Obama Puts Capitalism on Trial

Ronald Kessler reporting from Washington, D.C. — Now we know what President Obama’s campaign is all about.

“My view of private equity is . . . that their priority is to maximize profits,” Obama said this week in reference to Mitt Romney’s experience at Bain Capital. That is “not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers,” Obama said. Thus, Romney’s role at Bain “is not a distraction. This is what this campaign is going to be about.”

One need only enter a Staples to understand the many jobs Mitt Romney helped create. (AP Image)

With those comments, Obama illuminated why his presidency has been such a failure.

Do we really need to explain to the president that profits are the grease that makes the wheels of capitalism turn? Contrary to Obama’s implication, if a company emphasizes profits too much, it will go out of business. That is why profits act as an incentive to provide the country with what people want at reasonable prices.

Do we need to remind the president that the alternative — Soviet-style Communism — has been tried before and has failed? Apparently, we do.

Like the Soviets, Obama is for wealth redistribution. When talking about financial regulatory reform, Obama has said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

The Soviets had good intentions. They figured that if the government ran everything and distributed wealth equally, everyone would be happy. But under their government-run economy, the Soviets had no incentive to work, to produce, or to innovate. The government paid salaries regardless.

Eventually, the system imploded.

By its very nature, capitalism produces inequality in income and wealth. Those who strive to achieve do better under capitalism than those who do not. Obama rejects this underlying premise of the capitalist system that is a key to this country’s success and job creation.

In contrast, as noted in my story Bain Founder: Staples Was “Microcosm” of Romney Approach, all one has to do is walk into a Staples store to get an idea of how many jobs Romney created through Bain Capital investments.

Today, Staples alone employs 90,000 people and has 2,000 stores. That means that over the years, more than a million people have had jobs because of Staples alone.

Bain Capital helped launch or acquire more than 100 other companies, including Domino’s Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, The Sports Authority, Burger King, Burlington Coat Factory, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Toys “R” Us.

Bain also looked for troubled companies that had good potential if the strategy were changed and management was improved. In a handful of cases, Bain made the wrong bets, and the companies declared bankruptcy. But because of Staples and other successful investments, Bain Capital now manages $60 billion in assets.

In the America we love, that is still a sign of competence and success.

With his comments denigrating private equity firms, Obama revealed how clueless he is about the economy and why his policies have failed to spur job growth. If vilifying private equity firms is the centerpiece of his campaign, Obama will be soundly defeated.

Ronald Kessler is chief Washington correspondent of Newsmax.com. He is the New York Times bestselling author of books on the Secret Service, FBI, and CIA. Read more reports from Ronald Kessler — Click Here Now.