Bain’s Birth by Death Squads - In These Times

Bain’s Birth by Death Squads - In These Times
"But more important than Romney’s cognitive dissonance about his debt to government help is what his apparent acceptance of Salvadoran blood money says about his self-delusion, his greed or his ambition—or all three."

The Post-Truth Campaign: Mitt Romney Tells 530 Lies in 30 Weeks

The Post-Truth Campaign: Mitt Romney Tells 530 Lies in 30 Weeks
"While the sheer number of Romney's lies are indeed unprecedented for a presidential campaign, his fact-free campaigning is simply the logical continuation of a trend that started in the George W. Bush administration, when Republicans literally walled themselves from reality."

Romney And Bain Boosted Agriculture Giant Monsanto In Spite Of Toxic Past

Romney And Bain Boosted Agriculture Giant Monsanto In Spite Of Toxic Past: Biotechnology firm Monsanto Company, which currently owns most of the patents for America’s staple crops, is already cozy with American lawmakers. A new Nation report, however, indicates that “a very old friend in a very high place” may usher in the corporation’s most prosperous years yet. The Nation’s investigative report has uncovered how Mitt Romney [...]/p

The Bain Way: Let the States Pick Up the Tab on National Debt?

The Bain Way: Let the States Pick Up the Tab on National Debt?
"Romney has had one major business experience - founding and running a private equity firm called Bain Capital, something very different than his father, who ran a car company. In the past several weeks there have been two detailed investigative stories on how he ran his private equity firm, and there has been much discussion in the media on how he ran his business differently than others: It has been dubbed, "The Bain Way"."

Sick Money: How Mitt Romney's Bain Investments Are Exploding the Deficit and Harming Our Health | Alternet

Sick Money: How Mitt Romney's Bain Investments Are Exploding the Deficit and Harming Our Health | Alternet
"Few individuals or organizations have been as influential as Mitt Romney and Bain Capital in worsening our runaway healthcare costs, causing unnecessary suffering, or accelerating our government's long-term deficit problem. Their highly leveraged investment strategy puts healthcare companies under enormous pressure to increase revenue. They often respond by overbilling -- or worse, by encouraging unnecessary medical treatments that can include anything from non-invasive tests to heart surgery."

Greed and Debt: The True Story of Romney and Bain Capital | Common Dreams

Greed and Debt: The True Story of Romney and Bain Capital | Common Dreams
""By making debt the centerpiece of his campaign, Romney was making a calculated bluff of historic dimensions – placing a massive all-in bet on the rank incompetence of the American press corps. The result has been a brilliant comedy. A man makes a $250 million fortune loading up companies with debt and then extracting million-dollar fees from those same companies, in exchange for the generous service of telling them who needs to be fired in order to finance the debt payments he saddled them with in the first place. That same man then runs for president riding an image of children roasting on flames of debt, choosing as his running mate perhaps the only politician in America more pompous and self-righteous on the subject of the evils of borrowed money than the candidate himself. If Romney pulls off this whopper, you'll have to tip your hat to him: No one in history has ever successfully run for president riding this big of a lie. It's almost enough to make you think he really is qualified for the White House."

Former Employees of Companies Controlled by Bain Capital Speak at DNC

PERRspectives: How We Built Bain Capital

PERRspectives: How We Built Bain Capital
"As it turns out, the silence about Mitt Romney's old company and the Republican sham that "you didn't build it" are related. Because when it comes to Bain Capital, in a very real sense you did build it. After all,your United States tax code doesn't merely allow the "carried interest exemption" that enables the likes of Mitt Romney to pay a lower rate than many middle class families. Without the public subsidy that is thecorporate debt interest deduction, there might not be a Bain Capital--or a private equity industry as we know it--at all."

Romney’s Former Company Under Investigation For Tax Evasion

Romney’s Former Company Under Investigation For Tax Evasion: Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by presidential candidate Mitt Romney, is under investigation for questionable tax practices, according to the New York Times. Since July, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been issuing subpoenas to private equity firms including Bain, which he believes intentionally changed management fees into capital gains as a [...]/p

Greed and Debt: The True Story of Romney and Bain Capital | Common Dreams

Greed and Debt: The True Story of Romney and Bain Capital | Common Dreams
"By making debt the centerpiece of his campaign, Romney was making a calculated bluff of historic dimensions – placing a massive all-in bet on the rank incompetence of the American press corps. The result has been a brilliant comedy: A man 

makes a $250 million fortune loading up companies with debt and then extracting million-dollar fees from those same companies, in exchange for the generous service of telling them who needs to be fired in order to finance the debt payments he saddled them with in the first place. That same man then runs for president riding an image of children roasting on flames of debt, choosing as his running mate perhaps the only politician in America more pompous and self-righteous on the subject of the evils of borrowed money than the candidate himself. If Romney pulls off this whopper, you'll have to tip your hat to him: No one in history has ever successfully run for president riding this big of a lie. It's almost enough to make you think he really is qualified for the White House."

