Another in a long list of Obama-touted and tax-supported "green energy" companies is on the verge of going out of business, this time in Michigan.
Two years ago, President Obama visited the LG Chem battery plant in Holland, Michigan. He then hailed the plant, saying, "You are leading the way in showing how manufacturing jobs are coming right back here to the United States of America."
But today, those LG Chem jobs Obama claimed were "coming back" are seeing intermittent layoffs instead of growth.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
Mitt Romney, Bain Capital Targeted Over GST Steel Plant Closure In New Priorities USA Action Ad [UPDATE]
Mitt Romney’s business record is the central narrative of his presidential campaign -- and the main line of attack by his rivals. Is he a savvy businessman who understands the factors that make economies thrive? Or a corporate raider who makes rich profits for himself while often leaving working people as collateral damage?
You can guess which storyline President Barack Obama’s campaign is weaving. A new ad from Team Obama tells the story of GST Steel, a company taken over by Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney led for years before his entrance into politics.
In the ad, we meet several steelworkers who lost their jobs eight years after Bain took over GST. The plant, which went through several owners, first opened in 1888. At its peak it employed 4,500 people in jobs that ensured college for the kids and a secure retirement.. But by the mid 1990s, the plant was struggling against competition and operating with outdated equipment. Bain bought the mill in 1993, took on debt, changed the management and paid dividends to investors. It created a new parent company, GS Industries, and acquired other steel businesses, building its reach, and its debt. Then steel prices dove, and the company had no cushion to weather the difficult times. In 2001, the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection — and shut down the Kansas City plant.
"It was like watching an old friend bleed to death," former employee Joe Soptic says in the ad.
Then we hear Romney’s voice: "As I look around at the millions of Americans without work, it breaks my heart."
Bain and its partners decided to buy the mill for $75 million, with Bain itself putting up about $8 million to gain majority control of the company, renamed GS Technologies Inc. After its initial $8 million investment, the new company issued $125 million in bonds — paying $65 million to stockholders in 1994, according to GS Technologies Operating Co. filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Bain collected a $36.1 million dividend, according to Reuters.
GS Technologies announced plans to spend $98 million modernizing the Kansas City plant and in 1995, issued another $125 million in bonds to pay for a merger with another wire rod maker in South Carolina. Bain reinvested $16.5 million of its earlier dividend, Reuters wrote.
GST’s total debt in 1995: $378 million.
"After quickly raising profits, (Bain) had the company, less than one year after the buyout, borrow another $61 million to pay themselves a dividend. This left little room for error as profit, $32 million in 1995, could barely cover the increased interest expenses, rising from $9 million to $24 million," Kosman told us in an email.
"Even when profits fell below interest payments in 1998 and 1999 due to cheap imports, there was enough operating profit to survive if not for the interest expense."
In its 2001 bankruptcy filing, GS Industries listed total debts of $554 million. Some 750 employees were put out of work.
Plant closed and bankrupted; $554 million sucked out of it (for a piddling $8-million investment by Bain of their own money); 750 people out of work. Sounds to me like $151 million on a legitimate battery plant was a better investment than anything than Mitt-Slime touches.
Amazing how LJ keeps accidently posting unrelated stuff in the wrong thread. It must be an accident, otherwise I'm sure she'd comment on the original post. lol
No need to stay on topic, it's obvious to the majority that to LJ and her ilk the topic is anti-Barry and therefore the only answer is to deflect and divert instead of just giving a direct answer.
I can explain it to you but I can't understand it for you.
"Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the Government take care of him; better take a closer look at the American Indian." - Henry Ford
Corruptissima re publica plurimae leges; When the Republic is at its most corrupt the laws are most numerous. - Publius Cornelius Tacitus
So, LG Chem has not closed; does not appear to be "on the verge" of closing, but is using some rolling temp-furloughs to accommodate the slowdown of the Chevy Volt production, (since that is their major customer for their products)... But Breitbart is doing their usual "doom-and-gloom"...
You should check TheBlaze... No doubt they have similar faux-coverage that will be what you want to hear... Wake me when you have something important... Spin, spin, spin...
These liberal Pavlov responses are hilarious. Post about Obama, then immediately get a Romney post to counter. That's exactly how Obama operates since he rarely uses his own "accomplishments"... he has to use Romney to change the subject. Keep doing what you're doin little sheeple..... Obama would be proud!
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
Still doesn't work as a cost-per-job formula, does it.... 
