Romney’s views on Unions and Executive Greed- Other Executives Not Himself, Of Course

Romney tries to walk a middle path regarding his views on labor unions in his book, Romney writes the following:

“Not all unions adopt counterproductive attitudes. … [I]n some cases, unions are a necessary check on excessively demanding, insensitive, or thoughtless employers.”

Romney particularly has stated in the past, he likes the Carpenter Union, which advances its workers skills, making them more productive. In today’s economy with the devastation of Wall Street greed and the greed of banks, the carpenters who honed their skills, have no work. Executive greed.

Mitt goes on to say on page 254 of "No Apology":

“Poor corporate management and excessive CEO compensation are capable of causing the kind of worker resentment that undermines hard, smart, effective work. While governor, I met with union workers at a plant in western Massachusetts that manufactured socket sets. These workers had been informed by their management that they had to agree to a pay cut or the facility would be closed. The union leaders understood that it was in their best interests to agree to the cuts rather than risk unemployment in a weak job market. But the fact that the company’s CEO had received a reported $20 million bonus the prior year outraged these workers as it would have me had I been in their shoes. It was all they could talk about. The rank and file simply wouldn’t surrender a large share of their wages when the CEO had been so selfish.”

Out raged workers? Selfish wages? Is this a bit of Romney projection? Rolling Stone ran an article a few years back, during Romney revving up for his last presidential run the following story:

“Despite this success, however, Romney moved Bain away from boom-bust venture-capital investments and into the darker world of leveraged buyouts, where the firm borrowed money to make deals. A typical example of Bain's approach was its experience with another office-supply company called Ampad, which it acquired in 1992. In 1993, the company had $11 million in debt; by 1999, that number had grown to nearly $400 million, and the firm eventually declared bankruptcy. But despite Ampad's failure, Bain made a fortune, raking in more than $100 million while driving the company into the ground and destroying hundreds of jobs in places like New York (where 185 people were thrown out of work in a plant closing near Buffalo) and Indiana (where the firm fired 200 workers from a paper factory).”

Executive Greed?

“Even more telling was Romney's interest in a medical-testing firm called Damon Corp., which Bain bought in 1989. The company was eventually fined a record $119 million for defrauding the federal government out of $25 million, but Bain still tripled its investment on the Damon deal. And Romney, who was sitting on the Damon board at the time of the fraud (his claim that he was the one who called for an internal investigation has never been substantiated), made a personal profit of $473,000 on the deal.”

What about all those statements made regarding Romney being an ethical man? Wonder if some of the $25 million went into the Romney off-shore accounts.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/16983679/mitt_romney_the_huckster/3