This week's numbers: $607 billion; 20%; 115; $12 million; 13

$607 billion... is a transactional number. That was the aggregate value of private equity’s buyout deals at their 2007 peak. If you could sum up that period in two words, they'd be "job creation." And if you had three more words, they'd be "there was no."

20%... is an encouraging number. That's how much of the private equity firms' value was due to tax breaks on debt during their rise in the 1980s. If debt were like beer, our tax code would be the frat boy telling them to chug until they pass out.

115... is an acquired number. That’s how many companies Bain Capital bought out while Mitt Romney worked there. One of them was Staples, which would later base its “Easy Button” ad campaign on the real life stories of the millionaires who owned it.

$12 million... is a rewarding number. That’s how much Bain made from its buyout of GST, a steel mill that went bankrupt two years after Romney left. It must have been tough to decide whether to send his old partners condolences or congratulations.

13... is a resigned number. That’s how many years it’s been since Romney worked at Bain. It’s odd that he’d rather not focus on any of his experience since then, but his base likes firing people a lot more than giving them health care.