Romney profited from mortgage lenders that foreclosed on thousands
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his wife, Ann, saw profits by sinking millions into a Goldman Sachs fund that invested in mortgage-backed obligations, which were owned by lenders who foreclosed on thousands of Floridians.
By examining the candidate's May 2011 financial disclosure forms, Think Progress determined that Romney and his wife invested at least $2 million in the Goldman Sachs Strategic Income Fund (institutional class). In 2011, about 24.5 percent of that fund was invested in mortgage-backed obligations. Another 8 percent was invested in banks.
Between April 2010 and March 2011, the fund grew by 7.88 percent.
Since Romney did not list the fund on his 2007 financial disclosure forms, it is safe to assume he made the investment -- and reaped the rewards -- after the financial meltdown that began in late-2008.
Think Progress' Josh Israel concluded that "these and the other owners mortgage-backed securities included in this fund likely have attempted to foreclose on tens of thousands of Floridians."
Speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in October, Romney suggested that the foreclosure process was a healthy part of the nation's economic recovery.
"Don’t try and stop the foreclosure process," . “Let it run its course and hit the bottom, allow investors to buy up homes, put renters in them, fix the homes up, and let it turn around and come back up.”
“The Obama administration has slow-walked the foreclosure processes that have long existed and as a result we still have a foreclosure overhang,” he added.
During his State of the Union address Tuesday, President Barack Obama unveiled a proposal to give millions of homeowners a chance to refinance, something that could actually prevent foreclosures.
"While government can’t fix the problem on its own, responsible homeowners shouldn’t have to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom to get some relief," the president said.