To me it seems like PE has simply discovered a loophole in the system. We want a system where creating value for people is rewarded, but PE has found a way to legally get the rewards without improving society. Normally this is called a scam or a fraud, and there are laws for standard stuff like taking people's money without giving them what you promised.
For PE however, they've found a way around it, using the machinery available in the economy. For instance, once you are able to pay out a dividend that covers your cost of purchase, whatever comes next doesn't matter a whole lot from an investment point of view. You may have saddled the target with a huge debt, but that's a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose situation. If the firm does ok, PE actually win more. If it goes bankrupt, oh well. PE firm is still doing fine.
The risk is entirely on all the other interested parties: employees and customers.
But because we only have one side of the "created value" balance, all we can really see is some PE guys get paid. We don't see the other side, which is pretty hard to untangle. You can make an argument that everyone is better off with society organized this way, but you can't really ignore that many people seem to think they're worse off in this world.
For PE however, they've found a way around it, using the machinery available in the economy. For instance, once you are able to pay out a dividend that covers your cost of purchase, whatever comes next doesn't matter a whole lot from an investment point of view. You may have saddled the target with a huge debt, but that's a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose situation. If the firm does ok, PE actually win more. If it goes bankrupt, oh well. PE firm is still doing fine.
The risk is entirely on all the other interested parties: employees and customers.
But because we only have one side of the "created value" balance, all we can really see is some PE guys get paid. We don't see the other side, which is pretty hard to untangle. You can make an argument that everyone is better off with society organized this way, but you can't really ignore that many people seem to think they're worse off in this world.