This article helps lift up to Conservatives a truth about “capitalism”.
The morality of Capitalism is in its correct affection for property rights, private or corporate, market economics and limited government monkeying with those things (not the absence of government).
Conservatives must understand that the morality of an economic theory does not in and of itself substantiate an equal morality to every action by every player operating on that theory.
No I am not talking about the need for more law, or even more laws to better define moral and not-so-moral actions taken under the rubric of “Capitalism”.
I much prefer our Liberty and “social” activism to weigh in on such questions, and for Conservatives to admit that it is O.K. to do so without rejecting Capitalism. Anywhere there could be a moral concern in a free society it is less an issue of what one is allowed to do than it is what one “ought” or “ought not” do, regardless of what the law allows.
It is no different than personal behaviors we do not lock people in jail for, out of our high respect for personal rights and our Liberty, but which many of us do not support morally, and we say so.
To reject, morally, the type of LBOs that Bain was noted for is not a rejection of Capitalism, but may be a rejection, on moral as opposed to legal terms, of what one may chose to do with Capitalism.
“To reject, morally, the type of LBOs that Bain was noted for is not a rejection of Capitalism, but may be a rejection, on moral as opposed to legal terms, of what one may chose to do with Capitalism.”
You are getting on a slippery slope here.You are defining community organizer capitalism that has objectives other than pure profit if you are going to inject “morality” into the equation. Whose morality? Is there one objective form of morality.The terms greed, loot,corporate raider, LBO,vulture is subjective manipulative political imagery. Most companies are started or acquired with debt,Bain used a combination of capital and debt to acquire. There is absolutely nothing wrong with LBOs unless the acquisition is exclusively to tap the pension fund.None of Bain’s deals were to raid the pension funds but to acquire faltering companies at a distressed price with a view to restructuring them, holding them and selling them later for a profit.Or should we characterize an equity firm offering a price to but their firm as evil “corporate raiders”.One man’s profit is defined as another man’s greed. Vultures are people buying distressed properties at their fair market value which in many cases is distressed. Should they pay more than FMV to avoid the tag vulture. Should small or large investors smugly be characterized as vultures for buying properties that are distressed with a view to asking any tenants to leave so they can improve them and sell them later for a profit?