Althouse: "Isn't a Bainful Turnaround What America Needs?"

January 15, 2012

"Isn't a Bainful Turnaround What America Needs?"

Larry Kudlow frames the question.

14 comments:

richard mcenroe said...: The trouble is, Bain made a lot of its cash off govt subsidies and dumping expenses like pension plans off on the taxpayer.

In much the same way Romneycare is being paid for with Federal money (in the upcoming Obamacare, but skimming Medicare from 41 other states).

Where is Romney going to find 41 other countries to bankroll a national recovery that way?; 1/15/12, 2:26 PM
richard mcenroe said...: but skimming = by skimming, sorry.; 1/15/12, 2:27 PM
edutcher said...: I've noticed the similarities, as have others.

Bringing up Bain and what it actually did may be the best thing anyone could have done for Milton.

Especially now, since his people were caught uncharacteristically flat-footed by this.

Krauthammer had some perspicacious advice on Hannity last Friday.; 1/15/12, 2:29 PM
richard mcenroe said...: Explaining that what you did is okay because it's what Obama did to Chrysler is probably not going to fly in a country with 12%+ real unemployment.

Especially since good conservatives were outrages at what Obama did to the Chrysler dealers.

I think Mitt has missed his chance to paint himself as a job saver.; 1/15/12, 2:34 PM
Chip S. said...: A few terminations in the Senate and one in the WH should do wonders.; 1/15/12, 2:38 PM
smitty1e said...: @Chip S.
Sure, but changing the names on the doorplates, like a new shade of lipstick on the pig, does precious little about the systemic drivers.
Federal Reserve-driven deficit spending has made little indentured servants out of Americans.; 1/15/12, 2:45 PM
Chip S. said...: Federal Reserve-driven deficit spending ...

It isn't the Federal Reserve that votes to spend a trillion more than the Treasury takes in.; 1/15/12, 2:52 PM
Wince said...: Perhaps to the surprise of Obama, Gingrich and Perry, the character trait Romney is most likely to be judged on is likely to be competence, not greed.

Even among those voters with negative opinions of the consequences restructuring in the private sector over the last thirty years, I wouldn't be surprised if a majority believe that such a restructuring is long overdue in the government.

And greed [for lack of a better word] ...will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

Thank you very much.

(Shareholder applause.); 1/15/12, 3:03 PM
ricpic said...: What America needs is Margaret Thatcher. Speaking of which, don't walk, run to your nearest theater to see The Iron Lady. Not only is Meryl Streep's performance one for the ages but the film actually delivers Thatcher's conservative message straight and undiluted.; 1/15/12, 3:12 PM
David said...: The painful time will come. Either we will manage it, or it will manage us.

After 30 years of profligate government (yes, that includes the bubble Clinton years and the Reagan years too) the changes we need can not be painless.

Our leaders don't have the guts to act on this fact.; 1/15/12, 5:33 PM
Cedarford said...: Bain did nothing like McEnroe claims.
If Bain failed to save a company from bankruptcy, the pension rules still apply..the laws Congress passed once enough special interest money changed hands Inside the Beltway set up the taxpayer to pay if Bain or some other firm failed to avert bankruptcy or the company was looked at and declined as an investment by Bain, Buffett, or some other last minute angel investor.

As for Romneycare - sorry, but the people behind it were not into "conservative purity" anymore than those right wing purists objected about investors in defense contractors relying on Dubya borrowing from China to fund his wars and the contractors involved - or objected to Dubya's 6 trillion dollar free premium drug price program to non-means tested seniors.

You have a program, you look for revenue sources or free credit. OR as even Ron Paul did - freebie earmarks.; 1/15/12, 5:40 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Sure, if you like layoffs, raiding other people's pensions, reimbursing them on the government's dime. Go for it.

Amazing that no one here seemed to pick up on what richard mcenroe noticed.

This election season's really going to hit all of you in la la land like a ton of bricks. I wonder how the blog will reinvent itself after that...; 1/15/12, 8:03 PM
Writ Small said...: Newt did Romney a huge favor by pushing the Bain issue at this time.

It is providing a circle-the-wagons effect for Romney as conservative doubters - guys like Rush - have come to his defense while at the same time providing an inoculating effect for independents with leftish leanings. There is plenty of time to explain Bain before the general.

Soon everyone will learn that private equity firms like Bain are often lenders of last resort for very troubled companies. The left will focus on the 1 out of 5 that Bain failed to turn around and ignore the large majority of success stories, but there is ample time to get the truth out.

Who do you want running the country? The guy who has made hard choices in the real world and saved numerous companies from insolvency with some failures? Or the guy who has run the country over the last four years, the first two years with control over both houses of congress?; 1/15/12, 10:46 PM
Anonymous said...: Ritmo -- Please explain to us how a narrative of a candidate who specializes in economic recovery is bad for Republicans in 2012.

Try really hard not to bloviate and I promise to read it. My advice: whatever you initially write, cut it by two thirds before publishing.; 1/15/12, 11:09 PM