I think it's still legal to take over failing businesses and try to make them profitable. But I'll have to check with our masters in the federal government.
Newt didn’t hit Mitt on failing businesses....he did so on businesses which were not failing, but were bought by Bain and sold off after forcing the companies to take out huge loans based on their assets in order to pay Bain enormous fees. The debt burden from this is what reportedly dragged the companies down into bankruptcy. This may be considered capitalism, but certainly it will be problematic for the GOP if Romney wins the nomination.
I never said it wasn't; I just said legal isn't necessarily right. It's also legal to take over weak or failing businesses, strip their assets and throw them over the cliff, making sure you get a good return on your investment, "collateral damage" to others notwithstanding.