Mitt Romney Wouldn't Know a Free Market If It Bit Him on the Ass

AlterNet / By Joshua Holland

Mitt Romney Wouldn't Know a Free Market If It Bit Him on the Ass
At Bain Capital, Romney used the tax code to redistribute wealth from taxpayers to his investors and partners.

January 18, 2012 |


The lion's share of the wealth Mitt Romney accumulated during his years at Bain Capital was extracted not only by laying off workers and raiding their pensions, but by using what conservatives call “big government” to redistribute wealth from taxpayers to Bain's investors and partners.

Bain Capital was not in the business of creating jobs, or even saving companies over the long-term. Its model had a relatively low rate of success; a study by Deutche Bank found that 33 out of 68 major deals cut on Romney's watch lost money for the firm's investors. Its richest deals made up for the flops, however, and Bain's partners were guaranteed hefty fees regardless of how the businesses they “restructured” ultimately performed.

Romney and his partners then exploited a loophole in the tax code that allowed them to pay just 15 percent of their growing fortunes in taxes – a rate less than what many of their companies' employees forked over to Uncle Sam.

“By and large, (government) gets in the way of creating jobs," Romney said during a GOP debate last year. But, as the Los Angeles Times noted, “during his business career Romney made avid use of public-private partnerships, something that many conservatives consider to be 'corporate welfare.'" ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/economy/153808/mitt_romney_wouldn%27t_know_a_free_market_if_it_bit_him_on_the_ass/