From backing small businesses to expanding rural urgent care access, private equity has helped build America, not break it. Unfortunately, a recent essay from Brendan Ballou, a Department of Justice employee and part-time activist, deploys a tired playbook: blame private equity for broader ills in America and overlook its role in fostering innovation and supporting American communities, businesses, and families.

The author conveniently omits real truths behind private equity’s supposed failures—like the fact that e-commerce sales have nearly tripled over the past decade, with 40% of retail automating in response to these industry trends.

Ballou fails to note that only a small fraction of nursing home investment (only 5%) is sponsored by private equity. What’s more, findings from Duke University and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) suggest that private equity-backed nursing homes “fared better under the COVID-19 pandemic” than peers.

What’s clear is that the author chooses to ignore the facts about private equity – including its track record for supporting small businesses. In fact, in 2022, roughly 85% of private equity-backed businesses were small businesses, generating $240 billion in U.S. GDP.

Entrepreneurship is central to America’s DNA, and private investment is essential to providing small business owners with opportunities to dream, take risks, and succeed.

In communities big and small, private equity bridges critical funding gaps in the U.S. healthcare system. Private equity firms have backed over 900 medical devices and supplies companies and invested nearly $55 billion since just 2020, helping bring lifesaving medicines to market and funding research into diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

The “solutions” Ballou suggests would harm the American economy, shrinking critical investment to vital industries like health care and government programs, and small business. The tax hikes on private equity that he suggests would jeopardize up to 4.9 million jobs, slash funding for government programs by $96 billion, and deplete pension funds of up to $3 billion annually. Existing rules and regulations already provide important safeguards for investors, private funds, and advisors. Unnecessary red tape only hurts small businesses, workers, and retirees across the country who rely on private equity for strong, reliable returns.

While the critics of private equity lean on cherry-picked anecdotes, it’s essential for the facts, backed by reliable data, to support the conversation.

The bottom line

Critics can keep trotting out unsubstantiated attacks and research. Private equity will keep building America.

Drew Maloney is President and CEO of the American Investment Council (AIC).