Barnburner of an essay from Kim Phillips-Fein in NYRB on the issues with private equity, and also an interview with her about the essay.

I read one of the books she talks about — These are the Plunderers — and liked it much more than I expected to. It wasn’t the anti-capitalist rant I thought it would be, it was a lot more focused and concrete. One of the more memorable books I’ve read this year.

There’s a lot there – will other central bank interest rates change the strategy of these funds, maybe causing a long-overdue spike in IPO activity?

I’d love to find more mainstream books about about how the zero interest rate policies have affected politics, economics, and society at large (e.g. housing crisis, tech bubble…).

Also I’m currently reading Blood in the Machine by Brian Merchant, and in it he describes a party around the beginning of the 19th century that lines up perfectly with the ones at the beginning of Phillips-Fein’s essay, along with the revolt that closely followed. I’m not holding my breath for a modern revolt, but you never know.