Sen. Warren Is Still Wrong on Private Equity
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and several of her anti-capitalist colleagues are once again showing a lack of understanding for how wealth is created and demonstrating disdain for private equity investments. They believe the government knows how to create jobs better than the private sector.
On September 24, 2026, The Stop Wall Street Looting Act was introduced by Sen. Warren as S. 5512 and Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) as H.R. 10595. The legislation restricts dividends, redemptions, and buybacks; imposes a 100 percent surtax on fees; and limits deductions. If the legislation is enacted into law, it would undermine a vital industry that makes a significant contribution to the U.S. economy.
Private equity investments are typically made in privately held companies that are not traded on the public stock exchanges. According to Ernst & Young’s March 2025 report on the contribution of private equity to the economy, in 2024, 8 percent of nonfarm employment was provided by the sector, with 13.3 million workers receiving wages and benefits of $1.1 trillion. Approximately 85 percent were small businesses with a median of 72 employees. The private equity sector directly generates $2 trillion in gross domestic product (GDP), which was approximately 7 percent of U.S. GDP in 2022, and paid $304 billion in federal, state, and local taxes.
Sen. Warren claimed in the announcement of the bill’s introduction that the legislation would stop private equity from “jacking up prices and leaving businesses and workers in the dust” and “takes a stand against private equity’s legal looting and puts power back in the hands of workers and consumers.” Rep. Pocan said, “this bill will finally hold these predatory firms accountable and protect workers from being plundered by corporate greed.”
As Citizens Against Government Waste noted when Sen. Warren introduced the same legislation in 2021, “the investments made by private equity funds make substantial contributions to public retirement systems in states like California and New York, as well as other funds like the Massachusetts Pension Reserve Investment Management Board. In other words, the very people that Sen. Warren and her supporters in the crusade against private equity claim to be helping, including workers at companies like Dunkin Donuts, Jiffy Lube, and Popeyes, along with retired janitors, teachers, and state and local workers, would all be hurt if her legislation was to become law.”
Sen. Warren and her anti-capitalist colleagues on Capitol Hill are renewing their fight against a vital industry and showing dangerous disdain for the small businesses and middle-class families that are the foundation of the economy. If private equity is undercut and investment dries up, the people the supporters of this bill claim to be protecting would be faced with more government control and intervention into every industry, higher costs, and less money for their retirement.
