Exposing The Scourge Of Private Equity | Brendan Ballou | TMR

Brendan Ballou, author of Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America, joins Emma in discussing private equity's role in American business. In "Plunder," Brendan Ballou exposes the workings of private equity firms like Blackstone, Carlyle, and KKR, revealing how they have transformed American businesses by increasing prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, and shifting resources from productive to unproductive sectors of the economy. Ballou demonstrates how private equity firms acquire various businesses, including retailers, medical practices, prisons, nursing homes, and mobile-home parks, often using minimal of their own capital while avoiding responsibility for the resulting debt and liabilities. He highlights the complicity of government entities in enabling these practices and offers an agenda for reining in the industry to prevent further harm to communities and businesses.

#SamSeder #EmmaVigeland #MajorityReport #politics #news #progressive #leftist #democrats #liberal

CHECK OUT MORE from the MR crew:

OTHER LINKS:

[freedomfighter]

It's shocking & disgusting to hear about all the legal fuckery hedge funds are allowed to engage in to avoid responsibility for the financial havoc they wreak. I'll definitely buy his book.

[wendigomoon]

This more or less happened to my uncle. He worked as a public servant at what was a government agency until deregulation in the 90s transferred him to a privatized company (even though they were still getting paid taxpayers dollars thru govt. contracts). That private company got bought by a private equity firm in the early 2000s and right before he reached retirement they filed for bankruptcy and it took a class action lawsuit and legal battle spanning several years for the workers to salvage some semblance of their pensions, it screwed up his retirement plans big time.

[samuelrosander]

Private Equity firms: 1/25 of our economy, 100% monster/vampire, 100% a feature of capitalism.

[Boxcarclasssoldier]

I've worked for Senior Living, Assisted Living, Memory Care companies that were owned by private equity. It is absolutely disgusting what these operations can get away with!

[rogerkeinengel]

Private equity is META-CAPITALISM. If Meyer Lansky were alive, he would have started a private equity firm.

[henryjumbohead]

Great discussion. Highly informative.

[dankprole]

Glad to hear my tiny pension is about to get decimated 😢

[phillipphil]

Thanks for your work, it's a real public service. Will buy the book

[visualonestudio]

Have you ever watched an interview and the host asks the guest a question and the host just keeps rambling on and on? Not Brendan! His answers are great but each time he just stops. I'm like "keep going!" I want to hear more. Kudos to Emma who had such great followup questions and really expanded on this very interesting topic. She's a great interviewer and Brendan is a great guest. They left me wanting more.

[rebeccarittenhouse]

None of this really makes any sense. Citizens cant pick a dollar off the sidewalk without getting arrested for it. Yet hear you are saying that private equity is literally allowed to defraud pension and union funds.

[andrewhefner]

It's been widely know for a long time the motivations and methods of these private equity takeovers. So, why do these companies agree to an acquisition that will almost certainly lead to the company's pillaging and destruction? Especially the small privately held companies, what is their incentive to do this?

[takesallkindscomedy]

The show Succession end of season 1 + season 2 is largely about private equity, casting it in a sharp, brutal light. Good stuff. I didn’t know what private equity meant til I watched Succ

[ogawasanjuro]

"Friendly's" got taken down, too!?!??!
I remember it well. :(

[cbbcbb]

Does his book explain how he did his research?

[MarkKoerner-cc]

I've never figured out what "private equity" means. A lot of people invest in companies that are not publicly traded. Say, a company that owns three gas stations and a tire store. Is that company "private equity"? If not, why not? How big does it have to be to qualify as "private equity"? Or how many investors does it have to have? 10? 100? 1000? Or is "private equity" any fund that calls itself that?

[tomahawkchunker]

If I could buy a boat on loan, raid shipping fleets to pay off that loan, and high five the navy doing it, I'd be pretty rich too.

[tomahawkchunker]

At this point its to late for the law to catch up with a nuanced approach. There is no form of private equity that deals in good faith. Abolish private equity scams outright.

[chrisp]

I can't not see a young Steve Martin... but yeah, fuck private equity firms.

[na]

Go out of business and make money doing it. Capitalism is going great everybody.

[apollothirteen]

Hopefully private equity can cause massive famine so they can eliminate the working class.