In recent weeks, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have accused each other of being an "outsourcer in chief," as their campaigns have tussled over Romney's past at Bain Capital and the (non)release of his tax returns. But all this scuffling hasn't taken into account an until-now unreported fact about Romney's days at Bain: When he was running the private equity firm, he invested tens of millions of dollars in a pair of companies that specialized in outsourcing high-tech manufacturing and that developed offshore production facilities in Mexico, China, and elsewhere to build electronics for US firms.
In March 1999, shortly after Romney left Bain to take over the troubled Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Brookside Capital Investors Inc., a Bain-related entity wholly owned by Romney, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission that listed dozens of companies in which Brookside held a stake the previous quarter. The roster included investments in Singapore-based Flextronics International ($13 million) and Florida-headquartered Jabil Circuit Inc. ($41 million), two companies that were leaders in the fast-growing field of outsourcing electronics manufacturing and offshoring production to low-wage countries. Together, these two investments represented almost 10 percent of Brookside's $559 million portfolio.
[And of course we know Willard didn't REALLY leave Bain.]
With the outsourcing debate still raging in the 2012 race—the Obama crew has not let up on its Bain attacks, and Romney's camp has (falsely) accused Obama of wasting stimulus money on green-tech firms that used the funds overseas—Romney's past investments have become a potential political liability. On the campaign trail, Romney has denounced China for poaching US jobs, and he has cried foul when Obama blasted him for having once been an outsourcing profiteer. Yet when he was in charge of a half-billion-dollar investment fund, it acquired hefty positions in US and foreign firms that profited from US companies shipping manufacturing (and jobs) to China, Mexico, and elsewhere. [My emphasis.]
Man. Is there any way Willard HASN'T been terrible for working people? Guys like Willard see these people as disposable. The hired help. People you basically wipe your feet on. Not the "right" kind of people--like him.
Oh, and before I forget--
WHERE ARE YOUR TAX RETURNS, WILLARD? WHY ARE YOU HIDING THEM FROM US? WHAT DON'T YOU WANT US TO SEE?
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