1855: The Quiet Billion-Dollar Machine Behind Job Loss, Higher Rents, and Vanishing Services

So Money with Farnoosh Torabi

Farnoosh Torabi

Entrepreneurship, Business

4.7 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ww’re pulling back the curtain on one of the most powerful — and least understood — forces shaping our economy: private equity.

My guest is Megan Greenwell, a veteran journalist and former editor-in-chief of Deadspin, whose new book, Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream, is both a searing exposé and a deeply human investigation. Through vivid storytelling and meticulous reporting, Megan shows how private equity firms, often operating in the shadows — have quietly reshaped entire industries: health care, housing, local news, retail, daycare, even emergency services.

At the heart of Bad Company are four Americans — Liz, Roger, Natalia, and Loren — whose lives were upended by private equity–backed takeovers of the institutions they depended on. Their stories reveal how a business model designed to extract maximum profits for investors has left devastation in its wake for working families and entire communities.

This is a conversation about capitalism, inequality, and the hollowing out of the American Dream. But it’s also about resilience, and the people fighting back.

Transcript

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0:32.1	So Money episode 1855, the quiet billion dollar machine behind job loss, higher rents, and vanishing services.
0:42.1	You're listening to So Money with award-winning money guru Farnush Torabi. Each day, get a 30-minute
0:48.5	dose of financial inspiration from the world's top business minds, authors, influencers, and from Farnoose yourself.
0:56.4	Looking for ways to save on gas or double your double coupons?
1:00.1	Sorry.
1:01.0	You're in the wrong place.
1:02.4	Seeking profound ways to live a richer, happier life.
1:05.7	Welcome to So Money.
1:08.6	Even if you're making all the best choices in the world, you can't control if your landlord
1:13.2	is taken over by a private equity firm, if your children's preschool is taken over, or your
1:18.1	grandmother's nursing home, private equity is big in public utilities now. And obviously,
1:23.4	none of us have a choice in who our public utility providers are. So I think it's less about
1:31.1	lecturing people to make ethical choices and more about just making people aware because private
1:37.3	equity for so long has had the disproportionate share of the information. And I want people to feel
1:43.9	like they know what's going on
1:46.1	and that they can push back in some cases. Welcome to So Money, everyone. I'm Farnoush Tarabi. To kick off
	...

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