I bought a half-way decent ball of acrylic yarn in one when I was a teenager 30 years ago. Acrylic's still super cheap, the equivalent skein's only about $4-5 these days.Or you know, 4 or 5 times as expensive
Wait. So like Elon, they "bought" the business and made the business pay for the buying of it.
How the fuck is that a thing that happens? I mean, if I bought something I am pretty sure I could not demand someone pay me back right off for buying it and then still expect to make money.
That this practice is even legal is one of the most destructive things in the economy. Even worse, the money they use for the initial buyout is also usually borrowed, so the vulture capitalists doing this have little if any of their own assets at stake.
In short: by having rich friends, I'm able to borrow a bunch of investor money, buy a company, transfer the debt owed the investors onto the company I just bought, which (since it is now deeply in dept) I then declare bankrupt and sell off for parts and charge hefty fees for the restructuring. The investors get back their money, I make a huge profit on what little of my own money I put in, and a somewhat struggling but otherwise healthy company is destroyed, ruining dozens or hundreds or thousands of livelihoods.
This was, incidentally, how Mitt Romney made his millions.
I got about a third of the way through Robyn’s sluethy article before I guessed the punchline. The classic technique of “blame anyone and everything else for the problems except the actual scuzzy rich capitalists creating them” keeps getting played over and over for one reason only: it works!
We did like our local 99 Cents Only store, though, even if by the end they were selling things for upwards of $8 sometimes (and only sometimes labeling things as to their prices, which didn't used to be an issue). Dunno why they couldn't just rebrand to the $1.99 Only store, but whatever. They still sold decent stuff sometimes - albeit, with the rise of Grocery Outlet, not as exciting for food as it used to be.
Private equity is the result of too much low cost money and stupid. PE is the Flip N' Sell of the business world. As money gets tighter, PE firms will have to change or die. I prefer die.
Great article as alwa, Robyn. I don’t know what Salon Selectives smells like. But now I am curious whether Herbal Essence still smells like it did when I was in college.
“Pert” had a memorable scent also. Somewhere between Irish springs and Crest toothpaste if I’m remembering correctly. I’m sure all those chems they used were not dangerous in any way.
Mitt Romney, Bain, and others do this crap all the time, leaving a trail of destroyed businesses across America. Why it's not illegal, I don't understand.
One of my favorite things growing up. The basement aisles of the local Woolworth's were filled with cheap, gaudy plastic toys of all kinds. It was a place guaranteed to delight an 8-year-old.
We had a place called “MacGregor’s 5 & Dime” that for years was the go to place for all things cheap and kitsch.
As one Halloween was approaching my Mom and I were perusing the aisles for costume inspirations and she unearthed a famously birth-marked skull cap titled “Gorbachev Pate.” Hard to say if the concept or the execution was funnier. Another afternoon of free/cheap entertainment!
Well the top 1% wants to make sure we all clearly understand that asking for higher wages never ever results in you getting ahead. Let them eat Tastykake-
Vulture capitalists strike again.
Related:
https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/
someone created a petition to #BringBackThe99 and it's getting traction. maybe the rumors of it coming back are true?? http://bringbackthe99.org
I bought a half-way decent ball of acrylic yarn in one when I was a teenager 30 years ago. Acrylic's still super cheap, the equivalent skein's only about $4-5 these days.Or you know, 4 or 5 times as expensive
Wait. So like Elon, they "bought" the business and made the business pay for the buying of it.
How the fuck is that a thing that happens? I mean, if I bought something I am pretty sure I could not demand someone pay me back right off for buying it and then still expect to make money.
It's so fucking shady
That this practice is even legal is one of the most destructive things in the economy. Even worse, the money they use for the initial buyout is also usually borrowed, so the vulture capitalists doing this have little if any of their own assets at stake.
In short: by having rich friends, I'm able to borrow a bunch of investor money, buy a company, transfer the debt owed the investors onto the company I just bought, which (since it is now deeply in dept) I then declare bankrupt and sell off for parts and charge hefty fees for the restructuring. The investors get back their money, I make a huge profit on what little of my own money I put in, and a somewhat struggling but otherwise healthy company is destroyed, ruining dozens or hundreds or thousands of livelihoods.
This was, incidentally, how Mitt Romney made his millions.
You misspelled Rmoney.
Ta, Robyn. I loathe and detest vulture capitalism.
I got about a third of the way through Robyn’s sluethy article before I guessed the punchline. The classic technique of “blame anyone and everything else for the problems except the actual scuzzy rich capitalists creating them” keeps getting played over and over for one reason only: it works!
It's the truth, also too
We did like our local 99 Cents Only store, though, even if by the end they were selling things for upwards of $8 sometimes (and only sometimes labeling things as to their prices, which didn't used to be an issue). Dunno why they couldn't just rebrand to the $1.99 Only store, but whatever. They still sold decent stuff sometimes - albeit, with the rise of Grocery Outlet, not as exciting for food as it used to be.
Well, given the choice between Dollar Store and the desert, I'd have to give sand a try.
The biggest single expense these stores have is rent. Not wages.
And if the profits were being plundered to pay off debt, they were never going to be able to re-invest in making them more profitable.
Private equity is the result of too much low cost money and stupid. PE is the Flip N' Sell of the business world. As money gets tighter, PE firms will have to change or die. I prefer die.
A quick and simple death. Marlon approves.
Why quick or simple? I prefer slow and agonizingly complex.
Slow and agonizingly complex has a tendency to shit on powerless people on the way down.
Perhaps. OK....Fast and indescribably painful 😇
Really, they should have let themselves be defeated by Dollar General, then sued to recover the costs of war.
Sadly, they could only recover $1
So a penny in profits!
Great article as alwa, Robyn. I don’t know what Salon Selectives smells like. But now I am curious whether Herbal Essence still smells like it did when I was in college.
And yes, private equity ruins everything.
“Pert” had a memorable scent also. Somewhere between Irish springs and Crest toothpaste if I’m remembering correctly. I’m sure all those chems they used were not dangerous in any way.
I never did smell Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific.
I'll see your Herbal Essence and raise you Love's Fresh Lemon
Mitt Romney, Bain, and others do this crap all the time, leaving a trail of destroyed businesses across America. Why it's not illegal, I don't understand.
They should have been warned by the demise of 33 Cents Only, followed by 66 Cents Only.
The five and dime was actually a thing at one point.
By the 1960s, our local five and dime changed their sign to 5c-10c-25c.
One of my favorite things growing up. The basement aisles of the local Woolworth's were filled with cheap, gaudy plastic toys of all kinds. It was a place guaranteed to delight an 8-year-old.
Ours sold goldfish and budgies, so while my mom was looking at underwear I could go look at the fish and birds.
We had a place called “MacGregor’s 5 & Dime” that for years was the go to place for all things cheap and kitsch.
As one Halloween was approaching my Mom and I were perusing the aisles for costume inspirations and she unearthed a famously birth-marked skull cap titled “Gorbachev Pate.” Hard to say if the concept or the execution was funnier. Another afternoon of free/cheap entertainment!
Well the top 1% wants to make sure we all clearly understand that asking for higher wages never ever results in you getting ahead. Let them eat Tastykake-
If corporations are people, too, when do we start executing them?
Forestvillain, I love you.
Where have you been? We’ve been talking about Romney, Bain and the guys who executed the 99 cent stores.
I'm so glad you find the voices in my head entertaining!
The above-mentioned, along with many others, are the executions that just may save us...
I don't have any 99 cent stores near me but I have a Daiso, a Japanese 99 Yen store.
That place is amazing, but I couldn't live on washi tape and cat-shaped screen cleaners.