Private Equity is Killing the American Economy, with Josh Kosman

Josh Kosman has been covering the financial industry for twenty-five years. He is a reporter for the New York Post, a former editor at Mergermarket.com and a former senior writer for The Deal and Buyouts Newsletter. 

Josh also literally wrote the book on private equity – his The Buyout of America: How Private Equity is Destroying Jobs and Killing the American Economy, published in 2009, made a big political impact at the time, with Obama advisor David Axelrod reportedly using it as the basis for his attacks on Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential campaign.

Private equity and mergers. The FTC and DOJ are, according to Capitol Forum reporting, taking a harder stance on private equity firms as potential divestiture buyers for assets companies are proposing to sell in their attempts to cure anticompetitive mergers.

Private equity and rising interest rates. Josh’s website details how “Moody’s in May 2020 reported that two-thirds of the companies with the lowest debt ratings” were private equity-owned. “Standard & Poor’s in February 2020 reported $1.5 trillion in speculative-grade US corporate debt matures through 2024…Roughly 60 percent of the money has been borrowed by private equity firm-owned companies. With interest rates rising this poses a big risk.” Josh adds.

Private equity’s political power. Josh is also expert on private equity’s political influence, and has written about Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s (D-AZ) support for the industry and President Joe Biden’s ties to Carlyle Group Co-Founder David Rubenstein.