What's your opinion of the Carlyle Group?

Answer 1

This is a totally loaded Q for me- so I'm gonna tell yoou some of what I know so that my opinion will be understood. * What I'm going to write could be a bit outdated, could be memory problems (mine) but most of it will be very accurate. I did quote the CG, the rest i have read about in books- papers... over many yrs.

Perhaps I should do some fact checking re: the investors- but I’ll leave that up to you, the reader. And please check out the United Defense's agenda. I think-not sure that the CG- still has 50+% of the UD, ball-park they have sold- let’s say about 12 million shares.

Here’s are just a few names you would know that work for the CG-
George Bush father of bu$h, and so does a huge bunch of retired generals and Cabinet secretaries, like- former Secretary of State James A. Baker III. former Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, whose good friend happens to be Donald Rumsfeld,
Okay- when bu$h started this “war on terrorism” ,Carlyle jumped on the chance for big bucks- they know exactly how. dirty bastards.

They made earned $200 plus million in a month- ONE month, sold shares in, the Army's fifth-largest contractor UDI. The sale got the big bucks on better congressional backing for HUGE defense spending. ONE of theses ???? -- United Defense's base weapon programs. YES WEAPON PROGRAMS.

Here’s the deal- presently. When the bu$h’s admin’s planned the 2002 defense budget, the document was in Congress in June 2001, this included an 11% UP in defense spending, with complete funding for the Crusader. The Carlyle Group grabbed its first payment (dividends) from United Defense in mid Aug.: $280 PLUS million. Can you imagine the greed/ uplifted gross feeling they had by this news, you know, prospects for the company. ~~~~Almost exactly a month later- two airliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers, and another hit the Pentagon. ~~~~SO, bu$h demanded, tricked the world into this so called- war on terrorism, DI stocks were hot as fire! So, five weeks later, the CG took United Defense Industries public.

CG Quote- "We have an obligation to try to achieve the best returns for our investors."
They certainly did in a huge way.

I’ve got allot to say about this but that’s enough. They knew- they all freakin’ knew and have cashed in mega, mega. They are not only war profiteers but the dates- look it up- all add up to they knew when and how this cash was going to roll in. They were prepared months before “ Sept. 11th”
What do I think about them? They are greedy bastards that take advantage of horrible situations- the group has a cush, cush job- feet up on a desk and mange all that money. And NOT just the U.S.A.'s $- other countries as well. Steal, Cheat, pounce when it's "the right time" -
My Answer
at this point, is: The CG- Invested in this "War"
They made/make huge profits from government and conflict how easy to sit back and manage government investments. I’d boycott any investor- Hell, i boycott the US government these days and man are the two partners in HUGE crime. They should be in Prison after being judged in another country, because it would never happen here.

There’s much more-about this corrupt group.

Answer 2

A very suspicious group:

"Critics of the Carlyle Group frequently note its connections to various political figures. Some of the sectors and companies it invests in are highly sensitive to political activity, indeed, its actions may be viewed as a form of political arbitrage. This may create conflicts of interest when political decision makers have their own personal wealth [1] linked to such investments. Unlike most private equity firms which are predominantly located in New York, Boston or around San Francisco, Carlyle is the only large private equity firm located in Washington, DC. Corporate headquarters are on Pennsylvania Avenue, midway between the White House and the Capitol building.

Critics will often refer to Carlyle as a private defense contractor, but this is not completely accurate. It is a private equity firm that owns controlling or partial interests in a portfolio of companies, some of which are contractors for the military (though this is the area for which it is most well known). For example, it lobbied for the XM2001 Crusader artillery project, because one of its portfolio companies, United Defense Industries (UDI), was the prime contractor. Likewise, it has a history of leveraged buyouts in the aerospace and defense industries.

In the book House of Bush, House of Saud, author Craig Unger states that Saudi Arabian interests have given $1.4 billion to firms connected to the Bush family. That figure was quoted by Michael Moore in his film Fahrenheit 9/11. Nearly 90% of the 1.4 billion, about 1.18 billion, refers to Saudi Arabian government contracts awarded to defense contractor BDM in the early to mid 1990s. At that time BDM was owned by the Carlyle Group."