Letters: Bain Capital not evil
September 18, 2012 7:20PM
Updated: October 20, 2012 6:04AM
I just read the book, “How Do You Kill 11 Million People? Why the Truth Matters More Than You Think,” by Andy Andrews. This book should be on everyone’s reading list. It’s just a 20-25 minute read.
How do you do it? I’d like to get The Herald-News readers’ response to this question. Unfortunately, I can’t wait that long; I need to get the truth out.
The answer — tell a lie, lots of lies. Watching the Democratic National Convention, I heard lots of lies told over and over.
One lie is that Romney’s Bain Capital is an evil organization, firing people, outsourcing jobs and treating people unjustly.
Democrats are anti-capitalist. They learned this from their president, Barack Obama. What’s the alternative to capitalism?
While Democrats attack Bain Capital, it is interesting to see who has used Bain Capital to grow their investments.
According to the Boston Globe and research done by Preqin Corp., here’s just a few: Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund invested $2.2 million with Bain. Indiana Public Retirement System invested $39.3 million with Bain. The Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension System invested $19.5 million with Bain. Maryland State Retirement and Pension System invested $117.5 million with Bain. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio invested $767.3 million with Bain. Teacher Retirement System of Texas invested $122.5 million with Bain and Leading universities have also profited from Bain’s expertise such as Columbia, Princeton and Yale.
Major center-left foundations and cultural establishments also have seen their prospects brighten, thanks to Bain Capital, including the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the Doris Duke Foundation, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ford Foundation, the Heinz Endowments and the Oprah Winfrey Foundation. Hypocrites!
Wayne S. Matulis
New Lenox
We must pull together
An important part of the legacy of American citizens is to pull together in times of stress and need. For many of our citizens, this is a time of great financial stress and need. Middle class Americans have been badly hurt by the current economic situation.
This situation is, in large part, a result of unethical — if not illegal — activities by banks and corporate leaders over the past decade.
Many people are suffering from long-term unemployment, lost home equity and devastation of pension and retirement savings.
We need to pull together to move our country out of this crisis and back on track. There are several measures which would move us in the right direction. One is to guarantee that we preserve services that people are now forced to depend on, sometimes referred to as the “safety net.”
Such services are currently under attack, but without other options for people, we must insist that these services remain available until the economy can once again provide people with opportunities.
A second measure is to provide relief to homeowners whose homes are underwater or facing foreclosure.
A third measure is to implement tax policy that assists us in supporting Americans in their time of crisis, and discontinues tax “relief” to the top percent of wealthy Americans.
We Americans historically have pulled together in times of crisis. And our current situation is indeed a time of crisis that calls us to take responsibility for the common good.
Kathy Kaiser
Joliet
