How Mitt and Ann made millions–and Mitt’s hedge fund donors made billions–from the auto-industry rescue that he condemned.

By Greg Palast

Mitt Romney’s opposition to the auto bailout has haunted him on the campaign trail, especially in Rust Belt states like Ohio. There, in September, the Obama campaign launched television ads blasting Romney’s November 2008 New York Times op-ed,“Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.”
But Romney has done a good job of concealing, until now, the fact that he and his wife, Ann, personally gained at least $15.3 million from the bailout—and a few of Romney’s most important Wall Street donors made more than $4 billion. Their gains, and the Romneys’, were astronomical—more than 3,000 percent on their investment.

It all starts with Delphi Automotive, a former General Motors subsidiary whose auto parts remain essential to GM’s production lines. No bailout of GM—or Chrysler, for that matter—could have been successful without saving Delphi.

So, in addition to making massive loans to automakers in 2009, the federal government sent, directly or indirectly, more than $12.9 billion to Delphi—and to the hedge funds that had gained control over it.

One of the hedge funds profiting from that bailout— $1.28 billion so far—is Elliott Management, directed by Paul Singer. According to The Wall Street Journal, Singer has given more to support GOP candidates—$2.3 million—than anyone else on Wall Street this election season.

His personal giving is matched by that of his colleagues at Elliott; collectively, they have donated $3.4 million to help elect Republicans this season, while giving only $1,650 to Democrats. And Singer is influential with the GOP presidential candidate; he’s not only an informal adviser but, according to the Journal, his support was critical in helping push Representative Paul Ryan onto the ticket.

Singer, whom Fortune magazine calls a “passionate defender of the 1%,” has carved out a specialty investing in distressed firms and distressed nations, which he does by buying up their debt for pennies on the dollar and then demanding payment in full. This so-called “vulture investor” received $58 million on Peruvian debt that he snapped up for $11.4 million, and $90 million on Congolese debt that he bought for a mere $20 million.

In the process, he’s built one of the largest private equity firms in the nation, and over decades he’s racked up an unusually high average return on investments of 14 percent.

Other GOP presidential hopefuls chased Singer’s endorsement, but Mitt chased Singer with his own checkbook, investing at least $1 million with Elliott through Ann Romney’s blind trust (it could be far more, but the Romneys have declined to disclose exactly how much). Along the way, Singer gained a reputation, according to Fortune, “for strong-arming his way to profit.” That is certainly what happened at Delphi.

Read the full article at The Nation…

Elements of this article appear in Palast’s new book, Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps

* * * * * * * *
Greg Palast is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, Armed Madhouse and Vultures’ Picnic.

Palast’s brand new NYT bestseller Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps, is available from Barnes & Noble, Amazon or Indie Bound and on the NOOK and Kindle.

Author’s proceeds from the book go to the not-for-profit Palast Investigative Fund for reporting on voter protection issues.

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If you’re not sick and outraged and ready to vomit, then don’t talk to me.

When I see a cruel bucket of garbage and winky-winky racism and bullshit and venom like Paul Ryan talk to America like he’s some kind of Boy Scout, I want a gun, or a TV network where I can tell the truth or a giant washing machine to dunk America and rinse off the crud of lies and pure manipulative evil that they’re feeding us.

But I don’t like guns, I don’t have a TV network, I just have this:  A book.

It’s called Billionaires & Ballot Bandits:  How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps.

An investigation of Karl Rove, the Koch Gang and their billionaire Buck-Buddies. The guys who bought Ryan.

It’s the most important bullet I’ve ever fired.

I watch these smug jerks at the Republican Convention and I’m ill … because I know something they won’t tell you on CNN or CBS, let alone Fox.  And here’s the facts, ma’am:

In 2008, no fewer than 2,706,275 ballots were cast—and never counted.

It didn’t make a difference then, but it will make a difference now.

And, in 2008, no fewer than 3,195,539 legal voters were denied the right to vote.   Told to get the hell out of the polling station.

Add it up.  That’s at least 5,901,814 legitimate votes and voters tossed out of the count.

So God Bless America. By the way, these numbers are from the raw data supplied to me by the US Elections Assistance Commission.

It’s official. It’s in your face.  It’s sick.  It’s unreported.

