The Bad PlaceThe Guardian | The Asset Class by Hettie O’Brien review – private equity is coming for us all by Caroline Knowles
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The review praises Hettie O’Brien’s *The Asset Class* as a vivid, meticulously researched expose of how private‑equity firms have come to dominate essential public services—from water, energy and housing to care homes and hospitals—by buying undervalued assets with borrowed money, then slashing costs, wages and investment to maximise returns. Tracing the sector’s rise from the deregulation of the Reagan‑Thatcher era to today’s global giants such as Blackstone, KKR and the Qatar Investment Authority, O’Brien shows how secrecy, offshore financing and government tax incentives have entrenched a system that prioritises shareholder profit over reliable, affordable services, leading to collapsing infrastructure, polluted rivers, exploitative care homes and pressured medical staff. The book combines human stories from cities like London, Copenhagen and San Francisco with broader analysis to argue that private equity not only degrades living standards but also fuels political instability and a cycle of public debt, and that remedial action would require a decisive governmental shift away from favouring elite capital.
#HettieO’Brien #Blackstone #KKR #Macquarie
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Douglas E. Welch
Douglas E. Welch
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