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Politics : Liberalism: Do You Agree We've Had Enough of It? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (121599)	1/11/2012 4:33:51 PM
From: JBTFD	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 224728

Many countries have trade policies that protect their workers. We don't. Thus thousands of companies are moving operations overseas. Free trade means that a lot of labor jobs are going to be done wherever labor is cheap. Ross Perot was right.

To: TimF who wrote (121599)	1/11/2012 9:22:53 PM
From: Hope Praytochange	6 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 224728

Romney Needs To Teach Some Capitalism 101 The Economy: Where do jobs come from? That facts-of-life question is central to the coming presidential contest. And if you get what Bain Capital does, you know the answer. We've heard more times than we can count that the 2012 election will be about jobs and the economy. That's true enough. It's also shaping up as something deeper — a referendum on free enterprise. The question is stark and simple: Does America want to place its economic future in the hands of the market or government? Mitt Romney's progress toward a commanding lead in the Republican nomination process has done a great deal to clarify the question and make the voters' choice clear. Not only does he argue the case for free-market capitalism, but he also embodies it in his career. Depending on your analysis, his 15 years in charge of the private-equity firm Bain Capital are a badge of honor or a target on his back — or both. In any event, they put him on one side of the economic debate. On the other side is the government-knows-best ideology of the Obama administration. This is the mindset behind the 2009 stimulus bill, high-speed rail and Solyndra, among other dubious commitments of taxpayers' money. It's the old New Deal notion, turbocharged under Barack Obama: Politically driven investment is needed to move America forward. The government supposedly has to step in to save key companies (e.g., General Motors) or spark the industries of the future, like solar power, when private capital won't take the risks. Three years into a painfully slow recovery, Obama's record as a would-be capitalist is bad enough to threaten his re-election. That should be good for a real capitalist like Romney, who can (and must) make the case that he knows how the economy produces growth and jobs. The more people get what Romney really did at Bain Capital, the better his chances at beating Obama. His story boils down to this: Romney co-founded and, until 1999, ran a very successful firm that invested in companies, both young and old, with the aim of increasing their value to shareholders. Most of its investments have been private equity transactions, buying some or all of a firm without going through the stock market. In the typical case, a private-equity firm takes control of a business that is failing or performing below its potential. It re-sizes and refocuses the enterprise to hike its sales and profit and raise the value of its shares. Restructuring a business in this way often means closing plants, cutting payroll and, yes, firing people. This is what so outrages Newt Gingrich, who swears he is not "anti-capitalist" but (as he explained it to Fox News this week) is "for some sense of fairness that the entrepreneur and the worker have a joint interest in something succeeding." Notice that the former House speaker did not include "investors." Like countless Democrats, he makes a false distinction between heroes and villains in the capitalist story. In this fantasy, entrepreneurs producing gainful employment for hard-working Americans are prey to Wall Street wolves who have no other aim than to grab as much money as they can and take it back to the country club. This caricature blackens the whole class of risk takers who, through intermediaries such as Bain Capital, make it possible for entrepreneurs to set up shop and boost their businesses. Let's make the lesson even simpler: Without capital, there is no business. Without business, there are no jobs. Capital comes from banks, bondholders and stock investors. These are mostly rich individuals or moneyed institutions. Love them or hate them, they're the ones making the bets and taking risks. They are also freely parting with their money, unlike taxpayers. So they need a reason for doing so — a return. If businesses can't provide that, they fail, taking their jobs with them. Firms such as Bain Capital work on the investors' behalf to make businesses succeed. Not all do, but Bain has had enough successes to keep drawing investors. Starting with $37 million in 1984, it now manages some $66 billion. That money is creating, sustaining and lifting private enterprises, without dunning the taxpayer. Does the money also create jobs? Of course it does — though the exact number directly due to this or that Bain investment is impossible to pin down. Private equity is one part, an important one, of the capital mix. Take it away, and there is one less way to fund business and put people to work. Romney clearly has some teaching to do about the role of private equity (and of private-sector capital in general) in fueling the American economy. The kind of talk we're hearing now from Gingrich is standard fare for the Democratic Party. Romney can expect to hear plenty of it thrown at him if he wraps up the Republican nomination. In a way, those in the GOP who flaunt their economic illiteracy are doing him a favor by giving him teachable moments. The practice he gets now will come in handy later.