McCain 2008 Oppo File

Note: Bumping up and adding to an earlier post, because, well, who wouldn’t?

With huge thanks to our pal Andrew Kaczynski whose post is on Buzzfeed.

Check out the Maytag story starting page 143.

“If The Chinese Acquire Maytag With Bain Cash, They Would Be Expected To Cut Thousands Of U.S.Jobs And Move The Manufacturing To Cheaper Locations Back Home.”  (Brett Arends, “American Workers’ Bane,” Boston Herald, 6/22/05) [...]

Haier Interested In Shifting Production “Back To Its Far Cheaper Home Base” In China And Elsewhere. “Haier’s interest in Maytag would be far more in acquiring distribution and brand than more production facilities inthe U.S. One advantage of a Chinese purchaser for the troubled U.S. maker is the ease with which it could shiftproduction back to its far cheaper home base. ‘Paying workers $40 an hour, you can’t compete with workersoffshore who are paid $4 a day. This fits the trend,’ says one banker.”  (Dennis Berman and Henny Sender, “Private Equity Heavyweights To Join Haier Bid For Maytag,” The Globe And Mail  [Canada], 6/21/05)

Here’s one of the topics from the document’s “Top Hits” (Page 8):

ECONOMIC ISSUES

• State spending increased at well over rate of inflation under Romney’s watch, estimated at 24% – more than$5 billion – over Romney’s final three years.
• Under Romney, Massachusetts dramatically underperformed the rest of the nation in terms of job growth.
• Romney has been criticized by experts for failing to deliver on issues of business development and economic growth after selling himself as the “CEO governor.”
• 2006 report issued by quasi-public Massachusetts Technology Collaborative warned the state was losing its grip as leader in “innovation economy” and that tech job was alarmingly slow.
• Romney left his successor to fill a budget deficit exceeding $1 billion.
• Romney raised state fees and taxes more than $700 million per year, according to independent experts.
• Romney raised fees by roughly $500 million in his first year alone, a figure that was highest in the nation.
• Romney quadrupled gun licensing fees and raised fees on first responders, real estate transactions, the blind, golfers and many others.
• Massachusetts’ state and local tax burden rose more than 7% during Romney’s administration.
• Romney refused to endorse the Bush tax cuts in 2003, telling the state’s all-Democrat congressional delegation he wouldn’t be a cheerleader for the plan.
• Romney implemented three rounds of tax changes (which he referred to as “closing loopholes”) which increased business taxes by an estimated $400 million per year.
• Massachusetts’ corporate tax climate now ranks 47th in the nation, according to the Tax Foundation.
• Romney proposed – then backed away from – a new internet tourism tax that would levy higher taxes on users of sites like Orbitz and Travelocity.
• Romney enrolled Massachusetts in multistate compact aiming to end moratorium on internet sales taxes.
• Romney took no position on estate tax issue in 2002 and signed 50% increase in state cremation fee, which observers called “hidden tax on the dead.”

According to that list alone, there should be plenty of bipartisan disdain for Willard to go around… including from those pesky “observers,” whoever they were.

The next topic on the Top Hits list was “Foreign Policy” under which the very first entry was, and I quote:

“Romney has no foreign policy experience.”

But we already knew that.

There were also two other tidbits to share, and so much more, but for now, Tidbit 1:

“Romney said capturing Osama bin Laden would result in “very insignificant increase in safety” for America and such effort was “not worth moving heaven and earth and spending billions of dollars” to catch one person.”

Remember that? It’s apparently an attack if Team Obama says it, but if McCain uses the same line, meh (at about :42):

Tidbit 2:

“Bain Capital, the private equity firm that made Romney his fortune, currently owns a chemicals and paint company called Sigma Kalon that operates an office in Tehran.“

Thank you, John McCain, for providing hours of fascinating reading.

H/t: @cbn2 and @BernheimKY