56: THESE ARE THE PLUNDERERS with authors Gretchen Morgenson and Josh Rosner
Booked Up with Jen TaubShow Notes
Today we are doing Jen’s favorite thing: following the big dirty money. This time the focus is on the world of private equity. Those two words together sound ever so restrained and elite, even contained. In reality though the world of private equity is rough and destructive and affects all of us from patients seeking health care to workers losing their jobs. There are more than $10 trillion in private equity assets under management. And many public pension funds as well as ordinary members of the public are invested. Not private at all.
Timing is everything. In early December, two U.S. senators launched a bipartisan investigation on the takeover of our nation’s healthcare by giant private equity firms. Today on Booked Up we have the top experts on this topic,Joining Jen to discuss this topic are authors Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner. Their new bestseller These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America is a must-read for anyone and everyone who wants to understand why and how the rich get richer and the rest of us are struggling to make ends meet.
You may recognize Gretchen and Josh from their first book, about the 2008 financial and related mortgage crisis. It was a great resource for me when I wrote about that dangerous period. Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon.
Gretchen is the senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit. A former stockbroker, she won the Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for her “trenchant and incisive” reporting on Wall Street. Josh is managing director at independent research consultancy Graham Fisher and Co., advising regulators, policymakers, and institutional investors on banking and financial markets.
Contact Booked Up: You can email Jen & the Booked Up team at: [email protected] or by writing to:
BOOKED UP P.O. BOX 147 NORTHAMPTON, MA 01061
Get More from Gretchen Morgenson Twitter | Website | Author of THESE ARE THE PLUNDERERS
Get More from Josh Rosner Twitter | Website | Author of THESE ARE THE PLUNDERERS
More from Jen Taub: Twitter | Money & Gossip Substack | Author of BIG DIRTY MONEY
More from Booked Up with Jen Taub
Today nearly three years after the attack on the US Capitol my guest is American hero, Aquillino Gonell, author of the new book American Shield: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy. You know Staff Sergeant Gonell as one of the brave members of the Capitol Police who defended our country and our constitution when insurrectionist mobs attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
Welcome back to Booked Up, a podcast that features you, me and our favorite authors. We release a new episode every Sunday morning.
Rob Verchick, author of the award-winning new book, The Octopus in the Parking Garage: A Call for Climate Resilience is Jen’s guest today.
Chuck Collins, author of several works of nonfiction including The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Pay Millions to Hide Trillions is Jen’s guest today. They mostly discuss his debut novel, Altar to an Erupting Sun, a near-future story of one community facing climate disruption came out this May.
Today Jen’s guest is Orly Lobel, author of the recent book THE EQUALITY MACHINE: Harnessing Digital Technology for a Brighter, More Inclusive Future. Orly just sold the film rights to her book on Barbie to CBS Studios. The book is called YOU DON’T OWN ME: How Mattel v. MGA Entertainment Exposed Barbie's Dark Side. The book and the CBS production will follow the parallel journeys of Barbie inventor Ruth Handler and Bratz creator Carter Bryant.