Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist: Private Equity Runs - and Wrecks - America | Amanpour and Company

According to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson, elite Wall Street financiers are undermining the country’s economy for their own benefit. In her latest book, Morgenson traces the history of corporate takeovers and the private equity companies that cause newly acquired companies to be burdened with debt. The author speaks with Walter Isaacson about the impact of all this on American workers.
Originally aired on May 8, 2023
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Amanpour and Company features wide-ranging, in-depth conversations with global thought leaders and cultural influencers on the issues and trends impacting the world each day, from politics, business and technology to arts, science and sports. Christiane Amanpour leads the conversation on global and domestic news from London with contributions by prominent journalists Walter Isaacson, Michel Martin, Alicia Menendez and Hari Sreenivasan from the Tisch WNET Studios at Lincoln Center in New York City.
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[@leemdynamo]

If anyone does not know, this woman is like THE most experienced Financial Journalist in the US. She's worked at the best news organizations, currently works for NBC as a senior investigative reporter.

[@Metal0sopher]

Sadly she ignored the most important factor of all. Superpacks, aka legalized bribery. These firms create and run dark money super packs and are responsible for our current political situation. They own most media and through the superpacks donate billions, mot millions, but bullions to all forms of political campaigns from school boards to federal judge selection to all other elections. They literally appoint our politicians which are beholden to them, essentially owned. Even worse, they actually write the laws and hand them to the politicians to pass them. They call this "lobbying". Most lobbyists work for these superpacks and actually write the laws, while at the same time they act as "pundits" on media where they either manipulate the audience to believe they are doing real capitalism and call anyone criticizing them socialists, or distract the people with: "look there trans, no look there woke, no look there Trump". Trump, trans, and woke are the greatest things for these "pundits" because they can distract both sides at the same time. And cable chanels like CNBC, Fox Business, exist to promote and defend them wile at the same time dividing us through distractions. Why they ignored discussing this is beyond me, because this is the most important part.

[@GlobalDrifter1000]

NBC 😂🤣🤮

[@randomboris]

Very good journalism. I went to a hospital emergency room for an injury. I asked if they take my insurance and if they are in-network, they said yes so I thought no issues. Then a few months later I got a bill from the hospital for thousands of dollars. I wondered why. They said I was treated by a doctor that was out of network, not in network like they said the time I was treated. They make contesting these fees a total hassle. Private equity firms only care about one thing, money, and will find the most ingenious ways to bilk and scam consumers for as much money as possible.

[@johndoe-ep7qk]

i've had similar experiences. hospitals (especially ERs) charge OBSCENE amounts of money that would cost you 90% LESS at a specialist's office (i've done the math). i went to an ER (with insurance, luckily) during covid, saw a nurse who took my vitals, tested me for covid, saw the doctor for five minutes....$3,500 was the bill. again, luckily i had insurance and that paid for most of it, but....WTF??!! there aren't even words in the english language to articulate the outrage; it's beyond words! the hospitals are siphoning off money from their clients by funneling it through the insurance companies (who themselves take their share of profits). of course, hospitals keep prices (artificially) high to SCARE people into not going without insurance. it's the biggest racket since tax free religion. it's these FOR profit hospitals that are the root of the problem!!

[@roc7880]

that is indeed insane. if they said the doc was in network it is on them to pay if the doc was not.

[@communitygardener17]

​@@roc7880 Going to have to come up with a document that collects all signatures of providers affirming they are in network. Imagine, having a contract negotiation before agreeing to receive hospital services. Time for some Elizabeth Warren level legislation governing private equity parasites.

[@truuee9016]

This should be the most discussed topic in America and the West as a whole. A few corporations are taking from everyone else, and our economies can't survive it.

[@GoodnWise]

I remember Gretchen Morgenson from the 2008 mortgage crash days! Her reporting was the best - probing, groundbreaking and illuminating.

[@angelaasadi9283]

She is right on. Is anyone going to listen before it’s too late?? Greed is consuming this nation.

[@nrs6956]

Private equity groups, I recall, were called "corporate raiders." Health care was not meant to be a money making enterprise!

[@user-nq8vm2iv9v]

Corporate Raiders simply went underground as private equity with politicians on their payroll. That's why they're not regulated. A government cannot regulate on a segment of the market meaning the stock exchange and corporations and not private equity and and hedge funds which creates an uneven playing field; one of honesty and the other of dishonesty. You now have Fascism as your government.

