On MSNBC a moment ago, Harold Ford Jr. just asked, “Can Romney recover from his association with private equity?” The demonization of the free market is complete.
This is, of course, in the context of a discussion of the Republican primary.
UPDATE: @EarlDean71 calls my attention to the fact that Harold Ford Jr. joined Merrill Lynch in 2007 and stayed on after its sale to Bank of America, and is now a senior client manager at Morgan Stanley.
A bit more on his duties and compensation there:
As a vice chairman at Merrill Lynch, however, Mr. Ford benefited from an unusual arrangement that paid him generously regardless of how he and his firm perform. In 2007, he began working at the firm under a contract that guaranteed him annual compensation of at least $2 million, The Times said, citing two people with direct knowledge of the deal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the agreement is confidential. With a bonus, his pay could well exceed that figure.
His guaranteed pay was twice that of the Merrill Lynch chief executive who hired him, E. Stanley O’Neal. Mr. O’Neal’s contract assured him a base salary of $700,000, with the rest of his compensation not guaranteed, and paid out only as a bonus, records show. In some years that bonus was quite large. In 2006, for example, Mr. O’Neal’s bonus was $18.5 million in cash and nearly $27 million in restricted stock, according to Equilar, a compensation-research firm.
Ford commutes to that job from his five-bedroom apartment in the trendy neighborhood of Chelsea, Manhattan, that he purchased for $3.15 million.
Romney's problem is that he's branding himself as a "job creator". Private equity firms aren't in the job creating business. They're in the getting rich business. At that, Romney was spectacularly successful. If he can't defend his "job creating" record at Bain, that's his problem. Whining about the media is for losers.
(Oh, by the way, I'm pretty sure Harold Ford isn't running for president.)
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOut of curiosity, can you name a single private business that exists for the purpose of creating jobs?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAs it turns out, a few Democrat favorites have also worked for private equity firms. Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Al Gore. The difference is that Romney got into private equity because of his skills in the private market. Clinton, Edwards, Gore, Dan Quayle, Newt Gingrich all began working for the funds after they had held high ranking offices because the funds know they can curry influence. I don't have an agenda against private equity or anyone making a living, but it's laughable that anyone in Washington would try to demonize Romney's association with it. As a true Washington outsider, it appears to me that any office holder that was relatively important gets to make a lot of money as an "advisor" to private equity funds after they leave office. A standard congressional seat will probably only get you a job as a lobbyist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood point. When politicos get into private equity after they are in office, I strongly suspect them of crony capitalism, but Romney made his money BEFORE he ran for office, and is clearly a real capitalist.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think this Bain Capital thing will actually help Romney in the primary, and not really hurt him in the general. I see nothing wrong with making money, in fact why be in business if you are not making money. The problem is whether you are a real capitalist, or a crony capitalist who depends on gov connections. Since Romney made his money before he ran for office, and there is no evidence that Bain depended on big gov connections, it is clear to me that Romney is a real capitalist, and I applaud him for it. And having somebody that knows how to downsize inefficient bloated business burocracies may be just the guy we need to downsize gov.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse