Romney's Campaign a Lie of 'Historic Dimensions'

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" Romney literally got rich by creating debt that other people had to pay back through leveraged buyouts" This is exactly who we need to somehow scam our way out of debt with China because we definaitely cant pay it all back! Seriously though We need someone good at downsizeing because our biggest problem is the size and cost of our government. Cut it down to run mean and lean and stop all the headaches that are put on small business owners and those who wish to open a small business and we may just make it out of the mess our last two presidents have caused. Both Bush and Obama are like the dynamic duo of country destroyers. We should just send them to run our enemies countries and bamm in a decade they will be in a hole so deep they will never see light again.

I read the RS article cited, and the conclusions don't seem to follow the evidence given in the story. First, the story notes that 7% of businesses "taken over" go bankrupt; that means that 93% of them succeed.  Given that when all is said and done those companies have lower expenses (once the loans are paid off), they should grow.  If they grow by 8% on average (less, if we could know the percentage of companies that would have gone bankrupt had they not been "taken over"), there is a net gain in the total size of all the companies. Second, comparing such a "takeover" to a "bust out" is unsupported.  In a "bust out" the goal is to leave creditors unpaid; in a "takeover", the goal is to repay all the creditors -- and this is successful at least 93% of the time (it could be higher if there are cases where all creditors are repaid but the companies still fail). Third, such "takeovers" are never without the consent of the owners.  The owners, aka "shareholders", willingly sell some or all of their ownership to those who are "taking over".  The officers of the company -- who are employees, and both highly compensated and ineffective managing the company's value -- may be hostile, but they don't own the company. Finally, those taking over and those consultants who oversee remaking the company do indeed take rather large amounts of profit; however, they are adding value by moving most of the companies from financial struggling to financial health, which benefits the other owners.  If the consultants' fees are too high to generally cover the value they add, the other owners may of course sue those "takeover" owners for failing to meet shareholder responsibilities due to a conflict of interest. Given this, the author fails to make the case that Bain Capital does not offer good value in exchange for their customers, nor that their behavior is somehow unethical.

Is this really the best the USA can do? I have a really nice nephew in Maine who is poor but has a great heart, some college, and much empathy, without an ounce of arrogance. He also has common sense and a work ethic to spare. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat over the candidates presented to us this year. We are circling the drain, people! Can't we find an American with a heart and a brain and a grasp of this country's fundamental values to be President?