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ProSense

(116,464 posts)
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:34 AM Sep 2012

Holy shit: Mitt Romney admits using Chinese slave labor @ Bain.

Mitt Romney admits using Chinese slave labor @ Bain.

by anneonymous670

Mitt Romney admits using Chinese slave labor @ Bain. 20,000 young girls. 12 girls per room. 120 girls per bathroom. Huge fences with guard towers.

"95% of life is set up for you if you were born in this country. And, I remember going to ah, uh, sorry just to bore you with stories.

When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married.

And they work in these huge factories, they made various uh, small appliances. And uh, as we were walking through this facility, seeing them work, the number of hours they worked per day, the pitance they earned, living in dormitories with uh, with little bathrooms at the end of maybe 10, 10 room, rooms. And the rooms they have 12 girls per room.

Three bunk beds on top of each other. You've seen, you've seen them? (Oh...yeah, yeah!) And, and, and around this factory was a fence, a huge fence with barbed wire and guard towers. And, and, we said gosh! I can't believe that you, you know, keep these girls in! They said, no, no, no. This is to keep other people from coming in.

Because people want so badly to come work in this factory that we have to keep them out. Or they will just come in here and start working and, and try and get compensated. So we, this is to keep people out. And they said, actually Chinese New Year as the girls go home, sometimes they decide they've saved enough money and they don't come back to the factory.

And he said, so, on the weekend after Chinese New Year there will be a line of people hundreds long, outside the factory, hoping that some girls haven't come back. And they can come to the factory. And, and so as we were experiencing this for the first time, going to see a factory like this in China some years ago.

The Bain Partner I was with turned to me and said, you know, 95% of life is settled if you are born in America. This is uh, this is an amazing land and what we have is unique and fortunately it is so special we are sharing it with the world."

-Mitt Romney-



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/10/1129902/-Mitt-Romney-admits-using-Chinese-slave-labor-Bain

Watch the video!





Note:

Kos Media, LLC Site content may be used for any purpose without explicit permission unless otherwise specified




