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Special Report
Taking Down Taibbi
Leftist criticism of Romney’s business history is ignorant, hypocritical, and magically void of similar criticism of Democrats.
(Page 4 of 4)
One wonders if Taibbi would have offered the same criticism of Obama-buddy Buffett whose holdings include everything from insurance to furniture to private jets. Warren had better be flying his own plane and building his sofas, right Matt? In fact, when NetJets was failing, Buffett sent a former utility executive to straighten out the situation. Fixing NetJets included firing about 800 people — layoffs which the company’s founder, Richard Santulli, had managed to avoid for several years.
To be clear, I am not critical of the layoffs that were likely necessary to save the business. I am critical of Taibbi’s misleading and context-free condemnation of the relatively few layoffs which Mitt Romney was involved with at Bain Capital-controlled companies. Furthermore, even Warren Buffett has had to close a company that he owned: Buffett himself talks about the worst trade he’s ever made, ironically enough in the original Berkshire Hathaway company, which he took control of and which then failed, costing over 2,000 textile workers their jobs and shuttering the last textile mill in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
As Buffett tells the story, he speaks with justifiable positivity about the business necessity of using machines to “save (on the cost of) people.” Imagine how Matt Taibbi would portray Mitt Romney if he found a quote of a Bain Capital employee making a similar statement. The Berkshire Hathaway failure (the original textile company, not Buffett’s tremendously successful holding company which kept its name) was no more a sign of ill intent or incompetence by Mr. Buffett than the Ampad story is of Mr. Romney.
TAIBBI GOES ON to discuss Romney’s supposed similarity to, and business dealings with, “convicted felon” Michael Milken — a man whom John Stossel correctly described as having “helped more people than Mother Teresa.” Although there are legitimate questions of conflict of interest in a department store merger that Taibbi mentions, the problematic pattern is more in the “journalist” than his target: The failure of the department store company “took place three years after Bain cashed out ” — yet of course remains Romney’s fault.
But if essentially accusing Romney of being part of a criminal conspiracy isn’t enough, Taibbi’s next gem is to accuse Romney of being a secretive, government-subsidized, tax-break-junkie who wants a “crazy, vicious and almost unbelievably selfish” society. We are led to believe that Romney is deserving of more scorn and disdain than any gangster, despite never having committed a crime and despite creating more jobs and wealth than a stadium full of Matt Taibbis could ever hope to — not that he and his ilk would have any interest in actually creating anything of value lest it lead to a long-term capital gain or an urge to vote Republican. (The horror!)
As we anticipate more demonization of Bain at the Democratic National Convention, it is worth noting that most employees of private equity-owned companies know no more about how private equity works than employees of major corporations know about how trading in their companies’ bonds works. In short, they know precious little. In this and most other ways, including the occasional tendency to dislike the boss, they are no different than tens of millions of other American workers except that those associated with Bain are more likely to remain employed than those associated with Solyndra or other Obama “investments.”
After attacking Romney’s career, and just when you thought Taibbi couldn’t go any lower, he sinks to even more desperate and petty levels: there’s also apparently something wrong with Romney because you can’t detect a particular accent in his speech even though he has lived and studied in many places. Matt, don’t you realize that living and studying in many places is precisely what causes many people (like me) not to have a particular distinct accent?
And by the way, just what accent does Obama have? Oh, I remember, it depends (and for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden as well) on whom he’s speaking to. As Shelby Steele put it, “It sounds a little hollow. Sometimes, he’s Martin Luther King, sometimes, he a Black militant from the Sixties, then he’s a Baptist minister. He can be so different. There’s not yet an Obama voice. That troubles me on other levels. It’s hard to know what bag he’s going to come out of when he takes to the podium. “
Taibbi also grouses about Mitt Romney having attended “a collection of private schools” despite Taibbi himself having attended an elite (and very expensive) Massachusetts prep school and the also elite, expensive, and rabidly leftist Bard College — reportedly the single biggest American college recipient of money from George Soros’ foundations. So who’s the real hypocrite, Matt?
