My latest crackpot money-making scheme...

[rb336]

A celebrity demolition derby staring Lindsay Lohan and Amanda Bynes

[Jimaz]

Bankers—if you can't beat them, laugh at them.

[firstandten]

Get all the money you can beg,borrow or steal and invest it in a private equity company like Bain Capital. Chances are you will wind up a very wealthy person.

[TKshreve]

Get all the money you can beg,borrow or steal and invest it in a private equity company like Bain Capital. Chances are you will wind up a very wealthy person.

As much sense as that makes, I could just never bring myself to be part of such a predatory, unethical part of the business world.

I might as well sell drugs at that point.

[Goose]

As much sense as that makes, I could just never bring myself to be part of such a predatory, unethical part of the business world.

I might as well sell drugs at that point.

you obviously have no understanding of the business model of Bain Capital and/or ethics, other than what you have been told by the left.....

[Jimaz]

you obviously have no understanding of the business model of Bain Capital and/or ethics, other than what you have been told by the left.....

Such as How Ronald Reagan killed the American Dream.

Bain Capital's business model would have been a crime in the 1970s.

[rb336]

you obviously have no understanding of the business model of Bain Capital and/or ethics, other than what you have been told by the left.....

here is Bain's business model:
1) buy company with money borrowed BY THAT COMPANY
2) load up that company you now own with millions in "consulting fees"
3) charge off those fees and debts, if possible, to the workers' pension funds
4) sell off the company in any way possible

That business model, particularly part 1, was illegal until the Reagan administration. it is the ultimate liability dodge - a nearly zero risk investment where you really don't care if the company succeeds because the debt isn't yours. It is, literally, legalized theft

[oladub]

Bain is so bad. Why couldn't Bain be more humane like the Obama administration when GM and Chrysler went into defacto bankruptcy?
1) eliminate the Saturn, Hummer and Pontiac divisions and most of their workers.
2) eliminate some large domestic parts suppliers and let their non-union pension plans fail.
3) Shut down GM dealerships often employing 100 people; some doing quite well but rumored to have contributed to Republicans.
4) Expand GM in China while downsizing GM in the US. This includes providing the Chinese government with details of US taxpayer funded electric vehicle technology to produce Cadillacs there.
4) stick US taxpayers with billion$ in debts to make this all happen.
5) Sell off Chrysler to a foreign company.

Void contract law with respect to the bond holders of Chrysler bonds. Let them suck it up to make the administration's plan look better. It was, literally, legalized theft.

[rb336]

more than a million US jobs saved, Ola. HUGE difference

big investors took a hit - the same, or less, than if GM & Chrysler had gone belly up. another HUGE difference.

You really have a problem with notions of equivalency, you know

[oladub]

more than a million US jobs saved, Ola. HUGE difference

big investors took a hit - the same, or less, than if GM & Chrysler had gone belly up. another HUGE difference.

You really have a problem with notions of equivalency, you know

How do you know a million jobs were saved? People still would have needed cars. GM could have gone into bankruptcy court, as it should have, instead of the charade. Part of GM would probably have been saved in bankruptcy court as it was under Obama. Part of GM would have been destroyed in bankruptcy court as it was under Obama. I think it less likely that bankruptcy court would have favored more GM money and technology going to China as under Obama. Meanwhile, without the government subsidizing GM's bad decisions, more Americans would have bought Fords and cars assembled in Honda and Toyota's US plants instead of, post Obama, Fiat's US plants. Foreign or domestic companies would have bought up some of the unused GM and Chrysler plants. Why do you care if Americans buy Fiats or Toyotas? Chrysler isn't even a US company anymore. You assume that just because GM went to bankruptcy court no one would be building cars. You also ignore the fact that the other uses the $15-20B or so the government is presently in the hole for could have been used for something better than propping up poorly managed companies. on the other hand, maybe it's just as well that Obama dumped the money into GM and Chrysler so he wasn't able to hand it to his buddies to start a another bunch of Solyndras.

You also missed the fine point of breaking contract law to steal money from bond holders. Such government behavior discourages investment in the US. The stockholders should have been the first in line to take a hit. Such is the risk inherent in owning stocks.

It looks like Obama's GM bailout didn't take; like GM is one big Solyndra when we start seeing articles like this:General Motors Headed For Disaster Again? It must be Bush's fault or maybe something to do with not having a super majority in Congress.

[jiminnm]

You're right oladub, GM and Chrysler would have continued to operate in bankruptcy [[just like the numerous airlines and other businesses that have gone into, and then come out, of bankruptcy). The companies would still exist today. Whether or not they'd be better of is unknown, but that's the nature of bankruptcy. However, decades of law would not have been twisted, stomped on, and ignored in favor of government command and control.