How Is Private Equity Legal?

Summary

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The Dream – "How Is Private Equity Legal?"

Podcast: The Dream
Host: Little Everywhere
Guest: Meredith Lynch (Content Creator, Writer, Comic, Host of "Oddly Specific" podcast)
Date: July 17, 2026

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Overview

This relaunch episode of The Dream explores the world of private equity: what it is, how it differs from venture capital, how it affects everything from healthcare to housing, and why so many believe it operates like a legal pyramid scheme. Host Jane Marie (referred to as 'A') interviews Meredith Lynch ('B'), a pop culture commentator and investigator whose work often exposes the shadowy fiscal mechanics underpinning high-profile failures and corrupt business practices. The central theme: If private equity seems as exploitative and damaging as it is, how is it legal—and why is it everywhere?

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Private Equity vs. Venture Capital

[08:00–09:11]

• Venture Capital (VC): Invests in early-stage companies (e.g., “when someone gives Mark Zuckerberg a million dollars to start Facebook”), aiming to grow them and expecting long-term returns.
• Private Equity (PE): Focuses on already established or distressed companies, often leveraging debt to “improve” them—mostly by slashing costs, sometimes gutting the business.

“The biggest difference between private equity and venture capital is the debt.” — Meredith Lynch [08:19]

2. How Private Equity Makes Money

[10:00–13:15]

• PE firms acquire companies, often already in financial trouble, and then:
  • Increase debt load.
  • Sell off valuable assets for quick cash (e.g. Red Lobster's real estate).
  • Cut costs—meaning services, staff, and essential business components suffer.
  • Eventually sell or exit, regardless of long-term viability.

Example: Steward Health Care (Hospitals)

• Sold hospital land, making hospitals renters in their own buildings.
• Vendors (for services, supplies, even basic needs) go unpaid.
• Direct impacts on patient care and tragic outcomes (e.g., bereavement boxes for deceased babies replaced with cardboard shipping boxes).

“Nurses were told to put the babies in cardboard shipping boxes to send to the morgue.” — Meredith Lynch [14:20]

3. The Mechanics: ‘Cost Cutting’ and Accountability

[20:20–21:34]

• PE makes money by reducing costs but keeps charging as if nothing changed.
• As private entities, they escape the transparency and accountability required of public companies.
• Workers, customers, and communities often pay the price.

4. Political Influence and Deregulation

[22:00–24:00]

• The Trump administration relaxed rules, making it easier for PE to access ordinary people’s pension funds—exposing laypeople’s retirement to high-risk bets.
• PE is tied to influential political and business figures (e.g., Jared Kushner, Kim Kardashian).

“Trump made it easier for private equity to access pensions.” — Meredith Lynch [22:17]

5. Is Private Equity Just ‘Savvy’ or Exploitative?

[24:00–25:00]

• Discussion about “savvy vs. scoundrels.”
• Noted that firms often sell to other PE firms—“It’s a pyramid scheme.” [24:27]
• Evidence exists of collusion and collaboration among firms.

6. History: The Junk Bond Era

[25:02–26:50]

• PE’s modern form rose in the 1980s during the junk bond boom.
• Referenced in pop culture: “This is what Richard Gere did in Pretty Woman.”
• Key figures: Michael Milken (“He went to prison for this”).

7. Private Equity Across Industries

[30:59–41:30]

• Housing: Owns 1.6 million units (apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes). PE landlords often defer maintenance, leading to worsening conditions for tenants.
• Retail: Brands like Francesca’s default on supplier payments—not PE’s problem, they just “walk away.”
• Healthcare/Nursing Homes: Worsening care, cost-cutting, patient neglect.
• Prisons: PE provides most healthcare, food, and commissary services in U.S. prisons.
• Libraries: PE-backed companies run “corporatized” public library systems, leading to layoffs, reduced services, and loss of community-specific resources.
• Sports: Private equity recently allowed in the NFL; only one team owner voted against it (Cincinnati Bengals).

8. Exposing Who’s Behind It

[34:23–34:52]

• It’s difficult to discover PE ownership—rarely listed on public documents, but Bloomberg news is often a good source for tracking transactions.

9. Normalization and the “American Dream”

[32:42–36:04]

• PE is often rationalized as “the cost of doing business” or “just being smart.”
• Few realize they’re affected until personally impacted (e.g., poorer hospital care, declining favorite restaurants).
• There’s a cultural tendency to tolerate exploitation if it seems aligned with “bootstrap” success.

10. Celebrity Involvement

[43:03–45:44]

• Notable PE enthusiasts: Kim Kardashian (Sky Partners), Tom Brady, Serena Williams, Jared Kushner, Will Smith, Jared Leto.
• Networks often include disgraced figures who “fail up” (e.g., Declan Kelly).
• PE is used as a strategy for the ultra-wealthy to stay rich, enter politics, or cement their business status.

