Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have descended to a new low this past week. They attacked GOP front runner Mitt Romney about his former career at Bain Capital. They are saying that Romney closed down companies and that he was a "vulture" who preyed on weak companies. Some of these companies that were shutdown for various reasons were in South Carolina. Obviously Gingrich and Perry are trying to score cheap political points by exploiting populist anger against Romney. The problem is that these two "conservatives" are engaging in class warfare and are making the same kind of statements that you would expect from Marxists and Socialists.
If Romney, whom I do not support or care for, runs our government like he did at Bain Capital then hallelujah! We need someone who is going to fire people from government and shrink the public sector. Since when is making money and being profitable a bad thing? Gingrich and Perry are sounding like liberal democrats. Free market capitalism is the greatest system in the world because it allows people who work hard to succeed. All of the GOP candidates should be praising Romney for his record of free market capitalism at Bain Capital instead of trying to appeal to baser instincts of voters.
Liberals, Socialists, and Marxists appeal to lower natural instincts like greed and envy in people. That is why they demonize Wall Street, successful people, and those who work hard because it's natural to want what you can't have and to hate and envy those who do have. Gingrich and Perry are doing exactly what Barack Obama is doing.
Newt is angry because he wasn't anointed in Iowa in large part due to Romney's negative ads and is clearly out for revenge at any cost. Perry is just floundering around trying to find any footing to keep his hopes alive. Shame on Gingrich, Perry, and anyone who attacks Romney's career at Bain because they are attacking capitalism and freedom. We don't need a candidate who throws freedom and free market capitalism under the bus for the sake of winning elections.
Here's the video you're talking about, put out by a super-PAC that's supporting Gingrich:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLWnB9FGmWE
They highlight 4 Bain/Romney acquisitions, and they make it sound like in each case Bain bought healthy companies, siphoned off their assets, ran them into the ground, and fired everyone. But:
UniMac seems to still be around:
http://www.unimac.com/
DDI seems to still be around, too:
http://www.ddiglobal.com/
Wikipedia says that Ampad was a Mead subsidiary when Bain bought them, and enjoyed a phenomenal growth rate for about 6 years. It sounds like at least much of the borrowing was used for growth and aquisitions. Ampad is now a subsidiary of a company called Esselte:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampad
KB Toys was the other one.
Politifact disputes the accuracy of the ad w/r/t KB. (But I don't trust Politifact.)
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/13/winning-our-future/video-blames-bain-capital-demise-kb-toys/
Bottom line: the video was a low blow, but it's almost certainly a low blow that we can count on the Obama campaign using, if Romney is the nominee.
Hmmm... lemme see if I can make a couple of those links work:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLWnB9FGmWE
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jan/13/winning-our-future/video-blames-bain-capital-demise-kb-toys/