奧巴馬痛批私募股權(quán)后出席黑石集團(tuán)晚宴惹爭(zhēng)議
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????周一晚間，美國(guó)奧巴馬總統(tǒng)出席了黑石集團(tuán)（Blackstone Group）總裁托尼?詹姆斯在紐約公園大道公寓內(nèi)舉行的晚宴，席間他極力鼓動(dòng)這些華爾街人士，向每位到場(chǎng)者募集了35,800美元。盡管幾個(gè)小時(shí)前，他的競(jìng)選團(tuán)隊(duì)剛剛就米特?羅姆尼經(jīng)營(yíng)貝恩資本（Bain Capital）的經(jīng)歷發(fā)起了首輪正式抨擊——貝恩資本也是一家私募股權(quán)公司，與黑石沒(méi)有什么大不同。真是尷尬！ ????雖然奧巴馬的一位女發(fā)言人謹(jǐn)慎地表示“沒(méi)人……質(zhì)疑整個(gè)私募股權(quán)行業(yè)”，但也指出“有理由質(zhì)疑這樣的價(jià)值觀就是美國(guó)人希望在總統(tǒng)身上看到的嗎？”是的，私募股權(quán)公司，奧巴馬沒(méi)有質(zhì)疑你們賺錢的權(quán)利。他質(zhì)疑的是你們是否堅(jiān)守美國(guó)式價(jià)值觀。 ????幸好，奧巴馬對(duì)貝恩的指責(zé)至少是在此次晚宴之前。他本來(lái)不可能回避那些依賴舉債收購(gòu)公司的支持者們的提問(wèn)（有些被收購(gòu)公司最終倒閉，造成裁員等等）。 ????但問(wèn)題是一位消息人士告訴我說(shuō)，奧巴馬在預(yù)先準(zhǔn)備好的講稿中沒(méi)有具體提到私募股權(quán)，問(wèn)答環(huán)節(jié)中也沒(méi)有與會(huì)者問(wèn)到這個(gè)問(wèn)題。 ????沒(méi)搞錯(cuò)？ ????我同意奧巴馬對(duì)于私募股權(quán)行業(yè)一些普遍做法的指責(zé)（特別是舉債派息，藉此私募股權(quán)公司可以在它們幫助搞垮的公司身上賺錢）。但他周一早間的一些說(shuō)法很有問(wèn)題，周一晚間有機(jī)會(huì)提問(wèn)者卻避而不談。 ????即使這種緘默是出于不想和貴賓起爭(zhēng)執(zhí)，這樣的遷就只會(huì)讓奧巴馬在今秋成為比羅姆尼更強(qiáng)有力的候選人?；蛘?，這些私募股權(quán)人士只是被奧巴馬的善變驚呆了：上一刻奧巴馬還在嚴(yán)厲批評(píng)他們，下一刻就向他們伸手要錢。這有點(diǎn)像吸引一家公司接受杠桿收購(gòu)時(shí)的甜言蜜語(yǔ)，結(jié)果可能會(huì)讓公司分文不名。 ????無(wú)論怎樣，已錯(cuò)失良機(jī)。對(duì)于任何人，都是如此。 ????譯者：早稻米 |
????President Obama last night spent time at the Park Avenue apartment of Blackstone Group (BX) president Tony James, to press the Wall Street flesh and collect $35,800 per plate. It came just hours after his campaign launched its first formal attack on Mitt Romney's record running Bain Capital -- a private equity firm not terribly dissimilar from Blackstone. Talk about awkward! ????While an Obama spokeswoman had been careful to say "no one is... questioning private equity as a whole," she also added that "it's legitimate to question whether those are the values America needs in a president." That's right private equiteers: Obama isn't questioning your right to make money. He's questioning your adherence to American values. ????To his credit, at least Obama's Bain bomb came before the dinner. That way, he wouldn't be able to avoid questions from supporters who happen to make their living by using massive amounts of debt to acquire companies (some of which fail, causing layoffs, etc.). ????But here's the thing: A source tells me that not only did Obama not specifically mention private equity during his prepared remarks, but none of the attendees asked about it during a question-and-answer session. ????Seriously? ????Look, I agree with some of Obama's broader critiques of private equity (particularly of dividend recaps, whereby PE firms can profit on companies they help destroy). But he made some very questionable claims yesterday morning, and no one called him on it when given the chance last night. ????Even if such reticence was born of not wanting to fight with the guest of honor, such give-and-take could only make Obama a stronger candidate vs. Romney come the fall. Or maybe the private equity faithful were simply awe-struck by how Obama could bash them one moment, and take their money the next. Kind of like sweet-talking a company into a leveraged buyout that might later leave it penniless. ????Either way, it was an opportunity lost. For everybody. |
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