rgrikki92 Presidential candidates rely on an elite group of fundraisers known as bundlers to help raise the big dollars needed to run a major campaign. Although there are limits on how much individuals can give to a campaign, bundlers tap their own personal and professional networks to raise tens of thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars. And after a candidate wins, top bundlers traditionally have been rewarded for their hard work -- often with choice ambassadorial appointments or special invitations to the White House. Access to those in power is much easier for these individuals than it is for the average American. That's why it's so important to know just who is helping the candidate at the top of the ticket, and for the last 12 years, every major party nominee has publicly disclosed a list of his bundlers -- until now. Mitt Romney has refused all calls to release information about the identities of those in his army of bundlers. We know. We've asked, [Read the original letter sent to Romney's campaign] On March 12, a coalition of good government groups and transparency advocates sent a formal request to Mitt Romney's campaign asking that he release information about his bundlers to the public. We've received no response. Barack Obama has been publicly disclosing information about his bundlers since the campaign began, and Romney disclosed his bundlers during his 2008 bid. But this time around, his network of fundraisers remains in the shadows. Romney has made public only the names of his bundlers who are federally registered lobbyists, which is all that's required by law. Folks, this is not good for a democracy . What is Romney hiding?
Presidential candidates rely on an elite group of fundraisers known as bundlers to help raise the big dollars needed to run a major campaign. Although there are limits on how much individuals can give to a campaign, bundlers tap their own personal and professional networks to raise tens of thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars.
And after a candidate wins, top bundlers traditionally have been rewarded for their hard work -- often with choice ambassadorial appointments or special invitations to the White House. Access to those in power is much easier for these individuals than it is for the average American.
That's why it's so important to know just who is helping the candidate at the top of the ticket, and for the last 12 years, every major party nominee has publicly disclosed a list of his bundlers -- until now.
Mitt Romney has refused all calls to release information about the identities of those in his army of bundlers. We know. We've asked, [Read the original letter sent to Romney's campaign]
On March 12, a coalition of good government groups and transparency advocates sent a formal request to Mitt Romney's campaign asking that he release information about his bundlers to the public. We've received no response.
Barack Obama has been publicly disclosing information about his bundlers since the campaign began, and Romney disclosed his bundlers during his 2008 bid. But this time around, his network of fundraisers remains in the shadows. Romney has made public only the names of his bundlers who are federally registered lobbyists, which is all that's required by law.
Folks, this is not good for a democracy . What is Romney hiding?
Toofdoc rgrikki92 Presidential candidates rely on an elite group of fundraisers known as bundlers to help raise the big dollars needed to run a major campaign. Although there are limits on how much individuals can give to a campaign, bundlers tap their own personal and professional networks to raise tens of thousands -- if not millions -- of dollars. And after a candidate wins, top bundlers traditionally have been rewarded for their hard work -- often with choice ambassadorial appointments or special invitations to the White House. Access to those in power is much easier for these individuals than it is for the average American. That's why it's so important to know just who is helping the candidate at the top of the ticket, and for the last 12 years, every major party nominee has publicly disclosed a list of his bundlers -- until now. Mitt Romney has refused all calls to release information about the identities of those in his army of bundlers. We know. We've asked, [Read the original letter sent to Romney's campaign] On March 12, a coalition of good government groups and transparency advocates sent a formal request to Mitt Romney's campaign asking that he release information about his bundlers to the public. We've received no response. Barack Obama has been publicly disclosing information about his bundlers since the campaign began, and Romney disclosed his bundlers during his 2008 bid. But this time around, his network of fundraisers remains in the shadows. Romney has made public only the names of his bundlers who are federally registered lobbyists, which is all that's required by law. Folks, this is not good for a democracy . What is Romney hiding? Romney's list of bundlers is written on the back of Obama's college transcripts.
BTW:When President Obama took office, jobs were disappearing at a rate of more than 750,000 per month. Today, instead of losing jobs, we're creating them—more than 4 million private sector jobs over 27 consecutive months.
Somebody explain to me why Romney/Ryan wants to bankrupt medicare in 4 years as opposed to the 12 it's on pace for now? Wouldn't that extra 8 years be beneficial to get something in it's place?
A look at one of Bain Capital's first deals shows a get-rich-quick-at-everyone-else's-expense pattern forming: borrow heavily, gut assets, cut wages, cut safety, crush unions, restructure for tax avoidance and sell with a sweetheart, insider deal. That pattern foreshadowed what happened to our jobs, communities, industries, economy and country since the early 1980s. An already-wealthy few got fantastically rich(er) and the rest of us paid the price.
