These Are the Plunderers
How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America
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Narrated by:
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John Bedford Lloyd
About this listen
A Wall Street Journal Bestseller
Pulitzer Prize–winning and New York Times bestselling financial journalist Gretchen Morgenson and financial policy analyst Joshua Rosner investigate the insidious world of private equity in this “masterpiece of investigative journalism” (Christopher Leonard, bestselling author of Kochland)—revealing how it puts our entire economy and us at risk.
Much has been written about the widening gulf between rich and poor and how our style of capitalism has failed to provide a living wage for so many Americans. But nothing has fully detailed the outsized role a small cohort of elite financiers has played in this inequality. Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and bestselling author Gretchen Morgenson, with coauthor Joshua Rosner, unmask the small group of celebrated Wall Street financiers, and their government enablers, who use excessive debt and dubious practices to undermine our nation’s economy for their own enrichment: private equity.
These Are the Plunderers traces the thirty-year history of corporate takeovers in America and private equity’s increasing dominance. Morgenson and Rosner investigate some of the biggest names in private equity, exposing how they buy companies, load them with debt, and then bleed them of assets and profits. All while prosecutors and regulators stand idly by.
The authors show how companies absorbed by private equity have worse outcomes for everyone but the financiers: employees are more likely to lose their jobs or their benefits; companies are more likely to go bankrupt; patients are more likely to have higher healthcare costs; residents of nursing homes are more likely to die faster; towns struggle when private equity buys their main businesses, crippling the local economy; and school teachers, firefighters, medical technicians, and other public workers are more likely to have lower returns on their pensions because of the fees private equity extracts from their investments. In other words: we are all worse off because of private equity.
These Are the Plunderers is a “meticulous and devastating takedown of a powerful force in Western capitalism” (Brad Stone, bestselling author of Amazon Unbound) that exposes the greed and pillaging in private equity, revealing the many ways these billionaires have bled the economy, and, in turn, us.
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- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Performance
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Story
In the spirit of Evicted, Bait and Switch, and The Big Short, a shocking, heart-wrenching investigation into America’s housing crisis and the modern-day robber barons who are making a fortune off the backs of the disenfranchised working and middle class - among them, Donald Trump and his inner circle.
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Amazing book - I hope it changes things and mobilizes people to take action!
- By WeaverDreams on 10-20-19
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King of Capital
- The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone
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- Length: 14 hrs and 42 mins
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Performance
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Story
The financial establishment---banks and investment bankers, such as Citigroup, Bear Stearns, Lehman, UBS, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley---were the cowboys, recklessly assuming risks, leveraging up to astronomical levels, and driving the economy to the brink of disaster.
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Great Story Ruined by Monotone Reading
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13 Bankers
- The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown
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- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 8 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Even after the ruinous financial crisis of 2008, America is still beset by the depredations of an oligarchy that is now bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to regulation than ever. Anchored by six megabanks, which together control assets amounting to more than 60 percent of the country's gross domestic product, these financial institutions (now more emphatically "too big to fail") continue to hold the global economy hostage.
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Easy to Understand and Comprehend
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Wall Street
- A History, Updated Edition
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- Narrated by: Stephen McLaughlin
- Length: 27 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Wall Street is an unending source of legend - and nightmares. It is a universal symbol of both the highest aspirations of economic prosperity and the basest impulses of greed and deception. Charles R. Geisst's Wall Street is at once a chronicle of the street itself - from the days when the wall was merely a defensive barricade built by Peter Stuyvesant - and an engaging economic history of the United States, a tale of profits and losses, enterprising spirits, and key figures that transformed America into the most powerful economy in the world.
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Many books in one; best linking of stories, eras
- By Philo on 03-23-14
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Why Wall Street Matters
- By: William D. Cohan
- Narrated by: Rob Shapiro
- Length: 4 hrs and 14 mins
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Performance
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Story
William D. Cohan is no knee-jerk advocate for Wall Street and the big banks. He's one of America's most respected financial journalists and the progressive best-selling author of House of Cards. He has long been critical of the bad behavior that plagued much of Wall Street in the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, and because he spent 17 years as an investment banker on Wall Street, he is an expert on its inner workings as well.
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An Inch Deep and A Mile Wide
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Who Stole My Pension?
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It’s estimated that there are over 50 million pensioners - in the United States alone. Like the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy, Germany and many other countries around the world are all in big trouble when it comes to the solvency of their pension funds. Who Stole My Pension? was written to give them guidance, resources, and tools so they can take action...and stop the looting.
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Very Eye Opening
- By Matt on 01-12-22
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Bought and Paid For
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According to business reporter Charles Gasparino, President Obama is faking his outrage at Wall Street, and his calls for new policies to rein in banks that are "too big to fail" are just pabulum. In reality, Obama has climbed into bed with Wall Street CEOs, giving them what they want so they will support his liberal, big-government agenda.
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Revealing and Convincing
- By Walter on 10-24-11
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Other People's Money
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Performance
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In just over three years, real estate giant Tishman Speyer and its partner, BlackRock, lost billions of investors' dollars on a single deal. In Other People's Money, Charles V. Bagli, the New York Times reporter who first broke the story of the sale of Stuyvesant Town - Peter Cooper Village takes listeners inside the most spectacular failure in real estate history, using this single deal as a lens to see how and why the real estate crisis happened.
