Rolling Stone: Why Private Equity Firms Like Bain Really Are the Worst of Capitalism [View all]

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Why Private Equity Firms Like Bain Really Are the Worst of Capitalism
POSTED: May 23, 2:35 PM ET | By Josh Kosman


By placing his career at Bain Capital at the center of his presidential campaign, former buyout artist Mitt Romney has put the private equity industry on trial.

About time.

Romney wants us to believe that critics of private equity are against capitalism. They’re not. They’re against a predatory system created and perpetuated by Wall Street solely to pump its own profits.

Defenders of private equity say firms like Bain, which Romney co-founded in 1984, exist to build businesses, creating jobs and prosperity all the while. "We started Staples, we started the Sports Authority, we started Bright Horizons children centers," Romney said at one of the GOP presidential debates last year. "Heck, we even started a steel mill in a farm field in Indiana. And that steel mill operates today and employs a lot of people." ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/why-private-equity-firms-like-bain-really-are-the-worst-of-capitalism-20120523#ixzz1w7k5YOfC