The Story of Tagg Romney’s Recent Startup
After the 2008 failed presidential bid of Mitt Romney, Tagg Romney, Mitt’s eldest son, and Spencer Zwick, the campaign’s top fundraiser, started hitting up Romney donors to invest in a private equity startup.
Neither had experience in private equity. But what the close friends did have was the Romney name and a Rolodex of deep-pocketed potential investors who had backed Mr. Romney’s presidential run — more than enough to start them down that familiar path from politics to profit.
[snip]
It is not unusual for start-ups looking for investors to approach friends and relatives. But the overlap between the elder Romney’s political apparatus and Solamere adds a different, potentially nettlesome dimension, given the widespread presumption since the last presidential election that the former Massachusetts governor was next in line for the Republican nomination.
[snip]
Even so, Mitt Romney was the featured speaker at Solamere’s first investor conference in Deer Valley in January 2010. Mr. Romney, who made his fortune in private equity at Bain Capital, also gave early strategic advice.
So kids, if you want to make it in this world, have your daddy run for president. Then “borrow” his donor database and ask old donors for money so you too can start up a company.
*yawn*
Vulture capitalism meets nepotism meets to much hair gel.
Why isn’t he asking his Dad for money? That is the advice RMoney is giving to college grads looking for work.
Hmmm…isn’t the middle ‘Baby Biden’, R. Hunter, doing something similar to this? http://www.rosemontseneca.com/
Trading on daddy’s name?!? LOL, that’s rich! Particularly around these parts.
QP, once was enough. Twice is just spam.
QP: Yeah, but is it something that should be championed, or condemned? Some of us, liberals though we are, don’t like the Biden babies trading on the family name, which shouldn’t be worth a bucket of warm spit anyway, but there you are.
You, on the other hand, must support it, right? Because you haven’t said a word against the self-styled American aristocracy represented by the Rmoneys.
This is America, where a wealthy campaign donor is free to risk money bankrolling a young scion. If the venture goes belly up or if it makes a profit doesn’t matter; either way money flows back into the system.
What are you going to do to stop this? Bring out the guillotines, firing squads and proletariat pogroms? As if that ever worked-out well.
Point being to the first comment, if the RMoney’s do it or the Biden’s do it, it shouldn’t matter.
However, if one DOES take issue with it, at least be an equal opportunity Marxist and criticize them all…equally.
This is also America, where anyone can observe that said *scion* tapping into his Daddy’s fundraising corps looks alot like Pay to Play.
Of course, we also get that this kind of corruption is part of the GOP DNA.
QP, you must be out of your freaking mind. We have critized Biden over this in the past.
Family connections have always mattered in this country, all countries, and all societies (and I might add, many mammalian societies). Second tier connections matter as well. This is not a condition of a particular political persuasion, society, ethnicity, nationality or any other “ty”
While a utopian vision may desire something akin to a meritocracy or a form of egalitarianism that is not possible as long as there are human beings which comprise society. In human societies, people help their families and to a lesser extent, their friends, etc. We tend to help those with whom we share a connection, common interest, or objective.
Daddy’s help their sons and sometimes sons help themselves at Daddy’s expense. Of course sometimes it turns into a joke (Billy Beer anyone?)
Pain Capital?
@Dave, you are absolutely correct in this assesment. However, I think the NY Times did a good job in pointing this out. Will this change in the future, i.e. nepotism? Probably not. But it’s good to be reminded of this periodically.
Bet you’ll never see the Romneys riding Amtrak.
“However, if one DOES take issue with it, at least be an equal opportunity Marxist and criticize them all…equally.”
I do. If you like aristocracy, you should move to another country.
“Of course sometimes it turns into a joke (Billy Beer anyone?)”
I understand your point, but Billy was Jimmy’s brother, and Roger was Bill Clinton’s half-brother. Our media rarely pays attention unless the relative is a publicity hound. Neil Bush should have been a national disgrace, but the press assiduously avoided reporting on him because he didn’t thrust himself into the spotlight.
“However, I think the NY Times did a good job in pointing this out. Will this change in the future, i.e. nepotism? Probably not. But it’s good to be reminded of this periodically.”
Yes, they did AND I might add that all such incidents as this should see the brilliant light of day. Even though this goes on and will continue to go on, whenever it happens it is useful for citizens to have this knowledge so that better more informed decisions.
“QP, you must be out of your freaking mind. We have critized Biden over this in the past.”
Huh? Out of my mind for not following this blog’s postings from months if not years ago? Calm down, Nemski. This is your first warning.
“I do. If you like aristocracy, you should move to another country.”
No, if you’d rather have everyone more or less equal economically via over-taxation or, if necessary, physical force…then it is YOU who should move to another country!
As for an “aristocracy”, i.e. a group of elites, name one country that doesn’t have one.
QP, no, you’re out of your mind for two reasons:
1. That we haven’t been critical of Biden or any other Democratic politicians.
2. That we have this need to be “fair and balanced”. That ain’t every happening.
All countries have an aristocracy. For some countries it is/was divine right. For others it is power held by the point of the sword. Still in others it is hereditary, ethnic, nationality, or religious.
One of the things that our nation and society use to define aristocracy is the color green. For Americans it is the great democratic equalizer. We all like Horatio Alger type stories where young boys impoverished became successful through hard work, determination, courage, and honesty. They are almost uniquely American stories because only in America does it not matter where you came from or whose your daddy.
Yeah we have an aristocracy but the interesting thing is, membership is open to anyone who can make their way through the obstacles. I don’t see anything wrong with someone who makes it in this country as long as we don’t stack the deck against those who are not yet there.
Being honest and fair in your criticism???
Yep, that surely “ain’t every (sic) happening” around here! LOL!
Especially by you, QP. So quit the trolling.
dd cntnt t ths thrws ‘it fll f dlsnl bck-scrtchrs’. Y shld thnk m.
@QP “You should thank me.”
Yea. OK. Thank you. But could you entertain the request of thinking just a little harder before typing? I would rather “wrestle” with a thinking conservative, instead of one with a great patellar reflex.
@LE please don’t feed the trolls for the rest of the day.
@n “@LE please don’t feed the trolls for the rest of the day.”
Yea. OK. But the thing is.. QP doesn’t have to be a troll. He often makes a few good points, but then runs off to stupid land all too frequently. If we want him to be an honest contributor, might it not be enough to directly ask him to stop running off to stupid land? He surely knows when he’s doing that, but does he know his own potential?
When I was about 16, me and my next door neighbor decided to start selling amway. My next door neighbor’s dad was a dentist. My next door neighbor was about 13. I had a drivers license. First people I solicited were all my family members. (As I recall, most or all of them ordered something) Then, my next door neighbor’s dad gave us a list of about 20 of his customers who all lived up in a country club area. (I Think it is very possible that his dad also called his customers, but I don’t know this for sure.) Me and my next door neighbor went and solicited all of his dad’s list of customers he gave us. Every single one of them ordered from us. I told my neighbor, between everything my family ordered, and all your dad’s customers ordered, we are going to start making a lot of money. Well this euphoria was short lived. Next time around, very few of my family members needed more stuff, and absolutely none of my neighbors dad’s customers ordered again. So we had to face the reallity all of the sudden, that this selling thing ain’t so easy. All those people did was try and help us get a good start. They liked the fact that were going to go out and try and hustle up business, but they were smart enough not to teach us that all we had to do was contact friends and relatives to succeed. We were going to have to go out on our own, and find our own customers, they were just trying to help us get started, nothing wrong with that.