If the economy is booming why do so many people feel the country is moving in the wrong direction? Because the boom is not shared.
Yes, many people listen to Red Team media and get worked up as the purveyors intend. But many voters don't and are not diehard Trumpers. They just know something's not right.
Noted investor Jim Chanos offered the following observation:
I offer this election backdrop (news articles over the last four years):
Noted investor Jim Chanos offered the following observation:
Private equity firms employ over 12 million people. A study showed PEU ownership results in declines in "current employees’ satisfaction with their Compensation & Benefits... We see similar declines in Culture & Values, and smaller declines in Work-Life Balance and
Senior Management."
The crapification of the workplace accelerated as PEU barbarians stormed company after company. Elected officials did not protect us.
I shared my experience under private equity ownership with the Federal Trade Commission (after WCAS and TPG bought 60% of our hospice company):
After saying there would be "no changes" they reduced office staff 50%, cut the number of holidays 33% and stopped the 50% premium for holiday pay. They implemented unreliable technology. Numerous times the phone system stopped working altogether. It's critical that hospice patients, family and caregivers can reach someone 24/7. The system failed after the company took away company provided cell phones for most staff, so we were not able to use those phones as a backup.The new "comprehensive" hospice EMR/Office management system robbed staff of fair pay for hours worked and shorted reimbursement for miles driven. Already overburdened hospice staff had to take hours they did not have to check the overly complex and convoluted pay portion of the system and add time to ensure pay for hours worked. It was virtually impossible for staff to decode the mileage reimbursement system. Promises to bring in experts to help staff went unfilled. I believe the company liked the significant money it was saving in both areas, pay and mileage.
Of the over 2,000 published FTC comments, half mentioned private equity. Physicians, health professionals and patients shared dark experience after dark experience. Even an insider offered:
Many of thepworst instances of a poorlygfunctioning corporate governance/economic incentive system have been through U.S. private equityafirms mismanaging investments in U.S. healthcare and technology companies -- are just the uniquely awful examples with broad public awareness. Private equity firmslcynically deny they have operational control of their portfolio companies when abuse is revealed, despite their effectiveicontrol through an interlocking directorate of board members, investors, and economic incentives. Some limited partner investors arevincentivized into complicity through access, equity co-investments, or fee breaks. Employees and management teams at these portfolio companies, like helots, are retaliated against if they speak out of line. The current governancepsystem in place for private equity is not effective and the DOJ, FTC, and Department of Health and Human Serviceseshould have a greater degree of oversight to stop this from happening again. This induced trauma is happening with full awareness from the wider private equity ecosystem. Many of the most resourced private equity firms in the world are right nowucolluding to ringfence their own liability and cover up the impact this misappropriation of resources is having on our healthcare system.Simply providing the opportunity for public comment got the Blue Team in hot water with their PEU backers. In their world everything is a trade secret or belongs under an NDA (nondisclosure agreement).
The greed and leverage boys targeted FTC Chair Lina Kahn, who had the audacity to look into "vertical integration" (PEU ownership). She likely had no job under either Trump II or Harris.
I wonder how the PEU crapification of the workplace played into the election. Was it a subconscious force steering voters to vote for "the entertainer" promising to "protect you"? Maybe, may not. Nevertheless, it leaves us on shaky ground. Your protector may just be a predator.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.
