Romney's Bain Capital donated more to Democrats than Republicans

Mitt Romney's Bain Capital is a firm that Democrats love to hate. There is a bit of irony in this because the figures for contributions show that actually Bain capital prefers Democrats to Republicans!

Doug Henwood of the Left Business Observer in an article points out that 72 per cent of contributions have gone to Democrats. So although Bain Capital does give considerable amounts to Republicans they give Democrats even more. In fact Bain capital gives a larger percentage of its donations to Democrats than the AFL-CIO.

The top recipients are well known Democrats such as Al Franken, John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi etc. They also contribute to the Democratic National Fund. No doubt this generosity of Bain to the Democrats could have something to do with their thinking that the Democrats were likely to win. It is a type of hedging!

One prominent Democrat Cory Booker defended private equity firms such as Bain against Obama's campaign attacks. It just so happens that Bain capital gave funding to his own campaign. See here.

While Private Equity firms and Hedge Funds may not be as happy with the Obama administration as before the campaign attacks are no doubt mostly rhetoric meant to capture votes. In case people have forgotten Wall St. was a big supporter of Obama a few years back. Hedge Fund giant Paul Tudor gave a 500 guest fundraiser for Obama. For more see the full article.

Robert Reich on how Romney made himself rich

Robert Reich has an article plus a video demonstrating how Romney made his money at Bain capital. Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy, part of the University of California. Reich served under three administrations Ford, Carter and Clinton.

Romney borrows money and uses it to buy a majority stake in a company. After taking over the board he votes his company Bain a large management fee. He borrows from the company's bank to pay back those who loaned him money. The money also pays bonuses for Bain managers.

The Bain managers cut the number of employees, benefits, and much else to help pay back the bank loan. For much more see this article and the appended video.