Friday, May 21, 2010

PEU's Escape Financial Reform


John Carney of CNBC noted private equity's free pass under financial reform, a fact PEU Report pointed out months ago. I noted Chris Dodd's giving six months for private equity to "be defined" and a year to study "self regulation." That came long after Obama's omission of shadow bankers in his reform plans. Shadow bankers include private equity underwriters (PEU's) and sovereign wealth funds (SWF's).

Ironically, private equity's big guns were outside Senate chambers yesterday, lobbying on carried interest taxation. Loyal Senators blocked bills in this arena for the last three years. I'm sure the PEU boys indicated that they won't pay higher taxes. The question is which workaround they'll employ.

Watch where Senators Chris Dodd and Evan Bayh land after their public service. It will be telling.