How Private Equity Consumed America
The untold story of how Wall Street’s money trees are devouring America
Does Money Really Grow on Trees?
You’ve probably heard that saying before — “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” But what if it did?
Imagine a world where cash literally sprouted from branches, ripe for the picking. That’s kind of how the private equity industry works — finding undervalued companies, picking them, and trying to grow them into money trees.
The only difference?
Instead of green leaves, these firms prune companies down to the bark, extracting as much profit as possible through layoffs, loading them with debt, and stripping assets before leaving them for dead. It’s like a locust swarm descending, devouring everything in its path.
So how did this controversial industry become such a dominant force, essentially “consuming” broad swaths of the American economy?
Let’s take a stroll down private equity’s path of disruption…
Way back in the 1980s, private equity was still a tiny sapling, pioneered by a few investors seeing opportunities that others missed. They would buy out undervalued companies, often using lots of debt to fund the buyouts.
