I dont' know why the entire Democratic party is not talking about Greg Palast's great piece in the Nation: Mitt Romney's Bailout Bonanza. It's really an amazing revelation. Although Romney opposed the bailout, the Romney family raked in millions intended for the auto industry.
After opposing the auto bailout, and lying every which way about what kind of bankruptcy he favored, Romney continue to benefit from a complex scheme in which huge amounts of federal bailout cash was diverted to his wife Ann and to other members of the top .01%
I'm going to give only a brief summary below the fold because you absolutely must read Greg Palast's whole article. He is meticulous about the various corporate layers, combinations and maneuvers. And his sources appear impeccable to me.
Here's a very simple, if not oversimplified, version of how it went down:
Delphi Automotive (formerly Delco) split off from GM but still made key auto parts for GM and Chrysler. It began to founder in 2005 while still making the key auto parts.
Elliot Management, a hedge fund run by major Romney donor Paul Singer, was one of several funds that bought up Delphi bonds for 20% of face value. Singer has long specialized in buying up junk bonds of distressed nations like Peru or the Congo and then squeezing them for cash.
Ann Romney's "blind" trust invested at least $1 million in Elliot Management. It could be way more but that's the only known number. The tax returns for 2009 would give a more accurate number but Romney has kept those returns secret. (As Romney said in 1994, blind trusts are "an age old ruse" but I suppose that would be offered as a defense if this issue ever rose to widespread public attention)
In July 2009 the hedge funds blackmailed auto bailout czar Steve Ratner by a threat to stop delivery of key auto parts, such as steering columns, which would bring down the whole bailout and destroy GM and Chrysler. Ratner okayed immediate turnover to Elliot and other funds. He describes the sequence of events in his own book.
The hedge fund crew then got rid of every single union worker at Delphi and moved 25 of its 29 factories to China. They then got the federal government to take over all costs of pensions for already retired Delphi workers via the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.
The federal bailout was in full swing as Singer and other funds, already richer by the above $350 million, bought controlling interest in Delphi at 67 cents a share. In Nov 2011 they took Delphi public at $22 a share, which jumped another 45% in rising market. (It's around $31 currently)
The Elliot fund, in which you will recall that Ann has at least 1 million, gets a tenfold return on investment from this scheme. So she gets a minimum of $10 million. Or if she put in $10 million to start, she gets $100 million.
And incredibly, the Romney campaign has been running ads in which duped Delphi workers complain about how Obama's bailout stole their jobs and pensions.
To really understand this scheme, you have to read the entire article in the Nation by Greg Palast