Private buyouts have sucked the value out of hundreds of firms, leaving them in debt and at risk.
Private Equity
Posted inSpecial Report
Shadow Banking
Reforms pending in Congress would not touch the abuses of hedge funds and private equity.
Posted inEconomic Policy
NYT Reports on Private Equity Rip-Offs of State Pension Funds
The NYT had an excellent piece on how private equity funds (e.g. Peter Peterson’s Blackstone Group) ripoff state and local governments by charging them large management fees. A standard arrangement will give the equity fund managers 2.0 percent of the funds under management and 20 percent of the profit. The article notes several cases where […]
Posted inEconomic Policy
Anatomy of a Private Equity Hit Job
Nice piece from the NYT about how private equity took Simmons Bedding Company down. –Dean Baker
Posted inArticle
New Abuses in Old Forms
Big private-equity companies, which are largely unregulated, are hungry to take over failed banks.
Posted inArticle
WHY ARE WE PAYING THE PRIVATE INVESTORS?
Felix Salmon wonders: [B]idders for the banks’ toxic assets don’t care particularly about the idiosyncratic risks of any given loan portfolio or CDO. Instead, they’re worried overwhelmingly about systemic risks associated with the ongoing financial crisis.Essentially, we are not living in a world where investment prowess is repaid, and the fate of the private-sector participants […]
Posted inArticle
PRIVATE EQUITY AND YOU.
Great line from Romney. “I know what makes jobs come, and I know what makes them go.” Mitt Romney was CEO of a private equity firm. He ran Bain Capital. Mitt Romney makes jobs come, and more often, makes them go.
Posted inArticle
PRIVATE AIR FORCE.
Blackwater is buying fixed-wing counter-insurgency aircraft: A subsidiary of U.S. military security contractor Blackwater Worldwide has purchased a fighter plane from the Brazilian aviation company Embraer, a Brazilian newspaper reported June 1. The 314-B1 Super Tucano propeller-driven fighter – the same used by the Brazilian military – was bought for $4.5 million and delivered to […]
Posted inSpecial Report
The Perils of Privatization
If adequate water for drinking and sanitation is essential for life, shouldn’t we consider water a human right? Not everyone thinks so. In February, the United Nations Human Rights Council missed a critical opportunity to recognize a human right to water. As a result of lobbying by the United States and Canada, the council derailed […]
Posted inArticle
The Alarming Parallels Between 1929 and 2007
Has deregulation left the economy at risk of another 1929-scale crash? Should the Fed keep bailing out speculators? Robert Kuttner testified yesterday before the House Financial Services Committee.