IN CLOSING HIS ARTICLE, which comes across mostly as an intellectual laxative for unbalanced socialists, Taibbi unintentionally begs an important question: By calling Mitt Romney a “man from nowhere” he reminds us that Barack Obama is a man much of whose life story, increasingly called into question, is a shadowy unknown, made and kept that way by the president himself.
Similarly, Taibbi talks about a conflict “between people who consider themselves citizens of actual countries, to which they have patriotic allegiance, and people to whom nations are meaningless…” Even the average Democrat (at least those not in journalism or Congress) will not be able to help thinking of Romney positively in this light as compared to our president who went to Berlin to call himself a “citizen of the world” and whose second-favorite activity after golf (the 100th round of his presidency occurred in June) is apologizing for his country. After all, what person whose stated goal is to “fundamentally transform” something can be said to have an allegiance to that something?
Matt Taibbi’s Rolling Stone anti-Romney, anti-capitalist rant does have tongues wagging, with the chattering classes and the media’s useful idiots thinking “I knew it all along” when in fact they have just been served another giant steaming helping of misdirection and hatred to be swallowed with a chaser of ignorance. The available facts on Mitt Romney’s business career show a man who is competent, caring, and, yes, capitalist — and proudly so.
Mitt Romney is a remarkably well-qualified aspirant to the presidency with a skill set (and running mate) ideally matched to our nation’s current needs. In that, I understand why Taibbi and his fellow leftist radicals are so afraid.
About the Author
Ross Kaminsky is a self-employed trader and investor and is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute. He is the host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver’s NewsRadio 850 KOA at 11 AM on most Sundays. You can reach Ross by e-mail at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com.
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Joellen| 9.4.12 @ 6:52AM
Excellent article and again another example of the extreme media bias in this country. Every time some uneducated citizen cries out "What Bias" I send articles such as this - trust me you still get the cry "What Bias" but at least I am planting the seeds. Keep on writing Mr. Kaminsky and keep on exposing the leftist media for what they truly are. Now, I pray for real America that we can keep our sanity for the nex three days of unadulterated media adoration for the "ONE". GOD Save America.
TLP| 9.4.12 @ 8:10AM
3 Pages?
What happened to 500 characters? Truly, some Pigs are More Equal than others.
As far as Matt Taibbi goes? Why is this even a story? He's Matt Taibbi, who writes for a rag that Nobody Reads anymore, put out by a Guy (?) who left his Hot Wife, to be with his Hard Boyfriend. Are they Married, now? Somebody ask Purp.
Anyway.
FLASH! This just in.....................Über Liberal - Matt Taibbi - is a Lying Sack a S**t, just like every other Lying Sack a S**t in the Liberal Biased Lying Sack a S**t Media.
Methinks, one of us is getting lazy.
What you said in 3 Pages, I can say in 3 sentences. The only unbiased Media outlet is FOX, which I don't watch, anymore. The only non-FOX Reporter out there is Jake Tapper. And.....if this President wanted to Raise a lot of Money, in a short period of time? He would put up a Kissing Booth where the Press is situated at his Nuremberg Rally in Charlotte, and charge each jounOlist $10 to actually PHYSICALLY place their lips in his Ass, instead of just professing that desire through their Love Letters to him, in between the lines of the articles they write.
Okay. 4 Sentences. 3, if you're Joe Biden.
It doesn't matter, anymore, cause these are just word, and we are way past Words Time.
Everybody's hurting, and unless you're a 4th Generation Welfare Recipient in the Black Community, Gay, Lesbian, or caught somewhere in between (like Pelleatio)? You know that The Black Muslim has a RECORD.
TLP| 9.4.12 @ 9:03AM
Unless you're a Felon, an Illegal, or you're enrolled in the Local Methedone Clinic, a Black Panther, or a member of La Raza? You know that this Black Marxist Street Punk has No Intention of Saving this Country. He seeks to Transform Us, and to do that, he must DESTROY what already exists.
If you wanna make an Omlete? First, you gotta Break some Eggs.
Go look in the mirror. What do you see? Do you see an Egg? Cause, you're an Egg.
Look harder.
