I don't think anybody is faulting Romney/Bain Capital for pursuit of profits—that's all fine and good, as far as I'm concerned.
Let's just not pretend he was engaging in genuine free-enteprise. Tax breaks, subsidies, and what not, are absolutely forms of corporate welfare. Decrying corporate welfare is not a Leftist position.
If you think it is, then I want to see you defend Solyndra, TARP, tax breaks for electric cars, etc. Because it is fundamentally no different.
You think it's right that the government gives special tax exemptions and other fiscal privileges to some kinds of businesses under some conditions, and not others? I don't. That's not a free and level, competitive market. That's a rigged system which is distorted by government intervention.
Which is really nothing but backdoor socialism. I don't want the government involved, period.
Fact is, Bain Capital has been ensconced in corporate welfare, under Romney's tenure and beyond. For instance, the whole "success story" that you cite of Steel Dynamics',
was really a corporate welfare sham:
Launched as a start-up at a time when many American steel mills were foundering, Steel Dynamics is the fifth-largest producer of carbon steel products in the country, generating $6.3 billion in revenue in 2010.
Government support was a key ingredient to getting it off the ground.
When local officials in DeKalb County learned that three veteran steel mill executives were starting the company in 1993 and looking for a home for their new mini-mill, they pulled out all the stops. "These people don't just drive by and choose accidentally to be your neighbor," said Jack Bercaw, a Butler businessman who was co-chairman of the recruitment drive.
The county promised $23.4 million in property tax abatements and tax increment finance bonds, as well as a new income tax to generate economic development funds. The latter was required by the state, which shelled out another $13.6 million in tax credits, energy grants, workforce training and funds for roads.
A new quarter-percent tax on DeKalb County residents financed infrastructure improvements such as roads and railroad exchanges that benefited Steel Dynamics, Bercaw said. The county also created a new redevelopment commission and redevelopment authority to oversee the activity.
Steel Dynamics executives did not respond to requests for comment. But in a 1994 interview with a trade journal, then-Chief Executive Keith Busse said the $4.4 million the company initially received in state tax credits, in particular, helped persuade Steel Dynamics to locate in Indiana. Busse told a business panel that same year, however, that he was opposed to the new income tax levied by DeKalb County, according to the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette.
David Stickler, an investor and advisor specializing in the steel industry who engineered the original financing package that launched Steel Dynamics, said the $37 million in grants and subsidies was not only a financial boost, but also helped persuade larger lenders to sign on. "What I've found is that the senior lending banks, especially lenders from overseas, take great comfort in the fact that the local and state government entities are showing a willingness to partner on the project," Stickler said.
Here's a
video about this for those too lazy to read.
In any event, it's obvious you have a very naive view of what free-market capitalism really constitutes. With people like you, it's no small wonder that the GOP gets slammed as the party of bailouts and cronyism.
What is obvious is that you are a libertarian. The term "corporate welfare" is a creation of the left. However you attempt to rationalize your use of the term, it reveals much about you. Most important is that your opinions are irrelevant. Go back to your buddy Ron Paul.
Oh yeah, and just so that you understand, my liberal friend, Solyndra, TARP, and those tax breaks for electric cars were all funded by federal tax dollars, not state tax dollars. They were examples of the inappropriate use of federal money and the inappropriate actions of a federal government. That you don't understand the difference between state, local and federal governments just further informs as to your leftist tendencies.