Another book on the evils of private equity will come out soon. The description states:
"Plunder is a startling investigation into the poorly understood, powerful force of private equity that is reshaping the American economy: raising prices, reducing quality, cutting jobs, increasing inequality, and shifting resources from productive parts of the economy to unproductive ones. Already transformative, private equity is poised to reshape the American economy in this decade the way that big tech did in the last decade, and subprime lenders the decade before that. And importantly, private equity is doing all of this not just with the acquiescence but the active support of the government. If you've ever wondered what happened to Toys R Us; why your doctor's bills are getting more expensive, why nursing homes are getting worse, why there is a housing shortage, why newspapers in Chicago and Los Angeles have gone downhill and local investigative reporting has dried up, Brendan Ballou's Plunder provides the reason why and provides a reform agenda spelling out how this industry can be stopped from wreaking further havoc. Brendan Ballou shows how private equity firms buy up companies using little or no investment, forcing them to take on huge debts and pay extractive fees, often wringing the life blood out of them, leaving them bankrupt or a shell of their former selves. Private equity's impact extends to the communities that have long depended on now- eviscerated companies for employment and prosperity. Perhaps most startling is Ballou's insight into how this is happening with the active support of government. Through vivid storytelling, Ballou's revelatory explanation of how private equity works shines a light on a part of Wall Street that is hastening the financialization of the American economy and increasing the power of banks and other institutions over companies that make and sell tangible products"--
PEUReport has blogged about the evils of private equity underwrites (PEU) since summer 2007. More recently I have closed many posts with "Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one."
I'm afraid the greed and leverage boys have already reshaped the American economy given their ubiquitious nature. Their lust for money and power has reduced management to bullying for outcomes.
For over a decade PEU founders have been identified as "policy making billionaires" and they get their way on laws, regulations and tax policy no matter how contrary to widespread public opinion.
The plunder is in if the people's representatives are more loyal to the PEU boys than to the citizenry. How long can it keep going?
Update 4-26-23: Preying on the Dying: Private Equity Gets Rich in Hospice Care
Update 6-2-23: The American Prospect ran a piece called "Days of Plunder."
Two new books call ‘private equity’ what it actually is, but neither offers much hope for emancipation from our eternal hostile takeover.I suggest the piece be renamed "Decades of Plunder" enabled by both Red and Blue political teams.
