They exist because for the past 30 years, for the first time in history, there is an excess of capital not a shortage. It needs to go somewhere so they bought tax code changes that made doing this more profitable. The best example is healthcare. Since privatization America became double the cost with 60% the effectiveness compared to other developed countries. Not one of them, all of them. The solution is here: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Miz-Liberty-Solutions-Problems-ebook/dp/B0GX2YQSSD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 Please buy the book.
Now we have vet 'wellness visits' and specialty care costing many thousands of dollars. And humane societies filled with the pets that people can no longer afford.
The private equity firm that bought the practice of a wonderful vet is responsible for the death of my dear little CocoNoir. I hope they burn/rot in hell.
The Washington Post recently published an editorial citing 25 reasons why you shouldn't write the US off, 25 reasons, so they claimed, to be optimistic about the future. One of the claims pointed to the rise in life expectancy in the US, which they attributed to the success of what Trump calls the 'fat drugs' (like Wegovy).
In the first place, in spite of all the money you spend on healthcare (18% of your economy, twice that of comparable countries and 10 times what Mexico spends) you still now rank only 62nd on life expectancy, so let's burst that bubble first.
Secondly, most of the rise in life expectancy can better be explained by the fact that like other countries you are recovering from the ravages of the pandemic, and you suffered worse than most with nearly 1 million Americans dying, many hundreds of thousands of them unnecessarily due both to your government's initial chaotic response and also due to disinformation about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
You now have a health secretary who is one of those spreaders of disinformation; you have no surgeon general; no CDC director (with a much-denuded CDC ravaged by staff and spending cuts); and no functioning vaccine panel either. The government has removed millions of people from Medicare, falsely claiming abuse and fraud. You have the fewest primary care doctors per capita. Nearly a third of your country has no resort to any form of healthcare until they become very sick, increasing the risks of infectious disease spreading through communities. Black women die in childbirth in the US at a rate higher than the national rate of any other wealthy country measured. Yet you have the best hospitals and doctors in the world. Go figure.
It is not just Trump - he is a symptom, not the cause. Big business uses his special appeal to further enrich themselves, at the expense of those to whom he appeals.
How many industries are corrupt? Better still, how many aren't corrupt. Customers @ 1 time loved Southwest Airlines. But Wall St said their profit margin was too low. So they killed the atmosphere that made passengers happy. We can't pass a law for every industry. The leaders of the business world like George Romney during FDR & the New Deal treated their workers with respect including wages & benefits that made the American Dream a,reality for most working families. The business community needs to step up & respect its workersm
If you want to see the damage that private equity does, look no further than the UK, where many of our public utilities, privatised by Margaret Thatcher, fell into the clutches of private equity speculators.
The ideological rationale (the big lie in effect) was that private capital would increase efficiency and investment and improve the service as a result.
Once private equity got their hands on these natural monopolies, they loaded them up with debt and used them as vehicles for extracting obscene profits from the public purse at no risk to themselves. In short, rentier capital of the worst kind.
The water industry is a case in point with exorbitant prices, and rivers full of pollution and raw excrement because there has been insufficient investment in waste treatment.
There is now strong public support for taking these and other industries back into public ownership. Whether the government will have the will to do the necessary, or whether it will succumb to aggressive lobbying and PR campaigns from the usual suspects remains to be seen.
William, maybe it is time for some government takeover of the utilities! Those guys who own them now have made a fortune and they will be fine when their ability to steal from the people is shut down. Give them a day's warning, then take over, keeping on any of the workers who are skilled and want to work for the government of the town or city. We should do that here too!
You are absolutely right. A respected and thriving British engineering company (that one of my brothers worked for) was bought out around 1980 and all its branches and affiliated businesses were closed down. The buyer, an American company, wanted the land for development but they never got the permits and the site stood derelict for many years. My family owns a much smaller engineering company, all the founding generation are in their eighties and nineties and none of the children or grandchildren have gone into the business and I’m terrified one of those private equity companies is going to try to buy us out. A developer is already eyeing the land it’s on and if they are successful, they will shut down the plant and demolish the buildings. Apparently they want to build a care home on it—right next to the railway line, in an industrial zone!
Private Equity is destroying this country. Under no circumstances should it be allowed to:
- purchase hospitals or any other healthcare practice
- purchase public schools
- purchase municipal water supply and wastewater management systems'
- purchase or run prisons
OK, let's face it. private equity shouldn't be allowed to be involved in anything related to public services, period. They are a menace to the American people.
Last week DT visited a Mack Fire Truck plant in Pennsylvania A union state.
That should have been a clue to the employees that there will be a bad moon rising on their jobs in the future. I couldn't believe all of those grinning idiots standing behind him. They are, I'm guessing, union members.
At some point an equity firm like you are talking about will buy Mack Trucks, consolidate the business with another, move the plant to a non-union Southern state and have all of the small and medium size parts made in Mexico or China.
Not many of the union guys will be offered a transfer to the non-union plant.
Dr Reich should draw up one of his letters about it and send it to us through Inequality Media, or one of the other organizations that host him, so we can sign off on it and send it to our congressional representatives.