11. The Stereotype of a PE “Bro”

[45:47–46:54]

• “White, Ivy League, fiscally conservative, male.”
• Blame shouldn’t be on junior staff, but on leadership and policymakers who enable PE excesses.

12. The Need for Guardrails

[41:57–42:25]

• Eliminating PE is unrealistic, but regulation is desperately needed (“guardrails”).
• NFL is offered as a partial model: limits on who can invest, how much can be owned, etc.

“How can we find a way to make it restrained? By making rules, by not having it just be, well, it's legal, so we can do whatever we want.” — Jane Marie [42:17]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Everything is now a pyramid scheme. There's somebody siphoning off all the money in a cheating way everywhere.” — Jane Marie [03:02]
• “It looks like a pyramid scheme, smells like a pyramid scheme, walks and talks like a pyramid scheme. How is that a thing?” — Jane Marie [06:35]
• “These private companies, this is essentially modern day pirates, they can get away in some way scot free.” — Meredith Lynch [21:34]
• “It’s hard to say if they're savvy or if they're scoundrels.” — Meredith Lynch [24:05]
• “Nurses were told to put the babies in cardboard shipping boxes to send to the morgue.” — Meredith Lynch [14:20]
• “Private equity and prisons go hand in hand. Almost all of the health care, almost all of the food service, almost all of the commissary is provided by private equity in prisons.” — Meredith Lynch [35:24]
• “If you are not incredibly wealthy, you are most likely either being affected by private equity…” — Meredith Lynch [33:39]
• “Rich people want to stay rich, you know?” — Jane Marie [45:41]

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Important Timestamps

• 03:00 – Introduction to the new season/focus: “Everything is now a pyramid scheme.”
• 06:45–08:10 – Introduction of guest Meredith Lynch and first explanation of private equity.
• 08:10–09:20 – Main difference between venture capital and private equity: “It’s the debt.”
• 10:00–13:15 – How PE operates in healthcare—including tragic hospital supply anecdotes.
• 20:20–21:34 – How PE “cost cuts” to profit, and why they escape accountability.
• 22:17–23:08 – How Trump policies opened pension funds to PE investment.
• 24:27–24:30 – Admitting PE is basically a pyramid scheme.
• 25:02–26:50 – PE history: The junk bond era and pop culture parallels.
• 31:08–33:39 – PE in housing—scope, effects, systemic issues.
• 35:24–36:47 – PE in prisons and everyday competition against PE-backed firms.
• 37:07–39:58 – PE in libraries: Loss of city jobs, services, community programming.
• 43:03–45:44 – Celebrity connections and profile of key players.
• 41:57–42:25 – On the necessity of imposing “guardrails” on PE.

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Flow and Tone

The episode is witty, skeptical, and conversational, with playful banter (“Big Ben, Parliament…”) balancing the gravity of the subject matter. Jane Marie and Meredith riff on pop culture, everyday life, and policy: they express frustration, incredulity, and concern—often with biting asides—while demystifying how private equity has infiltrated so many facets of American life.

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In Summary

• Private equity is pervasive in American and global business, but mostly operates in the shadows, extracting wealth by shifting risk and liability to everyone else.
• Its business model too often means strip-mining businesses, services, and even essential public services for quick, private gain—while the public bears the brunt.
• The celebrity endorsement and political enmeshment of private equity further normalize and entrench its power.
• The hosts question whether its prevalence is simply the new “cost of doing business”—or a glaring regulatory failure akin to pyramid schemes.
• Concluding, the show urges listeners to demand transparency, regulation, and broader recognition of private equity’s impact on the American Dream.

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Transcript

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[B]

Forget it.

[A]

When you put your brain into any new world for too long, you start to see it everywhere. Remember, like when you first started playing Tetris, everything was a. Was a Tetris block or Tetrai. Tetrominos. That is not. It's the name of the Tetris blocks. Why are you saying it like that? Tetromanos. Because it's spelled like that. What is that supposed to mean? Like dominoes. That's the only thing I can. Absolutely not. No, they're not called that anymore. Now they're called Tetris blocks. Yeah, it's official. They're Tetris blocks. Anyway, that's been happening around the office when it comes to pyramid schemes, everything is now a pyramid scheme. There's somebody siphoning off all the money in a cheating way everywhere. Right, Dan? Yeah, it appears that way. So this season I'm excited to dig into whether we're just being paranoid. First up, Private equity. Do you watch Shark Tank? I do. I wasn't asking you. I wasn't asking you. I'm the only other person here. Do you watch Shark Tank? Yes. I put the pause in just because I was trying to see if you would do it again. Okay, I'm trying this a different way. You watch Shark Tank? We all do. Including me. No, I don't eat it. Shark Tank, very popular TV show where venture capitalists meet with hopeful entrepreneurs, invest in their companies. So we all kind of, we get that framework of, I've got money, I'm going to put it in your company, we'll all make money. Well, in recent years, it seems that alongside every story about those type of venture capitalists, there's a story about private equity and they're kind of all mixed up. I always thought it was basically the same, but with some differences that would bore the crap out of me. Well, over time, with the help of today's guest, I've noticed that those stories about private equity firms are all kind of dark. Millions of job losses, 20,000 people dying when they shouldn't have in nursing homes. I mean, I know they're going there to die, but, like, this is when they weren't supposed to die. And those nursing homes being backed by private equity. And then there's the famouses who absolutely love private equity and start their own firms or partner with some established firm. Our best of our best and brightest, Kim Kardashian, Will Smith, Jared Kushner, Jared Leto, Ashton Kutcher, real business people of our time. Last year, 2024 private equity played a major role, according to their own industry reports, in 65% of the biggest corporate bankruptcies, over a billion dollars. So, like, companies that had lost a billion dollars and needed to, like, get bailed out, 65% of those were private equity, like Red Lobster. So the question is, how is that a thing? Just like with MLMs, how is that a thing? It looks like a pyramid scheme, smells like a pyramid scheme, walks and talks like a pyramid scheme. How is that a thing? Private equity bankrupts a bunch of companies, kills a bunch of people. People lose their jobs. What's the upside here, guys?