In FT investigation: Romney’s take-off the Financial Times (FT) investigated the $5 million buyout of Key Airlines, a "formative" deal from Mitt Romney's company Bain Capital's early years.
At the time Mitt Romney was at the consultant firm Bain & Company, and heard that Key Airlines was looking to be bought. Key Airlines had a $10 million per year government contract to shuttle pilots and support workers between Las Vegas and "Area 52," where they were working on the then-secret F-117A stealth fighter. Romney formed Bain Capital in part to buy the airline. T. Coleman Andrews III, a former White House official recruited to Bain by Romney led the buyout for Bain and chaired its board of directors.
The Financial Times investigation showed how the purchase of Key Airlines helped establish the company's method of doing business. They bought the company by borrowing all the money needed, 100% debt-financed, meaning Romney and Bain put up no money -- and very little risk -- of their own. They "restructured" the company; according to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately."
When the pilots tried to start a union, the company unlawfully suppressed the effort with what a federal judge called "blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations."
One of the ways private-equity companies make money is by borrowing using the purchased company's assets as collateral, and passing some or all of the borrowed money to themselves. Romney and Bain purchased Key Airlines by securing a $5 million loan with $2.5 million worth of aircraft owned by the company, and a $2 million guarantee of their own. In other words, they borrowed money to buy the company by promising the lender they would put up the company's assets as collateral. (The company had a $10 million per year government contract.)
The bank lent the money with part of it personally guaranteed after satisfying themselves that the investors were worth enough money. In other words, they could finance a debt-only deal because they were already rich.
When purchased, Key Airlines was making money and paying taxes. By borrowing, the company incurred debt servicing costs, which are deductible against taxes. The company also restructured in ways that cut taxes. According to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately."
Private equity companies cut costs. If you are not rich and have to work for a living, you are one of those "costs" that has to be cut. Your pay or your job are in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Another "cost" to cut is the work environment. Worker safety can cost money, so it is one more thing that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Providing a good, reliable product is another "cost" that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money, and in an airline that "cost" is safe, well-maintained airplanes.
In 1985 a majority of Key's pilots tried to form a union. According to FT, "the pilots cited safety concerns; management said that the pilots were unhappy because of their low pay."
Bain was getting ready to sell the airline, and the worst thing that could happen to them would be a union, which could demand fair pay, worker safety and better maintenance and air safety procedures. Crushing the union -- keeping pay low, and being able to ignore pleas for safer conditions for workers and passengers -- would mean the Bain investors would make a lot of money. So they crushed the union.
According to FT,
There followed an unlawful attempt by Mr Andrews and Key management, in the words of District Court judge Roger Foley, “to stamp out any cockpit crew members’ union before it could come into being”. In January 1986, Mr Andrews and Olen Rae Goodwin, interim president of the union, met in the Key Airlines trailer at Nellis. The court ruled that Mr Andrews had then “threatened [Mr] Goodwin’s job and he threatened to leave Key, and that the management team would also leave. He threatened to sell Key”.
There followed an unlawful attempt by Mr Andrews and Key management, in the words of District Court judge Roger Foley, “to stamp out any cockpit crew members’ union before it could come into being”.
In January 1986, Mr Andrews and Olen Rae Goodwin, interim president of the union, met in the Key Airlines trailer at Nellis. The court ruled that Mr Andrews had then “threatened [Mr] Goodwin’s job and he threatened to leave Key, and that the management team would also leave. He threatened to sell Key”.
A court later found that Key's management had illegally suppressed the union, and awarded $500,000 in punitive damages.
Labor bosses: When asked about this recently Romney had this to say,
“President Obama continues to put the interests of labour bosses ahead of the interests of Americans looking for work. By contrast, Governor Romney has grown companies and created jobs, in the private sector and as governor of Massachusetts, and will get America working again,” said Michele Davis, a spokeswoman.
Please click through to the original Financial Times story for more.
"Blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations": Another FT story, Romney link to union suppression ruling explains further,
“The anti-union activities in this case are not merely unfair labour practices as Key argues, but blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations of the Railway Labour Act,” Roger Foley, federal judge for the District of Nevada, wrote in 1992, in a case brought by two Key pilots.
That's how a federal judge worded it. (Note how a case that started in 85 takes till 92 to get a ruling.) This is what the airline had done:
According to the court ruling, Key held coercive meetings with pilots; said management would leave and the company lose contracts; and told pilots that salaries, bonuses and benefits could be frozen. Federal labour law forbids an airline “to interfere in any way with the organisation of its employees”.
