What If Romney's Bain was Saved by a Federal Bailout?

That would be funny.

Tim Dickinson has some pretty amazing investigative reporting in which he notes that the origin story for Romney is that he ...

... took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began ... campaign aides spun Romney as the wizard behind a "long-shot miracle," bragging that he had "saved bank depositors all over the country $30 million when he saved Bain & Company."

What really happened was somewhat different.

... Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster – leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC ... out of at least $10 million. And ... Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds.

There is more to it than this, including what may be a bit of inside dealing and some whitewashing. Go have a look.

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"What If Romney’s Bain was Saved by a Federal Bailout?"

That is not possible. Romney has been absent from Bain at least 10 years before any bailout was ever conceived. If Bain did get a bailout, I am sure thye faired better than Solyndra who is yet to be prosecuted for the crimes committed there.

By James Nickson (not verified) on 30 Aug 2012 #permalink

You seem to imply that bailouts are a recent invention. The FDIC has been doing them for years.

I call Poe on James Nickson!

I am aware of the FDIC bailing out companies.

The situation in 2008 was distressing. If we did not bail out GM and others we really did not know if the economy would get worse in the long run or better. Of course in the short term not bailing out these companies would have been even more devastating to the economy.

Of course Bush gets blamed alot and it is partially his fault but the beinnings of these troubles go back alot farther than Bush.

Of course this was not free money just given away to these poorly managed companies. It was a low interest loan. We should have agreed to a 29.99 percent interest rate loan and took the interest and put it into an emergency economic account for possible future troubles.

By James Nickson (not verified) on 31 Aug 2012 #permalink

Sounds to me like Nickson isn't even talking about the same thing Greg is. Semi-automated hired apologist?

Greg: It would be nice if original posts had timestamps. (Yes, I know this is scienceblogs, but they aren't the only slacker in this regard.)

By Uncle Glenny (not verified) on 31 Aug 2012 #permalink

I sent my last email to scienceblogs management making a suggestion weeks ago. They have shown no real interest in any ideas fom me. If you have a suggestion for site design or layout, perhaps sending them an email would produce a result.