Societal abuse built into big business

I often say that the reason people don’t protest the skulduggery practiced in business and by the politically conservative right, is because the rotten things done in the name of legal profit-making and “improving society” boggle the minds of decent, hard-working people so much that those decent people cannot believe the terrible things they see done by people who are pillars of the community, some of whom are even sworn to protect the public interest, even when those things take place right in front of their eyes. Apparently, these acts are too horrible to witness. Mitt Romney is up to his eyeballs in a bilking scheme that while legal, is obviously amoral – and it also ends up causing formerly well-employed workers to become dependent on taxpayer supported program after they lose their jobs and then discover that Bain Capital’s recommendations have allowed their bankrupted employers to wipe out employee pension funds too. Bain Capital has been mentioned often in the news recently, because Mitt Romney is a former company executive.

This Huffington Post article compares the tactics used by companies like Bain Capital to the mafiosi practice called bust out and describes how this process works in the legal world of big business:

The Obama campaign has recently raised the profile of private equity by highlighting the bankruptcy of Ampad, an office supply company that was busted out by Bain Capital. The company went bankrupt, while Bain investors made roughly $100 million… (by taking) control of companies and run(ning) up their credit.

Cash from the loans and cost savings are funneled back to the investors. This looting continues until the company can’t pay its debts. When it finally collapses, the company files for bankruptcy to extinguish the debt — but private equity investors … get to keep the gains they’ve already reaped.

Romney by the way, become the unofficial Republican presidential nominee last night after winning Texas’ delegates to the GOP national convention. In a Times interview, Romney tells a reporter that Obama can’t understand how jobs are created because he doesn’t have Romney’s long years of experience in big business, but the Washington Monthly tells a different story about Romney’s relationship to jobs:

The Republican took a chance on a company and decimated it. The workers lost; the community lost; and when GST needed federal intervention, the taxpayers lost*. But Romney and his investors still took home millions… Steel worker and Army veteran Donny Box worked at (the GST mill in Kansas City) for 32 years. “We lost our jobs, they made millions,” Box says in the ad. “Mitt Romney wants to call himself a ‘job creator’? Mitt Romney doesn’t care about jobs. He cares about money.”

This is why you need to be registered to vote for President Obama on November 6, 2012. Remember, if you’ve moved since you last voted, you need to record your address change. In New Jersey that means filling out a registration form and checking the box indicating a change of address update; other states may have different rules, so check with the elections registrar of your county or parish. Voter registration form for New Jersey is here. Residents of other states can get voter registration information at thisismyvote.org.

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