Sunday, July 2, 2017

New Carlyle Idea Exchange Planned for U. of Chicago


Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubernstein sits on the board of the University of Chicago, which plans to name a new building after him.  The Rubenstein Forum will be "a place of intellectual, institutional and educational exchange."

The programs for the building will be designed by several focus groups and consultants along with more than 100 plus faculty and staff from the University of Chicago.
I imagine there will be some parameters for planned programs in the Rubenstein Center.  I'll be shocked if this former financial reporter is invited to speak, given what they had to say about private equity underwriters (PEU) in 2011:

I know from personal experience that the financial press is so eager to break news on "deals" that reporters (who are increasingly compensated on the number of "market moving stories" they write) can't afford to be critical of Carlyle, KKR and Blackstone, and risk losing access to people at those firms.

I have seen so many people -- particularly those in their 50s - 70s -- taken apart by what has happened in their industry as greed has hollowed out the economy. These are people took pride in their jobs and held themselves to this invisible standard that we all just took for granted, but is being wiped out. 
The Carlyle Group scares me more than anything I've ever seen on Wall Street. It seems to exist to corrupt politicians and it's hard to know who they even represent.
I watched a video interview of (David) Rubenstein and his arrogance is really beyond tolerance. He was going on about the debt ceiling problem and how there would need to be cuts in services and higher taxes. When the reporter asked him about tax on carried interest he turned really disdainful and said that this "only" amounted to $22 billion over some number of years and this was not serious money. Boy, nothing like everybody doing their small part to save the country from oblivion!
I expect the Rubenstein Center to be a PEU safe space.