Romney Privatized The Gains and Socialized The Losses of Bain Capital

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Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 12:15 pm

Republicans love socialism, as does big business, but they only love socialism that helps them, not the little people that work for them. There is a phrase called privatize the gains and socialize the losses. This was a favorite of Gov. Mitt Romney when he ran Bain Capital.

Bloomberg:

“What’s clear from a review of the public record during his (Romney’s) management of the private-equity firm Bain Capital from 1985 to 1999 is that Romney was fabulously successful in generating high returns for its investors. He did so, in large part, through heavy use of tax-deductible debt, usually to finance outsized dividends for the firm’s partners and investors. When some of the investments went bad, workers and creditors felt most of the pain. Romney privatized the gains and socialized the losses.”

The way Romney made his millions was through debt. He purchased a company, like American Pad and Paper (AMPAD) by borrowing 87% of the price of the company. Ampad then borrowed money to make acquisitions and repay existing debt, like using a credit card to pay off another credit card to pay Bain’s fees and its investors, $60 million in dividends.

From 1993 to 1999, Bain Capital charged Ampad about $18 million in different fees. By 1999, AMPAD’s debt was back up to almost a half of a billion dollars. When AMPAD was unable to pay the interest costs and drained of cash paid to Bain Capital in fees and dividends, Ampad filed for bankruptcy.

Again from Bloomberg, “senior secured lenders got less than 50 cents on the dollar, unsecured lenders received two- tenths of a cent on the dollar, and several hundred jobs were lost. Bain Capital had reaped capital gains of $107 million on its $5.1 million investment.”

Another instance of Romney never taking a hit on losses was Sage Stores. Romney’s Bain acquired the chain store by borrowing 96% of the price of the company, and according to Bloomberg, it was mostly with Junk Bonds.

Finally, Bloomberg looked into GS Industries, a company Romney’s Bain owned starting in 1993. Bain bought the steel mill for $8 million dollars. Bain increase the debt of the company to $378 million dollars, some that debt was used to pay Bain $36 million in dividends. By the time bankruptcy occurred, GS industries was over a half a billion in debt! Many creditors lost their shirts on this deal and almost a thousand people lost their jobs.

So, while many believe that wealth creation takes time and you need patience, Romney wanted to make a quick million. Romney wasn’t alone in these dealing but he was the king of it, according to Bloomberg. Bain was one of the most aggressive in these actions.

Bloomberg then questions whether or not Romney would run the country this same way.

They said,

“Enriching investors by taking leveraged bets isn’t a qualification for a job requiring long-term vision and concern for public welfare. It is appropriate to point that out to voters. “

Image: Toxichomind