<p>sm74, I just wanted you to know, I enjoyed reading your posts in this thread.</p>
<p>I just want to add that what you mentioned in post #159 doesn’t pass the smell test. I wouldn’t invest with any of these guys.</p>
<p>Another thing that I think needs to be considered about the investment in private equity is the moral dimension of such investments.</p>
<p>Many of these bankruptcies are retail operations. One of the largest was Mervyn’s which was bought by 3 private equity firms including Lubert. The attached story about Mervyn’s shows how private equities commonly approach investments by stripping out the valuable real estate and then bleeding the store operations dry leaving thousands unemployed.</p>
<p>[Mervyn’s</a> suit blames ex-owners for bankruptcy | Deals | Reuters](<a href=“http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSN0450739120080904]Mervyn’s”>http://www.reuters.com/article/innovationNews/idUSN0450739120080904)</p>
<p>I think one reason Universities do not want to let people know where they are investing their money is because people would be rightfully upset with what their donations were supporting.</p>
<p>^Sounds like vultures to me, but vultures do have their place in the cycle of life.</p>
<p>Elle, thats exactly what most of them are-vultures. The next time one of these sanctimonious Universities tries to lecture a company on its business practices I hope someone asks them to explain what they are doing with their own money. The hypocrisy is pretty deafening.</p>
<p>[Stanford</a> Puts $1 Billion in Assets on Block - WSJ.com](<a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125452509356560725.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories]Stanford”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125452509356560725.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLETopStories)</p>
<p>I guess we’ll get an idea of what these private investments are really worth pretty soon.</p>
<p>The geniuses who brought us the fancy financial instruments, the loosening of regulation, the relaxation of oversight; in other words, who set up the conditions which are at the root of the crisis – how many of them are Harvard graduates? What goes around comes around.</p>