Stop criticizing those who give you your paychecks, says super-rich equity sector candidate Romney to distressed MI workers

January 13, 2008 in 2008, analysis, argument, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign management, conservatism, election 2008, GOP, incompetence, mitt romney, policy, republicans, rhetoric, romney, strategy, stupidity, the dark soul of Mitt Romney, triumph of unreason
Tags: andrew cline, Bain Capital, equity-sector, industry, insanity, labor, mi, michigan, national review online, NRO, policy, rust belt, The Corner, workers

[…] Wolf [of the Late Edition] played a clip of a Huckabee commercial – “[Gov. Huckabee] remind[s people] of the guy they worked with, not the guy who laid them off [i.e. Romney],” reports Mark Kilmer of Redstate.com in a post titled The Sunday Morning Talk Shows

[In response:] Romney chastised Huckabee for criticizing the guy who gives people their paychecks […]

Romney to the workers of MI: STFU and trust those who who profit the most from your labor.

Romney argues further on Face the Nation that not only should CEOs be immune from criticism, they should also be subsidized at public expense for their insane decisions:

[…] [Romney] said that though it would be difficult to bring back the automotive industry, government could invest in “basic science and research”: fuel technology, automotive technology. With the money of the taxpayers. “We, frankly, are lagging behind,” proclaimed Mitt, and government is the solution […]

Further:

[…] Schieffer brought up a Huckabee remark, that Mitt’s business would buy businesses and people would lose their jobs. Mitt claimed that he rebuilt businesses, protecting “as many jobs as humanly possible” […]

Romney protected jobs? Really? This is not consonant with Romney’s earlier testimony. Elsewhere Romney argues for cutting jobs because US workers are lazy and overcompensated:

Romney: American workers are lazy and over-compensated

—and—

Romney really knows how to cut jobs, as he boasted in a live debate:

“Romney was doing great on the job creation answer until he said he knows how to get rid of people who need to be gotten rid of,” writes Andrew Cline of the NRO in a The Corner blog burst titled Romney on Jobs

That is not going to help him in New Hampshire, where another paper mill closed this year and the loss of manufacturing jobs remains a huge issue […]

We used to ask rhetorically who Romney’s natural constituency could possibly be. Now we know. It is the executive classes of the equity sector. See:

how Romney plans to enrich himself by liquidating the US manufacturing base

yours &c.
dr. g.d.

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how Romney plans to enrich himself by liquidating the US manufacturing base

November 4, 2007 in 2008, campaign communications, campaign communiques, campaign literature, election 2008, GOP, mitt romney, republicans, rhetoric, romney, stupidity, the dark soul of Mitt Romney, triumph of unreason
Tags: Amy Lorentzen, AP, Bain Capital, corruption, economy, fair trade, free trade, labor, trade, us manufacturing, workers

“MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) — Republican Mitt Romney said Friday he wants to help displaced workers with special accounts they can use to pay for more education and training,” writes Amy Lorentzen for the AP in a story titled Romney Wants Help for Displaced Workers

Romney’s plan is part of a free trade proposal he’s touting this week. In it, he seeks more authority for the president to negotiate trade deals, and calls for a new alliance of foreign partners that are committed to opening more markets.

“I want to make sure that trade is fair and our workers are trained properly for the jobs of tomorrow,” Romney told about 150 people at a hotel in central Iowa.

Romney’s plan would help displaced workers by creating what he calls worker empowerment and training accounts. The self-managed accounts would be for any worker entering the work force development system, not just those hurt by trade deals, according to his campaign.

The accounts could be used to purchase training and education — from community colleges or from businesses. Similar proposals from Republican congressional leaders and the Bush administration put the accounts at a range of about $2,000 to $3,000 per year. The accounts would be paid for by reallocating existing resources, the campaign said.

Translation:

1. Give me the authority to negotiate trade deals—i.e. to fast track trade deals. Who will this benefit? It will benefit organizations like Romney’s own Bain Capital. See:

Hunter on Romney: “…while it is true that you no longer control Bain Capital, the contributions you have received from its principals as its founding member indicate that your influence within the company remains strong”

2. Romney believes that his trade deals will displace US workers. Well, he’s probably right. But Romney has a plan. He wants you to subsidize special accounts that workers will be forced to pay into to protect themselves against Romney’s trade deals.

3. So: Romney, Bain Capital, and other private interests profit, and the public—i.e. workers, taxpayers—gets to absorb all the costs. As we wrote elsewhere, this is a laboratory pure example of privatizing the gains (profits that accrue to Bain Capital) and socializing the costs (subsidizing displaced workers at public expense).

No wonder Romney is so rich. He’s quite enterprising. Imagine enjoying the opportunity to plunder the accumulated capital of an entire nation.

yours &c.
dr. g.d.