The once-profitable company was struggling, losing money, had only $2 million in assets -- down from $13 million when Bain bought it -- and had just avoided (illegally suppressed) unionization. But Bain was able to sell part of it to Presidential Airways-- a company in which Bain was also an investor, with Andrews on its Board -- for $18 million. They sold other parts of the company for further profit. The Bain partners got rich(er).
According to FT
In the final analysis, it is hard to say whether Bain Capital was good or bad for Key Airlines. The operating company had higher sales, was more focused, more efficient and employed more people by the time that Bain sold out. On the other hand, it was also more fragile, with only one line of business, net losses and a weak balance sheet.
In the final analysis, it is hard to say whether Bain Capital was good or bad for Key Airlines.
The operating company had higher sales, was more focused, more efficient and employed more people by the time that Bain sold out.
On the other hand, it was also more fragile, with only one line of business, net losses and a weak balance sheet.
So a look at Bain Capital's early, "formative" years tell us a lot about what has happened to our country, and our jobs, and our economy. This was the beginning of a pattern of Bain-ization that swept through the economy. Good jobs were replaced with low-wage, insecure jobs. They used various schemes to avoid taxes. They suppressed unions. They gutted the assets of good companies. They cut costs (us) and cut costs (safety) and cut costs (product quality) and cut costs (customer support) and cut corners and cut We, the People out of the equation.
And you right wingers want this kind of business acumen(LOL). BTW these types of business deals are called LBO's , leveraged buy outs. Using that on a macro level will ruin the USA's economy
Video: Obama Has No Plan to Save Medicare, Control Debt
Obama Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter -- last heard from flagrantly lying about what George Will labels the Obama forces' "sociopathic" cancer ad -- appeared on CBS' Face The Nation yesterday morning. As Katie noted yesterday, Cutter bragged about President Obama's great "achievement" of slashing $741 Billion from Medicare in order to partially fund a new unaffordable and unpopular entitlement program. Later in the program, after she predictably dumped all over a caricature of the Ryan plan, Cutter was was asked about Obama's plan to handle the crushing, long-term debt -- of which Medicare is the primary driver. There's a lot of crosstalk in this clip, so it's a little hard to hear, but you're not missing much of answer:
According to Cutter, the Obama plan comes in three easy steps: (1) Raise taxes on a tiny fraction of the population -- including nearly a million job creators. If this appreciably increases revenues at all, it would cover a tiny fraction of the deficit, let alone the debt. (2) Cut "waste" from the government. Barack Obama himself warned against this empty cliche last year. And why should a single voter trust the Solyndra adminstration to cut waste? Didn't candidate Obama pledge to go through the budget "line-by-line" in 2008, just before he presided over an unprecedented explosion of wasteful federal spending? (3) "Reform Medicare." That phrase means nothing unless there's, you know, a plan behind it. Obama sometimes talks about reforms, but there's no there there. The only cost containment we've seen from him comes through his massive cuts that instantly went to pay for Obamacare, and a powerful rationing board for seniors (IPAB). There's also this little point: Barack Obama's last budget, which was defeated 513-0 in Congress, included all of his desired tax hikes and waste reductions. Despite all that, it literally never balances. And here's what it does to the national debt:
Care to elaborate, Ms. Cutter? Meanwhile, Paul Ryan not only has a real plan to reform Medicare, he co-authored it with a prominent liberal Senator. Asked about the bipartisan plan on CNN, David Axelrod rejected Senator Ron Wyden's (D-OR) brain child because it's "extreme," or something:
The "Medicare death spiral" line is pretty rich. Medicare is already in a death spiral. It's going to be insolvent by 2024, according to the government's own bookkeepers. Barack Obama has absolutely no idea what to do about this problem. He's already stiff-armed his own debt commission's proposal, and seems intent on just opposing anything and everything in a cynical bid to convince voters that he's "protecting" a program (gosh, that sounds familiar). Indeed, his inaction and dearth of leadership is killing Medicare. National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru catches a top Lefty wonk -- former Obama budget director Pete Orzsag -- picking apart the 2011 Ryan Medicare plan...while conveniently pretending that the revised, bipartisan Wyden-Ryan doesn't exist. This is the vertiable definition of a specious, disingenuous argument. It's also telling that liberals are reduced to arguing against an outmoded framework, rather than dealing directly with a bipartisan solution they oppose for political reasons. I suppose this tendentious and dishonest sleight-of-hand is to be expected from the guy who helped design consecutive trillion-dollar-deficits, but the Romney/Ryan ticket's problem is that they're not just running against Democrats; they're also running against an activist partisan media. Here's the Sunday Miami Herald's banner headline about Romney's VP selection:
Haven't you heard? Paul Ryan's plan hurts seniors, many of whom reside in Florida. Except that the plan doesn't affect current or soon-to-be seniors at all, and Ryan's favorability rating among seniors is very strong. My only question is whether the Obama campaign paid for this front-page advertisement.
