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Workforce

This week, Trump's Department of Education, the department he wants to eliminate, issued a proposed new rule. The department called it "Accountability in Higher Education and Access Through Demand-Driven Workforce Pell: Student Tuition and Transparency System (STATS) and Earnings Accountability." "These proposed changes aim to

The Paramount Concern

Trump and Vance v. The Pope

So it turns out that the Trump administration not only threatens most of the nations of the world, immigrants to this country, members of the American press, United States senators and members of the House of Representatives, federal employees...well, this could get to be a long list... it also

Lunacy and Cowardice

This morning, Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, threatened to destroy an entire civilization. I don't have much to add to what I hope you have no doubt already read about this and about the war and the killing in Iran in general. But

Wall Street Comes to Fayette: Update 4

Hey there! Because I can't let it go, here's another short update on the saga of First Brands, private equity, the private lending business and what all that means for towns. I invite completists to go back to the first post, about little Fayette, Ohio. (I

Pretty Vacant

The Ramones released their debut album fifty years ago this month. The Sex Pistols first performed "Anarchy in the UK" fifty years ago this coming July. But before those momentous events in rock-and-roll history, Rocket from the Tombs was rocking Cleveland. Also fifty years ago this month, Steve

Boots on the Ground

I've been thinking a lot about the noodles in the chicken noodle soup served at the Fairfield County Fair. Every year, for many, many years, the Amanda-Clearcreek schools – or, I guess, the band boosters, or the PTA, or some such school organization – have served up homemade chicken noodle

Private Government

People accuse me of ranting about private equity. Guilty. I've become a dreaded dinner guest because, at some point, maybe after a couple of glasses of wine, I am easily baited into animated monologues about leveraged buyouts, carried interest, and "special dividends." Other guests back away

Will Private Equity Sponsor Your Kid's Little League Team?

A few years ago, I was asked by staffers in then-Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown's office to speak to Democratic Senators at their weekly lunch in the Capitol. Of course, I agreed. Before going I asked the advice of Victor Fleischer, a tax law expert. He'd worked

Manly Men, Meaning, and the Modern Project (Part II)

Have a look at the photo above. I took that in 2015 or 2016 in the showroom of what was comically called Everyware Global, but what every single person in Lancaster, Ohio called Anchor Hocking. Everyware Global was a private equity creation, a mashup of two venerable brands, Anchor Hocking

Manly Men, Meaning, and the Modern Project (Part I)

After my dad graduated from Collinwood High School in Cleveland with grades so marginal that my grandmother blamed them on his pursuit of Betty Francis, the local "sweater girl" (look it up, kids), he went to work in the same tool and die outfit where my grandfather worked.

Wall Street Comes to Fayette: Update 3

There is yet more fallout from the implosion of First Brands, which I wrote about in reporting on the closing of Eagle Machining in Fayette, Ohio. If you recall, First Brands is an umbrella company formed by man named Patrick James, since indicted, whose roll-up of auto parts makers and

Gilded Age: A Tale of To-Day

Last week there was a lot of talk about the Gilded Age and Trump's State of the Union declaration that he has ushered in a new "Golden Age" of America. The Gilded Age, in fact, has been discussed a lot in recent years, often in the

Western Civilization