[B]

My name is Meredith Lynch. I am a content creator, I am a writer, I am a comic, and I host a podcast called Oddly Specific, which is the only podcast that covers everything from private equity to Pete Davidson.

[A]

Meredith comes with a very particular set of skills. She talks about pop culture stuff, but in the course of digging into controversial or gross pop culture things that rich celebrities are involved in, eventually she finds private equity or a shell company or just some super scammy thing that's readily available online. Like, you can look this stuff up. Yeah, it's follow the money. Follow the money. So Meredith follows the money. So, yeah, I brought you on today to talk about private equity because until I started paying attention to your work in that space, I realized I didn't really know what private equity was or how big of a problem it is in our society. I thought it was venture capital. So can you tell me the difference? My understanding is venture capital is like when someone gives Mark Zuckerberg a million dollars to start Facebook, and then like 10 years later, they get a billion back.

[B]

That is not a bad way of putting it. And I always quote Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Gretchen Morgenson, who wrote a fantastic book about private equity. And she says the biggest difference between private equity and venture capital is the debt. So when private equity comes in, it's all about the debt of the company. Typically, the company is already struggling. There might be a large amount of debt already, and it's often about increasing that debt. Venture capital comes into a company and they want to, in general terms, grow that company. They want to put money in to propel it forward. And it's usually about making a long term investment. So there are times when venture capital can be problematic and have some of the same problems that we see with private equity. But on a whole, I'm not as concerned about it personally and I think that's all that matters.

[A]

So let's back up just a little bit. You said something really interesting. But first I want to ask, is private equity like American thing?

[B]

No, private equity is not an American thing. In fact, private equity is thriving in other parts of the world. In the uk, in France, we see, you know, a lot of private equity companies in the uk. Just recently I've been doing a lot of research on a private equity company that is based in the UK and that is one of the largest owners of veterinary care.

[A]

What?

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Okay. So, okay. It's a business that's gig is to find companies that are in debt and then increase their debt.

[B]

Let me give you a quote, unquote, textbook definition of what private equity is. Yeah, I pulled this definition from my friends at the Private Equity Stakeholder Project. They're one of the few nonprofits that is doing work to really keep an eye on private equity, to advocate for guardrails on it. Private equity is the investment of equity. So for those of us who like, didn't pass college math, AKA me, that means money in private companies. So private equity firms go in and they purchase ownership in these private companies. So these are companies that you're not going to see on the New York Stock Exchange, etc. The hope for these firms that come in is that they can increase the value of what they purchased and then make a exit in a few years. So for example, they will go into a company where they might see it starting to go downhill. They will be able to sell the parts of the company. That's one way that it works. So for example, in the case of what we saw with Red Lobster, that was one that happened recently. They sold the land that Red Lobsters were on and basically made Red Lobster become renters of their own buildings.

[A]

And then they're going to sell it back to them or sell it to somebody else entirely.

[B]

They will sell it to someone else entirely.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

I mean, one of the biggest ones that we have seen recently is with Steward Health Care. It's no longer backed by the private equity company, but Service Capital Management is the equity company that came into Steward Health Care. They bought these hospitals that had to be sold by the Boston Archdiocese because of money that the Archdiocese had to pay back for victims of sexual abuse.

[A]

Okay, yikes already. Yikes.

[B]

Yes. And so they sold these hospitals to a private equity firm. And when these hospitals were sold in Massachusetts, firstly, there are hospitals that predominantly serve low income communities where access to health care is scarce. And I know that when people think of Massachusetts, they think of things like Mass General Hospital, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and there are a lot of really wonderful, accessible medical institutions in Massachusetts. But there's also a lot of other communities that are not as well served, that are not on public transit, et cetera. So these were hospitals that were really important parts of the community. And when service came in, they said, don't worry, we're not going to come in and like, you know, drive them into the ground. But pretty quickly that's what they saw happening. And so again, that's another case where they sold off the land of these hospitals to, I believe it was medical properties is the name of the, of who they sold it to. And then essentially the hospitals, you know, we're now forced to be to have a landlord. And we saw a lot of vendors not getting paid when these hospitals were sold to private equity. And so how did that work?

