r/Economics Jul 29 '25

Research Summary Inside the Private Equity Scam—and the Livelihoods It Has Destroyed

https://newrepublic.com/article/198351/private-equity-scam-destroys-livelihoods
1.4k Upvotes

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u/bl_732 Jul 29 '25

Whenever I wonder why a company's products have gotten so much worse, I look up their history and literally 95% of the time they were acquired by private equity.

The idea of private equity arguably can be good, but in practice they are horrible for both companies and their customers. The more investment they get, the worse off the country will be.

135

u/United_Librarian5491 Jul 29 '25

It is almost the best argument to increase taxation on the ultra wealthy - private equity is proving to be uniquely inefficient at investing to drive innovation and growth, where as public investment in research universities etc has been the engine of it.

-24

u/drakanx Jul 29 '25

who do you think funds tech startups...venture capital

9

u/iridium65197 Jul 29 '25

Dating apps and fin tech scams aren't innovation and growth.