Vice President Biden Talks Romney Economics

Statement

In New Hampshire today, Vice President Biden talked about the difference between the way Mitt Romney ran his private equity firm, and the responsibilities of a president:

[Governor Romney] says he is better qualified to be Commander-in-chief because of his business experience … that's the crux of his rationale. He's not out there saying he is better qualified to handle foreign policy or national security. He is talking about how he is better qualified to be president because of his business experience.

So let's take a look at his business experience … You hear all these stories about his partners buying companies … where they load [them] up with a tremendous amount of debt. The companies go under, everybody loses their job, the community is devastated, but they make money. They make money even when a company goes bankrupt, when workers lose their jobs, when pensions are wiped out.

The fact of the matter is, when they succeed, and the company succeeds, they make money. When the company they get involved with fails, they still make a lot of money … They say it's the job of these private equity companies to create wealth for its investors.

Making money for your investors, which Romney did very well, is not the president's job.

The president has a different job. … I'm not criticizing private equity firms. But I'm suggesting the people who run them, the same quality and objective of running a private equity firm is not what qualifies you to be president. When you're president, your job is to see to it that companies can make a profit, but not maximize profit at everyone's expense. Your job is to think about the workers who get laid off and what you can do to retrain them and get them rehired. Your job is to think about communities, how they can get back up on their feet and get a new start, creating new businesses. Your job is to try to set an equitable tax system so that everyone gets a fair shake.

To quote President Obama … "If your main argument for growing the economy is quote, "I know how to make a lot of money for investors,' then you are missing the point of the job of president."

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