I just commented on that. It's getting really bad in Missouri. My dog and I have switched vets three times in the last five years due to private equity takeovers.
These private-equity buyers of manufacturers of fire-fighting and fire-safety products probably saw big bucks coming from wildfires and neighborhood burn-downs in the bone-dry Western states. Remember the Pacific Palisades fire, the Eaton fire and other fires in LA last year? Talk about "vulture capitalism." I hope it rains on their parade.
Project 2026 If Brazil and Hungary can do it, so can we!
Win the Senate and House, Impeach and Prosecute.
ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE!!!!!
ORGANIZE OVER THE COMMON GOOD DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. JUST READ THE PLATFORM BULLET POINTS. ORGANIZE!!!!
ALLEGIANCE TO OUR PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE THAT PROMOTES OUR PLATFORM!
GOOGLE YOUR STATES DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO READ IT!
MAKE AMERICA GRATEFUL AGAIN!
The Democratic Platform IS the Preamble to Our Constitution
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Democratic Party should be the party of Interdependent voters..
Matters involving public health and safety, as well as services traditionally provided by government must be strictly regulated. What is happening in healthcare generally, and now public safety is a travesty.
It's everything. The problem is the top 10% have so much wealth they don't even know what to do with it. So they buy rockets, baseball teams, real estate, private jets and islands, and politicians and Supreme Court justices! Tax the stinking rich!
Is there a legitimate case for private equity firms to exist? They seem like they should be illegal or at the least HIGHLY regulated.
They exist because for the past 30 years, for the first time in history, there is an excess of capital not a shortage. It needs to go somewhere so they bought tax code changes that made doing this more profitable. The best example is healthcare. Since privatization America became double the cost with 60% the effectiveness compared to other developed countries. Not one of them, all of them. The solution is here: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Miz-Liberty-Solutions-Problems-ebook/dp/B0GX2YQSSD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 Please buy the book.
At least in Missouri, private equity is buying up a lot of veterinary practices and really jacking up prices on pet and farm animal care.
Now we have vet 'wellness visits' and specialty care costing many thousands of dollars. And humane societies filled with the pets that people can no longer afford.
The private equity firm that bought the practice of a wonderful vet is responsible for the death of my dear little CocoNoir. I hope they burn/rot in hell.
here in CA too
The Washington Post recently published an editorial citing 25 reasons why you shouldn't write the US off, 25 reasons, so they claimed, to be optimistic about the future. One of the claims pointed to the rise in life expectancy in the US, which they attributed to the success of what Trump calls the 'fat drugs' (like Wegovy).
In the first place, in spite of all the money you spend on healthcare (18% of your economy, twice that of comparable countries and 10 times what Mexico spends) you still now rank only 62nd on life expectancy, so let's burst that bubble first.
Secondly, most of the rise in life expectancy can better be explained by the fact that like other countries you are recovering from the ravages of the pandemic, and you suffered worse than most with nearly 1 million Americans dying, many hundreds of thousands of them unnecessarily due both to your government's initial chaotic response and also due to disinformation about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines.
You now have a health secretary who is one of those spreaders of disinformation; you have no surgeon general; no CDC director (with a much-denuded CDC ravaged by staff and spending cuts); and no functioning vaccine panel either. The government has removed millions of people from Medicare, falsely claiming abuse and fraud. You have the fewest primary care doctors per capita. Nearly a third of your country has no resort to any form of healthcare until they become very sick, increasing the risks of infectious disease spreading through communities. Black women die in childbirth in the US at a rate higher than the national rate of any other wealthy country measured. Yet you have the best hospitals and doctors in the world. Go figure.
After reading this, it just seems to me like they are all 'thieves' ...........we need a Robinhood!!!
Not only thieves, but very mean thieves! Heartless thieves and happy to be so!!!!
They're leeches.
Matt-It's all part of Trump's plan to burn down our Democracy.
And screw the little guy!
It is not just Trump - he is a symptom, not the cause. Big business uses his special appeal to further enrich themselves, at the expense of those to whom he appeals.
How many industries are corrupt? Better still, how many aren't corrupt. Customers @ 1 time loved Southwest Airlines. But Wall St said their profit margin was too low. So they killed the atmosphere that made passengers happy. We can't pass a law for every industry. The leaders of the business world like George Romney during FDR & the New Deal treated their workers with respect including wages & benefits that made the American Dream a,reality for most working families. The business community needs to step up & respect its workersm
And then George Romney’s son went into private equity making money without any concern for the consequences.
See https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Miz-Liberty-Solutions-Problems-ebook/dp/B0GX2YQSSD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 for how to get this done.
Thank you, Hunt! I just ordered by copy!
Thank you. See http://accordingtohunt.com for a preview of the solutions in my snarky mood format.
I loved that! I feel like evil is winning right now, too! Thank you for sharing.
If you want to see the damage that private equity does, look no further than the UK, where many of our public utilities, privatised by Margaret Thatcher, fell into the clutches of private equity speculators.
The ideological rationale (the big lie in effect) was that private capital would increase efficiency and investment and improve the service as a result.
