Jacobin | Bettmann Archive/Getty
Defenders of the private equity industry cast it as a bold force driving economic dynamism. But its record of destroying public services is no accident: private equity is essentially an elite project to profit from asset-stripping. Above: Nixon’s Treasury Secretary, William E. Simon, the “father of private equity,” saw his turn to asset-stripping and leverage buyouts as a moral crusade to restore the United States to its old vigor and dynamism.