Fuck Detroit

Fuck Detroit

Sorry to be posting with such vehemence today, but the reading material has sparked my vigor. Mitt Romney checks in with an absolutely great op-ed and why bailing out the auto industry is nonsensical. I don't care what political alliance card you hold, nobody can question Romney's baller status when it comes to business. The Latter Day Saint has been a force in every form of business since graduating from Brigham Young University. Here's a brief rundown, thanks to Wikipedia:

In 1975, Romney graduated from a joint Juris Doctor/Master of Business Administration program coordinated between Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. He graduated cum laude from the law school and was named a Baker Scholar for graduating in the top five percent of his business school class. After graduation, Romney remained in Massachusetts and went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, where he had interned during the summer of 1974. From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president of Bain & Company, Inc., another management consulting firm based in Boston. In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found a spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital. During the 14 years he headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent.
In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. Within a year, he had led Bain & Company through a highly successful turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without layoffs or partner defections.
Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee. In 1999, before Romney was hired, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. Plans were being made to scale back the games in order to compensate for the fiscal crisis. The Games were also damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials. On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the new president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets, and boosted fund raising. He also worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by coordinating a $300 million security budget. Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million, not counting the $224.5 million in security costs contributed by outside sources. He and his wife have a net worth of between 250 and 500 million USD, not including Romney's blind trust in the name of their children, which is valued at about $100 million.


Not a bad track record. Dude knows how to turn a profit. Here are some highlights if you don't have 8 minutes to educate yourself.

It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition. I believe the federal government should invest substantially more in basic research — on new energy sources, fuel-economy technology, materials science and the like — that will ultimately benefit the automotive industry, along with many others. I believe Washington should raise energy research spending to $20 billion a year, from the $4 billion that is spent today. The research could be done at universities, at research labs and even through public-private collaboration. The federal government should also rectify the imbedded tax penalties that favor foreign carmakers.

But don’t ask Washington to give shareholders and bondholders a free pass — they bet on management and they lost.