The neoliberal looting of America Mehrsa Baradara New York Times July 2, 2020
The private equity industry, which has led to more than 1.3 million job losses over the last decade, reveals the truth about free markets.
Heath Freeman is the hedge fund guy who says he wants to save local news. Somehow, no one’s buying it. Sarah Ellison Washington Post June 11, 2020
Douglas Arthur, a managing director at Huber Research, which analyzes the investment prospects of communications industries, says Alden approaches newspapers “as a vulnerable target with down-and-out stocks, down-and-out business prospects, a lot of assets, and a lot of cash flow” with a strategy of “get in inexpensively and strip the assets and liquidate buildings and liquidate the lightbulbs, and squeeze as much cash out as possible.”
Trump just fulfilled his billionaire pal’s dream David Sirota Moyers on Democracy June 15, 2020
A Labor Department letter could help Trump’s private equity donors fleece 100 million workers. The letter follows a $3 million super PAC donation from a Wall Street titan [Steve Schwartzman] pushing for the change. From the beginning, Trump’s White House has been operating as a de facto subsidiary of the private equity industry: His reelection campaign is being bankrolled by private equity donors; his Commerce Secretary is a private equity kingpin; his SEC chairman was a Wall Street lawyer at a firm that represents private equity clients; his first National Economic Council director was the president of a private equity giant; and his top outside adviser is Schwarzman, the CEO of the world’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone.
J. Crew files for bankruptcy in virus’s first big retail casualty Vanessa Friedman, Sapna Maheshwari and Michael J. de la Merced New York Times May 3, 2020
J. Crew was carrying a debt burden of $1.7 billion based on a leveraged buyout in 2011 by two private equity firms — TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners — even before the coronavirus brought clothing sales to a near-halt in its 181 stores, 140 Madewells and 170 outlets.
Stop Wall Street Looting Act: a Letter to Elizabeth Warren Eileen Appelbaum Counterpunch July 26, 2019
How private equity firms squeeze hospital patients for profits Sheelah Kolhatkar New Yorker April 9, 2020