Bad Company: Private Equity and the Death of the American Dream
by Megan Greenwell
View on GoodreadsMegan Greenwell's investigation of private equity's effects on American working life — told through four extended worker case studies (a Toys R Us employee, a rural hospital nurse, a journalist, a manufactured-home tenant) — making the case that PE's standard playbook systematically transfers wealth from workers, customers, and communities to investors.
Core ideas
- The "operational improvements" PE marketing language masks a specific extractive playbook — debt loading, sale-leasebacks, fee skimming, asset stripping, then bankruptcy that leaves stakeholders holding the costs PE has already moved off the balance sheet.
- The book's four-worker structure makes the abstract critique concrete; each story documents the specific PE-firm decisions and the downstream consequences in measurable terms.
- The regulatory question runs throughout — fiduciary duty, bankruptcy law, antitrust, and labor law all have hooks PE has been exploiting that could be closed if the political will existed.
Published2025
Pages294
ISBN9780063299351
ReadJul 2025
