Romney Backed by Goldman Sachs, Bailout Banks

Commentary by Jim Campbell

CNN

By Andrew Henry

No matter how hard he tries  Willard Romney will never be one of us. He doesn’t understand the less fortunate or the middle class.  I wouldn’t buy a used car from the guy because unless he is called on it as he was during the Florida debate, he will and always has told the voters what they wanted to hear.

In last evening’s Florida debate at the behest of Rick Santorum he called on Mitt-Willard Romney to stay focused on the Obama agenda and to lighten up on the personal attacks.  Newt of course agreed and appeared to get hammered during the interchange. 

Romney said no way, Newt said o.k. and they both played into CNN’s hands by taking the bated questions.  When the stuck to real issues and refused to be sucker punched my the Wolf Man at CNN what followed was an interesting exchange of ideas, with Santorum just taking it to Willard when he made unsubstantiated, shall I call them lies?

When Newt talked the audience frequently replied with deafening cheering and applause.  All the spinners have had their say as to who won. Who ya gonna believe them or me!

Romney has long had a close relationship with Goldman Sachs. In 1999 Romney purchased initial IPO shares in Goldman that netted him $1.1 million in profits when he sold them in 2010. And The New York Times recently reported that “many of the assets in Romney’s blind trust” are managed by Goldman.

Today, Goldman is Romney’s largest donor. And nine of Romney’s top 20 campaign contributors are big Wall Street Banks like Goldman. But Goldman leads all Romney contributors, having donated $367,200 to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And six of those nine top contributors received over $161 billion in taxpayer bailouts, reports ProPublica, the independent, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative organization.

Goldman doesn’t contribute directly to candidates like Romney, but does so through its employees.

Romney’s ties to Goldman have already become a campaign issue. During Thursday’s CNN debate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stated that Romney profited from millions he invested in a Goldman Sachs fund that relied heavily on investments in the mortgage-backed securities linked to the 2008 implosion on Wall Street. Romney said he personally didn’t direct the investment, which he said was made through his trust.

Still, Romney’s close ties with Goldman will continue to nag his campaign.

ProPublica says that the The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., received over $782 million in emergency lending from the Federal Reserve. On Jan. 17, the investigative site reported that the total of taxpayer bailouts received by Goldman tallied a whopping $10 billion.

The relationship between Goldman and Romney goes far beyond its patronage of his campaign. The firm has reportedly managed significant assets of Romney’s in his blind trust.

Romney’s profit taking through his Goldman fund investment remains a sensitive subject in Florida, one of the states hardest hit by the housing meltdown. Romney’s Goldman fund invested in some of the biggest culprits in the housing meltdown, including Bear Stearns, Countrywide, IndyMac and Washington Mutual.

In October, Romney ran into trouble on the foreclosure issue, when suggested the remedy to the turmoil in the real estate market is “don’t try and stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.”

On Tuesday, Romney stood before a foreclosed home and promised a small crowd of Floridians that he would encourage financial institutions to help homeowners. But he also partially defended banking institutions’ role in the mortgage crisis.

IMPORTANT: Also Read ‘Romney Campaign Run By Charlie Crist’s Top Aides — Click Here for Info

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