Everybody knows what's going on. Everybody knows that WE are never gonna get a Fair Shake with these people. One need only listen to the Deafening Silence that President Bojangles received, for his 5 Days of Fundraising, Good Food, Laughter, Music, Electricity, Dry Shoes and Frivolity, while New Orleans Suffered from another National Disaster.
Does he Hate Black People? Is he Insensitive? Doesn't he care that people are hurting? And, since I'm White, are all of those questions "RACIST"?
A Real Journalist, in the New York Post, ran off a List of all of the Leftist Unions, and Organizations, that have THEIR MONEY parked at Bain Capital.
Everybody knows that Taibbi is a Lick. How many folks know the List of Dem Politicians with their Money invested with Bain? Or, in the Cayman Islands, or Switzerland, or who own Restaurants and Vineyards, in California, where UNION WORKERS need not apply?
Now, THOSE THINGS are Stories.
Matt Taibbi is something else.
TLP| 9.4.12 @ 9:29AM
Matt Taibbi is not a story. Tea Bagging - Anderson Cooper - and whomever he's Tea Bagging on his Breaks at CNN, is not a story. The New York Times sending their Stories to the White House for Approval, while the Television Obamaites receive Daily Scripts from the Nazi Loving Jew - George Soros - and his Media Matters SS Style Propaganda Outfit, is not a story. Any more than the Sun Rising in the East, is a story.
Right now, what we need more of are Stories that Shine the Light of Truth on to the utter Hipocracy of the Left.
Perhaps President Bojangles, and his 5 Days of Shucking and Jiving and Tap Dancing, while Rich White Folk threw money in his hat at one FUNDRAISER after another, while New Orleans lay Crippled, should be story?
Maybe Nancy Pelosi's NON UNION Restaurants, and Vineyards, should be put out there, in the light?
Maybe all of the Leftists, and the Leftist Unions who have THEIR MONEY Invested with Bain Capial, would be time better spent, than rehashing the Obviousisity (I just made that word up) that Matt Taibbi is a Lying Tool.
Ross Kaminsky| 9.4.12 @ 10:44AM
Tim, apparently you're sunk to complaining about my writing without even reading it, since you don't know how long the article is.
TLP| 9.5.12 @ 5:31AM
One page was enough.
Occam's Tool| 9.4.12 @ 8:24PM
Thanks for throwing yourself on that grenade, Russ.
By the way, whoever suggested that Transmetropolitan SHOULD BE READ, thank you! Except for skin color, The SMILER is a dead on ringer for Barack Obama. Transmetropolitan is a 10 volume graphic novel written by Warren Ellis, with a Libertarian hero. Simply awesome.
Occam's Tool| 9.4.12 @ 8:25PM
Uh, Ross. Sorry. Don't hit me.
Von Mises Jr| 9.4.12 @ 9:04AM
It is not simply the MSM, but all of liberalism that is a lie. Ross correctly points out that the Sub-prime crisis was a government manufactured scam that cost home owners about one-third of the value of their homes. It started with Freddie Mac being established in 1970 to package the Fannie Mae "Affordable Housing" loans and kicked into high gear under Janet Reno's Redlining.
Perhaps it is necessary to understand what our government is up to now. The LIBOR rate scandal is where 16 international banks fixed the lending rates high and refinanced variable rates to fixed rates for Towns, Hospitals and homeowners. They knew the Fed rates were going to near zero (.002) and made money by stealing the difference in a financial scam. Institutions and individuals are going bankrupt while Citi, BOA and JPMorgan executives in and out of government (Robert Rubin, Sandy Weill, Rahm Emmanuel and Timmy Geithner) engineered the biggest heist in history.
Neither Bain Capital nor any other capitalist business killed tens of millions such as the Soviets, Nazis and Chicoms. Perhaps we should be discussing the socialist government’s financial programs and their death and misery due to greed.
Jack in Wi| 9.4.12 @ 7:01AM
Romney has a record as a tough business man who took no prisoners. Every decision he made will be subject to heavy scrutiny. That isn't fair, but it is the way politics is plaed in this country. The Democrats have a terrible record except and have no choice except calling and nonsense. It would help if romney had some kind of program except, I was a teriific manager. Well now every management decision he ever made will be mincemeat for the spin machines.