I cry.  I scream.  I retch.  Then I make jokes — but I give you the inside info on the Koch Brothers (“Target 67C” as federal prosecutors called Charles Koch) that will make your eyes pop.

Fact: The 2012 election’s been stolen.  Already.  Stolen by billionaires who’ve created data bases called “Themis” (the Kochs own that) and “DataTrust” (Karl Rove’s satanic machine).

The election has not been stolen from Barack Obama — it’s been stolen from you.  From We the People who march to the polls believing America is still a democracy, the land of the Brave, home of The Free, and that our votes count.

The Rove-bots and the monsters behind the data bases have figured out how to fiddle, finagle and ultimately throw your vote in the garbage.

America is on the line.  ON THE LINE.  I have two kids and God forbid I stand here silent with my hands in my pockets whistling at my shoes.

How did a sick little monster like Paul Ryan end up on the Republican ticket?  Follow the money.  The big sugar daddy behind Ryan, his donor Numero Uno, is Paul “The Vulture” Singer.  Singer’s the guy who started the Romney super-PAC “Restore Our Future” and he’s funded Ryan up the Wazoo.

Why?  Because Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton told a federal court that Singer The Vulture is a “threat to the entire financial system” of the planet.  And now Singer wants their blood—and your dead carcass.

Frankly, I don’t care, as Shakespeare said, if Obama’s campaign “farts or flies.”  I do care if a billionaire can steal the votes of Black soldiers just so he can make another billion.

So I want, I demand, I insist, that you order a copy of the exposé on The Vulture and Romney’s billionaires (and Obama’s, too):  Billionaires & Ballot Bandits:  How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps.

With a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., “The Hostile Takeover of America”. RFK is as outraged as I am but a lot calmer.

And inside it, there’s a 48-page comic book by Ted Rall because every cartoon is worth a thousand bullets.

Don’t be fooled again. This election is about a bunch of madly dangerous financiers — ”The Vulture,” the “Ice Man,” and guys so evil they don’t even have nicknames — who can’t tolerate the idea that Americans have a right to choose our leaders, our destinies.

You want to know who owns your ballot?  Then get the book right now by ordering it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Indiebound.  Or go and pound the counter at your local bookstore and tell them that instead of another Yoga Diet Cookbook you want a HAND GRENADE MADE OUT OF TRUTH:  Billionaires & Ballot Bandits.

Alternatively, make a donation and get a signed copy.
[Whichever way you choose to get it, your dollar goes to support the Palast Investigative Fund. I am donating all my proceeds to the fund.]

Can a book make a difference?  Can’t say. But I know this:  Ballot Bandits are cowards, are cockroaches.  When we turn on the lights, they run run run away.

Do this now.  Get the info ammo and pass it on to your friends and mailing lists.

And for my terrible language, I apologize.

Yours,

Greg Palast

*****

In 2008, our voter guide/comic book Steal Back Your Vote written by Greg Palast and Bobby Kennedy reached over half a million voters. And we’re going to do it again in our new ballot-protection weapon:

Billionaires & Ballot Bandits – How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps

This time, investigative reporter Greg Palast, who busted the story of the purge of Black voters in Florida in 2000, has teamed with genius comic pen-man Ted Rall and the crew of the Palast Investigative Fund to produce a kick-butt-and-take-down-names book and film.

In 2008, Steal Back Your Vote was distributed to thousands of at-risk voters in cooperation with Operation Rainbow/PUSH, Rock the Vote, VotoLatino, the Congressional Black Caucus and 150 other non-partisan groups. Now we’re releasing a new book and comic book called Billionaires & Ballot Bandits: How to Steal an Election in 9 Easy Steps

We just need help to get the word out. You can support us in many different ways.

1. Support the Palast Investigative Fund by pre-ordering the book and dvd.
2. Join us in the Billionaires & Ballot Bandits Campaign.
3. Like us on facebook, follow us on twitter.
4. Read the excerpt from Billionaires & Ballot Bandits and pass it around with this link (http://ballotbandits.wordpress.com/excerpts/).
5. List your group as a resource partner – contact ballotbandits [at] gmail.com

This time, we’re hunting big game:  not only the tricksters who are abusing voter ID laws, list purges and more to swipe our civil rights, but also the billionaires buying up our democracy.  We name them, shame them and turn the game on them.

Get the pamphlet with the comic book, the films on DVD and the list of our resource activists.

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