TAMPA -- Everybody loves small-business owners and tonight Mitt Romney will pretend to be one. "When I was 37, I helped start a small company," his speech reads, according to excerpts released early. "That business we started with 10 people has now grown into a great American success story. Some of the companies we helped start are names you know," he adds. The section comes just after Romney extolls the virtue and industrious of the small-business entrepreneurs.
Of course, the "small company" he refers to is Bain Capital. Bain was started with $37 million in initial capital, much of it raised from wealthy foreign donors. The company was spun off of Bain & Co., an unquestionable giant in the massive international consulting industry. The company quickly invested millions in other companies and grew rapidly, and has $66 billion under management, as of January.
"Small" is obviously a relative term, but considering that the average start-up cost for small business is as low as $10,000, or 1/3,700 of what Romney started his company with, he may be taking some serious poetic licensee.
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