[@peterrees6346]

Even the mention of the words “emergency room” and “highly profitable” in the same sentence is anathema to anyone who lives in a civilised country that has extensive public health care.

[@jabbermocky4520]

In the USA we dread having any sort of medical needs when we aren't filthy rich. Most of us are just getting by no matter how hard we work. Only a very few Americans can afford effective healthcare when we need it and many of those very rich people who can afford it spend hundreds of thousands on cosmetic surgeries when they don't need them. There is an obscene element to this life or death issue which cannot be reconciled with any notion of "freedom".

[@rg1924]

@@jabbermocky4520 I am a staunch right winger. However as an Australian, I feel universal healthcare is a universal right for citizens of each nation. The USA is the richest country in the world how is it possible that your citizens die on street with no health care ?

[@jabbermocky4520]

@@rg1924 Many have speculated about this existential problem for most Americans. It all comes down to GREED in the end. Doctors would still perform medical procedures IF the insurance companies didn't stand between them and patients in need of care. Insurance companies are giant corporations with massive political power in the USA. They can't die from something that's easy to cure. Only humans can. Americans who describe themselves as "politically on the right" are more interested in seizing control of the ability of others to simply keep living than they are about anything else. Money dictates who lives and who dies. Conservatives ( as the rightwing is called here ) like controlling all the money ( as in the current debt ceiling issue ) because it gives them the power to kill without getting their own hands dirty. Insurance companies do that messy job for them. We saw how badly Covid was handled by the right in the USA. We see, everyday, how little the right cares about random mass shootings and the easy availability of weapons of war. Ironically, gun owners don't need to carry liability insurance. The rightwing screams like mad if anybody suggests that gun owners should have to financially compensate victims of their guns by carrying liability insurance. It's a matter of greed, again. Some of us even call the American rightwing a "death cult" at this point. It is probably different in Australia. I hope so for your sake. Stay lucky down there.

[@billmurray7473]

I remember when we used to get reports like this on The Today Show ( Barbara Walters) and the CBS Evening News ( Walter Cronkite) I was blessed to be raised in a time when the world made sense, and life was worth living.

[@paulheydarian1281]

But we have OnlyFans nowadays. So everyone can put out, in order to pay the monthly bills.😉

[@lenyabloko]

The world never made sense! But the accident of being born into a more prosperous part of it - made some people believe the "noble lies" told by their parents.

[@reginaerekson9139]

Check your hospital bill for $30 ibuprofen- just like the kind at the dollar store, except you get 30 for $1 instead of the other way around.

[@lawyer1165]

I often wonder when Wall Street got the idea that they are entitled to own everything. If Congress represented the voters, they would look for ways to clip the wings of these private equity firms. They also would enact a single-payer health care system with significant oversight. When corporate tax rates are high, as the were before Reagan, corporations have less incentive to loot the world because they can't keep most of the plunder for themselves. Similarly, corporations are more likely to invest in employees, etc., because the corporation receives a significant after-tax benefit.

[@Metal0sopher]

America is evolving from capitalism to feudalism where a few "lords" own both our jobs and our residences, so that all the money you earn from working you give back to them through rent or mortgage, leases, even shopping if you buy on credit. We are becoming serfs perpetually in debt, and thus forced to work to pay off the never ending debt.

[@screenarts]

No they invest with them

[@jamesmorton7881]

Wall Street owns the FED and both parties. LOL FDR stepped in to "reset" the inequality, 96% TAX rates.

[@mikeklein4949]

Thank you Ms. Morgensen.

[@michaelweinman9051]

THAT WAS SO PROFOUND! These people are AWESOME! Thank you thank you thank you

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate you!

[@DwainDwight]

Gretchen spot on. great interview

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thank you for your thoughtful comment.

[@thorenjohn]

Wonderful reporting. Thank you Ms. Amanpour and friends.

[@rrubens3026]

This is a fascinating discussion. This needs to be brought to the forefront of our concerns with healthcare corruption.

[@judiesuh6858]

17% healthcare is only going to get larger and larger as the nation’s aged increase. This is such a depressing thought.. Government has to take over and not let these healthcare Be privatized by an equity firms

[@Mary-il6zz]

Just like how they screwed up the the US Postal Service!

[@janebishop5885]

Ms. Morgenson, I understand this result thoroughly and want you to know what a great thing you are doing by exposing "private equity" for the robbers they are ....what I like to call "raw" capitalism. Thank you for this full-on view aptly called "plunderers"!

