Brave New Films held a screening of “The War on Greed: Starring the Homes of Henry Kravis” this morning in front of the KKR founder’s 625 Park Avenue apartment in an attempt to shame him into…something. Unfortunately, director Robert Greenwald didn’t do any recon before planning the event, and was disappointed to find out that Hank is currently on vacation in Palm Beach, at his 15,000 square foot home on North Lake Way, and would not be able to catch the flick**. Oh well. This is why they invented DVDs, and the WGA worked so hard on those sandwich boards.
The movie is a Cribs-style look at Kravis’s five homes, which he’s undoubtedly already familiar with, and includes some interviews with a bunch of people who make less money per year than the buyout king does in an hour-- $51,369--for shock value. (Not too much shock or value, though, because there are no interviews with anyone who makes significantly less than HK, meaning this girl). No sequel starring Stephen Schwarzman (‘s houses) has been planned, because apparently SS's homes don't have the height to make them leading men material.
Dan Primack’s problems with the film are that Greenwald “tries to provide some “substantive” context, in a simplistic and damning definition of private equity,” he’s “stuck in the 1980s and early 1990s,” and his “definition of PE fails to point out that some PE-backed firms add employees and increase value for the shareholders – which happen to be public pensioners, universities and charitable foundations.” Mine are that it it doesn't make me want to hate Kravis, it makes me (and the youth of America I watched it with) want to emulate him. And also, that there weren’t any shots of the gift-wrapping room in HK’s house in the Dominican Republican. Other than that, good movie.
The War on Greed [PEHub]
A Movie and Protesters Single Out Henry Kravis [NYT]
*The best part of every episode of Cribs
**KKR wouldn't confirm this but I sense it's true.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 4:29PM
http://www.2girls1cup.com - not for the weak of stomach, but you'll be glad you did it
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 4:36PM
http://www.2girls1cup.com - not for the weak of stomach, but you'll be glad you did it
Posted by ANONY_MOUSE , Dec 06, 2007 4:36PM
It doesn't help that Kravis is "the most evil looking dude in business right now". That said, fuck these stalking anti-American pinko communists.
Posted by slimjim , Dec 06, 2007 4:38PM
he looks like the guy that asked the little kids to pee in a cup for him. he would pay them five dollars and when the kids left he would drink it.
Posted by Gordon Gekko , Dec 06, 2007 4:41PM
This country is turning into a bunch of pink-commies who don't do anything except for whine. Hey buddy, if you have time to make a lame "documentary" maybe you have some time to get a higher education and actually learn about capital markets. When was the last time this guy stood in the welfare line? I'm guessing last week.
Posted by AJ , Dec 06, 2007 4:43PM
That was the most idiotic, simplistic definition of private equity that I've ever heard... I don't know where to begin...
Posted by pierre , Dec 06, 2007 4:44PM
God bless henry kravis and fuck the crypto-socialists like this director. if you don't like individualism and the chance to make a lot of money, then try living in la France.
Posted by Anonymous , Dec 06, 2007 4:45PM
Apparently Henry Kravis costs taxpayers trillions? -----
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137732992/bclid1130906945/bctid1334428860
Posted by slimjim , Dec 06, 2007 4:49PM
the guys voice in the video reminds me of a movie i saw were two men were docking.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 4:50PM
Greed is good. Commies are bad.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 4:51PM
who is ron paul?
Posted by pierre , Dec 06, 2007 4:51PM
Robert Greenwald's (the director) on CNBC right now, and shockingly he sounds like a raging pederast.
Posted by slimjim , Dec 06, 2007 5:01PM
Ron Paul stared in a movie called Zoo. It is about true love. That's how he became a house hold name.
Posted by To The Hilt , Dec 06, 2007 5:03PM
Didn't Ron Paul play Opie on the Andy Griffith Show?
Posted by Anon , Dec 06, 2007 5:04PM
Did this make anyone else hate poor (using the term very loosely) people? like alot?
Posted by well hung , Dec 06, 2007 5:08PM
@ to the hilt: that's a common mistake. he actually first appeared on Mr Ed, where his role was to masturbate Mr Ed and freeze his semen for artificial insemination.
Posted by slimjim , Dec 06, 2007 5:12PM
Well hung is half right but it was not for Artificial Insemination it was because Alan Young used the semen as Toothpaste
Posted by Dagny Taggart , Dec 06, 2007 5:15PM
Who is John Galt?
Posted by L. Craig , Dec 06, 2007 5:21PM
Where can I get this horse semen? I've been wanting to experiment outside of the usual man-on-man sex in public restrooms.
Horse semen does not make you gay.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 5:25PM
Looks like "Bravenew Films" is in need of a private equity buyout.
Posted by slimjim , Dec 06, 2007 5:31PM
If you want some horse milk, go to your local farmer and tell him you want to rent the horse for a day. After you pay, get a homeless man to present in front of it. The horse will do the deed and you will get your sweet milk. Or so i have heard.
Posted by LowlyLawyer , Dec 06, 2007 5:32PM
Will one of you PE guys please place a call to this guy telling him that you're PE firm would like to purchase his production company, and record it, so that you can make it public and prove what an assbag this guy really is?
