In April 2005, Mr. Franz Müntefering, Chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the dominant party in Germany’s ruling coalition, described private equity funds and hedge funds as “swarms of locusts that fall on companies, stripping them bare before moving on.” He told a German newspaper that “some financial investors don’t waste any thoughts on the people whose jobs they destroy.” Later on, the German press published an internal SPD memo listing a dozen “locusts” (including Goldman Sachs and Kohlberg…