Whoo! Profit!
Mitt Romney
profited from the auto bailout to the tune of more than $15 million, according to a report in
The Nation. Romney, of course, was and is
opposed to the bailout, believing instead that General Motors and Chrysler should have gone straight into bankruptcy despite the fact (which he refuses to acknowledge) that this would have led to their liquidation.
Greg Palast reports that, through Ann Romney's unblind trust, the Romneys invested at least $1 million with a hedge fund that picked up Delphi Automotive stock for 20 cents on the dollar while the auto parts manufacturer was in bankruptcy. Then came the bailout, which, thanks to a lot of hedge fund maneuvering and pension-slashing that Romney would go on to blame on President Barack Obama and unions, spelled profit for Romney:
It is reasonable to assume that Singer treated the Romneys the same as his other investors, with a third of their portfolio invested in Delphi by the time of the 2011 initial public offering. This means that with an investment of at least $1 million, their smallest possible gain when Delphi went public would have been $10.2 million, plus another $10.2 million for each million handed to Singer—all gains made possible by the auto bailout.
But that’s just the beginning. Since the November 2011 IPO, Delphi’s stock has roared upward, boosting the Romneys’ Delphi windfall from $10.2 million to $15.3 million for each million they invested with Singer.
Apparently there's nothing that Romney opposes so much he won't try to make a profit off of it. Which, actually, we already knew, thanks to his role in Bain investments in a
medical-waste firm that disposed of aborted fetuses. And don't forget how Romney invested in a company founded to
make profits on the aftermath of 9/11. Never mind all that profit from
exactly the kind of Chinese trade practices he's campaigning against.
Romney has an excuse for every occasion—the abortion-related medical waste investment was after he left Bain (except it wasn't), the 9/11 profiteering was done through his blind trust (except it's not blind), and so on. It'll be interesting to see what his excuse for his auto bailout profits are, or if he stonewalls on the very existence of those profits, something he can kinda sorta do since he hasn't release his tax returns from 2009.
Please give $3 to help President Obama beat this guy.