[A]

Like, what was the mechanism there?

[B]

So basically, you know, hospitals have several vendors. And so what private equity is notorious for is just, I'm going to say allegedly here, not paying vendors. So. So let's say you have machines that have to be serviced. They weren't paying for machines to be serviced. They weren't ordering supplies that needed to be ordered to the point where there have been deaths that have been linked back to the lack of medical supplies for routine procedures, et cetera. There are cases of emergency room nurses talking about the fact that they would be out of things in the er, like medicines or diapers, and nurses would be forced in the middle of the night to go out to a 24 hour CVS. And perhaps one of the most egregious stories was that, you know, sometimes in the emergency room, the unfortunate case of a baby dying would happen. And the emergency room had been stocking these, they called them bereavement boxes. And so they were essentially something that the baby could be put in before they were taken down to the morgue. For the family stewards stopped paying the vendor who made the bereavement boxes. So nurses were told to put the babies in cardboard shipping boxes to send to the morgue.

[A]

Did that health company shut down entirely or has there been one that private equity has come in and just completely destroyed.

[B]

What happened with that one is eventually the private equity firm pulled out, which is what usually happens. Now the hospitals are shuttering.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

You know, they're trying to bring them back to life. Some other hospitals are taking these hospitals over. But this is really important care that is no longer able to be as easily provided as it was before.

[A]

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[B]

They do try to increase the profits by cost cutting. And so then that will be often at the expense of the employees, that will be at the expense of the clients. With the example of the bereavement box. Right. Let's say someone comes into the hospital and they unfortunately experience something like that. They're still going to get the same insurance bill. Right. But they might not be getting the same level of care.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Supplies are being by nurses who run out in the middle of the night and purchase. I'm going to use for this example, like diapers.

[A]

Right.

[B]

But essentially the hospital is still charging as if they still have these items.

[A]

Okay. So they bring the costs down so that they pocket more of the revenue coming into the hospital.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

How are they not left holding the bag?

[B]

Well, a big part of this is the fact that these are private companies. Right. So when companies are on the New York Stock Exchange, Wall street, etcetera, that doesn't make them perfect. And I want to say that, I want to emphasize that that doesn't mean that they're great or amazing or whatever, but they are held to certain standards.

[A]

They're a little more transparent.

[B]

Exactly. These private companies, this is essentially modern day pirates, they can get away in some way scot free. The thing that we are seeing though now is in Congress, there are movements to put guardrails on private equity. Unfortunately, we are probably going to see a giant step back than that with a new administration, with someone who loves private equity. Yes. And you know, it's interesting. Trump is a friend to private equity. Jared Kushner has a private equity firm and what we saw during the Trump administration is he made it easier for private equity to thrive.

[A]

In what ways?

[B]

Couple of ways. One of the biggest ways is that Trump made it easier for private equity to access pensions.

[A]

What does that mean?

[B]

So pension funds are one of the ways in which private equity gets money. And he made it so private equity could get into individuals Pension funds in the sense that if you or I had a pension, we could invest it in private equity, which is a very risky decision for a.

[A]

A layperson. A layperson who has a 401k. Yeah. Or whatever.

[B]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like, it's not really for the unsophisticated investor. And so.

[A]

Well, I have, like, my pie chart of my retirement. It's not great, but whatever, where it's like, put this much into stocks and bonds and da, da, da, da, da. But he made it easier for one of those slices to be private equity.

[B]

Exactly. Okay, that's perfect.

[A]

Is there any version of that where I do make money?

[B]

I mean, Jane Marie, is there any version of you going to Vegas and coming home away?

[A]

Yeah, sure. It hasn't happened yet, but yes.

[B]

I say put your whole retirement fund into private. I'm feeling lucky.

[A]

So are the people who run these firms just, like, incredibly savvy about making their exit at the right time and in the right way where someone else is left holding the bag? Like, how do they.

[B]

It's hard to say if they're savvy or if they're scoundrels.

[A]

Right. Welcome to the Dream, everybody. The show where we try to figure out if people are savvy or scoundrels.

[B]

You know, it's such a. You know, oftentimes what they do is they sell to another private equity firm.

[A]

Oh, it's a pyramid scheme.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Everything's a pyramid scheme, it turns out, dear listeners.

[B]

Oh, no. They're all in it together. Like, they're actually getting along a lot better than people realize.

[A]

Do you have any examples of that?

[B]

There's emails that they were able to uncover of these firms in collaborating more than people would like to know.

[A]

When did this start becoming a problem?

