Saturday, February 18, 2012

Carlyle's Rubenstein & Demands of Barons

McClatchy Newspapers highlighted the new interactive Magna Carta exhibit at the National Archives.   The piece acknowledged the document's influence on America's founding fathers, doing so via comment from The Carlyle Group's David Rubenstein, the owner of the version on display..

The new display case is found in the west Rotunda gallery of the National Archives. The Magna Carta is flanked by two interactive computer terminals where, by touching a screen, visitors can read the document in English, discover how it applies to American legal history, and see who has cited the importance of the document.
Last year I noted the irony of Rubenstein, a modern day robber baron, preserving the document of barons.  The Archives description reinforces my point:

Magna Carta was written by a group of 13th-century barons to protect their rights and property against a tyrannical king. It is concerned with many practical matters and specific grievances relevant to the feudal system under which they lived. The interests of the common man were hardly apparent in the minds of the men who brokered the agreement.

The National Archives could look at the present, where the Rubensteins of the world seek "private equity friendly" totalitarians to grow their billions.   The barons never left, their grievances remain much the same.  Protect private equity underwriter (PEU) rights and property  It's a global PEU feudal system, where post-modern serfs are shareholders.

Meanwhile, the Rehab PEU Rubenstein Tour marches onward and upward.  Aren't PEU's cute?

Pay fealty to the barons, for they are king makers.