By MATT TAIBBI | rollingstone.com
August 29, 2012
Four years ago, the Mitt Romneys of the world nearly destroyed the
global economy with their greed, shortsightedness and – most notably –
wildly irresponsible use of debt in pursuit of personal profit. The
sight was so disgusting that people everywhere were ready to drop an
H-bomb on Lower Manhattan and bayonet the survivors. But today that same
insane greed ethos, that same belief in the lunatic pursuit of instant
borrowed millions – it's dusted itself off, it's had a shave and a
shoeshine, and it's back out there running for president.
Mitt Romney – a man whose own father built cars and nurtured
communities, and was one of the old-school industrial anachronisms
pushed aside by the new generation's wealth grab – has emerged now to
sell this make-nothing, take-everything, screw-everyone ethos to the
world. He's Gordon Gekko, but a new and improved version, with better PR
– and a bigger goal. A takeover artist all his life, Romney is now
trying to take over America itself. And if his own history is any guide,
we'll all end up paying for the acquisition.