Milken Global Conference PEUnderway

Today kicks off the 2023 version of Michael Milken's version of Davos (World Economic Forum) where global tamperers gather for the purpose of outsized profits.  Who's advancing in a thriving world?  Not the common person who might be serving drinks or emptying trash cans at the event.

Private equity underwriters (PEU) are advancing in their insider world.  They comprise many of the institute's speakers.  Several PEU legends, Carlyle's David Rubenstein and TPG's David Bonderman, will enlighten others on the benefits of greed and leverage. 

Carlyle's new street-fighter CEO will speak as well as several other executives.  One heads Carlyle's opportunistic credit (distressed debt).  Lots of that around.

KKR and Apollo Global Management are also represented on the speaker list.

Apollo Health Ventures is but one of thousands of PEUs seeking to profit from ever increasing healthcare bills.

There are numerous greed and leverage boys from various firms on the speaker list but all need protection.  That's why Palantir is there, just like Davos.

The super-powerful and wealthy require special security and Peter Thiel's Palantir knows how to protect oligarchs.  PEU boys know how to milk'em and that requires political connections.

U.S. politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  A former U.S. President removed Michael Milken's criminal record.  It's like his financial fraud never happened.  That's thriving!

Update 5-1-23:  Apollo Global Management CEO told Yahoo Finance that private equity was not immune to the siren call of liquidity (cheap)."  Apollo owns Yahoo.  

...the alternative asset manager's portfolio continues to get a lot of attention from market watchers, and rightfully so given the high-profile names it holds.

The story almost reads like an ad for Apollo.

Update 5-3-23:  Carlyle's CEO said the following from Milk'em (according to FT):

“In the investing environment broadly, I think this is one of the most complex times we’ve had,” Schwartz said at the Milken conference in Beverly Hills this week. “Many of the trends that we lived with are slowing if not reversing . . . I think that sets up an incredibly interesting backdrop, both economically, globally and in terms of the opportunity set.”

That means more back door takeovers like Brinton's and Mrs. Fields. 

Update 8-18-23:  As for that thriving world:

Ticketmaster will begin to sell “listening seats” that do not have any view

They do it because they can.  There is no counterbalance, no authority to prevent the crapification of everything.

PEU News 4-27-23

What's happening in the private equity world?  The plunderers remain busy:

Private equity firms Advent International, Bain Capital and TPG are reportedly looking to team up to place a bid for Subway, which is expected to sell for up to US$10bn.

Carlyle Group Inc (CG.O) is considering bringing in fresh backers for its investment in McDonald's Corp's (MCD.N) China operations.

The Carlyle Group, a US investment firm, wants a minority stake in Manchester United.

Private equity major Carlyle Group closed its latest Asia focused buyout fund at $950 million. 

IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, has been sold by Endeavor Group Holdings to private equity group BPEA EQT for a total of $1.25 billion.

First Republic Bank lost a wealth management team to Cresset Asset Management.  Cresset's founders came from private equity.

Financial worries are spreading from banking to insurance companies.  Boaz Weinstein believes the credit crisis is just starting in earnest.  He believes life insurance companies could be at risk for financial upheaval.

McKinsey noted last year "All five of the largest private equity (PE) firms by assets have holdings in life insurance, representing 15 to 50 percent of their total assets under management."

Former Biden Chief of Staff Ron Klain returned to his former law firms and will assist O'Melveny's private equity clients.  Satisfaction guaranteed! 

Biden Domestic Policy Advisor Susan Rice announced she would step down in the next month.  She will spend her summer pondering her next act.  Might private equity be her future?

A leading private equity firm claimed to be a climate leader (under the leadership of the current Governor of Virginia) while increasing emissions.

Youngkin to Steer More VRS Money to PEUs

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin employed leverage in the pursuit of outsized profits (greed) at The Carlyle Group.  Virginia Retirement System plans to employ leverage and steer more money to private equity, private credit and alternative investments.  

Glenn knows about non-recourse loans as nursing home giant went bankrupt under his watch.

Glenn also was in charge when abandoned its lead developer role for the Port of Corpus Christi's Harbor Island project.