http://www.youtube.com/embed/H3Az0okaHig?rel=0
H3Az0okaHig?rel=0
"We'll See What Happens"
Straguzzi "If I were the Devil...." by Paul Harvey This is so scary to think he recorded this in 1965!!!!!! Do you remember the famous ABC radio news commentator Paul Harvey?Millions of Americans listened to his programs which were broadcast over 1,200 radio stations nationwide.When you listen to it, remember the commentary was broadcast 47 years ago.... April 3, 1965.It's short... less than 3 minutes. http://www.youtube.com/embed/H3Az0okaHig?rel=0 H3Az0okaHig?rel=0
rgrikki92 A look at one of Bain Capital's first deals shows a get-rich-quick-at-everyone-else's-expense pattern forming: borrow heavily, gut assets, cut wages, cut safety, crush unions, restructure for tax avoidance and sell with a sweetheart, insider deal. That pattern foreshadowed what happened to our jobs, communities, industries, economy and country since the early 1980s. An already-wealthy few got fantastically rich(er) and the rest of us paid the price. A Financial Times Investigation In FT investigation: Romney’s take-off the Financial Times (FT) investigated the $5 million buyout of Key Airlines, a "formative" deal from Mitt Romney's company Bain Capital's early years. At the time Mitt Romney was at the consultant firm Bain & Company, and heard that Key Airlines was looking to be bought. Key Airlines had a $10 million per year government contract to shuttle pilots and support workers between Las Vegas and "Area 52," where they were working on the then-secret F-117A stealth fighter. Romney formed Bain Capital in part to buy the airline. T. Coleman Andrews III, a former White House official recruited to Bain by Romney led the buyout for Bain and chaired its board of directors. The Financial Times investigation showed how the purchase of Key Airlines helped establish the company's method of doing business. They bought the company by borrowing all the money needed, 100% debt-financed, meaning Romney and Bain put up no money -- and very little risk -- of their own. They "restructured" the company; according to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately." When the pilots tried to start a union, the company unlawfully suppressed the effort with what a federal judge called "blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations." No-Risk Leveraged Purchase One of the ways private-equity companies make money is by borrowing using the purchased company's assets as collateral, and passing some or all of the borrowed money to themselves. Romney and Bain purchased Key Airlines by securing a $5 million loan with $2.5 million worth of aircraft owned by the company, and a $2 million guarantee of their own. In other words, they borrowed money to buy the company by promising the lender they would put up the company's assets as collateral. (The company had a $10 million per year government contract.) The bank lent the money with part of it personally guaranteed after satisfying themselves that the investors were worth enough money. In other words, they could finance a debt-only deal because they were already rich. Restructuring To Avoid Taxes When purchased, Key Airlines was making money and paying taxes. By borrowing, the company incurred debt servicing costs, which are deductible against taxes. The company also restructured in ways that cut taxes. According to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately." Crushing The Union Private equity companies cut costs. If you are not rich and have to work for a living, you are one of those "costs" that has to be cut. Your pay or your job are in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Another "cost" to cut is the work environment. Worker safety can cost money, so it is one more thing that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Providing a good, reliable product is another "cost" that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money, and in an airline that "cost" is safe, well-maintained airplanes. In 1985 a majority of Key's pilots tried to form a union. According to FT, "the pilots cited safety concerns; management said that the pilots were unhappy because of their low pay." Bain was getting ready to sell the airline, and the worst thing that could happen to them would be a union, which could demand fair pay, worker safety and better maintenance and air safety procedures. Crushing the union -- keeping pay low, and being able to ignore pleas for safer conditions for workers and passengers -- would mean the Bain investors would make a lot of money. So they crushed the union. According to FT, There followed an unlawful attempt by Mr Andrews and Key management, in the words of District Court judge Roger Foley, “to stamp out any cockpit crew members’ union before it could come into being”. In January 1986, Mr Andrews and Olen Rae Goodwin, interim president of the union, met in the Key Airlines trailer at Nellis. The court ruled that Mr Andrews had then “threatened [Mr] Goodwin’s job and he threatened to leave Key, and that the management team would also leave. He threatened to sell Key”. A court later found that Key's management had illegally suppressed the union, and awarded $500,000 in punitive damages. Labor bosses: When asked about this recently Romney had this to say, “President Obama continues to put the interests of labour bosses ahead of the interests of Americans looking for work. By contrast, Governor Romney