Trying to figure out a way to finish the religion series without alienating anyone, so it'll be another day.
Until then, a brief bit about Romney's experience as a private equity manager and as a venture capitalist. Today, he derided the failed government investment in Solyndra as an example of "public equity", which for starters gives the loan program (which to remind everyone was started under Bush) that vague whiff of socialism that comes with the word "public". More importantly, it allows Romney to conflate private equity, which is mostly what he did at Bain acquiring companies in leveraged buyouts, and venture capital, which is what the Solyndra loan was most similar to. Venture capital is rich guys giving money to smart guys. Private equity is rich guys buying smart guys' companies and doing whatever is most profitable for the rich guys, whether it be saving the company or gutting it. Since Romney hope to wrap himself in his Bain experience to make him look like a job creator, it would beneficial to him if people confused private equity and venture capital.
Here's a good Op-Ed that explores the distinction, as well as other aspects of Romney's record.
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Private Equity is one of the most non-capitalistic forms of "capitalism" out there.
What Romney did may have been legal, but I don't think many people would ever consider what he did ethical. It's certainly not traditional capitalism in any sense.
As an example:
Say I'm having some job troubles. I come to my friend Mitt Romney.
1. Mitt, I say, can you help me out with some job training and can I have some cash to get by?
2. Mitt says, sure, here's $1,000! But only if you let me have a percentage of your future earnings, and pay me this $1,000 back with interest in the future.
3. I say... ok.
4. Mitt then says, OK, now that you have some cash, I'm going to talk some of my other friends, and they're going to loan you $200,000 to go to law school.
5. After I have that $200,000, you find out law school really only costs $150,000. Mitt comes to you and says, hey, since law school didn't cost as much as you thought, you can pay me a "dividend"! Why don't you pay me $1500?
6. I then flunk out of law school and go bankrupt, losing my house and my family is now destitute. My "friend" Mitt has made $500 of me becoming poor.
That's what some people are calling "capitalism" and actually *defending*. Sick.
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