[@ericwinder7629]

This is a super important video. Private equity is a destructive industry, they claim to be creators but it’s just a facade

[@AGirlofYesterday]

Dark times indeed when it's socially acceptable to prioritize monetary profit over human lives. In 50 years, historians will not believe we sat here and let this happen.

[@paulheydarian1281]

Aren't you being highly optimistic? Do you think all this is worth keeping for another 50 yrs?

[@AGirlofYesterday]

@@paulheydarian1281 I hear you. But to be serious, yes. Human civilization has done some incredible things, many of them wonderful. There is always hope for improvement as long as our species exists.

[@jimsykes6843]

Most of us didn't let it happen, however; it was done to us.

[@Ryan-Fkrepublicnz]

OR we will all be in Republican Trump work camps...

[@splashesin8]

It is and has been ongoing with no let up really since 2009-ish. The improvements are not really improving anything as much as trying to "cosmetically" make it look like something was meaningfully changed for better when it was just like painting over a bridge that is deteriorating more and more.

[@johnhiz6239]

Sears, K-Mart and the names go on and on.

[@christopher7824]

Wall St. is also the reason the border is wide open. A larger labor pool means businesses do not have to compete for labor via better wages and benefits.

[@marymccluer1630]

It is interesting that private equity is getting into healthcare. Roughly 20% of healthcare costs are administrative, mainly billing and insurance. If private equity is also involved that's yet one more layer of costs that get added to the total healthcare bill. Private equity aside, it seems that many healthcare organizations in the U.S. are either for-profit or run as if they were. It sometimes seems that the big push to make as much money for as little cost as possible can sometimes leave patient care compromised in the equation.

[@Mary-il6zz]

I work for a “non profit” hospital and the admin staff continue to have phenomenal raises while us peons who do the real work of the hospital are given a pittance. They were not exposed to Covid like we were and gave themselves 11-70% raises during the pandemic!

[@MEMV3030]

I remember when management worried about getting/keeping good employees who worried about getting/keeping happy customers and when the system worked, everyone, including the investors benefitted. Once management shifted focus to investors and ROI, everything started to collapse. I blame our economic, social and political ills on the focus on efficiency in the name of financial returns. Current accounting practices do not capture all the relevant costs. The real damage brought on by these business is not being factored into the picture…similar to how corporations are not held financially responsible for the costs of environmental pollution, climate change, globalization, etc. If they don’t count it in dollars, it’s not a problem.

[@sammavitae114]

I think her final comment should be the number one question to ask yourself and your politician. When the economy deregulated in the mid-eighties till now did it improve the lives of all Americans. If not then it’s an admission that it is only capable of limited benefits. Change is needed.

[@efanshel]

Gretchen is way to nice. These people pose the question Who needs to join the mafia?

[@TaichiStraightlife]

I JUST GOT OUT OF THE HOSPITAL; first the ER, and then a week later, outpatient therapy to repair my shattered wrist; no bills yet but OH BOY! They say forewarned is forearmed, but I already stepped in it; I asked every dr. & anesthetist about ins. coverage & know what they all said? "I don't know; I work for the hospital; I guess I take ins..." When you're at your most vulnerable, & can't even think clearly for all the pain? That's when these vultures start to alight on your almost-carcass.

[@joebartee6011]

Spot on, it is happening in my industrie, and again there will be a price to pay. Shame on these groups. Thank you!

[@stephen_pfrimmer]

A suberb analysis.

[@AmanpourandCompany]

Thanks for tuning in. We appreciate you!

[@geinikan1kan]

These A&Co. interviews are balanced, intelligent & hopeful. Thanx so much.

[@EvolutionWendy]

lower food cost in nursing homes, that also contributes to mortality, buying less expensive not so good food

[@marianhunt8899]

Skeleton staffing all the time or less so old folk dying from neglect.

[@paulheydarian1281]

I'd buy them pet food. I'm a real zealot when it comes to cost savings. 😏

[@travelwithcamera]

These private equity clowns are also ruining the apartment leasing industry with their manipulative algorithmic pricing software

[@jimallen8186]

Being “more efficient” is really buying risk. These firms try to privatize profits but socialize costs to include risks. Many of the companies they hold my go bust, but often they push them to go bust as they squeeze the value out shifting the value to other corporations under the firm’s umbrella then declare bankruptcy on the company thus socializing the obligations of that company.

[@joekoz451]

As time goes on, I'm becoming more and more convinced that all profit is simply the deferred cost of the damage caused to make it.

[@williamloh9018]

What a massive idea Sir. Thank you...