has grown companies and created jobs, in the private sector and as governor of Massachusetts, and will get America working again,” said Michele Davis, a spokeswoman. Please click through to the original Financial Times story for more. "Blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations": Another FT story, Romney link to union suppression ruling explains further, “The anti-union activities in this case are not merely unfair labour practices as Key argues, but blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations of the Railway Labour Act,” Roger Foley, federal judge for the District of Nevada, wrote in 1992, in a case brought by two Key pilots. That's how a federal judge worded it. (Note how a case that started in 85 takes till 92 to get a ruling.) This is what the airline had done: According to the court ruling, Key held coercive meetings with pilots; said management would leave and the company lose contracts; and told pilots that salaries, bonuses and benefits could be frozen. Federal labour law forbids an airline “to interfere in any way with the organisation of its employees”. Sold For A Lot The once-profitable company was struggling, losing money, had only $2 million in assets -- down from $13 million when Bain bought it -- and had just avoided (illegally suppressed) unionization. But Bain was able to sell part of it to Presidential Airways-- a company in which Bain was also an investor, with Andrews on its Board -- for $18 million. They sold other parts of the company for further profit. The Bain partners got rich(er). According to FT In the final analysis, it is hard to say whether Bain Capital was good or bad for Key Airlines. The operating company had higher sales, was more focused, more efficient and employed more people by the time that Bain sold out. On the other hand, it was also more fragile, with only one line of business, net losses and a weak balance sheet. So a look at Bain Capital's early, "formative" years tell us a lot about what has happened to our country, and our jobs, and our economy. This was the beginning of a pattern of Bain-ization that swept through the economy. Good jobs were replaced with low-wage, insecure jobs. They used various schemes to avoid taxes. They suppressed unions. They gutted the assets of good companies. They cut costs (us) and cut costs (safety) and cut costs (product quality) and cut costs (customer support) and cut corners and cut We, the People out of the equation. And you right wingers want this kind of business acumen(LOL). BTW these types of business deals are called LBO's , leveraged buy outs. Using that on a macro level will ruin the USA's economy
Obama has never had a job. I can't compare the 2?
Toofdoc rgrikki92 A look at one of Bain Capital's first deals shows a get-rich-quick-at-everyone-else's-expense pattern forming: borrow heavily, gut assets, cut wages, cut safety, crush unions, restructure for tax avoidance and sell with a sweetheart, insider deal. That pattern foreshadowed what happened to our jobs, communities, industries, economy and country since the early 1980s. An already-wealthy few got fantastically rich(er) and the rest of us paid the price. A Financial Times Investigation In FT investigation: Romney’s take-off the Financial Times (FT) investigated the $5 million buyout of Key Airlines, a "formative" deal from Mitt Romney's company Bain Capital's early years. At the time Mitt Romney was at the consultant firm Bain & Company, and heard that Key Airlines was looking to be bought. Key Airlines had a $10 million per year government contract to shuttle pilots and support workers between Las Vegas and "Area 52," where they were working on the then-secret F-117A stealth fighter. Romney formed Bain Capital in part to buy the airline. T. Coleman Andrews III, a former White House official recruited to Bain by Romney led the buyout for Bain and chaired its board of directors. The Financial Times investigation showed how the purchase of Key Airlines helped establish the company's method of doing business. They bought the company by borrowing all the money needed, 100% debt-financed, meaning Romney and Bain put up no money -- and very little risk -- of their own. They "restructured" the company; according to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately." When the pilots tried to start a union, the company unlawfully suppressed the effort with what a federal judge called "blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations." No-Risk Leveraged Purchase One of the ways private-equity companies make money is by borrowing using the purchased company's assets as collateral, and passing some or all of the borrowed money to themselves. Romney and Bain purchased Key Airlines by securing a $5 million loan with $2.5 million worth of aircraft owned by the company, and a $2 million guarantee of their own. In other words, they borrowed money to buy the company by promising the lender they would put up the company's assets as collateral. (The company had a $10 million per year government contract.) The bank lent the money with part of it personally guaranteed after satisfying themselves that the investors were worth enough money. In other words, they could finance a debt-only deal because they were already rich. Restructuring To Avoid Taxes When purchased, Key Airlines was making money and paying taxes. By borrowing, the company incurred debt servicing costs, which are deductible