Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Romney Versus McCain

I'll give it to McCain that he's more able and ready to be the foreign policy president but I certainly give the edge to Romney for his experience on the economic front. The following are quotes from John McCain about his economic experience and knowledge.

One of Josh Marshall’s readers dug up the quote, from an old Wall Street Journal article with the subtitle “John McCain explains his eclectic–and troubling–economic philosophy.”

“I’m going to be honest: I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.” John McCain is a nice guy but he knows nothing about running a business, economics, or the inner workings of Wall Street or financial markets.

Now for Romney's experience.

Business career
After graduation, Romney remained in Massachusetts and went to work for the Boston Consulting Group, where he had interned during the summer of 1974.[10] From 1978 to 1984, Romney was a vice president of Bain & Company, Inc., another management consulting firm based in Boston. In 1984, Romney left Bain & Company to co-found a spin-off private equity investment firm, Bain Capital.[11] During the 14 years he headed the company, Bain Capital's average annual internal rate of return on realized investments was 113 percent,[12] making money primarily through leveraged buyouts.[13] He invested in or bought many well-known companies such as Staples, Brookstone, Domino's, Sealy Corporation and Sports Authority.[14]
In 1990, Romney was asked to return to Bain & Company, which was facing financial collapse. As CEO, Romney managed an effort to restructure the firm's employee stock-ownership plan, real-estate deals and bank loans, while increasing fiscal transparency. Within a year, he had led Bain & Company through a highly successful turnaround and returned the firm to profitability without layoffs or partner defections.[12]
Romney left Bain Capital in 1998 to head the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games Organizing Committee.[15] He and his wife have a net worth of between 190 and 250 million USD.[16]

CEO of the 2002 Winter Olympics
Romney served as president and CEO of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games held in Salt Lake City. In 1999, the event was running $379 million short of its revenue benchmarks. Plans were being made to scale back the games in order to compensate for the fiscal crisis.[17] The Games were also damaged by allegations of bribery involving top officials, including then Salt Lake Olympic Committee (SLOC) President and CEO Frank Joklik. Joklik and SLOC vice president Dave Johnson were forced to resign.[18]
On February 11, 1999, Romney was hired as the new president and CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.[19] Romney revamped the organization's leadership and policies, reduced budgets and boosted fundraising. He also worked to ensure the safety of the Games following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 by coordinating a $300 million security budget.[20] Despite the initial fiscal shortfall, the Games ended up clearing a profit of $100 million, not counting the $224.5 million in security costs contributed by outside sources.[21][22]
Romney contributed $1 million to the Olympics, and donated the $825,000 salary he earned as President and CEO to charity.[23] He wrote a book about his experience titled Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games.[24]

McCain definitely has the foreign policy experience edge and Romney has the economy edge. Who either wins the nomination needs to pick a VP that balances the ticket. How about Condoleeza Rice for Romney and Phil Gramm for John McCain.

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