The New York Times today has an article about the Carlyle Group, a 12 billion dollar private equity firm that has built its business by hiring lots of former government big shots and then investing in businesses that are associated with government (like the defense industry and telecommunications). The chairman of the company was Secretary of Defense in the Reagan administration, and George Bush, James Baker, and John Major are also on the payroll. Back when Dubya was a business failure (before his sweetheart Rangers deal), the company put him on the board of one of their companies to help him out. I’m not sure what to say about this, other than repeating the old saw: “them that has, gets.”