Jack in Wi| 9.4.12 @ 7:24AM
It should read the Democrats have a terrible record. Their campaign will be nothing but name calling and nonsense.
Biden was up here in Wi. over the weekend saying the Republicans are pushing for wars with Iran and Syria. I expect the Democrats to run as the peace candidates again. Obama can say he has ended the Iraq war, got Bin Laden and is bringing the troops home from Aganistan. Romney sounds far too warlike. He won't get the votes of the young and independents that he needs if he keeps it up. He should have used his convention address to call for the immediate return of the troops from Afganistan. He would have done himself a world of good, with young and independent voters.
Nick| 9.4.12 @ 4:24PM
Hey, how was your Klan rally this weekend, Jackboot the Nazi?
Did you teach the grandkids how to goose-step?
Jack in Wi| 9.4.12 @ 7:24PM
George-George-Nick. Blessed are the Peacemakers. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword. You can't be a true Catholic and be for Preventive and Pre-emptive war. They are against every just war doctrine. They also are against international law. Quit with the warmongering, lies, and hate Nick. You will have to answer for your sins. Repent and be saved.
Nick| 9.4.12 @ 7:40PM
You can't be a true Catholic and HATE the Jews, Jackboot the Nazi.
Tell us all about how your hero, Hitler, was such a friend of the Jews because he wanted to ship them all to Madagascar. Putz!
Jack in Wi| 9.4.12 @ 9:59PM
I love the Jews. I want them following the Torah and the Commandments. God in the Book of Leviticus tells the Jews " Love your neighbor as yourselves." He also says in that book. " To treat the aliens and strangers as you do yourselves. " In the Book of Exodus He tells them. " To treat the aliens and strangers well for you were once aliens and strangers in the land of Egypt. " Our Zionist friends both Jewish and people like you, bought and paid for, have forgotten a few of God's Commandments.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bare false witness.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbors property.
In Israel in the last week Catholic Churches have been vandalized by thugs. Also in last month African refugees have attacked in vicious racist pogroms. Israel is not worth one drop of American blood or one American dollar.
Nick| 9.4.12 @ 11:16PM
"I love the Jews."
Ha-ha! Yeah, right!
And so does your hero, Hitler, Jackboot the Nazi.
That's why he didn't start the "Final Solution" until 1942, right?
Jack London| 9.4.12 @ 7:15AM
I hear Ryan ran a marathon in under 3 hours - that's some achievement.
Mimi | 9.4.12 @ 7:59AM
His brothers got on his case over this slip and did the laughing...He corrected it! When did"O" ever own up to the multitude of "ERRORS" that he is quoted on...there in lies the big difference between the two men!
Nick| 9.4.12 @ 7:43PM
I hear that the Foodstamp President is lying about his promise to save that GM plant in Paul Ryan's district, Jack'o.
Pecos Pete| 9.4.12 @ 7:31AM
In business, the hardest decision a manager has to make is to layoff people or to close a facility. People like Taibbi simply have no real world experience and use simplistic explanations/discussions to mask their lack of knowledge.
Purp| 9.4.12 @ 8:55AM
Layoffs are part of how BAIN makes it's money.
They pick a weak business, buy it, load it up with debt with the business' assets as collateral, try to make it more efficient, BAIN extracts its millions, and IF the company can still continue, great - BUT if not, well, they got theirs and leave the business to fail and the workers without jobs, pensions, healthcare while BAIN goes on to look for other victims.
Vulture Capitalism is a good description. THAT is hardly experience to care for the American people.
JD| 9.4.12 @ 12:07PM
Bain profits from the successful resale of the company, not from seeing it go under. Read the article before you spout nonsense. Your hate speech doesn't even make sense.
CJW| 9.4.12 @ 5:38PM
Purpie/jack
You must be confused again.
Loading up a country with 5 trillion in debt, giving the money to your cronies and campaign contributors at Soyndra, and giving money to GM/UAW is the ObamaEconomics.
You do know that GM laid off 12,ooo Americans and hired 14,000 in China. GM paid no federal taxes in 2011 on profits of 7.6 billion.