[B]

I would say this started in the 80s with junk bonds. If people are familiar with the junk bonds of the 1980s. RJ Nabisco. This is basically what that is. Or if you would like a more pop culture reference, this is what Richard Gere did in Pretty Woman.

[A]

Say more. I've never seen it.

[B]

You've never seen Pretty Woman? Come on.

[A]

No.

[B]

Okay. All right. That's.

[A]

You know, I've never seen Dances With. Well, there was an era there where I, like, wasn't allowed to see this stuff. And so then I would just rebelled and, like, I watched stuff my parents had never even heard of, you know, because I was. They were like, everything's too racy to be fair.

[B]

I think it was probably a little racy when it came out for you to be watching.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

But, you know, essentially this.

[A]

Never seen Dirty Dancing either.

[B]

Oh, come on.

[A]

I know.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

It seems boring to me, but whatever. Okay, moving on.

[B]

So essentially, this has been around since the 80s. It's the reason why a lot of people are familiar with Drexel, Burnham and Lambert, which was a day on Wall street where everything basically fell apart for junk bonds. And there's a fantastic book on it that I am making my way through. It's called the Predators Ball. And it's about how this happened, and it's the reason why a lot of people are familiar with Michael Milken, who. He calls himself a very successful businessman. He was the one sort of behind all of this. He went to prison for this. If you look in private equity now, a lot of the times when you see people who are very high up at other firms and you read their bios, you will often see that they got their start at that firm.

[A]

And what are junk bonds? And if you can't answer this, I'll just make Dan tell me. So, Dan, can you explain what junk bonds are? Not the junk ones that are, like, in my grandma's junk drawer. If you. Okay, I'm going to do this a different way. They're getting a little. Who's they? Gemini. I'm using Gemini now. The robots.

[B]

The robots. Okay.

[A]

I mean, you know, the robots have the information we need. Okay. Junk bonds are basically just risky loans. You know, just like anything else, you buy a bond, like a stock, the companies that issue them are typically at a higher risk of going bankrupt and not being able to repay the money that's being borrowed. And to entice investors to take on that risk, these companies offer higher rates on their bonds. Okay. When the private equity firm, for example, comes into a healthcare system and decides to stop paying bills, is it just that they're not giving the hospital enough money and the hospital's making those decisions, or are they, like, the point of contact between the vendor and the hospital?

[B]

Usually it's that there's a middleman.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

That's the other great thing. Right. You know, I was recently looking at. I think it was Francesca's.

[A]

What is Francesca's? For those that may have not heard of it, it's all lowercase, right?

[B]

Lowercase F. Francesca's is a Smaller Forever 21 that's a little more bohemian, I would say, so, you know, fast fashion, I would say it definitely had its. Its heyday for a while and had a lot of expansion. And lately we've been Seeing a lot of stories where allegedly vendors have not been getting paid and they're coming out and they're saying, I wasn't paid by Francesca's. Right. Like, you know, I am a vendor. I make these stickers and Francesca stopped paying me. Well, when you look into it, Francesca's was or is still currently owned by private equity. And so to me, it's the private equity firm that's not paying them. But Francesca's the company and the brand is sort of left holding the bag.

[A]

And the private equity people are just like, too bad. So sad you didn't read the fine print.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

Okay. They seem cool. Hey, stick around. We'll be right back. Back Market is the best place to get the tech you need for back to School for Less. Like professionally refurbished smartphones to take those first aid pics.

[B]

Mom, your finger's blocking the camera.

[A]

Or so they can ask you to buy a poster board for the science fair tomorrow no matter what you need it for. The premium refurbished tech on Back market is guaranteed by the Back Market promise. Professionally refurbished with a one year warranty and free 30 day returns. Save [e-mail] this year's girls trip to Telluride was the best. We one upped ourselves with my Sapphire Preferred card. And with 5x points on Chase Travel, plus 3 times points on vacation homes with top brands, we got this incredible cabin.

[B]

It was a mansion.

[A]

And with three times the points on dining, we ordered a wagyu steak dinner

[B]

and that pistachio gelato was too good.

[A]

So where should we go next year?

[B]

I've got ideas.

[A]

Chase, Sapphire Preferred the card that's preferred for a reason. Cards issued by JPMorgan Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval terms apply. Close your eyes. Summer smells like sunshine, fresh citrus and salty air. What if your living room could feel just like that? With Pura's new summer collection, it can restore your sense of well being with fragrance. Fragrances designed to move with your day from bright, energizing mornings to soft, relaxing evenings make the invisible unforgettable this season. Visit pura.com to find your new favorite summer scent. Back to our conversation with Meredith Lynch. So we talked about health care, we talked about fashion. Where else is private equity?

