cacondor

theweekmagazine:

Cartoon of the Day.

Tom Toles, Copyright 2012, Universal Press Syndicate

theatlantic:

Obama to Sandra Fluke: Your Parents Should Be Really Proud

After Rush Limbaugh called Sandra Fluke a “slut” and “prostitute” for testifying to Congress about the need for contraceptive health care coverage, the Georgetown law student became something of a lightening rod. Now President Obama has called to thank her. The President called Fluke on the phone just before her appearance on Andrea Mitchell Reports on MSNBC Friday, she told Mitchell, and offered words of support and an implicit rebuke of Limbaugh. This comes after Speaker John Boehner criticized the conservative radio host and at least one advertiser abandoned his show.

Fluke told Mitchell, “[Obama] encouraged me and supported me and thanked me for speaking out about the concerns of American women, and what was really personal for me was that he said to tell my parents they should be really proud.”

Read more. [Images: MSNBC/Reuters]

(via thenewrepublic)

dumbesttweets:

LOL! Not a dumb tweet but had to post it

newyorker:

Private Inequity

The real reason that we should be concerned about private equity’s expanding power lies in the way these firms have become increasingly adept at using financial gimmicks to line their pockets, deriving enormous wealth not from management or investing skills but, rather, from the way the U.S. tax system works. Indeed, for an industry that’s often held up as an exemplar of free-market capitalism, private equity is surprisingly dependent on government subsidies for its profits. Financial engineering has always been central to leveraged buyouts. In a typical deal, a private-equity firm buys a company, using some of its own money and some borrowed money. It then tries to improve the performance of the acquired company, with an eye toward cashing out by selling it or taking it public. The key to this strategy is debt: the model encourages firms to borrow as much as possible, since, just as with a mortgage, the less money you put down, the bigger your potential return on investment. The rewards can be extraordinary: when Romney was at Bain, it supposedly earned eighty-eight per cent a year for its investors. But piles of debt also increase the risk that companies will go bust.

- In this week’s issue, James Surowiecki writes about how private equity firms like Bain Capital earn profits: http://nyr.kr/ArHyoL

newyorker:

Private Inequity

The real reason that we should be concerned about private equity’s expanding power lies in the way these firms have become increasingly adept at using financial gimmicks to line their pockets, deriving enormous wealth not from management or investing skills but, rather, from the way the U.S. tax system works. Indeed, for an industry that’s often held up as an exemplar of free-market capitalism, private equity is surprisingly dependent on government subsidies for its profits. Financial engineering has always been central to leveraged buyouts. In a typical deal, a private-equity firm buys a company, using some of its own money and some borrowed money. It then tries to improve the performance of the acquired company, with an eye toward cashing out by selling it or taking it public. The key to this strategy is debt: the model encourages firms to borrow as much as possible, since, just as with a mortgage, the less money you put down, the bigger your potential return on investment. The rewards can be extraordinary: when Romney was at Bain, it supposedly earned eighty-eight per cent a year for its investors. But piles of debt also increase the risk that companies will go bust.

- In this week’s issue, James Surowiecki writes about how private equity firms like Bain Capital earn profits: http://nyr.kr/ArHyoL

Private Inequity

Silence!