I have a great response to what will certainly be Mitt's big argument in the presidential debates, that because of his business background he is better qualified to manage the economy than Barack.
When Romney claims that he is better qualified to manage the economy, Barack ought to shoot back:
Mr. Romney, let's look at your business experience. It consists almost exclusively of borrowing other people's money to take over companies and then using those companies own assets and cash flows to try to service the debt. Let's look at how these companies have done since you took them over;
Net income declined dramatically, sometimes turning negative.
Book equity or net worth shrunk considerably.
Debt on the companies increased dramatically, regularly exceeding 90% of the capital structure.
Time and again, R&D spending and capital investment on new equipment was cut.
Repeatedly, jobs were sacrificed.
Sometimes, unions were busted.
Pensions were raided.
Credit ratings fell, often to junk status.
Outsourcing of jobs overseas increased.
Corporate taxes paid dropped considerably.
And the number of bankruptcies increased dramatically.
There was nothing new created. There were no brilliant new business ideas. There was nothing entrepreneurial in what you did. You didn't invent anything. There were no new products like an iPhone or an iPad. In fact, all you did was squeeze money out of your workers and suppliers, raise prices on your customers and violate your moral responsibility to the community and to pensioners.
In fact, the only group that I can find that did better after your takeovers were you and your investing friends, thanks partly to hundreds of millions of dollars paid out to you in the form of fees, bonuses, tax breaks and special dividends. We'll never know the extent of your looting because you refuse to release your tax returns. But, given that you personally made hundreds of millions of dollars doing this to companies and their employees, I only have one thing to say. You should be ashamed.
Mr. Romney, this is not the kind of leadership that America wants or needs. The idea that you can sink a company in debt and personally profit from it might be acceptable in the world of business where you come from, but you will not bring that vulture mentality to the White House.
You will not have the opportunity to put more debt on our country in order to give a giant tax break to your millionaire friends. You will not raid Social Security or Medicare. You won't be cutting taxes on your corporate and banking buddies. You won't ship American jobs overseas. You won't bust our unions. And you won't be cutting investment in people and education and our children's future. I can promise you that."
John R. Talbott is a bestselling author and financial consultant to families whose books predicted the housing crash, the banking crisis and the global economic collapse. You can read more about his books, the accuracy of his predictions and his financial consulting activities at www.stopthelying.com.