[B]

We have private equity in housing. And I have, I have a pretty good. Well, I have a pretty depressing but a statistic on that that I'll share. Okay, so it's hard to tell because the other thing about private equity is it's quite sneaky. They don't have to disclose. Like you were saying, like, too bad. So sad. Right? But Americans for Financial Reform estimated in June of 2022 that private equity firms own at least 1.6 million units, which would account for 1 million apartment units, and the rest of that in single family homes and mobile homes.

[A]

Whoa. That's a lot of houses.

[B]

It is a lot of houses.

[A]

What happens when they go into that market?

[B]

Well, what we have seen is, again, the decline. Especially, like, I've seen a lot of cases of apartment buildings, a lot in the Southern California area south of Los Angeles. These private equity firms will come in, and then they're understaffing, you know, a large building that probably needs a big management team. And so things like infestation, mold, et cetera, all end up increasing because they're not taking the same care to the buildings.

[A]

So they just siphon off the rent money and then bail at the exact right moment?

[B]

Yes, essentially, that's the goal.

[A]

What do they tell themselves? Like, what? Can you imagine? They tell themselves, like, the money's just there for the taking.

[B]

I think that is it to some degree. I also think it's something that we've really normalized in American culture and in capitalism. I mean, from my experience, when I have conversations with people about private equity, sometimes they say to me, well, you know what, Meredith? It's not illegal. It's the cost of doing business. These people are smart and savvy, and some people view it that way. What ends up happening, though, is then people start getting affected by private equity, and then their tune starts to change. And if you are not in it or you're not incredibly wealthy, you are most likely either being affected by private equity, whether you say, oh, my gosh, Meredith, Panera Bread used to be so good, and it's not anymore. That's private equity right there.

[A]

Wow.

[B]

Yes. Or it's. My grandmother is receiving subpar care in her nursing home, and I just found out that it's actually owned by private equity.

[A]

Do you find yourself nosing around when you read an article about some micro failure of a business? Do you look in the back office like, who's there? Is it private equity?

[B]

Yes. And like, nine times out of ten, it ends up being private equity. Like, nine times out of ten, if I'm someplace and I'm like, why is it all mobile orders now? Why can't I just go to the cashier anymore? Why is it all an app? And then I'm like, who owns this place? And you do have to dig, because, like I said, you don't have to disclose it the same way. And usually it's private equity.

[A]

Where do you go to dig? Is that your next venture? Do we need to get some private equity behind an app that you're developing to find out who is in private equity?

[B]

Bloomberg. Bloomberg is probably my best resource because oftentimes they will report out, oh, this sale happened. So that's how I'm figuring out that private equity was involved in the purchase of something.

[A]

It's not the about us page.

[B]

No, no.

[A]

How big of a problem is this? I mean let's say subjectively and objectively

[B]

to me, I don't like that my tax dollars fund prisons that are crawling with private equity and that private equity is providing sub care to human beings.

[A]

Is that also another big sector?

[B]

Private equity and prisons go hand in hand. Almost all of the health care, almost all of the food service, almost all of the commissary is provided by private equity in prisons. So like it is a problem and we should pay attention to it. But more so we should also be looking at all of the privatization that is within prisons. So yeah, I don't want my money going to fund sub par care for incarcerated individuals. And let's say you want to start a bakery and you're competing against somebody who's got private equity money or private equity backing. How is that affecting the dream if you will?

[A]

I mean, don't we all have to deal with the consequences of private equity? And so shouldn't that make us all kind of concerned whether we have proximity to it or not?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think the issue in why people don't push back against it more is that parts of it are reflective of the bootstrap mentality. American dream. Okay, so well, you know what, this guy went to UPENN and he got in with the right people and he learned how to do private equity. Is that so bad? Shouldn't we be allowed to do that? Right, that is one mentality of it.

[A]

Are there other sectors that you've found? Like we got health care, we've got veterinary clinics, we've got housing, we've got some retail stores, we've got prisons. Are we missing anything? Schools?

[B]

One I'll give you that is in that vein is libraries.

[A]

Oh, public libraries.

[B]

Public libraries say more. So there is a company, they're called Library Systems and Services. They are private equity backed company and what they do is they come into libraries and they take over a lot of the what they call. Oh, it's all the stuff you don't want to do. So that would be the administration, the hr, even just like the purchasing of books and what community programs to offer. And they're very proud that they're the only corporate library provider in the country. And I'm like, yeah, that's because people don't want that. That's like not something to be proud of.

[A]

Yeah, exactly. We want them to be public.

[B]

Right. And what we see, and there's great documented research on this, is when Library Systems and Services comes into a library, first of all, the employees of the library are no longer employees of the city or town, which means that they lose oftentimes benefits, pensions, etc. That they were. That they had. So it becomes a less desirable position for a lot of people. Right?

[A]

Uh huh.

[B]

And a lot of times people get let go and then have to reapply and become an employee of Library Systems and Services. And so, you know, there's that whole process.

[A]

Wait, is Library Systems and Services a brand? Like, is that the company?