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Solid
- By BryanW on 05-22-24
By: Charles V. Bagli
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A History of the United States in Five Crashes
- Stock Market Meltdowns That Defined a Nation
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- Narrated by: Christopher Grove
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Performance
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Story
In this absorbing, smart, and accessible blend of economic and cultural history in the vein of the works of Michael Lewis and Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial executive and CNBC contributor examines the five most significant stock market crashes in the United States over the past century, revealing how they have defined the nation today.
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A solid telling of crucial history
- By Philo on 06-17-17
By: Scott Nations
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Other People's Money
- The Real Business of Finance
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- Narrated by: Walter Dixon
- Length: 11 hrs and 54 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
The finance sector of Western economies is too large and attracts too many of the smartest college graduates. Financialization over the past three decades has created a structure that lacks resilience and supports absurd volumes of trading. The finance sector devotes too little attention to the search for new investment opportunities and the stewardship of existing ones, and far too much to secondary-market dealing in existing assets. Regulation has contributed more to the problems than the solutions.
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Listened twice. Everyone must read this.
- By Tristan on 01-18-16
By: John Kay
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Too Good to Be True
- The Rise and Fall of Bernie Madoff
- By: Erin Arvedlund
- Narrated by: Karen White
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Erin Arvedlund, the financial reporter who questioned the amazing returns of Bernie Madoff's hedge funds way back in 2001, traces the life of the infamous swindler and addresses the tough questions surrounding the collapse of his Ponzi scheme.
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Doesn't add much more that a lot of details.
- By Robert on 11-07-10
By: Erin Arvedlund
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Fooling Some of the People All of the Time
- A Long Short Story
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- Narrated by: L. J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
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Overall
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Performance
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At its most basic level, Allied Capital is the story of Wall Street at its worst. But the story is much bigger than one little-known company. Fooling Some of the People All of the Time is an important call for effective law enforcement, free speech, and fair play.
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where's the epilogue?
- By James Klein on 02-02-11
By: David Einhorn
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What listeners say about These Are the Plunderers
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Hector R.
- 07-04-23
Expose the politicians publicly
Excellent research on these plunderers. The politicians and the Supreme Court justices are enablers and they should be called out. They are all defrauding ordinary citizens of hard earned income. Expose health care and other businesses that are owned by private equities.
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- Happy Doc
- 08-31-24
Brilliant revelation
When these guys win, we all lose . Meticulously researched . These facts will amaze and astonish.
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- LaVerne Bowman
- 10-29-23
Enlightening
Just finished reading "These Are the Plunderers" and I'm blown away! This book provides crucial insights into topics like healthcare and pensions, shedding light on the financial sector. The thorough research and eloquent presentation make it a must-read for anyone looking to understand these complex issues. Highly recommended!
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- steve
- 05-28-23
Excellent book
Gretchen writers a great book and the narrator is very good.
After reading this book, the business section of the WSJ makes a lot of sense
Spend time with book, excellent investment
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- John
- 09-28-24
Information so few have but all need before going to the polls
With Carlyle Group's ambitious executive Glenn Young now governor of Virginia, Private Equity toady J. D. Vance now a candidate for Vice President and a Supreme Court majority determined to protect business from consumers, we should fear for the fox being in charge of the hen house. As a former state regulator, I have personally seen the damage done to nursing homes and their residents. These immoral persons have no concern for other humans, besides themselves and their tribe and yet have convinced themselves of their own superior worth.
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- Marco A Fernandez
- 05-13-23
Shining the light on pirate equity…
For healthcare, as a physician, my goal is to educate and partner with patients in taking medicine back from Wall Street. Great in depth look at how private equity works and the manipulation of the political system. I will do my part in fighting for my patients, there is no incentive for anyone else to do it.
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- Lubna
- 06-15-23
Revelatory
As a physician this book was very revealing and at times left me shocked. I would make this a required reading for all doctors and medical professionals in training and practice.
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- Todd
- 06-07-23
Interesting but very biased
The authors researched the book well and had a compelling narrative, but it was so biased that I felt like they would never give anybody in the private equity community a fair shake. Also, I didn't agree that the PE community was completely at fault for their alleged sins. The pension funds are the ones investing the huge sums of money. If these guys are so bad, they should stop investing them. Also, where are the regulators? I'm all for regulators convicting white-collar criminals and sending them to jail. (This includes bolstering the IRS to get tax cheats.) But to my knowledge, none of them were sent to jail. It's the job of the regulators to send people who do illegal things to jail. Additionally, many of these businesses like Sears and Toys R Us were already failing before the PE groups got to them. Maybe the PE groups provide a necessary piece of our economy by getting everything possible out of company before it completely fails. Also, I always wonder who is financing this debt. It seems crazy to loan out so much money to a company that is likely to go under. That's just wrong. One area where I do agree with the authors is that PE should not be involved in healthcare companies. Healthcare companies should be non-profit so there is never a conflict between care and profit. Finally, I've found in life that if you don't watch your money closely and understand our financial system well, there are enough people out biased towards money we will figure out all sorts of schemes to separate you from your money. It's one of my pet peeves that our educational system doesn't educate more on our financial system. We need to increase the teaching by about 10x. Understanding your finances will impact your quality of life in a very positive way.
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- Amazon Customer
- 09-18-23
Be Aware of Private Equity funds
Must read. Read everything before investing. be aware of Private Equity funds. Or any insurance companies owned by a private equity fund. There is no free lunch.
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- Hjtempel
- 05-18-23
Stop the plunder!
A must read for every American Adult. Enough Already!!!!! It’s dense but worth the read.
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