Yes, this is the ObamaEconomics. Tax and borrow, and give it to your friends.
R Martin| 9.4.12 @ 7:41AM
Let’s make lemonade out of Taibbi’s lemons. He makes a strong case for Romney’s candidacy by explaining Mitt’s skills in reducing bloat, cutting excess employment and increasing efficiency. Isn’t that exactly what needs to be done with our failing government?
chuck| 9.4.12 @ 7:50AM
Absolutely! That is exactly what this country needs, a President who is able to go in, cut the bloated work-force, slash the needless departments, and burn the waste.
Cut, Slash, and Burn Romney/Ryan 2012
Purp| 9.4.12 @ 8:57AM
You do know that it's the CEO type who outsourced jobs and leaves America flapping in the wind? All employment, not just government jobs?
George True| 9.5.12 @ 12:10AM
You do know that under Obama the REAL rate of unemployment (U-6) has been stuck over 15% for over three years now, don't you?
You do realize that Obama has racked up twice as much debt in three and a half years than Bush did over eight years, don't you?
spike59| 9.5.12 @ 6:13AM
you mean like Jeffy Immelt of GE, ObaMa's best 'jobs buddy', who's done the same to thousands of American workers and employed thousands of sub-minimum wage Chinese workers in order to maximize his profits and avoid US taxes?
Mimi | 9.4.12 @ 8:03AM
The private sector has seen very little increase in wages...most families have less to live on. What are the increase in wages of all FEDERAL employment ? Hmmmm?
Ryan| 9.4.12 @ 8:34AM
I generally agree with the article, but one GLARING line needs correcting:
On the housing market - "but the idea that malfeasance, at least by people other than politicians and bureaucrats, was the majority of the cause is unsupportable."
I think the problem was broad-based, with corporatists bilking the taxpayers and pushing the government to provide benefits for doing so. Countrywide, anyone?
Purp| 9.4.12 @ 8:48AM
Romney's Business Plan for America.
It is a page that millions of Americans will recognize... because it comes right out of the "corporate leverage buyout" playbook that has put millions out of work.
1. Get control of the company = Say anything, promise anything no matter how inflated, to win the election and get control of congress
2. Harvest profit centers and sell them off = Privatize the postal service, privatize education, privatize all healthcare, military supply already sold to Halliburton by Bush etc. etc.
3. Liquidate Assets = Sell off federal lands and mineral rights.
4. Reduce payroll by laying off personnel = shrink government by getting rid of public employees (teachers,firemen, policemen, postal workers,FDA inspectors and the list goes on!)
5. Get rid of pension plans to reduce overhead = Get rid of medicare, medicaid and social security
6. Provide dividends to key investors for continued support = massive tax cuts to the .0001%ers funding his campaign and buying congress through lobbyist.
Does any of this sound familiar to you... it does to me when I take the 10,000 foot up vantage point on what the Romney campaign is selling... his business experience.
I've watched LBO experts like Romney ruin one company after another doing this. They don't build anything... just pick the bones clean and take the money and run.
Taibbi was very much right - and this trog doesn't deserve to be President.
SFCMikeJ| 9.4.12 @ 4:27PM
Purp,
The breadth of your ignorance is mind boggling.
Mike Johnston
SFC USA (RET)
George True| 9.5.12 @ 12:18AM
You are correct to keep your response to PerpTroll short and sweet. He will spout all kinds of outlandish nonsense that is quite easily disproved with easily verifiable facts. Then when you do this, he just ignores the fact that you quite easily debunked every one of his talking points, and instead spouts a whole new list of pathetic lies. Then, like the Democrat fifth column mainstream media is currently doing, he will say, "Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?"
lost| 9.5.12 @ 5:59PM
Well purp is 10,000 feet up so his view is pretty poor. Does explain a lot
Nick| 9.4.12 @ 4:44PM
The democrat party will always have to rely on the "Big Lie" because they can't deal with the facts:
FACT: The Foodstamp President is trying to GUT the work requirements.
FACT: Only the O'Bama regime is STEALING $716 billion from MediScare Advantage. Romney/Ryan will keep MediScare from going bankrupt.