[B]

Yeah, that's the company. And then they're owned by a private equity firm. And that's a private company. That's a private company. And so what they will do is they'll come in and they will be in charge of like community programming. Like libraries are so much more than books. They're also places where people might take an ESL class, they might work on a class towards a pathway to citizenship, et cetera. So they come in and I'm not saying that they necessarily get rid of all those classes, but they have a tendency to pull back on community programming. They have a tendency to pull back on providing books and resources that are tailored to the community and they instead focus on things like bestsellers, et cetera. So like what we've seen is like in a community, for example, that typically has a bigger Latinx population, they're pulling back on books that are in Spanish. And what we just saw, and fingers crossed that it doesn't happen, it looks like it's not happening, is they really just tried to get into the Huntington Beach Library here in Southern California. So thankfully there was a lot of pushback on that. And what was interesting there is that library Systems and Services, I believe it was their VP of sales who was really pushing to outsource to them under the guise of this will end up saving you money. Is the former mayor of Huntington Beach.

[A]

Okay, cool. California. So is private equity in multi level marketing?

[B]

Wow, that's such a good question.

[A]

That was pretty fun.

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

We got to look.

[B]

Yeah, recently. I'll just Add that it recently entered the NFL.

[A]

What?

[B]

Yes. So private equity is actually in all of the major league sports.

[A]

How do you gut the NFL? Like, how do you ransack the NFL?

[B]

It's called CTE's Jane Marie.

[A]

Oh, we're doing an episode on that. The American Dream. Just getting knocked in the head. A bunch of.

[B]

Yeah. And who gets knocked in the head? More black players, right?

[A]

Totally.

[B]

So, basically, what's so interesting about private equity in the NFL is this happened recently. It was voted on, I believe, in the late summer to allow private equity to invest in the league. And there were, I believe, 32 owners who are eligible to vote on this. Of the 32, only one of them voted against it. And that's why I'm now a Cincinnati Bengals fan, because they voted against it. Voted against it. Mike Brown is the owner of the Cincinnati Bank, Cincinnati Bengals. And his concern is that it will.

[A]

You can't skimp on helmets.

[B]

Well, yeah, actually, that is a very good point. His concern is that for, especially for the smaller marketed teams like a Cincinnati, that it's going to take money out of the community. But what's interesting about private equity in the NFL is, is that they've put a lot more guardrails on it. So it's limited on which private equity firms can invest, it's limited on how much ownership they can have, etc. So in a way, I am kind of wondering if this might end up being the model of how we can maybe have some small private equity investments if there are stricter guardrails on it.

[A]

Right, but should we all understand, like, generally speaking, that private equity is not a good thing?

[B]

Yes, but also it's going to be really, really hard to completely eliminate it. So how can we find a way to make it restrained?

[A]

By making rules, by not having it just be. Well, it's legal, so we can do whatever we want.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

What's going to happen? Like, is this becoming a bigger and bigger and bigger problem and we're all just going to have to live with it?

[B]

Well, I think this is happening. I think that more people are talking about it and I do think that it is part of the thing that is contributing to our wealth gap, which has been increasing over the years. I think it's stagnated a little bit. But I also think that with this incoming Trump administration, if we can put our eyes onto what he does to make it better for private equity, I think more people will have an awareness of it and understand it.

[A]

Yeah. You've also uncovered a lot of celebrity Connections. And I don't need you to get specific here, but tell me what happens when your hackles go up, when you hear, like, a celebrity announcement about some merger or some. Something. What?

[B]

Are you sure?

[A]

What's the first thing you do?

[B]

Well, I mean, I'll just say this. Like, this is how I got radicalized. I saw that Kim Kardashian was starting a private equity firm.

[A]

Oh, starting an ownership of one.

[B]

Yeah. Kim has her own private equity.

[A]

Scoundrel. She's a scoundrel. What's it called?

[B]

It's called Sky Partners.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

And she actually started it with a gentleman by the name of Jay Sammons. He's from. Originally from the Carlyle Group. And Carlyle is really well known for driving nursing homes into the ground. That's kind of like their claim to fame. And with Jay Sammons, actually, he's really well known for the private equity involvement of the selling of the Taylor Swift Masters. Oh, so that is her co founder.

[A]

But she hates Taylor Swift, right?

[B]

Oh, totally. Here's the thing. Sometimes I wonder how much of that is mutually engineered. Yeah, there's definitely celebrity money in it. Tom Brady is involved in private equity. Now, the thing I find most interesting about that one is Tom Brady and Serena Williams both serve in the capacity of this private equity firm. The group is called Cancelo Group. They're headed by a gentleman by the name of Declan Kelly.

[A]

Declan? Absolutely not. Thumbs down. No one. Nope. No Declan. That's like an evil person's name. Doesn't it sound like a Bond villain or something?

[B]

What's interesting is Declan only had to start Cancelo Group because he had to leave his other job because he inappropriately touched employees at a nonprofit charity concert event, of course, while incredibly drunk.

