Episode description

Why should you care about private equity? It is affecting all of us in the U.S., even if we don’t realize it. Private equity money promises to invest in a growing list of our workplaces, often to sell them off for parts. Journalist Megan Greenwell knows this experience all too well as the former editor-in-chief of Deadspin, the acclaimed sports website that experienced private equity’s familiar slash-and-burn cycle. And the cycle doesn’t stop with our livelihoods, Greenwell writes in her forthcoming book, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream. Our lives—our hospitals, our housing, our food, and our water—are increasingly under the control of private equity. 

This week, Greenwell joins Katelyn and Christine to define the problem that spans presidencies and propose solutions that will outlast the ever-tightening broligarchy. 

Citations:

• Follow Megan on Bluesky @greenwell.bsky.social
• Preorder Megan’s book, Bad Company, via The Flytrap’s Bookshop.org affiliate link or your local independent bookstore
• Megan Greenwell for Deadspin (RIP), “The Adults in the Room”
• Anna Merlan for Mother Jones, “How Elon Musk and His DOGE Goons Are Following the Private Equity Playbook,” Q&A with Megan

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