Sunday, February 10, 2013

Which Carlyle Group Face is True?

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein was honored for his diplomacy through the arts at the New York Public Library's Stephen A. Schwarzman building.  Scharzman co-founded fellow private equity underwriter (PEU) The Blackstone Group.  While both billionaires contribute heavily to charitable causes, they can leave economic destruction in their wake.

Take this story from the Fort Worth Star Telegram:

Fort Worth businessman Louis Scoma describes Woodhaven Country Club as having been "left in a holding pattern" when he bought the 148-acre property two years ago from a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm.

The previous owner had stopped investing in the club, closed the tennis courts and shut down the food service. There were plans to fill in the swimming pool, Scoma said.

A member for 40 years, Scoma couldn't continue to watch the club deteriorate and made an offer to The Carlyle Group, which had it on the block.

Few talk about the wreckage caused by PEU's and their ilk, whose greed manifested in two ways.  The rapid PEU rise occurred alongside the massive exporting of U.S. middle class jobs.

PEU ubiquitization contributed to America's long term tax deficit.  PEU's are happy for their affiliates to pay dramatically higher interest expenses and PEU management fees, These reduce profits, the basis for paying taxes.  PEU's have been known to cut benefits, freezing or dumping pensions,, evenstopping 401(k) contributions. Oddly, the source of profits for many PEU enterprises is Uncle Sam.

Recall the Fort Worth golf club as PEU's "solve" America's ills in education, infrastructure and health care.   Don't be surprised if Carlyle and company want to fill in your pool.