Micah: the fact that we can look at most major problems with our lives and guess "this is the fault of private equity" - and have that actually be correct a shockingly large percentage of the time - is an excellent reason to regulate the industry into the ground

the fact that we can look at most major problems with our lives and guess "this is the fault of private equity" - and have that actually be correct a shockingly large percentage of the time - is an excellent reason to regulate the industry into the ground

"Veterinary prices have soared more than 60% over the past decade, according to federal stats. Private equity firms and large corps have bought 100s of facilities around the country, an acquisition spree reminiscent of the corporate roll-ups of doctors’ offices." www.nytimes.com/2024/06/23/h...

Why You’re Paying Your Veterinarian So Muchwww.nytimes.com People have grown more attached to their pets — and more willing to spend money on them — turning animal medicine into a high-tech industry worth billions.

this was basically the campaign Obama ran against Mitt Romney in 2012 and everyone on the right lost their god damn minds about the smearing of a "good man" as an unfeeling vulture capitalist he was right though

“Private Equity” is a DREAM “kitchen table issue”. It’s two words, easy to explain in a sentence, impacts every middle and lower class family, explains why “things feel worse”… a straight political softball.

And yet, entirely too many people that don't have anything approaching venture capital money will defend venture capitalists... out of some misplaced idea that they, too are just one or two lucky stock tips away from Bezos money. It's infuriating.

The problem is you generally don't get VC levels of money unless you are lacking in the moral scruples to get that money. A bit of a catch 22. We really should cap personal wealth huh?

Not gonna lie, starting to feel like this whole "Capitalism" thing was a bad idea in the first place.

Gee whiz

YES. 100% top income tax bracket, max $20M or something in individual assets, evasion at the top a capital crime.

My favorite example was the head of the VC company that bought the last place I worked for. How did he become the head of Vista Equity? Oh by committing massive fraud: www.justice.gov/opa/pr/priva...

Private Equity CEO Enters into Non-prosecution Agreement on International Tax Fraud Scheme and Agrees to Pay $139 Million, to Abandon $182 Million in Charitable Contribution Deductions, and to Coopera...www.justice.gov Robert F. Smith, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of a San Francisco based private equity company, entered into a Non-Prosecution Agreement (the agreement) with the Department of Justice, for ...

He's just smart for playing the system donchaknow!

Literally the arguments people made at the company when that news swept through lol

Every American is a potential billionaire, just temporarily down on their luck.

Acres of diamonds. Everywhere.

And now we have SBF, his odd gf, Sam Altman *and* that vampire blood test lady to hold up as examples of why we shouldn't give any of these people the benefit of the doubt

"this is the fault of PE or Reagan (both usually)" is gonna hit like 99.9 percent of the time lol

we wouldn't have this fucking plague of PE now if that bastard & his Republican cronies in SCOTUS & the Fed hadn't deregulated the banking industry, so yeah

Bill Clinton isn't entirely blameless, as documented here, in a great piece about how to rein in PE for anyone who has the political will and leverage. prospect.org/economy/cut-...

Cut Off Private Equity’s Money Spigotprospect.org A variety of legislative and regulatory actions would make it hard for private equity to stay in business. That should be the goal.

You could make a strong case that Bill Clinton's attempts to court private equity directly resulted in the 2008 financial crisis, what with him repealing the one thing that made doing that sort of thing illegal after the last time the banks fucked it all up for everyone like 70 years previous.

Gee. It seems that the only ones making real money are the PE managers. Vultures.

Imagine PE didn't exist and you were pitching this idea to society: "What if we insert another level of upper management above the people who understand how the company works? They provide no value and are just there to siphon off as much money as possible."

Saw this morning that a 500 driver trucking company shut down over the weekend without paying final checks. Sure enough, second sentence, "the private equity owners could not be reached for comment".

They're nothing but locusts.

I want public equity. Give us back our right to go to the doctor without men from the statehouse getting involved, stuff like that

Mitt Romney SHOULD have been all the warning flag folks needed that private equity was EVIL, EVIL, EVIL. Instead, he's been retconned as the "Good Republican" avatar vs. Donald Trump--some that his VERY different father could actually legitimately be.

Shows you how evil the average Republican is that Romney is a moral giant in their presence

My wife is a vet tech and I day dream all the time about figuring out a way to do a veterinary co-op. Despite all the money, none goes to the workers

Too bad there’s not a way for some sort of meta-private equity firm to start purchasing private equity firms and scrapping them for parts

but then who will scrap the meta-PE firm 🫠

I was already going that way, but private equity and what investors did to Toys r Us is pretty much what radicalized me towards socialism.

instead of building up a new business with their massive piles of money, they just pilfer and extract any potential value remaining in a brand, property, and customer base

the nice part of me hopes that, for their own sake, the evil money men realize that regulation is the civilized compromise they will like even less what my alternative for them is

Private equity is ruining our country

As a vet tech whose career started in 2001/2002, I wholly support this idea. It’s disgusting to see the way the profession has changed and it is almost entirely the fault of PE and VCs looking at a bond between two living beings and seeing dollar signs.

It’s the corporate equivalent of us finding out a “bootstrap self-starter kid l” was actually funded by a $2mm gift by his parents. Every single time it is the real answer.

That's right, and our pets are dying from inadequate care just like we are. Privatization for the almighty $$$ just means paying more for less. It's the same thing that goes on w human healthcare. You can have all the medical care you need as long as you can pay for it.

Put E Warren in charge of the profit-taking rent-seekers you cowards

They’re doing it with funeral homes, too. They F you over even after you’re dead.

They started with the funeral homes back in the late seventies. (Because of the florist I spent my teen years and young adulthood running in and out of the back of funeral homes.)

"Six Feet Under" was a documentary

It’s not clear how financial speculation is anything but money extraction frm the poor under the guise of skilled labor

Bingo, Micah.

Why regulate, just end it. It creates nothing

When our dentists' office was bought out by a private equity group, I switched to one owned by the dentists. I am in the minority.

If we do manage to get regulations in place, lawmakers will set the date it takes effect somewhere in the future. During that time, private equity firms will treat our economy the way Homer Simpson treated Ed Grimes' special dietetic sandwich.

I have a friend who owns a veterinary hospital. He does ok but is not actually making huge bank. Turns out his costs are very high but the main driver of his modest prosperity is that people love their fucking dogs. He says the corps drive unnecessary procedures and extra vaccinations for profit.

I call IT PECman. Always coming for something you love.

PE: What can we pilfer next?

Working on a plan for air and water, I’m sure. 🤬

Somehow private equity hasn't yet driven the vets into bankruptcy like they eventually do to retail establishments

off with their fucking heads

Shout it from the fucking rooftops

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