52 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Holy shit: Mitt Romney admits using Chinese slave labor @ Bain. (Original Post) ProSense Sep 2012 OP
Wow ! russspeakeasy Sep 2012 #1
Horrible. However, I don't think enough people give a shit about conditions of workers in China or Brickbat Sep 2012 #2
Enough people giving a shit is irrelevant. n/t ProSense Sep 2012 #4
People giving a shit about the welfare of workers is always relevant. n/t pampango Sep 2012 #11
Yes, but that wasn't the point. ProSense Sep 2012 #13
It's what the 1% wants Bladesmith818 Sep 2012 #52
Also, has this been authenticated? Where and when was this talk? Brickbat Sep 2012 #3
Doesn't matter where it was, and ProSense Sep 2012 #5
Sounds like him to me... backscatter712 Sep 2012 #12
If this is an ProSense Sep 2012 #16
It sounds exactly like Romney matt819 Sep 2012 #15
Agree. n/t ProSense Sep 2012 #17
That sounds EXACTLY like Rmoney. Talking about HIS company. kestrel91316 Sep 2012 #29
He's right there. He's on the right, on a dais. He's standing up and speaking to the room TalkingDog Sep 2012 #35
I really don't get the transition there at the end BeyondGeography Sep 2012 #6
It makes him feel better about exploiting workers. n/t ProSense Sep 2012 #7
Mitt Romney: Slave-owner. This is what he wants to bring to America. backscatter712 Sep 2012 #8
The question is ProSense Sep 2012 #9
+1.. "either way this is slavery"... exactly, thank you. . . n/t annabanana Sep 2012 #28
. bigtree Sep 2012 #10
He doesn't get it, and never will matt819 Sep 2012 #14
The two items that can allow him to dodge this completely Matt_in_STL Sep 2012 #18
I don't know if he bought the company but he clearly thinks the idea is aces. nolabear Sep 2012 #20
I have no doubt it's Romney Matt_in_STL Sep 2012 #21
OK, this video ProSense Sep 2012 #23
The MSM quit connecting dots when they shook the chains of impartiality Matt_in_STL Sep 2012 #26
It's fascinating, ProSense Sep 2012 #44
I completely agree Matt_in_STL Sep 2012 #51
He actually idealizes girls accepting mistreatment so they can get married. It's FEUDAL. nolabear Sep 2012 #19
It's Romney. Go to youtube and there are 10 videos on the channel, Waiting For Everyman Sep 2012 #22
It's definitely him. Here is ProSense Sep 2012 #25
He thought, "Wow, if only we could do that in the US eShirl Sep 2012 #24
i'm at work and can't watch right now. barbtries Sep 2012 #27
nothing heaven05 Sep 2012 #30
Why the defeatist attitude? Nostradammit Sep 2012 #41
well heaven05 Sep 2012 #42
Mitt Romney "There are 47% of people who feel entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing!" roccr1985 Sep 2012 #31
Here is that "Chinese slave labor @ Bain" in color roccr1985 Sep 2012 #32
Short of shooting a man in Reno just to see him die, Romney is capable of anything MrScorpio Sep 2012 #33
We still have no answers to what he was doing when he dressed as a state trooper. Mnemosyne Sep 2012 #47
Link to previous thread on this (circa 2 weeks ago) JHB Sep 2012 #34
Excellent questions, JHB. nt Mnemosyne Sep 2012 #49
Rest of the story Vietnameravet Sep 2012 #36
Just to highlight a point, this is at odds with his claim he wasn't part of outsourcing decisions JHB Sep 2012 #37
Exactly! n/t ProSense Sep 2012 #39
Mitt Romney "We use Ann sparingly so people don't get tired of her" roccr1985 Sep 2012 #38
Too late. I'm already tired of her. eom Blanks Sep 2012 #50
Romney is sick. lexw Sep 2012 #40
Onto my FB page. Skidmore Sep 2012 #43
Mitt worships the almighty dollar and everyone and everything else does not matter to him. jillan Sep 2012 #45
He is such a sick,twisted, heartless bastard! smirkymonkey Sep 2012 #46
he sees it as helping them: "people want so badly to come work in this factory" we have to have HiPointDem Sep 2012 #48

Brickbat

(19,339 posts)
2. Horrible. However, I don't think enough people give a shit about conditions of workers in China or
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:41 AM
Sep 2012

how those conditions affect jobs here. If they did, we'd have a lot less shit made in China.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
13. Yes, but that wasn't the point.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:59 AM
Sep 2012

The point is whether or not this is damaging information based on how many people will care.

That's irrelevant. The fact is that 100 percent should. Anything less would not be enough, but you know that not 100 percent will care.

The information is damaging regardless.

Bladesmith818

(1 post)
52. It's what the 1% wants
Tue Sep 11, 2012, 07:58 AM
Sep 2012

Bain, Romney and the rest of the scumbag 1% ers WANT America living the Chinese/3rd world model, where the serfs are fighting and killing each other for the jobs and scraps they're willing to toss down on us.

The don't seem to realize that Americans won't stand for living conditions similar to say, Rio, where the Excessively rich live in walled communities with the poor pushed against the walls.

Americans will finally get fed up and tear through the walls and burn them down.

Brickbat

(19,339 posts)
3. Also, has this been authenticated? Where and when was this talk?
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:43 AM
Sep 2012

It doesn't sound totally like Romney, to me.

backscatter712

(26,355 posts)
12. Sounds like him to me...
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:57 AM
Sep 2012

Besides, as LBJ once said, "I don't care if it's true or not - I just want to hear the son-of-a-bitch deny it!"

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
16. If this is an
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:04 AM
Sep 2012

elaborate hoax, the person(s) who carried it out nailed Romney's speech pattern, tone, inflection and pitch.

If this turns out to be bogus, I will pull this diary and apologize for posting the information. I mean, the news organizations don't seem to have a problem reporting false information as fact so let's get this out into the open for investigation.