against taxes. The company also restructured in ways that cut taxes. According to FT, "Bain also reshaped Key Airlines, turning it from a profitable, taxpaying company with a $13m balance sheet and its own aircraft, into an operating company with a $2m balance sheet and a holding company from which it sold assets separately." Crushing The Union Private equity companies cut costs. If you are not rich and have to work for a living, you are one of those "costs" that has to be cut. Your pay or your job are in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Another "cost" to cut is the work environment. Worker safety can cost money, so it is one more thing that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money. Providing a good, reliable product is another "cost" that is in the way of someone making a whole lot of money, and in an airline that "cost" is safe, well-maintained airplanes. In 1985 a majority of Key's pilots tried to form a union. According to FT, "the pilots cited safety concerns; management said that the pilots were unhappy because of their low pay." Bain was getting ready to sell the airline, and the worst thing that could happen to them would be a union, which could demand fair pay, worker safety and better maintenance and air safety procedures. Crushing the union -- keeping pay low, and being able to ignore pleas for safer conditions for workers and passengers -- would mean the Bain investors would make a lot of money. So they crushed the union. According to FT, There followed an unlawful attempt by Mr Andrews and Key management, in the words of District Court judge Roger Foley, “to stamp out any cockpit crew members’ union before it could come into being”. In January 1986, Mr Andrews and Olen Rae Goodwin, interim president of the union, met in the Key Airlines trailer at Nellis. The court ruled that Mr Andrews had then “threatened [Mr] Goodwin’s job and he threatened to leave Key, and that the management team would also leave. He threatened to sell Key”. A court later found that Key's management had illegally suppressed the union, and awarded $500,000 in punitive damages. Labor bosses: When asked about this recently Romney had this to say, “President Obama continues to put the interests of labour bosses ahead of the interests of Americans looking for work. By contrast, Governor Romney has grown companies and created jobs, in the private sector and as governor of Massachusetts, and will get America working again,” said Michele Davis, a spokeswoman. Please click through to the original Financial Times story for more. "Blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations": Another FT story, Romney link to union suppression ruling explains further, “The anti-union activities in this case are not merely unfair labour practices as Key argues, but blatant, grievous, wilful, deliberate and repeated violations of the Railway Labour Act,” Roger Foley, federal judge for the District of Nevada, wrote in 1992, in a case brought by two Key pilots. That's how a federal judge worded it. (Note how a case that started in 85 takes till 92 to get a ruling.) This is what the airline had done: According to the court ruling, Key held coercive meetings with pilots; said management would leave and the company lose contracts; and told pilots that salaries, bonuses and benefits could be frozen. Federal labour law forbids an airline “to interfere in any way with the organisation of its employees”. Sold For A Lot The once-profitable company was struggling, losing money, had only $2 million in assets -- down from $13 million when Bain bought it -- and had just avoided (illegally suppressed) unionization. But Bain was able to sell part of it to Presidential Airways-- a company in which Bain was also an investor, with Andrews on its Board -- for $18 million. They sold other parts of the company for further profit. The Bain partners got rich(er). According to FT In the final analysis, it is hard to say whether Bain Capital was good or bad for Key Airlines. The operating company had higher sales, was more focused, more efficient and employed more people by the time that Bain sold out. On the other hand, it was also more fragile, with only one line of business, net losses and a weak balance sheet. So a look at Bain Capital's early, "formative" years tell us a lot about what has happened to our country, and our jobs, and our economy. This was the beginning of a pattern of Bain-ization that swept through the economy. Good jobs were replaced with low-wage, insecure jobs. They used various schemes to avoid taxes. They suppressed unions. They gutted the assets of good companies. They cut costs (us) and cut costs (safety) and cut costs (product quality) and cut costs (customer support) and cut corners and cut We, the People out of the equation. And you right wingers want this kind of business acumen(LOL). BTW these types of business deals are called LBO's , leveraged buy outs. Using that on a macro level will ruin the USA's economy You lost me at "borrow heavily" who are talking about and how did Romney ever get the credit to borrow 5 trillion? Obama has never had a job. I can't compare the 2?
rgrikki92]So you're anti-science, anti-alcohol, and anti-porn, but you like to gamble. I thought harvey was a prude when I was young and my opinion of him hasn't changed. Definitely a square.
I knew it when I posted this that you would miss the point....
But I agree, he was a square.