The Carlyle Group sent thousands of United Components Inc. auto part manufacturing jobs to Hong Kong and mainland China. It did so when Virginia Governor candidate for the Red Team Glenn Youngkin was Carlyle's Global Head of Industrial Sector (2005 to 2008) and Chaired Carlyle's Operating Committee and served with Carlyle's infamous founders on the Executive Committee (Carlyle's 2009 Annual Report).
When Carlyle purchased UCI it had no Chinese subsidiaries. By 2010 UCI had thirteen subsidiaries in China or Hong Kong. The Carlyle Group cut the number of employees from 6,900 to 4,350. Carlyle pulled $35.3 million from UCI via a special dividend in 2007. Add their $2 million annual management fee and the total rises to $47.3 million.
A 2011 report on closed U.S. automotive plants stated:
Since 1979, 447 automaker and automaker-captive plants have been in operation across the country. Nearly 60 percent – 267 total – have closed and only 180 remain in operation at present. Of the plants closed since 1979, 42 percent of the closures were concentrated between 2004 and 2010. Survey responses indicate that 72 percent of closed plants were one of the top three employers in the community when they closed. Nearly a third of the former plants employed more than 2,000 people at the announced time of closure, and over half employed between 400-999 people. Many of these modern facilities were supported by significant public sector investments in transportation and utility infrastructure.A 2019 study reported, private equity takeovers have cost over 1.3 million U.S. workers their jobs.
A 2010 UCI SEC filing stated:
We expanded our global manufacturing and sourcing capabilities through the ASC acquisition, which added two manufacturing facilities and an engineering and procurement office in China. We have since made substantial investments to establish filtration and fuel pump manufacturing capabilities in China. With significant available capacity in our Chinese facilities, we have near-term plans to place additional product manufacturing in China to take further advantage of our low-cost country manufacturing and sourcing resources.
Youngkin has not answered for
the thousands of American jobs UCI sent to China under his watch at The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).
Rabobank's Michael Every noted in a recent Wealthion interview:
China "never wants to repeat what happened to the U.S. They are fully cognizant how the U.S. was de-industrialized, hollowed out. They were the primary beneficiary of that."
A major
business reporter wrote in 2011:
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.
Youngkin and The Carlyle Group had a role in hollowing out local U.S. economies. In a bizarre turn the Blue Team candidate for Virginia Governor saw fit to invest a sizeable chunk of his personal fortune in The Carlyle Group during this same period. That may be why Youngkin's business record has been mostly off limits.
It's PEU operating executive vs. limited partner. Politicians Red and Blue love PEU. Why do so many political candidates and public appointees (Fed Chair, Biden Cabinet) come from the greed and leverage boys? The Reds can pretend Youngkin's slate is blank but it has a clear PEU odor.
Update 1-22-23: Youngkin flip flopped yet again.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia nixed a proposed $3.5 billion Ford electric vehicle battery factory over its partnership with a Chinese battery maker, saying he would not allow taxpayer money to be used to “recruit Ford as a front for China.”
He sent U.S. jobs to China as a PEU. As Governor he stopped jobs for Virginians because of "China connections."
The decision by the former CEO stunned observers, leading many to see it as further evidence that Youngkin is preparing to run for president and trying to neutralize a potential line of attack on his past business ties to the communist country.
How will Youngkin neutralize his past business ties to a Port of Corpus Christi oil export terminal and Carlyle's walking away as lead developer for the project?
Update 1-25-23: Youngkin turned down 2,500 jobs for Virginians in a low income area of the state. He's gone from jobs exporter to China to potential jobs exporter from Virginia. It remains to be seen where the Ford joint venture battery plant lands.
Remember Youngkin monitored rush hour traffic in Beijing at Carlyle before starting a nonprofit to grow Virginia jobs.