TalkingDog

(9,001 posts)
35. He's right there. He's on the right, on a dais. He's standing up and speaking to the room
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:04 PM
Sep 2012

It's probably a fund raiser.

If you put the video on full screen you can catch a glimpse of his face. If it comes down to being authenticated, all s/he has to do is show the original vid without the text.

BeyondGeography

(39,276 posts)
6. I really don't get the transition there at the end
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:48 AM
Sep 2012

We're not sharing anything with China other than our voracious appetite for cheap goods that creates the very conditions he's pretending to find appalling.

backscatter712

(26,355 posts)
8. Mitt Romney: Slave-owner. This is what he wants to bring to America.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:51 AM
Sep 2012

Whether the fences with the barbed wire are to keep people from coming in or keep people from escaping, this is slavery.

We're just looking a single difference in the way the system of slavery is built.

In the old-school slavery, if you don't be a good slave, the slave master beats you, maybe to death.

In the new slavery, if you don't be a good slave, the slave master throws you out and starves you to death - the people on the outside are starving.

Either way, this is slavery. The penalty for trying to escape from slavery, or to fail to do the work you're forced to do is torment and death.

And that's what Mitt and his fellow one-percenters want to bring to the United States: this kind of slavery - you will work like you've never worked before, at a miniscule pittance, or the slave masters will starve you to death.

That's why they want to destroy the social safety net - kill Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance. That's why they want to make education into a mockery of what it once was, with teach to the test and No Child's Behind Left.

They want to make us all slaves, and they want unemployment to be high - to scare the shit out of us and keep us coming to those jobs, even as the wages fall to pennies an hour, we're forced out of our homes into little dorms, or shacks made out of junk, or slums, as we watch our kids get brainwashed instead of educated in our schools.

Every time I think I couldn't possibly hate Mitt Romney and his cronies more, something comes up that turns my hatred to the next level.

He is truly a subhuman psychopath.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
9. The question is
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:53 AM
Sep 2012

why is anyone still giving this immoral asshole a pass?

Mitt Romney Started Bain Capital With Money From Families Tied To Death Squads
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014187901

matt819

(10,749 posts)
14. He doesn't get it, and never will
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:02 AM
Sep 2012

I don't think he even thinks about them as people. They are just cyphers to him, numbers in a ledger - Does this situation allow him to profit, or not. If he can make a profit, fine. If not, then he'll walk away and think nothing more about these workers.

 

Matt_in_STL

(1,446 posts)
18. The two items that can allow him to dodge this completely
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:14 AM
Sep 2012

1. Did Bain actually buy the factory in the end? If not, they didn't use the slave labor

2. If Bain did buy the company, did they improve the conditions or did they continue paying a "pittance" and continue the slave labor practices.

The problem with this video is that he never admits to using those practices or fully backing them, he relates a story from when he went to China. Do I believe he used slave labor? Undoubtedly, but this video doesn't provide any evidence other than they were looking to buy a factory that had those conditions in place prior to the sale.

nolabear

(41,915 posts)
20. I don't know if he bought the company but he clearly thinks the idea is aces.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:16 AM
Sep 2012

I can't prove it's Romney but I suspect it is. Just too spot on.

 

Matt_in_STL

(1,446 posts)
21. I have no doubt it's Romney
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:22 AM
Sep 2012

I just think it will take more than this video to sink him on this issue. There needs to be some research and some meat added to it. What factories has Bain bought in China? Is there any word on the conditions at those factories? People will see this video and brush it off like they do with the Foxconn stories. Unless you can put his face on the factory it is a tough sell to the average American.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
23. OK, this video
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:39 AM
Sep 2012

has been out there, the subject of this op-ed: Op-Ed: Did Mitt Romney profit from Chinese slave labor?

