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I don't know the answer here, so Im asking hoping that someone may. Couldn't private equity be seen as the "ants" of the economic landscape? Scraping the skelet

by S_A_P 3y ago

I don't know the answer here, so Im asking hoping that someone may. Couldn't private equity be seen as the "ants" of the economic landscape? Scraping the skeleton companies of the world for the last bits of meat on the bone and then move on to the next?

bell-cot 3y ago
PE is more like a flock of buzzards, cleaning up the bodies at train wrecks. A very clever, malicious flock of buzzards - who've learned how to hack the switches & signals, to ensure an ample & growing supply of train wrecks.
- GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
  More like zombies overrunning the last defenses of civilization and consuming the few remaining survivors.
ekanes 3y ago
Yes. That's perfect. Except that the animal they're eating wasn't necessarily dying, it might have just been growing slowly.
oneplane 3y ago
I'd say more like some slimy poison frog, toxic, nasty and only care about themselves while smearing themselves all over the place. Looks great from a distance tho. Or, they are a self-aware trolley that eats run-over people after choosing to switch tracks to where a bunch of people are tied down. I think more similar descriptions can be found, but as for what they really are: definitely not the economy immune system cleaning up the remains of dead companies. They are just predatory wealth hoarders. But it's all legal and I'm sure the people making lots of money don't emphatise with the rest of the humans, otherwise they might not be doing it.
- zactato 3y ago
  Frogs are notorious for their selfishness.
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  > Or, they are a self-aware trolley that eats run-over people after choosing to switch tracks to where a bunch of people are tied down. This is pure poetry.
KerrAvon 3y ago
No -- the companies in question aren't usually basket cases -- if they were, they wouldn't have the assets to make the PE takeover profitable in the first place. In most cases, they're growing at a fine, steady rate, or even better. It's just whatever the PE vultures can get away with.

by S_A_P 3y ago

bell-cot 3y ago

PE is more like a flock of buzzards, cleaning up the bodies at train wrecks. A very clever, malicious flock of buzzards - who've learned how to hack the switches & signals, to ensure an ample & growing supply of train wrecks.

GartzenDeHaes 3y ago
More like zombies overrunning the last defenses of civilization and consuming the few remaining survivors.

ekanes 3y ago

Yes. That's perfect. Except that the animal they're eating wasn't necessarily dying, it might have just been growing slowly.

oneplane 3y ago

I'd say more like some slimy poison frog, toxic, nasty and only care about themselves while smearing themselves all over the place. Looks great from a distance tho. Or, they are a self-aware trolley that eats run-over people after choosing to switch tracks to where a bunch of people are tied down. I think more similar descriptions can be found, but as for what they really are: definitely not the economy immune system cleaning up the remains of dead companies. They are just predatory wealth hoarders. But it's all legal and I'm sure the people making lots of money don't emphatise with the rest of the humans, otherwise they might not be doing it.

zactato 3y ago
Frogs are notorious for their selfishness.
arcanemachiner 3y ago
> Or, they are a self-aware trolley that eats run-over people after choosing to switch tracks to where a bunch of people are tied down. This is pure poetry.

KerrAvon 3y ago

No -- the companies in question aren't usually basket cases -- if they were, they wouldn't have the assets to make the PE takeover profitable in the first place. In most cases, they're growing at a fine, steady rate, or even better. It's just whatever the PE vultures can get away with.