I hate looking at this as a campaign issue, given the actual impact on people, but the "private equity screws the working class" angle is about as front-and-center pertinent as it's ever going to be. This is significant because it affects a lot of retired people in the Scranton, PA (Yeah, "The Office") and one of the areas of PA in which Mitt might have a shot due to the conservative, blue collar demeanor of the region.
Times-Tribune story link
Private equity firm Vector Capital bought up assets from companies that relate to an old, now defunct, RCA factory in the Scranton area. People who worked in, and retired from, the plant, had been vested into retiree life insurance policies. The PE firm has just notified people that the company will no longer be paying for their retiree insurance policies. Of course, they have the option of picking up the payments for the policies themselves, but how many middle class retired factory workers can afford that?
He expects to hear soon what the premiums will be to continue the policy but holds out little hope of continuing payments. He said Technicolor told him he cannot redeem the policy for its cash value.
"There's no way in the world I can afford a $60,000 life insurance policy at age 76," he said.
It seems to me that the Obama campaign should be jumping all over this development with local ads that tie Romney to Private Equity to exactly this situation. Both Bush and Kerry kicked off their 2004 campaigns in the Scranton area because it's both blue collar and conservative enough, and large enough, to be both a swing region, and significant in the state.