Evil Investments

Private-equity firms exist for one reason - to create value for shareholders, the largest percentage of which are public pension funds. How evil does this sound? They do this by finding and investing in underperforming businesses that have potential for growth ( not actual growth at the time of acquisition). If a business doesn’t grow, investors and jobs suffer; if it does prosper, shareholders win and employees have jobs. How evil does this sound? Not very, in my opinion. Private investments, not government ownership ( public) therefore, drive incomes or losses in individuals’ pension and retirement funds.

If criminality and greed enter into this equation, the equation itself is not evil. The persons practicing criminal behavior and possessed by greed are evil. Let’s not transfer guilt onto the bulk of legal, capitalist and beneficial private-equity firms, bolstering our economy and the savings and investments of ordinary citizens.