Quote:On Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show last week, he accused prominent hedge fund manager and long-time Republican donor Paul Singer of “vulture capitalism” — an economic model that, in Carlson’s view, valorizes “ruthless economic efficiency” over American communities.
Specifically, Carlson referenced the small town of Sidney, Nebraska, once the headquarters of the sporting goods store Cabela’s. In the segment, Carlson detailed how Singer’s fund pushed Cabela’s board to sell the company, ultimately merging it with Bass Pro Shops. Following the closure of Cabela’s Sidney headquarters, roughly 2,000 people lost their jobs.

As Carlson argued, “The residents of Sidney didn’t get rich. Just the opposite. Their community was destroyed. The town lost nearly 2,000 jobs. A heartbreakingly familiar cascade began: People left, property values collapsed, and then people couldn’t leave. They were trapped there. One of the last thriving small towns in America went under.” Carlson’s calls for financiers to hold — in his words — “some obligation to the country around them” mirrors a viewpoint increasingly shared by some conservative commentators, one that’s challenging right-wing orthodoxies about the role of the state in public and private life.