<...>

Now, at this point, there is a heated discussion online about this video which I suspect we will be hearing a great deal more about in the days to come. We're not sure at this point whether or not this was the factory that Bain purchased, discussed in this Mother Jones story.

http://digitaljournal.com/article/331506#ixzz2654q3r21


From the Mother Jones story:

<...>

On April 17, 1998, Brookside Capital Partners Fund, a Bain Capital affiliate, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission noting that it had acquired 6.13 percent of Hong Kong-based Global-Tech Appliances, which manufactured household appliances in a production facility in the industrial city of Dongguan, China. That August, according to another SEC filing, Brookside upped its interest in Global-Tech to 10.3 percent. Both SEC filings identified Romney as the person in control of this investment: "Mr. W. Mitt Romney is the sole shareholder, sole director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookside Inc. and thus is the controlling person of Brookside Inc." Each of these documents was signed by Domenic Ferrante, a managing director of Brookside and Bain.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/07/bain-capital-mitt-romney-outsourcing-china-global-tech


Will anyone in the MSM connect the dots?


 

Matt_in_STL

(1,446 posts)
26. The MSM quit connecting dots when they shook the chains of impartiality
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:51 AM
Sep 2012

There is, without a doubt, a smoking gun here. The Digital Journal article actually had the same two questions I proposed with one extra that I really hadn't considered. The Mother Jones article definitely provides the legwork as to whether or not he was involved in pushing jobs to China but doesn't provide any evidence as to an actual purchase of a Chinese factory.

I am searching around to see if I can find anything that mentions all of their actual holdings in China and what may have been purchased while Romney was there. I know there was discussion of the video surveillance company but it was purchased after he left and he was only involved through his "blind" trust which gave him cover.

As for the MSM ever connecting the dots on anything, that is a lost cause. The news has become more of a celebrity/popularity contest and not really the news. Nobody sees the benefit in a good deep investigation anymore.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
44. It's fascinating,
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 08:34 PM
Sep 2012

Here is Romney in his own words, stating that he went to China to buy a slave shop, and factchecking organizations are engaged in obfuscation on his behalf when it comes to outsourcing.

 

Matt_in_STL

(1,446 posts)
51. I completely agree
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:51 PM
Sep 2012

The whole issue of what Romney did at Bain has fallen to the side as the MSM has dropped the ball on it. Between the questionable companies purchased by Bain to the obvious culture of outsourcing, they could do an incredible investigative piece if they were so inclined. Add to that the controversy about when Romney did or didn't leave the company and you have a very destructive piece of work in the making.

The problem with this is twofold:
1. This would require actually conducting journalistic activities and might expose one to bouts of integrity, which can be toxic in the world of politics.
2. Their corporate overlords might have them destroyed.

nolabear

(41,915 posts)
19. He actually idealizes girls accepting mistreatment so they can get married. It's FEUDAL.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:14 AM
Sep 2012

And then he has the damned gall to elevate his own terrible struggle...like, you know, living in a basement apartment while you're going to college. The HORROR...

Waiting For Everyman

(9,385 posts)
22. It's Romney. Go to youtube and there are 10 videos on the channel,
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:36 AM
Sep 2012

all shot in the same location. From the others, it's clear that it's Mittens.

ProSense

(116,464 posts)
25. It's definitely him. Here is
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 11:47 AM
Sep 2012

what he said:

When I was back in my private equity days, we went to China to buy a factory there. It employed about 20,000 people. And they were almost all young women between the ages of about 18 and 22 or 23. They were saving for potentially becoming married.

What are the chances that Mitt had no idea what the conditions were before he flew to China to buy the factory? Is anyone going to try to argue that he went over there blind to buy the a factory?

More details, please.

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
30. nothing
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 12:52 PM
Sep 2012

Last edited Mon Sep 10, 2012, 05:56 PM - Edit history (1)

nothing will happen where it counts.MSM or citizens who are concerned. People who are concerned are still a minority. Good to get some light under this rock in Robme's swamp, but won't matter in a week or two. MSM not asking about tax returns anymore. They are right wing tools, nothing more. Free press? HA!

