To the Editor:
Re “The Capitalism Debate,” by David Brooks (column, July 17):
To say that criticizing the financially successful business practices of Mitt Romney is the same as condemning capitalism misses the point. There are many ways to be successful in business. Just because most companies were outsourcing jobs to be successful doesn’t mean that there weren’t creative alternatives.
A man running to be the leader of a country should be held to a different standard than the chief executive of a corporation. People rightly want to know if he can create jobs and improve the economy for all people, not just for a few shareholders at the expense of American workers.
BRIAN BROKER
Phoenixville, Pa., July 17, 2012
To the Editor:
I agree wholeheartedly with David Brooks’s defense of offshoring and outsourcing as constructive elements of modern capitalism. To the extent the Obama campaign thinks those tactics are global problems, it is mistaken.
Modern capitalism, most avidly practiced by Bain Capital and other private equity firms, seeks profits by employing resources around the globe. As Mr. Brooks notes, the results of that quest can be powerful positives: higher standards of living for overseas workers and lower costs for all consumers, especially American consumers.
That is modern capitalism at its ruthless best, producing a net overall global benefit. But make no mistake—those tactics entail little or no regard for the American workers and communities that suffer in the process. To the extent that the Obama campaign is contrasting that disregard with Mitt Romney’s professed love for all things American, the campaign has a legitimate point.
THOMAS R. HITCHNER
Chatham, Mass., July 17, 2012
The writer is a retired venture capitalist.
To the Editor:
Despite all their dodges and sophisticated spin, both David Brooks and Mitt Romney fail to explain exactly how outsourcing creates jobs inside the United States, especially in a period of high unemployment.
LYNDON DODDS
San Antonio, July 17, 2012
To the Editor:
Re “Policy and the Personal,” by Paul Krugman (column, July 16):
If Mitt Romney is serious about having a chance to become president, he should stop wasting time and his contributors’ unlimited millions, and show voters his tax returns from before 2010. If Mr. Romney has nothing to hide, he should release the returns, put the matter behind him and move on with a clear conscience. Doing so, Mr. Romney will gain substantially in the eyes of voters and generate some trust among many who have doubts about him and his personal wealth and work history.
Presidential candidates must be scrutinized closely and carefully, and be willing to undergo a thorough vetting.
PAUL L. WHITELEY Sr.
Louisville, Ky., July 16, 2012
To the Editor:
I am not a fan of Mitt Romney, but the attacks on him concerning Bain Capital’s outsourcing of jobs seem misguided. If the allegations are true, Mr. Romney was just doing what any prudent businessman would have done under similar circumstances—maximizing profits for Bain’s investors by lowering costs. Thousands of other businesses have done the same in the past couple of decades. This may be callous and inconsiderate behavior, but that is what the capitalist system rewards.
I’m sure that Mr. Romney well knows that the maximization of profits by reducing business costs is a completely different animal from shepherding a national economy out of a lingering recession. Were he not tethered to the Republican Party, he could probably do a better job of improving the economy than President Obama could. It’s Mr. Romney’s lack of guts to tell the Republican Party that its economic platform is full of baloney (something he well knows is true) that should be attacked.
BRETT L. GOLD
New York, July 16, 2012
Note from KBJ: Do you suppose Paul Whiteley wanted Barack Obama "scrutinized closely and carefully" in 2008? Obama received almost no scrutiny, and now we're paying for it.
