“Cerberus did not have a clue about the automotive industry. I don’t think anything could have been worse.”

An exposé on the incompetence of Cerberus, one of our favorite private equity crony capitalists. Nothing really new here. A well-written post mortem by the mainstream media. Anyone wonder why the New York Times and other media is in serious financial trouble? Months after Chrysler bankruptcy, we finally see some type of serious journalism. It's pathetic when bloggers write of these coming crises in advance and paid journalists are no where to be found. This is a well-written story but it is useless as a form of actionable intelligence. It is rearview mirror journalism. In fact, I can think of a few more hard-hitting angles on this story that could have been taken. One is to editorialize the role private equity played in destroying the economy with the help of Wall Street. And, let's face it. All journalism has editorial content. The search for facts fits an editorial objective of the writer. Even if it is fact. Additionally, I have concerns that the Chrysler and GM merger was pumped so that financial firms could get out from under their financial obligations and positions rather than for any type of economic benefit to society or these firms.

“It’s hard to believe that any of these firms — including Cerberus — will be viewed as patriots in 10 years,” said John Rogers, a private equity analyst at Moody's Investors Service, “because I don’t think their impact on any of these companies will be seen as so positive for the overall economy."

Patriots? Are you kidding me? Private equity's crony relationship with Wall Street was instrumental in the crisis we see today. In fact this destructive relationship goes back decades.