Is anyone surprised that the Virginia Retirement System plans to roll the dice given its governor is a former private equity underwriter (PEU)?  They take care of their own.

Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America

Another book on the evils of private equity will come out soon.  The description states:

"Plunder is a startling investigation into the poorly understood, powerful force of private equity that is reshaping the American economy: raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, increasing inequality, and shifting resources from productive parts of the economy to unproductive ones. Already transformative, private equity is poised to reshape the American economy in this decade the way that big tech did in the last decade, and subprime lenders the decade before that. And importantly, private equity is doing all of this not just with the acquiescence but the active support of the government. If you've ever wondered what happened to Toys R Us; why your doctor's bills are getting more expensive, why nursing homes are getting worse, why there is a housing shortage, why newspapers in Chicago and Los Angeles have gone downhill and local investigative reporting has dried up, Brendan Ballou's Plunder provides the reason why and provides a reform agenda spelling out how this industry can be stopped from wreaking further havoc. Brendan Ballou shows how private equity firms buy up companies using little or no investment, forcing them to take on huge debts and pay extractive fees, often wringing the life blood out of them, leaving them bankrupt or a shell of their former selves. Private equity's impact extends to the communities that have long depended on now- eviscerated companies for employment and prosperity. Perhaps most startling is Ballou's insight into how this is happening with the active support of government. Through vivid storytelling, Ballou's revelatory explanation of how private equity works shines a light on a part of Wall Street that is hastening the financialization of the American economy and increasing the power of banks and other institutions over companies that make and sell tangible products"--

PEUReport has blogged about the evils of private equity underwrites (PEU) since summer 2007.  More recently I have closed many posts with "Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one."

I'm afraid the greed and leverage boys have already reshaped the American economy given their ubiquitious nature.  Their lust for money and power has reduced management to bullying for outcomes.  

For over a decade PEU founders have been identified as "policy making billionaires" and they get their way on laws, regulations and tax policy no matter how contrary to widespread public opinion. 

The plunder is in if the people's representatives are more loyal to the PEU boys than to the citizenry.  How long can it keep going?

Update 4-26-23:  Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care

Update 6-2-23:   The American Prospect ran a piece called "Days of Plunder."

Two new books call ‘private equity’ what it actually is, but neither offers much hope for emancipation from our eternal hostile takeover.

I suggest the piece be renamed "Decades of Plunder" enabled by both Red and Blue political teams.

Klain Back at O'Melveny, to Advise PEUs

Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain landed back at his former law firm.  O'Melveny announced in a press release last week:

...after the latest phase of his very impressive government career, we are thrilled to welcome him home...

Klain now brings his unmatched advisory, legal, and leadership experience back to O’Melveny, where he will head the firm’s Strategic Counseling and Crisis Management Practice. In that role, he will advise C-suite executives and boards of directors across industries—including technology, healthcare, infrastructure, transportation, private equity, and finance—on their most pressing legal and business concerns at a time of ever-increasing geopolitical and reputational risk. 

Klain co-founder private equity underwriter (PEU) Revolution LLC and was President of Case Holdings.  He served as an advisor to Skoll Global Threats Fund. part of Jeff Skoll's financial empire.

He will be working hard to please those PEU CEOs and board members.

...we commit to making your O’Melveny experience as satisfying as the outcomes we help you achieve. Our greatest accomplishment is ensuring that you never have to choose between premier lawyering and exceptional service. So, tell us. What do you want to achieve?

The greed and leverage boys want more power and lots more money.  How will Ron Klain help his brethren achieve those satisfying outcomes?

Sinema's PEU "Thank You" Donations

Sludge reported on Purple Team Senator Kyrsten Sinema's fundraising haul from private equity underwriters (PEU):

Executives and employees with the private equity firm The Carlyle Group donated $253,600 to Sinema in the first quarter of the year, while people affiliated with Blackstone gave her $274,500 and those affiliated with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) gave her $103,700. The donations from employees and executives of those three investment firms made up more than 45% of the total money the senator’s joint fundraising committee raised in the first quarter. Other investment firms whose executives gave to Sen. Sinema in the first quarter of the year include Bain Capital, Tenaya Capital, and GreenWood Investors. 

