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07 Mar 10 - 01:14 PM (#2858451) Subject: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Q (Frank Staplin) I was listening to TV this morning and heard Milt Romney on Fox, attacking Omama and the health care proposal passed in the Senate. Romney sounded like he will again try for the presidential nomination in the next campaign. I had heard about these two venture capital, credit, hedge fund, equity and (Bain & Co.) restructuring management companies, owned in part by Romney, but was unaware of their size and importance. Bain Capital was founded by Milt Romney, T. C. Andrews and Eric Kneiss in 1984. Its present worth is some $90 billion. It owns or controls such diverse companies as Styron (makes polystyrene and latex), AMC Entertainment, Hospital Corporation of America, Warner Music, Domino Pizza, Guitar Center, Home Depot, Sensata (sensors, power controls, etc.) and several large concerns in Europe and Africa. Romney originally was a partner in Bain & Company, but resigned with the formation of Bain Capital; he returned as CEO for one year to engineer a massive restructuring of the company. The company has worldwide offices (in Canada, Toronto; Bain & Co. Inc.) and acquired a share in Del Monte Foods when it was restructuring that company. Romney's stake in this company is difficult to determine. Milt Romney will have no money problems if he decides to run again. Information from several sources, including Wikipedia, which has a good summary on Bain Capital. |
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07 Mar 10 - 01:15 PM (#2858453) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Q (Frank Staplin) Obama! Excuse the bad typing. |
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07 Mar 10 - 01:27 PM (#2858463) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: gnu Oh, he's already on the trail. He was on with Jay Leno last week and smiled and charmed as much as he could. |
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07 Mar 10 - 02:08 PM (#2858475) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: CarolC Do you mean MiTT Romney? |
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07 Mar 10 - 02:15 PM (#2858478) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: CarolC I think it's worth noting that Massachusetts got its universal health care during Romney's governorship of that state. The bill that was passed, and that Romney signed, was an expansion on a plan that was proposed by Romney himself. And the plan that was passed and that Romney signed, is very similar to the ones being worked on in the US Congress right now. And current right-wing darling, Scott Brown, voted for it. Kind of disingenuous for both Romney and Brown to campaign as if they don't have that in their history. Anyone who runs against Romney should make a point of hammering him on his record on health care reform. |
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07 Mar 10 - 10:22 PM (#2858795) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Q (Frank Staplin) Yes, Mitt. The name bothers me. I see Mitt and still write Milt. The Hospital Corporation of America is the largest private operator of health care facilities in the United States (also a large provider in London, England) with over 170 hospitals and over 100 free-standing surgery centers. In March, they sold $1.4 billion in 10-year notes. The portion owned by Bain Capital, part owned by Romney, is large. Talking on Fox yesterday, Romney attacked the Obama health care plan and mentioned the importance of private insurance schemes. Of course they contribute much to the income of HCA. What will be Romney's stance if he does decide to run? ---------------------------------- Shifting gears, states have insurance boards that control the operation of insurance firms within their boundaries. Not all companies are licensed to operate in all states and contracts vary. Health insurance is heavily regulated at the state level. I think that this contributes to high costs. I am just asking questions at this point. The first simple article on this that I have run across: "The Effect of State Regulations ....." http://www.heritage.org/research/healthcare/cda06-04.cfm Any suggestions on other articles on the subject? |
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08 Mar 10 - 08:48 PM (#2859685) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Ron Davies OK, when and if Romney runs again, he will have no problem financing his campaign. I don't think anybody argues that he would. But why do so many on Mudcat like to overstate their points? Are Mudcat political posters vying for the title of "Yellow Journalism Award of the 21st Century?" We have some who like to make simplistic statements that because the health care reform bill is having a hard time, the Democratic majority is meaningless. No, it just means that on that one issue the "big tent" makes for a lot of problems. In fact a lot of liberal wishes may not come true anytime soon. But "Democratic" does not equal "liberal". Then we have some who like to say point-blank that the US has no interest in a stable and prosperous Haiti--ignoring the fact that a stable and prosperous Haiti would mean a lessening of the problem of illegal Haitian immigration. And now, Bain Capital. "Bain Capital...owns or controls...Hospital Corp. of America....Home Depot...." If so, we need a source for this. If the source is Wikipedia, the Wiki article on Bain does not say "owns or controls" all the cited firms. The Wiki article says "has founded, acquired or invested in..." the above firms. "Invested in" does not equal "owns or controls". I suspect that even some Mudcatters have shares in some stocks. Let's try to be a bit more careful in our postings. Also, Romney had lots of money in 2008 and he spent quite a lot. What did it get him? An article I saw recently pinpoints his main problem for 2012: when competence opposes charisma, who usually wins? Not competence. Sarah has charisma for lots of people--(though possibly not Mudcatters--d'ya think?) Does Romney have charisma? This also illustrates President Obama's problem. Like all sitting presidents, he will have to run as the candidate of competence. And again, Sarah perfectly fits the bill on charisma. Also, as I've pointed out before, on the Republican side, who owns the 2 issues likely to be the top concerns of Republican voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and other early primaries and caucuses? These issues are abortion and gun rights. All Romney's money can't buy him what Sarah already has. |
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08 Mar 10 - 10:24 PM (#2859724) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Q (Frank Staplin) Ron Davies has a point, but companies mentioned are portfolio companies of Bain Capital. Looking only at HCA- (Portfolio companies are those companies that are currently or have been previously owned or controlled by the private equity investment firm, Bain Capital, or its affiliate funds. "Ownership should be material (i. e., full control, majority ownership or significant minority ownership." Wiki.)). HCA is one of those companies. It was obtained by Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravits Roberts and Merrill Lynch for $31.6 billion. What the shares of ownership among this group are, I don't know. In any case, Bain Capital has a large share. Original founders were Romney, Andrews and Kriss. Of Bain's $65 billion portfolio, HCA's portion is bound to be quite large. The 2012 election campaign looks to be quite different from the one in 2008, when Romney failed. I am not saying that Romney will be the choice in 2012. I look for a new light to appear, perhaps the new senator from Massachusetts. In spite of her appeal to middle America, I don't see Palin as the choice. |
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09 Mar 10 - 06:58 AM (#2859923) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Ron Davies I agree that Sarah has a problem now of negotiating the tricky feat of supporting McCain while keeping the allegiance of fractious and hot-headed Tea Party people. But let's see what happens when the actual primary season starts--with the Iowa caucuses. And if "Tea Party" people actually want to accomplish something, not just make noise, they will have to pick a major party to support. It ain't the Democrats. With Sarah, they will have to make few compromises in a program--if they believe in such a thing. As for Scott Brown, he's already being called a traitor, by his own ostensible supporters, for supporting the recent jobs bill. His honeymoon appears to have been one of the shortest on record. And his record on the two burning issues for Republican true believers cannot compare with that of Sarah. And any other new figure is--already--running out of time to make a name in the political arena. As I've said more than once, US primaries are set up to reward passion. And on the Republican side, nobody can compete with Sarah on this. We can only hope that she somehow self-destructs. It's not happening yet. |
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09 Mar 10 - 07:03 AM (#2859926) Subject: RE: BS: Romney and Bain Capital and Bain & Co. From: Ron Davies And re: HCA: I have no doubt Bain Capital's portion is large. But "significant minority owership", one of the options, is not control. |