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 5:35PM
nice one L. Craig haha
Posted by 2stopShop , Dec 06, 2007 6:00PM
"... I'd open up the doors and invite as many people in there as I could."
-I bet you would.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 6:09PM
Doesn't he pay more in taxes than everyone else in that "movie" combined?
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 6:41PM
WTF was that horseshit?
A dog with downs syndrome would have better logic than these fucktards.
Ingesting too much semen obviously affects the brain in harmful ways.
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 6:49PM
wow, Michael Moore films are less biased than this tripe.
Posted by rand , Dec 06, 2007 6:50PM
hahahahahah. Why is everyone getting so pissed? This was the most comical shit I've ever seen. I loved the Christmas jingles in the background after they asked "what would you do with his house."
Posted by Short Morality , Dec 06, 2007 11:39PM
Don't bitch, get rich!
Posted by , Dec 06, 2007 11:49PM
ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
Posted by Andrew S , Dec 06, 2007 11:52PM
this is so simplistic.
hilarious.
and the answers to "what would you do if you lived in henry kravis' house over the holidays?"...i love how the only HONEST answer came from the kid who said he would buy all the video games in the world.
Posted by Johnny Bravo , Dec 07, 2007 9:08AM
Anon 05:04 PM is a fucking idiot.
Seriously though, the working class often gets the shitty end of the stick when a PE firm ravages a company - at least that's what I've witnessed. Wages stagnate and healthcare is cut while the PE firm takes out debt on the company to pay itself fat dividends before taking the company public again. There were no improvements to the business, so tell me what "great value" the PE firm provided?
Instead of demonizing Kravis for simply being rich (who doesn't want to be rich?), this documentary might have focused on exposing the many examples where PE firms have filled their pockets by raping middle management and the working class.
Posted by Anonymous , Dec 07, 2007 9:18AM
Ron Paul invented Mikes Hard Lemonade
Posted by PE is busted , Dec 07, 2007 9:23AM
In the current credit crunch PE is running out of ideas besides launching an IPO. It's a racket. It made some people very rich, and some people very miserable, but hey, that's the street for you. Let the Chinese buy those IPOs, they have dollars to burn.
Posted by John E. , Dec 08, 2007 11:45AM
As the Research Director for Brave New Films; I read with amusement the snarky and inaccurate piece above. But what would one expect from the WSJ? They survive at the behest of their wealthy Wall Street and PE enablers.
We deal in facts though, not pandering to corporate interests and sometimes the wealthy and powerful just don't care for the facts.
The fact is that we could have cared less that Kravis was away, we knew it and that mattered not.
The fact is that someone who makes billions pays a 15% capital gains rate on much of their income when a firefighter, police officer or teacher often pays 35%.
The fact is that tens of thousands of employees of LBO aquired companies do lose their jobs and health benefits.
The fact is that PE firms like KKR saddle companies with billions in debt they didn't have before.
The fact is that the tax breaks that KKR and other PE firms realize, translates nto less money for municipalities to spend on public works projects like schools, road maintenance and public safety.
Psst! Given the publicity though, I think this campaign has worked like gangbusters! Did you see Brave New Films founder and director Robert Greenwald on CNBC's The Closing Bell with Maria Baritromo? Look on the BNF site or YouTube; it was an outstanding dialogue.
Well thanks WSJ and stay tuned, this is just the start of a nulti-faceted campaign that will be breaking throughout the year highlighting how PE firms are bad for Americans and America. Lot's more to come!
Posted by John E. , Dec 08, 2007 12:03PM
Correction: Previous post to read Wall Street (WS) not WSJ.
Posted by toronto ibanker , Dec 10, 2007 11:32AM
"PE firms are bad for Americans and America". I have never experienced such a (clearly) uneducated comment made with such simplistic backup. There has always been private capital from the beginning of time and there always will be private capital - whether it is chanelled though a PE fund, or through some other conduit. If employees are laid off in an operating partnership, it is only because management did not do their jobs and the firm needs to run leaner. After all, if investors are putting their capital at risk, they deserve a reward. Why should they pay the salaries of those who are redundant? That is the governments problem and part of the reason why we all pay insanely high taxes. Perhaps we should all live in a communist system where everyone gets paid the same and no work gets done. Oh wait, that mostly happens in Canada anyway (the ever expanding reach of overpaid, and underworked government jobs).
Posted by J. Swift , Dec 10, 2007 1:44PM
For the record:
The rumors about Slimjim and children are unproven.
The rumors about Slimjin and lawsuits by parents are un proven.
The rumors about Slimjim and his mother and grandmother are unproven.
The rumors about Slimjim and AIDS are unproven.
Posted by , Jan 18, 2008 3:50AM
Now do you understand WHY we need a fairtax?
Can you fathom the lengths a KKR or a or a walmart, or a PE firm may go to squash fairtax?
THE income tax was supposed to get the rich guys, but we all got hurt. while the rich send their money overseas, to come back again as 'domestic branded foreign made products' made in 'china/europe/malaysiz/singapre(which is only 20 miles from malaysia)"
the income tax only shoots ourselves in the foot.
support fairtax.
Posted by , Jan 18, 2008 3:54AM
oh...and the rumors about slimjims and abnormal virility are true.
erections that last longer than four hours must be addressed, however.