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Nation Magazine Reports 'Romney's Bailout Bonanza'
WARREN, Ohio – An article published by The Nation that outlines now Mitt Romney made more than $15 million as a result of the auto industry bailout that he did not support exposes how the Republican presidential candidate has made his fortune and resets a narrative Democrats believe will enable President Obama to win Midwest swing states, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said.
The article, titled “Mitt Romney’s Bailout Bonanza,” detailed how Romney and his wife made at least $15.3 million from their investment in a hedge fund that profited in part by scuttling a deal that would have kept Delphi Automotive plants operating in the United States.
"Mitt Romney’s opposition to the auto bailout has haunted him on the campaign trail, especially in Rust Belt states like Ohio," writes Greg Palast inthe Nov. 5 edition of The Nation. "But Romney has done a good job of concealing, until now, the fact that he and his wife, Ann, personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout -- and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romneys’, were astronomical -- more than 3,000 percent on their investment," the article states.
Romney for President spokesman Christopher Maloney dismisses the story as a “partisan, left-wing study meant to distract away from the $1 billion of taxpayer funds the Obama administration handed over to the [United Auto Workers] in the Delphi bankruptcy.”
He continued, “In the Obama administration, the White House picks the winners, and the winners just happen to be the president’s largest campaign donors. Delphi retirees and the American people are sick and tired of this crony capitalism and its destructive effects on our economy.”
Ryan, D-17 Ohio, charges that the story, which also detailed huge profits made by hedge funds that in turn have contributed to Romney's fortune and his political campaign, shows how companies like Romney’s Bain Capital operate.
“These aren’t the mom-and-pop businesses or the business people in our community that we respect for a business they have spent their whole life building and employ people,” Ryan said. “This is someone who comes in as a vulture basically, and this is how he’s made a lot of money.” While allowing there might be room in the economic system for these type of investors, “You certainly don’t want this guy as president of the United States.”
Ryan said the article helps “connect the dots” as to how this “underbelly” of the economy works, ad campaign dollars are donated to help continue the bankruptcy and tax laws and policies in place that encourage and permit such transactions.
“For [Romney] to turn around and say he’s not for the bailout, he’s not for the rescue package for the auto industry” and then to “turn around and benefit from it, to me it stinks,” Ryan said.
Ryan and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown continue to push legislation that would permit some of the proceeds from when the U.S. government sells its stake in General Motors to go to Delphi salaried pensioners, who lost much of their pensions when Delphi went through bankruptcy. However, he complained, House Speaker John Boehner won’t permit the legislation to come up for a vote.
“To me, the person that made your pension worse off and who scuttled American manufacturing” and the opportunity to keep some Delphi manufacturing in the United States rather than going overseas “is certainly not the person who is going to be helpful if he is in the White House,” Ryan said.
The Nation magazine's report, coming less than three weeks before Election Day, likely will be “very damaging” in some of the key states, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia and even parts of Florida, the congressman predicted. It will realign Romney to a narrative “that maybe got put on hold after the first debate” painting him in a negative light with his experiences with Bain, making money at all costs and as being out of touch.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.