Sensata Workers React to Romney Bragging about Chinese Sweatshops

Sensata Workers React to Romney Bragging about Chinese Sweatshops
"Employees of the Bain-owned company Sensata, about whom Kenneth blogged about back in June trying to save their jobs from being outsourced, watched the video and were asked for their reactions."

HuffPost: Romney asserted active role in Bain to claim half-million dollar tax deduction in 2010

HuffPost: Romney asserted active role in Bain to claim half-million dollar tax deduction in 2010
"In other words, if Romney's deduction was legal, it means his claim to have had no involvement with Bain after February of 1999 was pure fiction, because as late as 2010, he claimed more than $500,000 in expenses related to his Bain investments. Of course, if it wasn't legal, Romney has other problems."

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign
"Even if Romney can distance himself from the death squad-linked Salvadoran investors that provided the seed money for his vast wealth, Ryan's political upbringing and his being mentored by a man of Abrams' pedigree makes it clear that the tragedies of El Salvador's civil war and this dark chapter in U.S. history will continue to cast a shadow over the Romney - Ryan campaign."

Romney’s Blood Money » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Romney’s Blood Money » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"Recent revelations about Mitt Romney’s highly profitable company Bain Capital help connect the dots between offshore tax shelters, shady investors; and the role that ill-gotten gains plays in today’s casino-like finance capital.

Both the Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post published investigations in the last month showing that over a third of the $37 million raised by Romney to launch Bain Capital in the mid-1980s came from rich Latin Americans, the bulk of it from Salvadoran families linked to death squads."

Tax experts find shady, possibly illegal, dealings in documents related to Romney's Bain investments

Tax experts find shady, possibly illegal, dealings in documents related to Romney's Bain investments
"As if there weren't enough reason to demand that Romney show us his tax returns, the Bain documents show the kinds of things that such disclosure might shed some light on. And these are, of course, just what one website has been able to get its hands on."

How To Succeed in Business Without Adding Value - In These Times

How To Succeed in Business Without Adding Value - In These Times
"All this means that even when a private equity firm “succeeds” (usually after buying an above-average business), much of their gains are reaped simply by transferring large amounts of wealth to themselves. The losers are usually the companies they acquire, their investor partners, taxpayers, government agencies and workers–ultimately, the entire economy."

Bain Capital's Link To OpSec Smears

Bain Capital's Link To OpSec Smears
"You knew there had to be one. When you've got the worst candidate on the planet running for President, there's only one thing left to do. Pull out the corporate mudslingers and start tossing it all over the place."

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign
"Amidst reports that Mitt Romney launched Bain Capital with funds from investors tied to 1980s Salvadoran death squads, his new running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) is getting foreign policy briefings from a man who actively covered-up some of the worst atrocities committed by those same death squads. The GOP's vice-presidential candidate also earned his political stripes working under neoconservative Republicans who funneled billions in U.S. aid to those military hitmen. Though the war in El Salvador was just one chapter in history, Romney and Ryan's relationship with that war may provide a snapshot into their worldview."

Seven Tax Return Questions Mitt Romney Left Unanswered Today

Seven Tax Return Questions Mitt Romney Left Unanswered Today: Mitt Romney said today on the campaign trail that he never paid less than a 13 percent tax rate, adding that continued calls for him to release his tax returns are “small-minded.” “I did go back and look at my taxes, and over the past 10 years I never paid less than 13 percent,” he [...]/p

Romney Still Reaps Huge Profits From Bain's Vulture Capitalism

Romney Still Reaps Huge Profits From Bain's Vulture Capitalism
"The wealthiest man ever to secure a major party nomination for the presidency is crying foul because President Obama’s campaign has dared to explain how Romney made his money.

Romney was a robber baron. And he continues to profit—to the tune of $230 million and counting—from the “vulture capitalism” his Republican primary opponents decried."