Forum Post: Inside the Insiders

I have watched over the past ten years as private equity funds have used the lending rules to manipulate and gain control of small and medium businesses both public and private across the nation. They utilize the tools and techniques of subtle coercion (you would get more support if you fired "x" and hired "y"), "implied" extortion, and minor fraud to perpetuate their strategies which are solely based on "Loan to Own" basis. How often is heard...."we deserve a fair return on our investment"...."you should be thankful"....

   They lurk in the shadows because they know if the truth was ever known and their deeds exposed they would surely face criminal charges. I for one believe it should be a crime to be allowed invest in a fragile or start-up businesses while utilizing another "loosely" related company to establish hedge positions against the investment. Every time I have observed this practice...what follows was ....a series of pump and dump cycles. "pump up the news on the stock" knowing that it is merely a menagerie of lies then subsequently short the stock knowing the real money to be made is on the way down. In addition, this fraternity of lending institutions increases their equity position as they do a merciful "work out" with the remaining employees and owners. If the company fails and people loose their jobs...they don't care...just unlist the company for two years and bring it public with a new spin or simply broker and sale the company's losses from the previous years as tax write offs to other companies looking to shelter their capital gains. 

      It should be illegal to make gains against the destruction of a company. It's easier to destroy than  build. That is the second law of thermodynamics. One company people should look into and investigate is Iroquois capital... and the trail of bloody carcasses they have left behind. They are one of the little known but most active funds on wall street. Sulphco being the biggest heist in the last 50 years. If we don't defend small businesses and the ability to get loans without these predators.....our children will grow up in a third world country. It was once said by a famous author that a society cannot help but have a democracy if they have an emerging middle class.....I say the opposite is true....we have a shrinking middle class...and our class based democracy today is setting like a sun on a cloudy day....slowly growing dim. I firmly believe that is why the "establishment".....the 1%...whatever you call those who who are in power, those who loan the money and use that power for their own benefit....are "nervous". Nervous like the people, business owners, and employees they normally prey upon. People like me...people like you .....and especially those who have played their game....on their level....realize it is truly time for a change. I hope there will be a day when I can say...I was there when private equity became..."Public Knowledge". It's like being a weatherman and knowing a hurricane will hit....how unethical is it to sit by and not only watch the destruction....but have insurance policies that are betting on the destruction...getting wealthy...as those around you drown and families are washed away.

OWS activists on the front lines..... I salute you.....the revolution is starting.....the middle class wants their democracy back.....and my personal message to the Private Equity thugs - "the one thing you have failed to understand and refuse to acknowledge....knowledge is truly power...real power....and you should be nervous"