Background on the Carlyle Group, lots of links on its history...

[JackRiddler]

KICK IF YOU APPRECIATE!

Carlyle Group

GWB had his independent fortune made largely thanks to Carlyle investments in his old companies Spectrum7 and Caterair, which didn't do too well as businesses except he came off well.

Bush Sr. until a couple of years after 9/11 was a hired consultant who was paid fees in the hundreds of thousands to meet with Saudis on behalf of Carlyle. It's said he has a big stake in the company's funds. (Remember, it's a private equity firm - go find the books if you can!)

The Bin Ladin family was involved in the group and pulled out after Sept. 11 when the Wall Street Journal revealed that Ladins and Bushes shared a financial interest.

Carlyle was represented by James Baker III's law firm and was chaired by ex-CIA and former Reagan-Bush defense secretary Frank Carlucci (who was Rumsfeld's college roommate and friend of many years), as well as a number of other international cronies like John Major and Fidel Ramos. It's the ultimate revolving-door company.

The book you want to read on this is The Iron Triangle by Dan Briody. Goes into all of the above and Carlyle's CIA connections and interests in the war industries and the oil kingdoms.

Briody's groundbreaking article from redherring.com on Carlyle after 9/11 is no longer available at the original but archived here:
http://propagandamatrix.com/carlyles_way.html

Carlyle's way

Making a mint inside "the iron triangle" of defense, government, and industry.

By Dan Briody
January 8, 2002

Original Link: http://www.redherring.com/vc/2002/0111/947.html

Like everyone else in the United States, the group stood transfixed as the events of September 11 unfolded. Present were former secretary of defense Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, and representatives of the bin Laden family. This was not some underground presidential bunker or Central Intelligence Agency interrogation room. It was the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, D.C., the plush setting for the annual investor conference of one of the most powerful, well-connected, and secretive companies in the world: the Carlyle Group. And since September 11, this little-known company has become unexpectedly important.

That the Carlyle Group had its conference on America's darkest day was mere coincidence, but there is nothing accidental about the cast of characters that this private-equity powerhouse has assembled in the 14 years since its founding. Among those associated with Carlyle are former U.S. president George Bush Sr., former U.K. prime minister John Major, and former president of the Philippines Fidel Ramos. And Carlyle has counted George Soros, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdul Aziz Alsaud of Saudi Arabia, and Osama bin Laden's estranged family among its high-profile clientele. The group has been able to parlay its political clout into a lucrative buyout practice (in other words, purchasing struggling companies, turning them around, and selling them for huge profits)--everything from defense contractors to telecommunications and aerospace companies. It is a kind of ruthless investing made popular by the movie Wall Street, and any industry that relies heavily on government regulation is fair game for Carlyle's brand of access capitalism. Carlyle has established itself as the gatekeeper between private business interests and U.S. defense spending. And as the Carlyle investors watched the World Trade towers go down, the group's prospects went up.

In running what its own marketing literature spookily calls "a vast, interlocking, global network of businesses and investment professionals" that operates within the so-called iron triangle of industry, government, and the military, the Carlyle Group leaves itself open to any number of conflicts of interest and stunning ironies. For example, it is hard to ignore the fact that Osama bin Laden's family members, who renounced their son ten years ago, stood to gain financially from the war being waged against him until late October, when public criticism of the relationship forced them to liquidate their holdings in the firm. Or consider that U.S. president George W. Bush is in a position to make budgetary decisions that could pad his father's bank account. But for the Carlyle Group, walking that narrow line is the art of doing business at the murky intersection of Washington politics, national security, and private capital; mastering it has enabled the group to amass $12 billion in funds under management. But while successful in the traditional private-equity avenue of corporate buyouts, Carlyle has recently set its sites on venture capital with less success. The firm is finding that all the politicians in the world won't help it identify an emerging technology or a winning business model.

(...)