Last summer Sinema single-handedly saved the greed and leverage boys from elimination of their preferred "carried interest" taxation.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  Should the Senator not seek another term she'd make a great PEU. 

Dominion Voting Machines PEU Owner Rings Register

Staple Street Capital purchased 76% of Dominion Voting Machines in 2018 and is the big winner of the Fox News "repeatedly lying on air about election fraud" legal settlement.

Malice produced the $787.5 million settlement, lottery level winnings for Dominion's private equity underwriter (PEU) owners.  

Fox did the normal settlement where they admit they did nothing wrong.  However, had they done nothing wrong Fox News would not have needed to write a huge check in to keep its "opinion stars" and CEO off the stand.  

The world missed what would have been a great spectacle showing the behind the scenes world of politics, money and power, Red political team version.   

The Red Team's extreme dysfunction has been buried under a pile of green, leaving the general public to go about their daily business.

The settlement also shows that one can turn over a rock and more often than not, find a private equity affiliate.  A voting machine company controlled by a PEU that wants to keep its preferred "carried interest" taxation.  What could happen there?  

Actually there is no need to cheat as politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Blackrock Survey Says More PEU

Public pension funds, family offices and insurance companies plan to put a higher percentage of funds into private equity according to a BlackRock survey.  

...72% said they plan to increase allocations to private equity funds, while 52% aim to boost private-credit holdings. The survey ran from October 2022 through January 2023.

One has to wonder how institutional investors feel after the collapse of Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank given private equity holds assets yet to be valued at market levels.

BlackRock said those bank failures could give a boost to private credit as regional banks reduce lending.  That gives the greed and leverage boys the opportunity to lend money at 15% vs. the banks' roughly 5%.  

Private equity underwriters (PEU) purchased insurance lines over the last few years only to steer those investment reserves into their various fund offerings.  

Family offices include those established by infamous PEU founders.  The Carlyle Group must now steer around co-founder David Rubenstein's Declaration Partners.  

Mr. Rubenstein fills the airwaves and will soon interview fellow PEU Kim Kardashian.  I'm sure he can enlist Kim into his several decade long battle to save PEU preferred "carried interest" taxation.  Rubenstein can always use another influencer to remake private equity's unfair image.   

More PEU!  You'd think it was cowbell.  Nope, it's the supreme beats.

Update 4-22-23:  Fox Business News reported:

"These PE funds overpaid for stuff and now we’re saying ‘you’re not generating good returns, so go pound sand,’" said one official at a major public pension fund who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "They have taken their eyes off the collective ball and they’re now collectively panicking that they’re badly missing their numbers."

Now that's a horse of a different color.

Rubenstein to Interview Kim K.

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein informed a Yahoo Finance interviewer that he would soon host Kim Kardashian.  

Former Carlyle Managing Director Jay Sammons joined Kardashian in forming a new private equity underwriter, SKKY Partners.   SKKY's logo is difficult to view on its website.  There is little content but it states under "terms":

The Site is offered and available to users who are 18 years of age or older. By using the Site, you represent and warrant that you are of legal age to form a binding contract with SKKY. If you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not access or use the Site.

David Rubenstein considered FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried a peer just last summer.  At the time SBF sought funding from Rubenstein's family office.  That was not disclosed in the interview.  FTX imploded a few months later.

Rubenstein's vast wealth, self-deprecating style and patriotic philanthropy tend to disarm the average viewer.  

Any media wishing to grill Rubenstein don't get the chance, just as people younger than 18 are not to view SKKY's website.   Softballs only.  It's the PEU way.

Brilliant billionaires don't need to answer to the little people who contributed to their vast wealth with personal purchases.  They do entertain one another quite well.

Update 4-18-23:  Bloomberg reported on numerous PEU hires at SKKY Partners.  They come from Carlyle, Bain, Apollo, Permira, Blackstone and Petra Funds.  That explains the Rubenstein interview.  She needs to get the word out to potential affiliates.  It's built, we need you to come.

