Mitt Romney’s China Syndrome: Sensata, Jobs and Compassionate Conservatism (Part Two)

Beijing Operation Headquarters of Sensata Technologies

by Denis G. Campbell

Senata is a microcosm of what drives Mitt. He says he wants to help build a “strong middle class” then deflects his lifelong business practices of buying then gutting companies, shipping jobs overseas and blaming it all on President Obama’s failed policies.

Sensata trended on Twitter, the left is fired up saying it’s THE game changer that will cost Mitt the election. The right pooh-poohs it and says the YouTube video below is a repeat of the guy saying Romney killed his wife.

(Story continues after the video break.)

What is most surprising is how anyone who works for a living could support this GOP ticket whose main motive is bowing to corporate masters whims. Are people supporting the Romney ticket so blind that they cannot ever see their jobs shipped away? Is their irrational hatred of a black man as President so strong they would harm their own self-interests? In a word, Yes.

Media tour of a yoghurt factory in China, propaganda under glass.

We’re talking about Sensata Technology Holdings a major global maker of sensors that trades on the New York Stock Exchange and has Bain Capital as its majority shareholder. Under Bain’s ownership the company closed a major operating plant in Freeport, Illinois, relocated the jobs to Beijing and forced workers to train their Chinese replacements. While those replacements were in town, the company removed the American flag flying in front of its factory and the displaced workers camped outside of the factory were arrested. They asked candidate Mitt Romney to show up and help save their jobs. Sadly they reside in a state that voted strongly for the President.

Uyghur Chinese worker living conditions

Mitt Romney instead has taken up citizenship in Ohio trying to win that swing state and, as in all other cases, claims no interest in Bain (despite his IRA and other blind trust and Cayman Island investments doing very well when Bain does well) and says everything he invests in is handled by a blind trust. Funny thing about those blind trusts is that in ’02 when attacking Senator Ted Kennedy’s blind trust, Mitt said a trust is just a ruse because “you can always tell the trust what to do.”)

So the issue gains zero traction in the national media and, like Occupy and other movements, will require much more to gain attention.

The company will soon oblige.

Three rigs in a line next to vineyards and grape growing region.

Sensata will release third quarter earnings via a conference call on the morning of 23 October, the day after the final Presidential debate. If those earnings are as huge as the second quarters’ and employees of Sensata and the left keep this focus on for 9 more days, this story could gain traction. Imagine Mitt’s China investments dominating the news cycle 14-days out?

Sensata’s 2nd quarter earnings benefited from cheaper labour in their Chinese operations and the 2011 loss was due to moving expenses which, despite Mitt’s insistence to the contrary, will result in them paying zero tax on the ‘loss’.

The issue remains the lack of a moral centre by Mitt and the Bain Capital team beyond making money at all costs.

I tried to imagine this scenario in the post-war 1950s (especially since Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan want to take us back there… socially). I cannot find one instance of such post World War II greed when any company or captain of industry would make such a naked financial grab. Companies made a lot of money back then and they reinvested in hospitals and social infrastructure to ensure the health of their workers. They knew they were needed to produce and consume the products they made and sold.

Grapes Growing in China's Turpan Valley

This current ‘new money’ lot just buy more stuff to feed their narcissistic score keeping system of just trying to show whose dick is bigger.

Having written about the separation of church and state in my book on electing a Mormon as President, I even tried to look within Mitt’s LDS faith for hints of compassion to find the justification for kicking so many employees in dozens of companies out of jobs and moving operations just for money?

How does it translate into being a good businessman if you suck at being human beings? What will that portend in your Presidency?

And despite attacking the President on China and currency manipulation where is the justification for you to then enter into such cosy dealings with a craven and corrupt government and its local leaders? Can you honestly just look the other way as they systematically abuse their people? Apple is learning the hard way about Chinese worker rights.

Grapes for sale everywhere

At what point does a sense of patriotism take over and a commitment to real jobs show itself so people can earn enough money to buy the products being made? Can the US afford to elect a President with such disregard for the 80-90% of the population that has to work to support its families and are falling further and further behind?

Your business partners Mitt like to show off pristine factories and procedures. So do the Chinese. But if yousneak around the back with a camera you see how people are forced to live. Is that your vision for the USA?

Row upon row of new worker dormitory housing under construction for oil fields across the road.

When we visited the Turpan Valley on our 11-day media propaganda tour of China in the summer, there were grapes and raisins everywhere. I wondered though what created the after taste from eating them? A natural river runs through the heart of the desert bringing water to a very fertile valley. The Chinese proudly showed off their local wine making ability but like most things it was technically competent without any of the warm subtleties of creating an excellent wine.

A river runs through the desert between agriculture and fracking.

Could it be that since China is so desperate for oil and gas that across this Valley (and too close for my liking) one could see dozens of fracking towers and oil exploitation? Could the massive dormitories under construction across the road to house oil field workers cause a problem because the entire operation is within sight of this grape growing region? As the fracking chemicals leech into the same water growing these grapes, could that partly explain the after taste and 3-week illness after the trip?

Throughout this Presidential campaign we hear of your desire to remove all regulations and let businesses do their own thing. If you embrace and follow the China model of work as we showed yesterday and then layer in zero toxic chemical regulations in China (a land where people just look the other way), please tell me Governor Romney how we are headed in a different direction?

Because all indications of your campaign thus far show you seem to support this world view… whilst saying something completely different on the campaign trail.

(Tomorrow in Part Three – Following Mitt’s Money Across China)

Read Part One here.

(I have chronicled this entire election campaign in a series of e-books condensed into the paperback and e-book “Billionaire Boys Election Freak Show” available on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk)

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Denis G Campbell is the author of 6 books including 'Billionaire Boys Election Freak Show,' 'The Vagina Wars' & 'Egypt Unsh@ckled.' He is the editor of UK Progressive Magazine and provides commentary to the BBC, itv Al Jazeera English, CNN, MSNBC and others. His weekly 'World View with Denis Campbell' segment can be heard every Thursday on the globally syndicated The David Pakman Show. You can follow him on Twitter via @UKProgressive and on Facebook.
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