Video The Iron Triangle: Carlyle Group exposed.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7094545816220336237

More links:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3309.htm

http://www.buzzflash.com/perspectives/2002/Bush-Carlyle.html

"Meet the Carlyle Group"
http://www.hereinreality.com/carlyle.html

[Angela Shelley]

1. Thanks for the links!

[kirby]

2. Something I want to know...

Read:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=home&sid=auNeEFKmqoUI

and in the article it says:

"Carlyle Group said in a statement it had worked ``exhaustively'' with the fund to negotiate new financing.

``Carlyle took extraordinary measures to help CCC manage through its liquidity crisis,'' the e-mailed statement said. ``Unfortunately, extreme volatility and market movement during this liquidity crisis created a hostile environment for CCC and similar types of vehicles.''

Carlyle's fund has said its so-called agency debt has an ``implied guarantee'' from the U.S. government. "

What is the implied guarantee? I don't understand!

[happydreams]

8. Damn good question. This same phrase was used back

the 20's for decieving investors into thinking the US government was guaranteeing loans to Germany. The loans were "cleared" though the State Dept., for purportedly not violating Versaille Treaty stipulations, NOT for their investment quality. This confusion led to a flood of investments in Germany that were very risky and later proved fraudulent. FDR called it a "speculative swindle" and a primary cause of the crash of 29'. His promise to investigate IMHO led to, among other things, the coup attempt.

[kirby]

10. From wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agency_bond

"A security, usually a bond, issued by a U.S. government-sponsored agency. The offerings of these agencies are backed by the government, but not guaranteed by the government since the agencies are private entities. Such agencies have been set up in order to allow certain groups of people to access low cost financing e.g. students and home buyers. Some prominent issuers of agency securities are Student Loan Marketing Association (Sallie Mae), Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). Agency securities are usually exempt from state and local taxes, but not federal tax. also called agency security."

So has Carlyle Group been given some type of GSE / special status to enable it to borrow funds from the Treasury at low low rates?

[happydreams]

9. delete

[JackRiddler]

11. no, kick!

[NightWatcher]

3. Bill Clinton privatized the Investigations department of OPM in 1996 (and CG bought it in 1999)

which handles the background and suitability investigations for anyone and everyone with a government security clearance (secret, top secret, sci.....). The Carlyle Group bought controlling interest of that new private company/former government agency USIS in 1999. Carlyle sold controlling interest in USIS in May 2007 to a 'step-sister' of Carlyle.

From 1999 to 2007 (and beyond) Carlyle had access and control to all information regarding individuals with the highest levels of security clearances throughout the military, government, and private sectors. Access to sensitive information, people, places and things between was given to people who under OPM guidelines were not eligible for that access. The FACT that the CG was holding it's annual investor meeting on the morning of 9/11 is a coincidence to some....

[JackRiddler]

5. That's right! Forgot, it's in Briody's book and...

it's an incredible coup - they bought the inside personal goods on everyone in government. It's incredible, isn't it?

This may explain why they feel they've got a special bail-out privilege from the government - they think they are the government.

[NightWatcher]

6. Um, they ARE the government...Oh the stories I'll never tell

Al Gore (the patron saint of DU, who turned his back on us to make money with another venture capital fund) awarded USIS (the newly privatized arm of the government that the CG bought anc controlled) with his "Golden Hammer Award" for efficiency while USIS was outside of govt contract specs. Had they been merely a private contractor, they would have lost the contracts, but with their "friends in high places" they were allowed to continue to make money (instead of provide a quality product).

I'm shutting up now

[Make7]

4. FYI - that Dan Briody article can also be found in the Internet Archive.

 
http://www.redherring.com/vc/2002/0111/947.html">http://web.archive.org/web/20020112005148/http://www.redherring.com/vc/2002/0111/947.html

- Make7

[JackRiddler]

7. thank you.

[JackRiddler]

12. kick for evening crowd

[JackRiddler]

13. The kick to recommend ratio is too low!

Kicks are actually more important. But thanks to 17 R's!