BAIN CAPITAL BUSINESS CONDUCT WAS AMORAL

In my last blog, I made the point that venture capital was good for America but vulture capital is bad (Google Search: firetree_jerry_stevens-bain_capital). A the time I was upset over the idea that President Obama was criticizing Romney only for making money and not creating jobs. Unfortunately, I missed a more important point. The conservative party as a policy matter does not see vulture capitalism as being bad. In fact, they seem to think it is just good business to do all the things Romney did at Bain Capital to make money:

He would investigate a company and determine if he could borrow money against the assets. If that was not possible, he would not invest his stockholders money the company. If successful, he would use that money to carry out the rest of his plan. If it meant bankrupting the company and using the recently passed bankruptcy laws to destroy the unions, he would do it. Once the union was gone, they could fire people with impunity especially if they were at the high end of the pay scale or near retirement. The destruction of the unions freed up pension funds to fold back into the company. In addition, a prime objective was to find out if he would be able to gain government subsidies and if so, how could he maximize the subsidies. If he could not operate the company in a way that increase cash flow, he would fire the remaining employees, close and sell the company, and then cash in by selling the assets.

Apparently, conservative TV  and radio commentators believe this is an OK way to do business  and say so in a way that makes listeners believe it is innate  in them; that is, it may be in the conservative genome. Why else would they in unison label such cold calculated selfishness as "just" good business? Are we to believe that there are conservatives out there—aside from Ayn Rand disciples such as Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan—who have zero altruism in their being? A scary thought is to think they want to elect Romney as president and put him in charge of the business of American government. Even the failed president George W. Bush  tried to sell the idea that he was a compassionate conservative; he wasn't but he tried..