Welcome to Democracy-ish. I'm Danielle Moody.

And I'm Wajatli.

And we are very excited to be joined by Brendan Ballou, who is a federal prosecutor and served as special counsel for

private equity in the Justice Department's anti-trust division, which is a mouthful,

and is also the author of Plunder, Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America. We will turn it over

to Wajahat Ali. Brendan, prepare yourself over to Wajahat Ali. Brendan, you prepare yourself for the Wajahat

movie phone introduction that we've come to enjoy so much. Brendan Ballou, special counsel at the

Department of Justice was part of the original team that brought suit in USV Google and leads the department's work on

private equity and interlocking directorates. He's also a graduate of Columbia University and

Stanford Law School. As Daniel said, his book, Plunder, Private Equity's plan to pillage

America will be published in the first week of May. That's why I pretty much just do this

podcast, Brendan, for moments like that.

I feel like a celebrity.

Thank you.

It's a mouthful.

You know, we're talking about private equity.

And before people snooze and turn off, I'm glad we have you on here because, and right

before we started talking, I said, listen, I'll confess, Brendan, I don't know how these people

make money. Like when I hear private equity and all the damage they've done, I'm a simple

unfrozen caveman lawyer and I don't want to admit in public, I still don't get it. And then you

kind of comforted me and said, oh yeah, it took me halfway into the book to realize what these

people actually do and how they make money. So that made me feel good. For the rest of the folks who are listening, private equity, we keep hearing

...