When they brag about Staples and other successes, they are not talking about private equity, they are talking about "venture capital". The author does a good job differentiating.

a very very few pocket the proceeds - with government assistance - for sending the work overseas and/or shutting them completely.

In the past, vulture capitalists used to weed out the weak and that was probably a good thing. However, Bain didn't pick on the weak, it picked on weak and strong alike.

1. Find a company, any company, that is possible to purchase.

2. Purchase the company.

3. Borrow against the company, including its pension plan.

4. Send the borrowed cash offshore to stash it, or use it to
buy another company.

5. Sell off the most profitable parts of the company, if
possible, and decimate the workforce to squeeze out
anything left.

6. Cut the company loose to declare bankruptcy.

7. Watch the money roll in from the offshore accounts.

8. Congratulate oneself for being "smart."

In the meantime, displaced workers and shafted stockholders alike were more likely to end up living on the taxpayer dollar while Bain paid little to no tax on its stashed profit. Every company they destroyed made this country just a little poorer.

Hey, it's really easy to get ahead if you throw out the rules of common decency and fair play, if you have no regard for anything but your own profit, and if you buy enough people at the SEC to look the other way. Limbaugh will pull the wool over the eyes of anybody stupid enough to listen to him and I'm sorry to say a lot of people are stupid enough to listen to him.