 

heaven05

(18,124 posts)
42. well
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 06:08 PM
Sep 2012

I have not heard about his taxes in a whole week on MSM. We cannot make the media do anything that the richie rich boys don't want. Defeatist? No. Just feeling overwhelmed today by the inaction of our 'free press' and right wing television which entails quite a few of the broadcast companies. I'm in the fight, but I've been through too many battles. I am weary of all this hate, deceit, obstruction, obfuscation, outright lies. I just hope on the 7th of November, sanity will have returned. I not ashamed, I get tired.

roccr1985

(4 posts)
31. Mitt Romney "There are 47% of people who feel entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing!"
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 12:53 PM
Sep 2012

Can anyone confirm or vet this one? It sounds like Mitt. Please send to other media outlets:

&feature=relmfu

MrScorpio

(73,626 posts)
33. Short of shooting a man in Reno just to see him die, Romney is capable of anything
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:01 PM
Sep 2012

Last edited Mon Sep 10, 2012, 10:00 PM - Edit history (1)

Today I'm watching Nixon, and it reminded me that Robert Bork was Nixon's hatchet man in the Saturday Night Massacre when the rest of Elliot Richardson's Justice Department refused to follow Nixon's orders.

Bork is Romney's legal advisor.

Mnemosyne

(21,363 posts)
47. We still have no answers to what he was doing when he dressed as a state trooper.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 09:54 PM
Sep 2012

Did he just give out fake tickets or were his actions much darker? He seethes at times.

Agree on the Bork comment.

JHB

(37,128 posts)
34. Link to previous thread on this (circa 2 weeks ago)
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:03 PM
Sep 2012
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101751362

Different source, looks like the same video

Repeating myself there:

A video of Mitt at an unspecified event (wait-staffers can be seen bustling about around the small seated audience). Place, time, and audience are not identified, but it's clearly Mitt Romney talking.

#!


Some thoughts:
1) The guard towers and fence were "to keep people out": And you just took the salesman's word on that? Mr. I'm-a-successful-businessman-look-at-how-much-money-I-made-but-don't-look-too-closely?

2) After Bain bought the factory, did you still work them for long hours at a pittance? Because you could have employed more people at better pay under better working conditions and still made a profit on the lower labor costs than the US jobs you said you weren't involved in outsourcing. Think of how many more people could have fulfilled their dreams of a marriage nest-egg that way! (It was a nest egg, not a dowry imposed on them, right?) But Bain would made slightly less profit that way. Do we even need to ask which route you chose?

3) As touched on above, I thought you said you weren't involved in outsourcing decisions? That those all came after you left?

4) Let me tell you, Mitt, 95% of your life and your Bain peoples' lives may seem "95% settled", but that sure as hell wasn't the case for the people whose livelihoods you took away and moved elsewhere so that you could make even more money. But oh, you're such nice people for wanting to help those young Chinese women, which not-so-coincidentally lined your pockets ever thicker, but barely hand-waved what that would do to the American work force. They and their interests were inconsequential to you.

And you used that as a sales point to your audience (at one of those private fundraisers?).


It's the old "we're actually good people for sending jobs over there and pocketing the difference in labor costs" line.

JHB

(37,128 posts)
37. Just to highlight a point, this is at odds with his claim he wasn't part of outsourcing decisions
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:11 PM
Sep 2012

Why was Bain buying that factory, anyway? Surely is didn't have anything to do with outsourcing jobs from other companies it held!

lexw

(804 posts)
40. Romney is sick.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 01:33 PM
Sep 2012

But what else is new: Reagan, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., Cheney—good gawd who votes for these lying self-serving beasts?!

jillan

(39,451 posts)
45. Mitt worships the almighty dollar and everyone and everything else does not matter to him.
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 09:05 PM
Sep 2012

And they call us the party of no religion?
 

HiPointDem

(20,729 posts)
48. he sees it as helping them: "people want so badly to come work in this factory" we have to have
Mon Sep 10, 2012, 09:55 PM
Sep 2012

barbed wire around it -- because obviously people will just come in & work and expect to be paid even though they're not on the employee lists...

right, mitt.

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