Rubenstein Says One Last Bank to Fail

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein told Yahoo Finance:

“I think First Republic Bank is clearly on a watchlist, and probably somebody at some point will buy it. But the challenge there is that it needs government assistance.”

Will Carlyle be part of that somebody at some point who buys First Republic?  

“There's a big hole in the balance sheet of First Republic Bank, I've been told. And therefore, I suspect the government will have to provide some assistance if that deal's gonna get done.”

Sheila Bair's FDIC gifted BankUnited to a consortium of private equity underwriters (PEU) during the last financial meltdown.  It was a hugely profitable venture for Carlyle, Blackstone, Centerbridge and W.L. Ross.  

Rubenstein says he isn’t seeing the same type of contagion in the financial system as occurred in 2008 when over-leveraged investment banks like Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns went bust.

Carlyle Capital Corporation, a highly leveraged mortgage back securities fund, failed in March 2008.  Some saw it and Bear Sterns as canaries in the financial crisis coalmine, which collapsed in September 2008.

Carlyle wins no matter what in First Republic's failure.  Tighter bank lending has pushed borrowers to private equity for credit.

Avenue Capital CEO Marc Lasry said banks should be lending at 5% but since they're not his firm gets to offer loans at 15%.  

The story described Rubenstein as "one of the most plugged-in high financiers."  Fed Chief Jay Powell once worked for Carlyle.  Rubenstein sits on an Investor Advisory Committee for the New York Fed.

He's also been called a "policy making billionaire."  How will Uncle Sam's largess benefit Rubenstein and his PEU brethren, directly or indirectly?  Time will tell.

Rest assured that politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  

Update 4-18-23:   Private equity has the same issue as banks in that their holdings are worth less today.  The Spread Thread tweeted:

... credit rationing carries forward to small/mid-sized businesses. The leveraged loan market is probably most representative of mid-sized companies, and here, borrowing costs have surged. Small business borrowing costs are in the teens in many cases at this point. That matters.

FT noted that public pension funds are starting to write down their commercial real estate holdings. 

Update 4-22-23:  Fox Business News reported:

"These PE funds overpaid for stuff and now we’re saying ‘you’re not generating good returns, so go pound sand,’" said one official at a major public pension fund who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "They have taken their eyes off the collective ball and they’re now collectively panicking that they’re badly missing their numbers."

Update 5-4-23:  Insurance companies are next to fall into the asset devaluation sinkhole.  Carlyle highlighted their partnership with Fortitude Re and how that will drive fees and profits.  Prudential reported a 12% decrease in AUM in their Q1 earnings report.  Can Fed Chair Jay Powell get interest rates low enough in time to save Carlyle and its wave of affiliate refinancings starting in 2025?

Will SEC Stand Up to PEUs and their Lobby?

 

The private equity trade group helped produce research indicating their industry does not need to be transparent regarding fees paid by public pensions, many funded by teachers or firefighters.  The Committee on Capital Markets Regulation published the paper.  

Committee members are mostly from Wall Street with a business professor or two scattered in the mix.  One professor is the Russel L.Carson Professor of Finance.  Carson founded Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, a private equity underwriter (PEU).  PEU representatives on the committee come from Blackstone and Apollo.  

 

I get the sense that this is not an impartial review given the PEU lobby provided research support and committee members include PEU executives.

The report paints an egalitarian world in several of its findings:

....finds that the concentration in the U.S. private equity fund market is very low, far lower than that of industries in public markets and registered funds, and that the number of private equity fund advisers and funds is steadily growing. Both are signs of a highly competitive market and one that is growing increasingly competitive.

....finds that the Proposed Rule will reduce competition in the U.S. private equity fund market in several respects. Most importantly, the Proposed Rule risks reducing returns for private equity fund investors and reducing the variety of investment strategies available to investors. The Proposed Rule will also increase barriers to entry to the U.S. private equity fund market with a particularly negative impact on women and minority-led private equity fund advisers.