FACT: The GM plant in Janesville DID NOT close in Dec., 'o8. It was announced, in June,'08, that it would stop production in the future. It didn't stop production until April, '09.
The Foodstamp President lied when he Promised that he would keep it open.
Today, on the first day of the democrat convention, the national debt crossed the $16 TRILLION mark.
The O'Bama regime has increased the national debt more in under 4 years ($5+ Trillion) than his predecessor did in EIGHT YEARS! And President Bush fought TWO WARS!
If the Foodstamp President wins another term, the national debt is projected to be over $23 TRILLION by the end of 2016!
CJW| 9.4.12 @ 5:45PM
Purpie/jack
Obama has a lousy record.
23 million Americans not working.
5 trillion in debt added.
Crony capitalism such as giving 500 million to his campaign contributors at Solyndra.
Money to GM to hire 14,000 in China and lay off Americans.
716 BILLION Heist from Medicare.
And selecting an idiot, Biden, as VP.
The war on the Catholic Church.
Surrender in Afghan by announcing a withdraw date, and the sacrificing of American lives for no reeason except his campaign.
He has a lousy record so you have to lie and attack Romney. Pathetic.
The only job Obama created is your $10 hour troll job roboposting the DNC points.
George True| 9.5.12 @ 12:21AM
CJ, its even worse than you stated. Real U-6 unemployment is over 15%. Including the non-stimulating Stimulus, the new debt under Obama is actually 6 trillion.
CJW| 9.5.12 @ 7:49AM
George
You are correct.
It gets worse every day. We did not even mention Rev Wright, Ayers, Rezko paying for his house, etc.
Purp| 9.4.12 @ 8:58AM
Interesting :
http://www.democracynow.org/20.....et_to_mitt
WhatAboutBob| 9.4.12 @ 7:13PM
So are Grimm's Fairy Tales.
JBD| 9.4.12 @ 1:59PM
Mr. Kaminsky, you lost me at paragraph 3, in which you called Che Guevara a "Cuban murderer". He was an Argentine. Tsk, tsk, tsk - sloppy. As to the "murderer" part, well... probably so... but comparing Matt Taibbi to Che Guevara? Come now. If you're going to do that, P.J. O'Rourke (the boring version), works better.
I read the Taibbi piece and found it entertaining, broadly correct as far as MY understanding of LBO's is concerned, and provocative. If nothing else, he has style.
Try harder to develop yours. As conservatives are wont to recite about life's trials - you don't always succeed in your first draft.
Ross Kaminsky| 9.4.12 @ 3:15PM
JBD,
Good point on Che. I changed "Cuban" to "Argentine."
As for my article, all I can tell you is that it was far from my first draft. In any case, even if you like Taibbi's style, I hope that I have helped debunk his non-substance.
John II| 9.4.12 @ 3:57PM
Actually, Jebbie (and Ross), Professor Che was no more an Argentine than, say, Charlie Chaplin was a Brit. He was a self-styled citizen of the world, rather like Professor Obama.
His only sustained commitment to any particular geographical locale was in Cuba, where he joined Professors Raul and Fidel in their revolution against the dictator Batista, after which he spent six years as a functionary for the new Cuban Communist government, supervising show trials and mass executions.
But he got bored, a trait of world citizens, so he returned to South America for some more revolution until he was caught and executed by a contingent of Bolivian troops.
After scratching their heads over the proper disposal of the remains, the Bolivians shipped his body to Cuba (apparently, Argentina didn't even occur to them), where to this day his memory is honored by a revolutionary mausoleum.
Since his most spectacular and cold-blooded murders occurred in Cuba under Cuban auspices, "Cuban murderer" makes more sense than "Argentine murderer." Of course, "world citizen murderer" would be stylistically wanting.
National Review has just published 689 reasons to vote against Professor Obama, but they left out a 690th reason: Because lefties never read past the third paragraph of arguments against their projects.
R Martin| 9.4.12 @ 4:24PM
Excellent, with mature restraint. You were kind enough not to mention that anyone who is entertained by Taibbi's drivel is not competent to understand Mr. Kaminsky's systematic dismantling of it.
