Willard Romney has been making a very big deal of China lately, falsely claiming that Obama has been soft on China, and hoping America will believe that he will be tough. He sure sounds different now than he did in his 47% talk, when he described a Chinese factory, surrounded with barbed wire, where workers bunk three deep, in glowing terms. Furthermore, it turns out that, when it comes to China, Lord Willard has a Bain in the ass.
The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts manufacturer whose plants dot eastern China, would seem to underscore Mitt Romney’s campaign-trail complaint that China’s manufacturing juggernaut is costing America jobs.
Asimco, an auto parts maker with plants in Beijing and elsewhere in China, bought two Michigan factories with 500 workers but shut them down in 2007. It is now owned by Bain Capital.
Nine years ago, the company bought two camshaft factories that employed about 500 people in Michigan. By 2007 both were shut down. Now Asimco manufactures the same components in China on government-donated land in a coastal region that China has designated an export base, where companies are eligible for the sort of subsidies Mr. Romney says create an unfair trade imbalance.
But there is a twist to the Asimco story that would not fit neatly into a Romney stump speech: Since 2010, it has been owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mr. Romney, who has as much as $2.25 million invested in three Bain funds with large stakes in Asimco and at least seven other Chinese businesses, according to his 2012 candidate financial disclosure and other documents.
That and other China-related holdings by Bain funds in which Mr. Romney has invested are a reminder of how he inhabits two worlds that at times have come into conflict during his campaign for the White House.
As a candidate, Mr. Romney uses China as a punching bag. He accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing Chinese exports, artificially holding down the value of its currency to keep exports cheap, stealing American technology and hacking into corporate and government computers.
“How is it China’s been so successful in taking away our jobs?” he asked recently. “Well, let me tell you how: by cheating.”
But his private equity dealings, both while he headed Bain and since, complicate that message… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <NY Times>
Lord Willard may claim that China is cheating, but he has no compunctions over turning a tidy profit from that cheating himself. It is absurd for him to expect us to believe that he will shoot himself and his Vulture Capitalist buddies at Bain in the wallet. We should know better!
10 Responses to “Romney on China”
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Once a liar and a cheat, always a liar and a cheat.
All of this can be verified by studying Rmoney's 2011 tax return. Here is just the tip of the iceberg:
Romney’s recently released tax returns show that he invested in the parent company of Youku, a sort of Chinese YouTube that was a haven for pirated movies and TV shows, though the company is now apparently cleaning up its act.
Another notable Romney investment, which has so far gone unnoticed, was in a Chinese private education company that was cited repeatedly in the late 1990s for selling bootleg American graduate school entrance exams and was forced by a Chinese court to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines in a landmark copyright case.
According to his 2011 personal financial disclosure form, Romney’s blind trust invested between $15,001 and $50,000 in New Oriental Education & Technology Group, the largest provider of private educational services in China, though his recent tax returns show he sold at least some of that position.
Can you say hypocrit?
No, but I can say hypocrite. 😉
I think , in order to understand Mutt , in order to decide what he will do , we must look hard at his past record , Mutt IS Bain– He is trying to minimize that– But his track record is Bain's- His philosophy Is Bain– Bain is heartless– where is the evidence Mutt has any compassion or caring ? Ot is not that he is wealthy– he has lots of material wealth but his spirit is so poor–
From the Bible : By their works they shall be known :; To judge Mitt , Look hard at his works–
Very well said, Phyllis.
Complicate is an understatement. This just goes to show how Romney thinks that cheating is ok as long as he gets to benefit from it. And just ask his son Craig who declared that his father cheats and that is what is needed in the WH.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/23/1135444/-Craig-Romney-My-Dad-Cheats-That-s-What-We-Need-in-the-White-House
A soon to be unemployed worker in Illinois —“This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.”
Do Americans want a cheat and a liar as POTUS, the man that is supposed to stand for all Americans, but in the end, will only stand for himself and a few very wealthy friends? If not, you know who to vote for — Romney. With Romney at the helm, the US will no longer be known as the land of opportunity, but the land of cheats and liars, as exemplified by Romney.
But if Americans want still to be known as a land of opportunity, then Mr Obama is your man.
Get out the vote!!!!!
Vote Democratic 2012!!!!! Vote Obama/Biden 2012!!!!!
I hope Americans don't want a cheat and a liar, but if they pick Lord Willard, they will get one that makes GW seem like a choir boy.
My comment from yesterday was removed. I guess I can't put a quote up from Salon.
The gist of it was about a few of Rmoney's investments in China. From now on I'll just put the links in if I use Salon. My computer crashed after I did that and now I'm usng the old one from the Stone Age and it's soooo slow.
Patty, the software automatically holds any comment with three or more links. I released it as soon as I saw it. In future, you can avoid that by splitting more than two links into more than one comment.
Thanks, Tom. I want to add this from Mother Jones too. Hit the link to read it all.
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/10/romney-china-stock-investments
On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney rips President Obama's policy on China and talks tough against the rising global power. "We're going to crack down on China," he said at a recent event in Ohio. "They've stolen our jobs; that's gotta stop." But according to Romney's recent tax returns, between 2008 and 2011 Romney invested more than a half million dollars in the stocks of 10 Chinese companies—including firms that embezzled, partnered with Iran, and stole US intellectual property.
Excellent links, Patty!