[@cheeks2696]

Good valuable information. BUT most people don’t read unfortunately! Like 24% of have read a book in the last year…

[@gamtngirl3655]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@macgp44]

Isaacson is VERY tough and skeptical of Morgenson's claims. Would he be as aggressive if he were interviewing someone like Larry Fink of Blackrock private equity firm? I think not.

[@sprinterx]

The focus should be on making lives better, not the economy better.

[@dixiebrick]

Always listen, read or tune in when GM is conveying a message. Will do my part by purchasing the book.

[@grahambell8760]

Gretchen, I so miss you in the NY Times. You are such a valuable critic of financial b.s. And the Times did not replace you! Instead, they just print whatever the companies want. The Times is far worse without you.

[@Mary-il6zz]

Same with Chris Hedges. If you don’t toe the company line they get rid of you.

[@nickdanesh9179]

Great debate Nothing wrong with making system efficient under watchful eyes of regulators

[@i8amouse]

Lets get these people

[@cheryls8987]

The healthcare industry company I used to work for was taken over by a private equity firm. They did create new jobs --- by reducing the labor force in the US and moving the jobs to another country. A country with no knowledge of the American healthcare or insurance system. The result was coding and billing errors, denied insurance claims, patient billing errors, etc. The providers and patients were and are still being harmed by this.

[@efanshel]

If Henry Hill had an education he would have been a private equity guy....

[@lesablackwell6592]

Companies used to be paternalistic, providing the "company store" and schools for workers. Then Gordon Gecko and Ronald Reagan came along and said "Greed is good" and the government doesn't need to be regulating company behavior. I agree it would be best to have kinder, gentler companies but the paternalistic paradigm of the past isn't any longer the answer. Maybe the social responsibility we're seeing with companies going green and pulling their ads for social injustices will move us to companies with a conscience.

[@GroovyVideo2]

wall street Full of Criminals

[@philadelphia4682]

I do PRN @ a NH in my state that has been sold 6 times since I have been working there. A couple years ago it was sold twice in one year 😳. Sold multiple times but the quality of care and the building structure continues to deteriorate. They don't invest in the company or with the employees.

[@johnhiz6239]

That’s were the $ is, Medicare & Medicaid

[@terrygelinas4593]

Private equity firms seem to focus on the short term, which conflicts greatly with pension fund focus.

[@piercebales9546]

Thank God no one said the C word, I mean capitalism.

[@jchanning72]

Although there may have been some bad outcomes with nursing homes, this is not generally how Private Equity works and the problems described are a gross over-simplification

[@JohnAranita]

This kind of programming on PBS inspired me to donate $365 to PBS Hawaii.

[@i8amouse]

This is the absolute truth

[@s.z.6200]

She’s a hero

[@master00booya]

Walter seems a little too eager to defend his Wall Street bros

[@marymccluer1630]

I think he was just playing devil's advocate to get her to flush out her arguments.

[@jimsykes6843]

It's called journalism. The goal of the journalist is to ask tough questions of the interviewee, even if the journalist does not agree with the position implied in the question.

[@Afixtele4779]

She’s correct.

[@soyuz281]

There are few people sitting on a lot of cash and don't know what to do. So private equity firms vie for their money promising exorbitant returns. So social cost is not an issue to this firms.

[@bermyFairn]

Just a cotrrection on offshoreing and not paying taxes. The US has many of its own tax free jurusdiction , like Deleware and others. So Some of the largest may be in places like Ireland, but there is a plethora right there at home. Politicians never mention them o0bviously because they are likely big political donors.

[@user-so6kb4rl1j]

The links (integrated structure, concentration of private wealth and corporate power) between the Private Equity firms, Hedge Fund firms and Wall Street banks are well documented in Professor Peter Phillips' book, 'GIANTS: The Global Power Elite' (Seven Stories Press, 2018). Its like a spider web.

[@williamloh9018]

Thanks again GM...much appreciated. And Walter seems to know who not to criticize...so he works for them too then.

[@sevensages5279]

Walter is President and CEO of the Aspen Institute. The Aspen Institute is largely funded by foundations such as the Carnegie Corporation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Gates Foundation, the Lumina Foundation, and the Ford Foundation, by seminar fees, and by individual donations. Its board of trustees includes leaders from politics, government, business and academia who also contribute to its support. They also get a substantial amount of donor money from Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

[@williamloh9018]

@@sevensages5279 And they have made everyone believe that their TV is Jesus/Mommie...so they do whatever it tells them to do...even put people in a camp. Sound familiar...?

