Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Carlyle's Bill Conway Gets HuffPo Accolade

Huffpo Small Business reported:

Recently, Charles Schwab of Charles Schwab and Bill Conway of the Carlyle Group, who have both built sizable businesses, created thousands of jobs, paid pensions and college tuitions, and created returns for mom-and-pop investors and unions, put their focus on entrepreneurship and jobs. Conway concedes that, after years of extremely generous philanthropy, that he now calls 'stopgaps,' jobs, not handouts, matter most to individuals and to the strength of the country. 

The Carlyle Group also cut thousands of jobs, dumped pensions, and purchased companies making money off college students via housing and travel   They promised the state of Texas 3,000 new jobs for $35 million, but never delivered.  As for "mom and pop" investors, Conway and company walked away from Carlyle Capital Corporation, defaulting on $16.6 billion in debt.  CCC's failure was a canary in the coal mine, portending Bear Sterns and Lehman Brother's failure.  Carlyle helped "mom and pop" investors lose trillions in 2008.

While Conway said "jobs matter most," Carlyle's record of greed involved  exporting jobs to low wage portions of the globe and being a tax-free private equity underwriter (PEU).  Carlyle manipulates the capital side of companies, adding debt and siphoning billions in special dividends from affiliates.  Both moves hinder job maintenance, much less expansion. 

Does anyone conduct research anymore or do they just write accolades for politically connected billionaires, knowing there's little down side?