The report makes it sound like there are few barriers to entry into private equity and that any requirement to publish fees and allowable costs will drive away legions of women and minorities clamoring to open their own PEU shop.  

A March 2023 McKinsey report on private markets noted:

Amid a pullback in commitments, an outsized share of capital flowed to the largest funds, as investors re-upped with their existing managers but reduced backing smaller and new funds. Funds over $5 billion collected a record $445 billion in aggregate, a 51 percent increase over funds of a similar size in 2021. Conversely, dollars raised by sub–$5 billion funds decreased by 28 percent. Just 2,141 funds were closed during the year, 1,600 fewer than in 2021 and the fewest of any year since 2013. First-time fund launches also decreased by 40 percent.

That massive shift of business to the majors and contraction for smaller players occurred without a SEC rule requiring the disclosure of price and allowable cost information.  

Coke has its secret formula, KFC has its secret recipe and the PEU boys have their secret fees, nonstandard return formulas and preferred taxation.  

Enough Americans have worked for a PEU affiliate to have a bad after taste.  It doesn't go away after a Dunkin Donut or Baskin-Robbins ice cream cone.

Can the SEC rise above the PEU air occupying our hallowed halls of government?  My guess is no, given PEU preferred "carried interest" taxation is still around despite widespread public opposition.  Preserving carried interest is the second bullet under AIC "top priorities" (middle image in this piece).

If huge pensions can't get access to this most basic pricing information what chance will you have when the SEC opens up your IRA or 401k to private equity investments?  Zero.  The small investor will pay the magically derived, yet never clearly spelled out PEU fee.  

Update:  Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein was referred to in a story as "one of the most plugged-in high financiers."  PEUs win, teachers and firefighters lose.  That's the benefit of being plugged in, also known as "insidership" according to Larry Summers.

Bain's Evident Might Help Carlyle

Bain Capital closed its deal for Evident, a life sciences company formerly owned by Olympus.  Evident was once Olympus Scientific Solutions business.  Yahoo Finance reported:

At Evident, we are guided by the scientific spirit—innovation and exploration are at the heart of what we do. Committed to making people’s lives healthier, safer, and more fulfilling, we support our customers with solutions that solve their challenges and advance their work—whether it’s researching medical breakthroughs, inspecting infrastructure, or exposing hidden toxins in consumer products.

Several Carlyle Group affiliates could have used help identifying hidden toxins in consumer products.  Infant milk formula maker Yashili had toxic melamine in its products.

At least six children died and 300,000 others were poisoned by milk formula tainted with melamine in 2008.

Carlyle affiliate Oriental Trading sold children's rings made with toxic cadmium.

A spokeswoman for the ring importer identified by the CPSC in Wednesday’s recall - Fun Express Oriental Trading Company, of Omaha, Neb. - did not return calls or an e-mail seeking comment. The Carlyle Group, a private investment firm that owns Oriental Trading Company, referred a request for comment to the company.

Carlyle now owns Medline, a giant healthcare supplier, as well as dozens more healthcare companies.   Might it need Evident's service to keep toxins out?  

Carlyle affiliates failed patients at LifeCare Hospitals and ManorCare, before sending both companies into bankruptcy.   

Bain Capital drove Toys R Us into bankruptcy.  Toys R Us creditors sued citing:

...nearly $18 million in fees paid by Toys R Us to executives at Bain Capital, KKR and Vornado and Brandon from 2014 to 2017 while they served on the company's board. In addition, the lawsuit alleges Brandon paid himself $2.8 million in bonuses days before the Chapter 11 filing, knowing the payout wouldn't be approved in bankruptcy court. 

Employees shared concerns about their treatment by private equity underwriters (PEU).  It was culturally toxic.  

Many things are evident to people who've worked for the greed and leverage boys.  A new book chronicles some of the damage done by the PEU boys. 

Healthcare will not get cheaper or better as greedy management drives away talented physicians, nurses, clinical and support staff.  Someday, that will become evident.

Alaska Permanent Fund to Add $1 Billion in PEU Investments

The Alaska Permanent Fund plans to put half of its new investments into private equity.  That's a hefty $1 billion for private equity underwriters (PEU).

