Yet another noted liberal/progressive/Democrat…oh wait, I mean Ronald Reagan’s former Budget Director David Stockman…was on Faux today making right-wingnut heads explode. According to Stockman:
…I don’t think Mitt Romney can legitimately say that he learned anything about how to create jobs in the LBO business. The LBO business is about how to strip cash out of old, long-in-the-tooth companies and how to make short-term profits…
For once, I agree with a former Ronald Reagan top official. I also agree with Steve Rattner – cofounder of a private equity firm and a capitalist through and through – who earlier today explained how Mitt Romney’s record, both as governor of Massachusetts and at Bain Capital, was about maximizing profits for himself and his investors, not about creating jobs. A few points by Rattner jumped out at me:
*”Massachusetts was 47th in job creation when [Romney] was governor”
*”It’s when [Romney] reweaves history and tries to turn a perfectly respectable business career into some idea he was the world’s greatest job creator that I think he is misleading people.”
*”You know the old joke about “lies, damn lies and statistics.” You can do whatever you want with numbers. To start with Romney’s numbers, you’re correct that most of those 100,000 jobs actually are Staples. 90,000 of those 100,000 jobs are a small investment that Bain Capital made in the late 1980s in Staples. Staples went public a few years later when it had 1,100 employees. when Romney left it had 40,000 employees but he’s taking credit for all 90,000.”
Cue the whining and demands by Willard et al. that this Romney’s miserable record on jobs and economic growth be off limits in 5…4…3…2…
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