These Are the Plunderers

How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America

By: Gretchen Morgenson, Joshua Rosner

Narrated by: John Bedford Lloyd

A Wall Street Journal Bestseller

Pulitzer Prize­­­–winning and New York Times bestselling financial journalist Gretchen Morgenson and financial policy analyst Joshua Rosner investigate the insidious world of private equity in this “masterpiece of investigative journalism” (Christopher Leonard, bestselling author of Kochland)—revealing how it puts our entire economy and us at risk.

Much has been written about the widening gulf between rich and poor and how our style of capitalism has failed to provide a living wage for so many Americans. But nothing has fully detailed the outsized role a small cohort of elite financiers has played in this inequality. Pulitzer Prize­–winning journalist and bestselling author Gretchen Morgenson, with coauthor Joshua Rosner, unmask the small group of celebrated Wall Street financiers, and their government enablers, who use excessive debt and dubious practices to undermine our nation’s economy for their own enrichment: private equity.

These Are the Plunderers traces the thirty-year history of corporate takeovers in America and private equity’s increasing dominance. Morgenson and Rosner investigate some of the biggest names in private equity, exposing how they buy companies, load them with debt, and then bleed them of assets and profits. All while prosecutors and regulators stand idly by.

The authors show how companies absorbed by private equity have worse outcomes for everyone but the financiers: employees are more likely to lose their jobs or their benefits; companies are more likely to go bankrupt; patients are more likely to have higher healthcare costs; residents of nursing homes are more likely to die faster; towns struggle when private equity buys their main businesses, crippling the local economy; and school teachers, firefighters, medical technicians, and other public workers are more likely to have lower returns on their pensions because of the fees private equity extracts from their investments. In other words: we are all worse off because of private equity.

These Are the Plunderers is a “meticulous and devastating takedown of a powerful force in Western capitalism” (Brad Stone, bestselling author of Amazon Unbound) that exposes the greed and pillaging in private equity, revealing the many ways these billionaires have bled the economy, and, in turn, us.

©2023 Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner (P)2023 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Expose the politicians publicly

Excellent research on these plunderers. The politicians and the Supreme Court justices are enablers and they should be called out. They are all defrauding ordinary citizens of hard earned income. Expose health care and other businesses that are owned by private equities.

Brilliant revelation

When these guys win, we all lose . Meticulously researched . These facts will amaze and astonish.

Enlightening

Just finished reading "These Are the Plunderers" and I'm blown away! This book provides crucial insights into topics like healthcare and pensions, shedding light on the financial sector. The thorough research and eloquent presentation make it a must-read for anyone looking to understand these complex issues. Highly recommended!

Excellent book

Gretchen writers a great book and the narrator is very good.
After reading this book, the business section of the WSJ makes a lot of sense
Spend time with book, excellent investment

Information so few have but all need before going to the polls

With Carlyle Group's ambitious executive Glenn Young now governor of Virginia, Private Equity toady J. D. Vance now a candidate for Vice President and a Supreme Court majority determined to protect business from consumers, we should fear for the fox being in charge of the hen house. As a former state regulator, I have personally seen the damage done to nursing homes and their residents. These immoral persons have no concern for other humans, besides themselves and their tribe and yet have convinced themselves of their own superior worth.

Shining the light on pirate equity…

For healthcare, as a physician, my goal is to educate and partner with patients in taking medicine back from Wall Street. Great in depth look at how private equity works and the manipulation of the political system. I will do my part in fighting for my patients, there is no incentive for anyone else to do it.

Revelatory

As a physician this book was very revealing and at times left me shocked. I would make this a required reading for all doctors and medical professionals in training and practice.

Interesting but very biased

The authors researched the book well and had a compelling narrative, but it was so biased that I felt like they would never give anybody in the private equity community a fair shake. Also, I didn't agree that the PE community was completely at fault for their alleged sins. The pension funds are the ones investing the huge sums of money. If these guys are so bad, they should stop investing them. Also, where are the regulators? I'm all for regulators convicting white-collar criminals and sending them to jail. (This includes bolstering the IRS to get tax cheats.) But to my knowledge, none of them were sent to jail. It's the job of the regulators to send people who do illegal things to jail. Additionally, many of these businesses like Sears and Toys R Us were already failing before the PE groups got to them. Maybe the PE groups provide a necessary piece of our economy by getting everything possible out of company before it completely fails. Also, I always wonder who is financing this debt. It seems crazy to loan out so much money to a company that is likely to go under. That's just wrong. One area where I do agree with the authors is that PE should not be involved in healthcare companies. Healthcare companies should be non-profit so there is never a conflict between care and profit. Finally, I've found in life that if you don't watch your money closely and understand our financial system well, there are enough people out biased towards money we will figure out all sorts of schemes to separate you from your money. It's one of my pet peeves that our educational system doesn't educate more on our financial system. We need to increase the teaching by about 10x. Understanding your finances will impact your quality of life in a very positive way.

Be Aware of Private Equity funds

Must read. Read everything before investing. be aware of Private Equity funds. Or any insurance companies owned by a private equity fund. There is no free lunch.

Stop the plunder!

A must read for every American Adult. Enough Already!!!!! It’s dense but worth the read.