Once private equity got their hands on these natural monopolies, they loaded them up with debt and used them as vehicles for extracting obscene profits from the public purse at no risk to themselves. In short, rentier capital of the worst kind.
The water industry is a case in point with exorbitant prices, and rivers full of pollution and raw excrement because there has been insufficient investment in waste treatment.
There is now strong public support for taking these and other industries back into public ownership. Whether the government will have the will to do the necessary, or whether it will succumb to aggressive lobbying and PR campaigns from the usual suspects remains to be seen.
William, maybe it is time for some government takeover of the utilities! Those guys who own them now have made a fortune and they will be fine when their ability to steal from the people is shut down. Give them a day's warning, then take over, keeping on any of the workers who are skilled and want to work for the government of the town or city. We should do that here too!
You are absolutely right. A respected and thriving British engineering company (that one of my brothers worked for) was bought out around 1980 and all its branches and affiliated businesses were closed down. The buyer, an American company, wanted the land for development but they never got the permits and the site stood derelict for many years. My family owns a much smaller engineering company, all the founding generation are in their eighties and nineties and none of the children or grandchildren have gone into the business and I’m terrified one of those private equity companies is going to try to buy us out. A developer is already eyeing the land it’s on and if they are successful, they will shut down the plant and demolish the buildings. Apparently they want to build a care home on it—right next to the railway line, in an industrial zone!
Do you mean "public ownership"?
Yes. No post-edit function unfortunately.
Private Equity is destroying this country. Under no circumstances should it be allowed to:
- purchase hospitals or any other healthcare practice
- purchase public schools
- purchase municipal water supply and wastewater management systems'
- purchase or run prisons
OK, let's face it. private equity shouldn't be allowed to be involved in anything related to public services, period. They are a menace to the American people.
Great points Robert.
Last week DT visited a Mack Fire Truck plant in Pennsylvania A union state.
That should have been a clue to the employees that there will be a bad moon rising on their jobs in the future. I couldn't believe all of those grinning idiots standing behind him. They are, I'm guessing, union members.
At some point an equity firm like you are talking about will buy Mack Trucks, consolidate the business with another, move the plant to a non-union Southern state and have all of the small and medium size parts made in Mexico or China.
Not many of the union guys will be offered a transfer to the non-union plant.
Good luck to them... Vote Blue... GH
Dr Reich should draw up one of his letters about it and send it to us through Inequality Media, or one of the other organizations that host him, so we can sign off on it and send it to our congressional representatives.
The same is true for private equity buying veterinary practices.
YES!!!!......and I bet all these Corporate Dental Offices!!!
I have a suspicion my dental practice is owned by one of them.
I just commented on that. It's getting really bad in Missouri. My dog and I have switched vets three times in the last five years due to private equity takeovers.
Greed and cruelty go hand in hand.
All part of the grand scheme. Buy it, use to make money and destroy it. Sound familiar?
These private-equity buyers of manufacturers of fire-fighting and fire-safety products probably saw big bucks coming from wildfires and neighborhood burn-downs in the bone-dry Western states. Remember the Pacific Palisades fire, the Eaton fire and other fires in LA last year? Talk about "vulture capitalism." I hope it rains on their parade.
Elizabeth Warren ha a video where she says that the Dept of Defense was charged hundreds of times what a screw cost by private equity firms.
Yes! Warren is on Substack where you may be able to find that video.
This is a multi-industry issue. Matt Stoller covers this in detail. Anti-trust law appears to not be enforced in the US.
Sellers beware.
This is sickening. Thanks for telling us, Dr. Reich. Private equity firms are the enemy of America.
Project 2026 If Brazil and Hungary can do it, so can we!
Win the Senate and House, Impeach and Prosecute.
ORGANIZE ORGANIZE ORGANIZE!!!!!
ORGANIZE OVER THE COMMON GOOD DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. JUST READ THE PLATFORM BULLET POINTS. ORGANIZE!!!!
ALLEGIANCE TO OUR PLATFORM AND THE CANDIDATE THAT PROMOTES OUR PLATFORM!
GOOGLE YOUR STATES DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM TO READ IT!
MAKE AMERICA GRATEFUL AGAIN!
The Democratic Platform IS the Preamble to Our Constitution
The Preamble
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Democratic Party should be the party of Interdependent voters..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY
Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth (Official Audio) Buffalo Springfield - For What It's Worth 1967
Matters involving public health and safety, as well as services traditionally provided by government must be strictly regulated. What is happening in healthcare generally, and now public safety is a travesty.
It's everything. The problem is the top 10% have so much wealth they don't even know what to do with it. So they buy rockets, baseball teams, real estate, private jets and islands, and politicians and Supreme Court justices! Tax the stinking rich!
This right solution is to make it all income and tax it. My new tax code fixes all this by simply taking away the tax benefits and protections. Then capital will migrate toward real investments rather than churning monopolies. See Saving Miz Liberty: https://www.amazon.com/Saving-Miz-Liberty-Solutions-Problems-ebook/dp/B0GX2YQSSD/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0 And please buy the book and share your thoughts.
This is why government should not be run like a business or be closely linked to a private business!