One of the newest APF Trustees is Gabrielle Rubenstein, daughter of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and Alice Rogoff, an advisory board member for Pt Capital.  Gabrielle is co-founder and managing partner for MannaTree and her resume shows she helped found Pt Capital LLC.

The fund's investment staff has concerns about private equity investments as the asset class appears overvalued.  Sudden changes in cost structure have bankrupted many a PEU affiliate.  It remains to be seen how rapidly rising interest rates will work through the PEU python.  Will it be the writhing alligator that obliterates its devourer?

How might the younger Rubenstein's board service help her parents' or her PEU holdings?  It's worth watching.  

History buffs may appreciate the irony of seed money for The Carlyle Group arose from selling Alaskan Native tax losses. 

PEU Plunderers Identified

A new book exposes private equity underwriters (PEU) and the widespread damage the greed and leverage boys have done over the last several decades.  That has been the aim of PEU Report since I began this blog in July 2007.

Elected officials have not reigned in corporate flippers, much less fulfilled their promises to remove PEU preferred "carried interest" taxation.  That's because politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Update 4-26-23:  Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care

Another book on the plundering greed and leverage boys will be out this summer. 

Update 6-2-23:   The American Prospect ran a piece called "Days of Plunder."

Two new books call ‘private equity’ what it actually is, but neither offers much hope for emancipation from our eternal hostile takeover.

I suggest the piece be renamed "Decades of Plunder" enabled by both Red and Blue political teams.

Update 8-12-23:  Adam Taggert from Wealthion interviewed Morgenson.  This is a shift from his recent interview on the benefits of private equity and the possibility of endorsing a PEU firm for followers.

U.S. Has Supreme Court Influencing Billionaire

The U.S. has evolved the "policy making billionaire" (Congress and White House) into the "court influencing billionaire" (Supreme Court).

ProPublica reported how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas benefited from the largess of billionaire Harlan Crow:

For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. 

The big money funnel can be seen elsewhere in this story:

Crow had given half a million dollars to a Tea Party group founded by Ginni Thomas, which also paid her a $120,000 salary.

The people now see the addition of a Supreme Court Justice to the "Just Us" preferred people clan, Larry Summers' "insiders".  

These are the benefits of insidership, funded by the recipients of government beneficence.  Preferred taxation, a light to no regulatory touch, direct access to Uncle Sam's wallet are but a few of these billionaire oriented benefits.  Many of those billionaires founded storied private equity underwriters (PEU).

Politicians Red and Blue have long loved PEU and increasingly, more are one.   Now that Clarence got his PEU wings, the "Just Us" system appears to be a part of the grift. 

Update 4-8-23:  Clarence Thomas opined about the benefits of insidership.  President Biden knows it courtesy of Nantucket hospitality from Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein.  

The Supreme Court influencing billionaire has a "garden of evil."  It's full of memorabilia from inhumane leaders.   

Update 4-14-23:  Thomas did not disclose the sale of property and lots to billionaire Harlan Crow.  One citizen wrote Thomas "is showing us how to be free from morality and transparency."

Update 4-17-23:  Billionaire Harlan Crow is not charging Clarence Thomas' mother rent.

Rubenstein Offers SBF's "Effective Altruism" at Harvard

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein promoted his "patriotic philanthropy" at a recent Harvard University event.  Rubenstein's patriotic philanthropy is similar to FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's "effective altruism."

Rubenstein hosted peer SBF on his Bloomberg program a few months prior to FTX's fraud driven financial implosion.  Both suggest greed is good as long as you give a small amount of it away.  He told the audience.

“Public service is a great way to give back to your country..."

Public service to Rubenstein does not include paying his fair share of taxes.  The Carlyle founder spent considerable time and energy over the years convincing elected officials to not remove private equity's preferred taxation.  One might expect the Harvard Institute of Politics to point this fact out.  Nope.

Private equity underwriters (PEU) have some of the lowest tax rates while amassing billions in wealth.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Update 9-19-23:  FTX's insider money funnel included SBF's parents.