tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post7502088124902825278..comments2024-01-17T00:45:37.075-08:00Comments on Bud Meyers: Romney and the MoochersBud Meyershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02065020063363023395noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-64588900234101671042012-10-18T22:37:51.517-07:002012-10-18T22:37:51.517-07:00The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts man...The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts manufacturer whose plants dot eastern China, would seem to underscore Mitt Romney’s campaign-trail complaint that China’s manufacturing juggernaut is costing America jobs. <br /><br />Nine years ago, the company bought two camshaft factories that employed about 500 people in Michigan. By 2007 both were shut down. Now Asimco manufactures the same components in China on government-donated land in a coastal region that China has designated an export base, where companies are eligible for the sort of subsidies Mr. Romney says create an unfair trade imbalance.<br /> <br />But there is a twist to the Asimco story that would not fit neatly into a Romney stump speech: Since 2010, it has been owned by Bain Capital<br /><br />http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101001006306/en/Bain-Capital-Completes-Acquisition-ASIMCO-Technologies-LimitedAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7895164153505105997.post-63049511171745804862012-10-18T22:33:02.143-07:002012-10-18T22:33:02.143-07:00Bain’s interest in China dates to when Mr. Romney ...Bain’s interest in China dates to when Mr. Romney ran the firm. During a panel discussion at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston in February 1998, he told of touring an appliance factory in China where 5,000 employees “were working, working, working, as hard as they could, at rates of roughly 50 cents an hour.”<br /><br />Mr. Romney also has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares. <br /><br />Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf.<br /><br />Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5.<br /><br />“This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.” Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com