jobs as a corporate raider—recently said he “likes being able to fire people.”

Romney’s record as a corporate raider backs up his words: He supports laws that attack workers’ rights and make it easier to fire people. Laws like the so-called “right to work” bill being considered in Indiana that targets collective bargaining, robbing workers of union protection.

If Indiana’s so-called “right to work” bill passes, the state’s unions no longer will stand between corporate raiders like Mitt Romney and many of the workers they like to fire to boost short-term profits. And it will become much harder for everyday workers to improve their wages, benefits and retirement security.

If you agree with the AFL-CIO that our leaders need to work together on an agenda that actually creates jobs—and stop following the lead of corporate raiders like Mitt Romney—add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

In 2011, we saw the beginnings of a new democratic movement for economic justice. We had the most solidarity I’ve seen at any time during my career in the labor movement. We shifted the debate. And we’ll keep doing it.

But to translate this movement into lasting change, politics matter. Not just who we elect for president, but our choices at the state and local levels, too.

America wants to work—and it is politics as usual, not economic obstacles, standing in the way of putting people back to work. That’s why we’re promoting a job-creating agenda in statehouses around the country this year, focusing on priorities like:

  • Making sure state tax dollars are used to keep jobs in that state and in America.
  • Buying state-made and American-made goods—so we create jobs in our communities and in America.
  • Stopping corporate tax loopholes and tax breaks for millionaires—so our states no longer are starved of the revenue they need for critical services.

Please make sure your lawmakers—from the statehouse to the White House—know where you stand. Add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

Even though ruthless, corporate-backed attacks on workers continue, make no mistake: Our message—the message of the 99%—is taking root. Many politicians haven’t caught up yet. But they will. They’ll have to. Because people all across the country are saying our economy and our democracy are out of balance. They’re saying it’s time to create jobs for every person who wants to work—jobs that can support our families and that can support our dreams.

Sign the “I like leaders who hire people” petition. Make sure our leaders know you expect them to build a better America—and drop the attacks on working families.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
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AFL – CIO … Is Newt Gingrich right?


“You have to ask the question: Is capitalism really about the ability of a handful of rich people to manipulate the lives of thousands of people and walk off with the money, or is that in fact a little bit of a flawed system?”
—Newt GingrichHere are words you won’t hear from me very often: I agree with Newt Gingrich.As Mr. Gingrich recently pointed out, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney “looted” companies, leaving behind “broken families and broken neighborhoods.” That’s not the kind of capitalism that built America.If you agree that job creation is a critical part of capitalism—and that unions are a critical voice to stop job-killers like Mitt Romney from taking over our democracy—then sign our petition.

While I agree with Mr. Gingrich’s point about the kind of capitalism that works for working people, it’s unfortunate that both Mr. Gingrich and Mr. Romney are on the wrong side of most issues that matter to working people.

For example, they are both on record in support of so-called “right to work” legislation, like the bill that’s being considered in Indiana. This misnamed bill has nothing to do with “rights”—and it has terrible consequences for people’s work.

If “right to work” passes, Indiana’s unions no longer will stand between corporate raiders like Mitt Romney and many of the workers they like to fire to boost short-term profits. And it will become much harder for everyday workers to improve their wages, benefits and retirement security.

Like leaders who focus on policies that will get people hired into good, family-sustaining jobs? Sign our petition.

America wants to work—and it is politics as usual, not economic obstacles, standing in the way of putting people back to work. With your help, while the federal government is stalled and caught up in an election-year circus, we’ll focus on a job-creating agenda in statehouses around the country. Our priorities include:

  • Making sure state tax dollars are used to keep jobs in that state and in America.
  • Buying state-made and American-made goods—so we create jobs in our communities and in America.
  • Stopping corporate tax loopholes and tax breaks for millionaires—so our states no longer are starved of the revenue they need for critical services.

Please make sure your lawmakers—from your statehouse to the White House—know where you stand. Add your name to our “I like leaders who hire people” petition.

Thank you for all the work you do.

In Solidarity,

Richard L. Trumka
President, AFL-CIO
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