[@bohemienneprincesse8665]

Why is Walter - of all people - conducting this interview?

[@lalah9481]

Greed kills.

[@johnnycactus5140]

Even worse the hospital will not tell you the correct company that charges the professional fee. Honor Health based in Arizona

[@mw354]

How many of private equity jobs are off shore and H1B?

[@mikeklein4949]

Effectiveness is the beginning of the defnition and measure of efficiency. Were these investments improving the effectiveness of service delivery to the foundational demand upon which the business and industry depend. If the people in that demand cohort are experiencing lesser outcomes, the business is arguably maximizing inefficiency.

[@djmcnerney]

OMG. Real journalism from NYT and CNN alums? I’m going to faint.

[@evelynramos445]

Horrific gains at any sake, buy at self interest in mind! Nursing home to protect!

[@roots4140]

For companies that need growth capital and don't want to go public, what is the alternative? Seriously?

[@kurtfuchs4402]

How come we don't hear anything about the Social Market Economy as a means to make the market economy work for the most people?

[@evelynramos445]

40th in health globally

[@thomasdunham5427]

face it they are going to do what ever they want ,i,m 73 and keep hearing what the problems are,no salutions.think i,ll write a book.....

[@michaelschneider2874]

I am beginning to think we might be better off voting for CHAOS ! And Starting Over Again , keeping in mind what went wrong the last time !

[@lolestowers6263]

Its all good and well to open up peoples eyes, but politicians supposedly representing the people are beholden to the rich. Get money out of politics otherwise nothing will change 😢😢🤔🤫🫣

[@jamesmorton7881]

Corporate knowledge base has been gutted. for more ROI. The majority of highly paid SEMs were discarded.

[@Yotrek]

100% worker owned cooperatives solve every one of these problems.

[@alexcipriani6003]

it’s past time politicians eradicate the rent seeking in the economy otherwise pretty soon they’ll be experience what it means to lose governing consent

[@Ryan-Fkrepublicnz]

now I know why emergency rooms are such crap--- crapitalism.

[@Delvy787]

We live in a country run by the Ferengi

[@christiansmith-of7dt]

I would love to be upstaged , i wouldnt have a problem with it , i encourage it everyday

[@evelynramos445]

Unprepared

[@gregdonovan5738]

Leveraged Buyouts destroy good companies

[@lizmclemore739]

Capitalism was never meant to be care. It is always about money.

[@jabbermocky4520]

The plunderers consider themselves "Masters of the Universe". We need to prove them wrong.

[@calgarywino]

The report she quotes at 5:50 is scary.

[@kasondaleigh]

Private equity has “streamlined” the nursing staff to bare minimums and caused the deaths of how many? Where is the regulation? Such BS should not be allowed.

[@niveusgaius]

The middle class grew until Ronald Reagan was elected.

[@jamessmith7909]

Capitalism has a way of changing definition when convenient. To big to fail should not exist especially when using taxpayer money. it's only socialism when regular people and communities are being aided vs businesses.

[@mtn1793]

It’s an oil the guillotines situation. Money worshipping might be legal but that doesn’t make it any less dangerous.

[@chesterfinecat7588]

750 billionaires among 330 million own the city council, state house, congress and media. Their profits matter. Your problems don't. You must not be smart enough, dedicated enough, not positive enough if you're not succeeding.

[@aboucard93]

This isn't a joke Americans are suffering the consequences of these private equity companies actions and this guy thinks it's a joke.

[@jimmymcgee4101]

The workers pensions

[@johnhiz6239]

Re-finance again and again

[@alphaomega8373]

China would never allow it to happen.

[@fretish5425]

Walter sure sounds like a PE cheerleader. I’m glad this issue is getting coverage, but when the interviewer seems so reluctant to entertain the thesis of the author it makes me wonder how much worse the problem is.

[@rp011051]

they have captured both parties and hence they shape the rules of finance

[@calgarywino]

It's great to see a real, learned expert rather than the many basement philosophers.

[@jimsykes6843]

Incidentally, 'Basement Philosophers' was the name of my rock band, which had to quit because streaming ate up the record business and Ticketmaster and Live Nation siphoned off our touring revenue.

[@emmahardesty4330]

The filthy rich are adequately named.

[@LD-pw7oq]

Bring back public services! At least it's there for the patient. Private services cut services and only interested in making money over people)!

[@evelynramos445]

Opedid who's overlooking

[@michaelschneider2874]

Instead they Invested in Mortuaries ?😅