[mr_important]

Private equity is capitalism. That's the capitalism part of the economy.

[budududuroiu]

Im gonna speculate they were referring to the part of private equity where you buy businesses to load them up with debt to buy more businesses ad nauseum

[terminalshort]

You can't load someone else with debt. That's obviously illegal. When you buy a company it isn't "them" anymore. And the new owners have exactly the same rights to borrow money as the old ones.

[munk-a]

I have no idea why leveraged buyouts are legal. What a bizarre mechanism for acquisition that feels so easy to just shut down with a relatively simple rule.

Restricting a previously purchased business from taking out debt feels harder to regulate, but someone smart could probably figure out a few good rules to stop the majority of abuses.

[triceratops]

That's called a leveraged buyout and isn't restricted to private equity.