[A]

And, you know, as one does, yes,

[B]

some might call it assault. But I believe he just copped to inappropriate touching. Inappropriate behavior, so he had to step down. Then, like most white men, Declan just failed up and went and started a private equity firm that now also you'll find on the website. Tom Brady is on, as is Serena Williams, which I always find to be

[A]

so disappointing because her husband in that world as well.

[B]

He is. But, like, come on, Serena. Like, you're a champion of women, and so you go and join up with this guy who literally had to be let go for his behavior with women.

[A]

Rich people want to stay rich, you know?

[B]

Ain't that the truth?

[A]

Is there, like, a type of person that gets into private equity? Is there, like, a stereotype of your average private equity bro?

[B]

White?

[A]

Huh?

[B]

They have penises yeah, they tend to be fiscally conservative, if that's still even a thing anymore. Private equity firms are often recruiting from the Ivy Leagues. And okay, here's the other thing. This is another area where I feel like I've become so radicalized. I don't blame someone for going and working in private equity as a, you know, junior staffer or an administrative assistant or it's the people at the very top and also it's the people in Congress who are not putting guardrails on this. That's really look to like.

[A]

You're not mad at the 22 year old coming out of Harvard?

[B]

No.

[A]

Who wants to impress mommy and daddy with their first job at a private equity firm?

[B]

I'm really not. Is that bad?

[A]

No. Like, I also. They don't even have a frontal lobe yet at 22. You know what I mean?

[B]

Yeah, it's totally.

[A]

It's all a crapshoot. We don't know where any of our kids are gonna end up in their 20s. But yeah, I think that the blame should be put squarely on the shoulders of the people like Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady who promote this sort of thing. What is the upside that they're trying to sell? Is it just totally a cash grab or do they think there's like some positive for society?

[B]

Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think with Kim. I've always wondered if Kim wants to make some type of political run in the. And in running private equity firm, you could essentially cement yourself in business very successfully. Private equity is what Mitt Romney did. And so I do think it's that. I think it's the accumulation of wealth, of course. And I think it's also like more is better. And you know, rich people are so weird.

[A]

Like when Elon is bragging about how much money he has, is he in private equity, by the way, Elon Musk.

[B]

Oh, that's such a good question. I can't believe I don't know that.

[A]

I'm just giving you assignments. That's what this interview is. No, you're gonna be a regular correspondent on the show and you're gonna come back answer all these questions for me. I want to hear if Elon Musk is in. But like him bragging about being the richest person on earth, it's like, I see the tented fingers of Mr. Burns whenever he says something like that. I'm like, that's a bad guy.

[B]

It's embarrassing. It's embarrassing.

[A]

Thanks, meredith.

[B]

Thank you. Bye.

[A]

Thank you so much. Meredith. She can be found on TikTok at MeredithM Lynch. And don't forget we have a tip line. Just call us at 818-584-1421. What looks like a pyramid scheme to you? We want to hear. Back Market is the best place to get the tech you need for Back to School for Less. Like professionally refurbished smartphones to take those first aid pics.

[B]

Mom, your finger's blocking the camera.

[A]

Or so they can ask you to buy a poster board for the science fair tomorrow no matter what you need it for. The premium refurbished tech on Back Market is guaranteed by the Back Market Promise. Professionally refurbished with a one year warranty and free 30 day returns. Save [e-mail] this year's girls trip to Telluride was the best.

[B]

We one upped ourselves with my Sapphire

[A]

Preferred card and with 5 times points on Chase Travel plus 3 times points on vacation homes with top brands, we got this incredible cabin.

[B]

It was a mansion.

[A]

And with three times the points on dining, we ordered a Wagyu steak dinner

[B]

and that pistachio gelato was too good.

[A]

So where should we go next year?

[B]

I've got ideas.

[A]

Chase Sapphire preferred the card that's preferred for a reason. Cards issued by JP Morgan, Chase bank and a member FDIC subject to credit approval terms apply. ACAST powers the World's best Podcasts. Here's a show that we recommend.

[B]

Welcome back to two Judgy Girls. I'm Mary from the Bay. And I'm Courtney from la. TJG is the podcast where we spill all the tea on your favorite reality TV shows, celebrity gossip and everything in between. We're here to bring you our unfiltered opinions, hilarious commentary and plenty of laughs along the way.

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We're two SDSU Delta Gamma sisters with a microphone and a whole lot of opinions. Each week we dive headfirst into the wild world of reality television. From Bravo to all the trash TV you could want.

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We break down the drama, dissect the

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everything from the jaw dropping moments to the embarrassing antics. But that's not all. We're not here to just gossip. We're here to connect with you, the jurors, and share our love of all things pop culture. Whether we're dishing on the latest celebrity breakups, discussing our favorite guilty pleasure movies, or sharing embarrassing stories from our own lives, we promise to keep it real, keep it fun, and keep you coming back for more. Come judge with us.

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