"A landmark new study, released last week at the annual Davos high-finance summit, scrutinizes the high-flying private equity industry — and complicates life for our global greedy.
"Last June, the biggest player on the private equity block, the Blackstone Group, opted to go that public stock route. The Blackstone boys offered the general investing public a chance to buy a minority stake in their wheeling-and-dealing operation. In the process, Blackstone’s top five executives had to divulge how many dollars that operation was stuffing into their pockets.
"The answer: $770 million over the previous year, a colossal sum that almost immediately thrust the private equity phenomenon onto America’s front pages.
"The private equity industry has been playing public relations catch-up ever since. Industry flacks have been working feverishly to rebut charges that private equity kingpins owe their astounding windfalls to job, benefit, and pension cuts at the companies they take over.
"How feverishly? In 2007, private equity groups started breaking Capitol Hill records for spending on lobbyists."
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