Seek| 9.4.12 @ 2:21PM
Matt Taibbi embodies gonzo journalism applied to economics. His Hunter Thomapson-inspired schtick doesn't work because he's way out of his depth. Vitriol isn't insight. Not even in Rolling Stone, a magazine which I get for free because I'm an old-timer subscriber.
As for "TLP," you're wrong, bud. Plenty of people read Rolling Stone. More than a million total paid circulation, in fact. That's exactly why we should fear the influence of the smug, manic, cartoonish Taibbi.
Butch| 9.4.12 @ 5:00PM
Good article, Mr. Kaminski, and I thought you did an excellent job of condensing your piece into four pages. Very few people understand LBOs or what companies like Bain Capital do. Mr. Taibbi obviously does not, nor would I expect him to even have a reasonable idea, which he obviously doesn't.
It was gallant of you to respond so graciously to JBD, who found Taibbi's piece " . . . broadly correct as far as MY understanding of LBO's [sic, speaking of writing ability, which she did] is concerned . . ." Some would have pointed out to her that, after reading both pieces, if she still had that same understanding, she probably shouldn't be disclosing her ignorance of the subject. This is predicated on the assumption that she is a troll.
To JBD: condescending "tsk tsks" about a minor, but understandable error combined with a display of complete ignorance about the author's subject wins you no influence.
To John II: I never fail to read you, and thanks for your response to JBD, who thought it was "probably true" that Che was a murderer. And how could a Flash Gordon movie from the 40s starring Buster Crabbe possibly suffer from "wooden acting?"
Derek Leaberry| 9.4.12 @ 5:15PM
Fine takedown of Taibibi. Bain acquired firms that most likely would have gone out of business without the Bain medicine. Romney is guilty of being an excellent businessman. Wish he would have developed a toaster that worked right, though.
WhatAboutBob| 9.4.12 @ 7:19PM
I read Taibbi's hit piece just this weekend, while in the barber shop. It took about 2 1/2 pages for him to get to some specifics, and then he got my attention with a sentence that read something like "LBOs typically target struggling companies with strong cash flow."
I thought, "Ah, the rhetorical footprints of a ignoramus."
Since when do struggling companies have strong cash flow? Strong cash flow is the hallmark of a healthy company.
Taibbi-Baibbi knows NOTHING about the subject of his polemic.
Alexandra Fiona Dixon| 9.16.12 @ 3:24AM
You know, I wondered the same thing myself but I do not have a fundamental understanding of economics or finance, and particularly not complicated types of finance like LBO's... so I figured I was just missing something...!
Cas| 9.4.12 @ 9:10PM
Nice work. It boggles my mind that even Rolling Stone would let Taibbi write about business, about which it is painfully obvious he know nothing. Bard? Sweet Jesus!
John2| 9.5.12 @ 2:37AM
I can explain why the editors at Rolling Stone let Mr. Taibbi go through with this comic pile of goop -- they themselves know nothing about business. They are not in position to challenge Mr. Taibbi's scribblings.
They don't know when he misses the mark.
spike59| 9.5.12 @ 6:09AM
come on, we're talking about 'Rolling Stone'...essentially, 'People' magazine without the glossy ads, taking itself far more seriously than it deserves
Duke Alumnus| 9.5.12 @ 11:02AM
You might as well fact-check a sermon as fact-check a campaign speech.
Ferruccio| 9.6.12 @ 10:34PM
Good article, but somewhat spoiled by the comment about Sculley -- who, exactly because he just had no understanding of the business, came that close to destroying Apple.
Use some different example, such as Gerstner at IBM, where the guy who came from a different industry did WELL for the business that reached out to him as CEO!!!
Alexandra Fiona Dixon| 9.16.12 @ 3:21AM
I read Taibbi's article and was struck immediately by the lack of objectivity.
One sentence in the article particularly caught my eye. Taibbi mentions in passing that 7% of companies taken over by Bain failed. Obviously this means that 93% of them did not go out of business. Considering that takeover targets are by definition companies in trouble, and considering that businesses that are NOT the target of takeovers fail every day, that is an amazing success rate, and doesn't really support the idea that Bain Capital sucked the life out of its "victims" and left them to bleed to death.