Free Republic

Ironically, despite making Mitt Romney’s former company Bain Capital and other private equity firms the target of its latest attack, the Obama campaign held a near-$36,000 per plate fundraising dinner at the home of Tony James, president of the nation’s largest private equity firm, Blackstone Group. Citing the president’s latest Romney-hit-piece, Glenn Beck blasted the hypocrisy shown by the president when it comes to private equity firms. Obama’s condemnation of private equity hinges on the familiar narrative that the industry is renown for commandeering companies and slashing jobs, leaving untold numbers jobless — which is why it is doubly ironic...

No sooner had President Obama released a "Bain Capital Video" which highlights the hatcheting job Mitt Romney did to poor performing companies, that he attended a high roller fundraiser at Black Stone Investment which awarded the President with a cool million bucks at the $36,000 a plate dinner. Note: Black Stone Capital has been responsible for firing untold thousands of workers through various "investment" programs. Here is a record of 800+ who were placed on the chopping block via Black Stone: IN THE TRENCHES How a Blackstone Deal Shook Up a Work Force Layoffs at Travelport, Dividend for Investors; 'On...

What do you get when you mix Democratic fat-cat donations, Big Labor favors, pharmaceutical lobbying and Beltway business as usual? Answer: another toxic half-billion-dollar Barack Obama-approved crony deal. Move over, Solyndra. Here comes Siga-Gate. This latest Chicago-style payoff on your dime involves a dubious smallpox drug backed by a liberal billionaire investor, along with a former union boss who was one of the White House's most frequent visitors. They're the "1 percent" with 100 percent immunity from the selectively outraged Occupier mobs that purport to oppose partisan government bailouts and handouts to privileged corporations. Ronald Perelman is the New York...

A Morgan Stanley property fund failed to make $3.3 billion in debt payments by a deadline on Friday, handing over the keys to a central Tokyo office building to Blackstone and other investors, the largest repayment failure of its kind in Japan. It marks the latest fallout from a series of highly leveraged investments by Morgan Stanley , one of the most aggressive investors in worldwide property markets before the global financial crisis. .. This is the largest repayment failure of debt packaged in CMBS in Japan

St. John of Damascuss Critique of Islam Webmaster note: The following passage is from Saint John’s monumental work, the Fount of Knowledge, part two entitled Heresies in Epitome: How They Began and Whence They Drew Their Origin. It is usually just cited as Heresies. The translator’s introduction points out that Fount of Knowledge is one of the most “important single works produced in the Greek patristic period,…offering as it does an extensive and lucid synthesis of the Greek theological science of the whole period. It is the first great Summa of theology to appear in either the East or the...

The NYPost is reporting that Blackstone's president, Tony James, is throwing a party at his house for Nancy Pelosi. Their sources tell the Post that the party is meant to encourage Pelosi to vote against the proposed tax rate increase on carried interest, the profits people make on money they have invested. Raising taxes on carried interest is a hot topic because carried interests isn't really income, but some people want to tax it as if it were. Currently carried interest is taxed at 15%. The proposed tax rate for carried interest is the same as the income tax rate,...

BOSTON (Reuters) - Taking his private equity firm public paid off big for Blackstone Group LP's Stephen Schwarzman, who became the top-paid chief executive in the United States last year, a title he is likely to retain for some time, according to an analysis released on Thursday. But the surest route to big bucks was running an oil or natural gas company. Their CEOs represented seven of the 10 highest-paid U.S. CEOs in 2008, according to a report by independent research group The Corporate Library. Schwarzman bumped Oracle Corp's Larry Ellison down to No. 2 on the list. They were...

"The rich are different from you and me," wrote Fitzgerald and I suppose they are, but the differences – they wax and wane with the economic tides. Gilded ages come, go, and are reborn on the monsoon cloudbursts of seemingly intangible forces such as globalization, innovation, and favorable tax policy. For the rich to be truly rich and multiply their numbers, they need help. Adept surfers they may be, but like all riders, the wealthy need a seventh wave that allows them to preen their skills and declare themselves masters of their own universe, if only for a moment in...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Blackstone Group said on Tuesday it would buy Hilton Hotels Corp. for about $26 billion in cash. Under terms of the deal, Blackstone will pay $47.50 for each Hilton share.

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Private-equity giant Blackstone Partners, which is in the process of going public, found itself in the sights Thursday of the powerful Senate Finance Committee as top tax writers introduced legislation that would block publicly-traded private-equity and hedge funds from continuing to enjoy favorable tax treatment. The legislation would require publicly-traded partnerships to be treated as corporations for federal tax purposes. Under current law, income distributions for many private-equity funds are taxed at the capital-gains rates of 15% -- well below the top corporate tax rate of 35%. Blackstone, which is expected to hold its initial public offering...

A Blackstone official fed up with the cost of cleaning up after rude teens who urinated into the water supply says the boys should be forced to pay the $40,800 bill. “For these kids to actually break open a hatch on the water tank and do what they did, there has to be some type of punishment that equals the crime,” said Blackstone Selectmen Chairman Charles Sawyer. Two 15-year-old Blackstone boys allegedly got past the fence protecting the Bellingham Road water tower one March night. They cut through barbed wire, made their way to the top, destroyed several pieces of...

Expert Testifies that up to $1.74 Billion Available for Shareholder Recovery FORT WORTH, Texas, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The Mirant Shareholder Rights Group LLC supports expert testimony presented by Anders Maxwell, Equity Committee's witness, during Mirant's valuation hearing, which concluded yesterday. The expert testified that inaccuracies in the Blackstone Group ("Blackstone") valuation report prepared for Mirant Corporation ("Mirant") (OTC: MIRKQ - News) masked at least $1.74 billion of value in its business plan forecasts and used improper methodologies to undervalue its domestic and foreign cash flows. Using Blackstone's own valuation method with accurate and current figures, Mr. Maxwell demonstrated to...

All retroactive laws are unconstitutional. Supposedly, we are protected against such heavy-handed political impositions. Our social compact with government, the United States Constitution, forbids such actions by government. That is, if We the People are willing to enforce the issue. First, we should ask our Representatives and Senators if they intend to honor their oath of office. You know, the one where they swear to uphold, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. . . . Then, ask your Member of Congress to read Article I, Section 9, paragraph 3 of the Constitution, which states: "No Bill of...

When he wrote the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson took a little editorial liberty with the phrase "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Consequently, if we modern Americans are to fully understand our own personal rights and liberties, this requires a little explanation. Back in the days of the Founding Fathers, every family was said to have two well studied books in their library. The most important best seller around 1775, of course, was "The Bible." The second best seller in the Colonies was "Blackstone's Commentaries on The Law," then a new three volume set on English common law....