Steve Jobs epitomized the kind of capitalism that made America great: creative genius, passionate attention to innovation, cutting-edge products that please millions of consumers. Mitt Romney epitomizes the no-sweat, no-risk rigged game of the private equity player: “Strip and flip” profiteering on companies that others have built, with deal-terms that are fixed to reward private equity investors even when companies they invest in fail. The game at Bain resembles nothing so much as well-heeled hunters at a private reserve, where “beaters” guide the prey into convenient spots to be shot by the “hunters,” yielding fine trophies without the messy trudging through the muck and cold.

Private equity executives assert that this activity is a necessary component of “creative destruction,” delivering efficiency to the markets. It is nothing of the sort. Creative destruction is Craigslist overturning the newspaper classified advertising business; it is Dell Computer changing the landscape in the personal computer business; it is Amazon, Google and tiny upstarts in Silicon Valley or Seattle that will one day break the oligopoly of Big Oil or big pharmaceuticals with discoveries springing from the sweat and toil of true entrepreneurs.

As a further insult to we commoners, private equity managers enjoy preferential tax rates (only 15 percent) on their income, in what must surely be the greatest corporate welfare tax scam in history.

Romney dismisses critics of Bain as whining socialists promoting the politics of envy. No, Mr. Romney, not envy. What you are hearing is the sound of derision and contempt.

William L. Valenti

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