Category Archives: Private equity

New Technologies to Get Around Old Laws: Algorithms Being Used to Evade Antitrust Rules, Fix Prices and Worse

Is organizing a price-fixing cartel still illegal if an algorithm tells you to do it?

“Should CalPERS Fire Everyone and Just Buy Some ETFs?”

Another well-substantiated critique of CalPERS’ investment performance.

CIA-Connected Private Equity to Buy Italy’s Critical Communications Infrastructure

Telecom Italia’s downfall over the past thirty years mirrors the disastrous path of the Italian state since joining the EU.

Could It Be the Fed’s Mega-QE Created So Much Liquidity That Tightening Doesn’t Work until this Excess Gets Burned Up?

Financial Conditions loosen further: credit markets blow off the Fed to make sure “higher for longer” gets entrenched? That would be funny.

Beware Climate Finance Charade

Finance has increased, not reduced, greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the industry is bizarrely touted as part of the solution.

The Increasing Financialization of Germany

The FIRE sector capitalizes on Germany’s industrial decline as government diverts money from social programs to military.

CalPERS Chief Investment Officer Nicole Musicco Resigns Abruptly, Intensifying CalPERS’ Senior Staffing Instability

CalPERS lurches into a new crisis. The official story of the sudden resignation of CIO Nicole Musicco does not add up. What gives?

Private Equity on Campus: Why College Students Are Sleeping in Cars

College students are still unable to find housing despite enrollment dropping since the start of the pandemic, and a major price-fixing lawsuit against corporate landlords sheds light on why.

“Venture Capital Funds Are Mostly Just Wasting Their Time and Your Money”

Yet more evidence that venture capital is good for the fund managers, not so much for anyone else.

Quelle Surprise! High Fee “Alternative Investments” Produce Serious “Negative Alpha” as in Underperformance as Managers Get Rich

In his latest paper, investment expert Richard Ennis continues showing how alternative investments destroy value.

Hubert Horan: Can Uber Ever Deliver? Part Thirty-Three: Uber Isn’t Really Profitable Yet But is Getting Closer; The Antitrust Case Against Uber

Hubert Horan takes another hard look at Uber financials and finds much not to like.

Former Apollo Chief Leon Black Has More Jeffrey Epstein ‘Splaining To Do with Tax Evasion, Alleged Rape of Autistic 16 Year Old

Shed a crocodile tear. Former private equity kingpin Leon Black is back in hot water thanks to his dealings with child rapist Jeffrey Epstein

The United States’ Financial Quandary: ZIRP’s Only Exit Path Is a Crash

Michael Hudson takes a long, hard look at the origins and costs of the Fed’s ZIRP policy.

America Has Just Destroyed a Great Empire

America is making a mess in trying to preserve its hegemony.