# Heads I win, tails I also win: How private equity took over the world

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/heads-i-win-tails-i-also-win-how-private-equity-took-over-the-world
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/heads-i-win-tails-i-also-win-how-private-equity-took-over-the-world.md
Podcast: [Free State with Joe Brolly and Dion Fanning](https://stenobird.com/podcast/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217)
Published: 2026-05-09T00:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://freestatepodcast.com
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/641338125bde790011089c5b/e/69fe60b2385e8d5e30ff1557/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/free-state-with-joe-brolly-and-dion-fanning-6213217/episodes/heads-i-win-tails-i-also-win-how-private-equity-took-over-the-world
Duration seconds: 3190

## Resource

A study after the covid pandemic established that in care homes controlled by private equity firms the death rate was more than 50 per cent higher than in other homes. On Free State today we look at how private equity is capitalism cannibalising itself. Hettie O’Brien, author of The Asset Class, is on with us to talk about how this happened, how governments retreated from the public realm and left private equity take over the world. She explains how they took over the things we have to have, electricity, childcare, housing when governments retreated. And as they did, things became worse.  She explains how ideology took hold and while the masses were scolded for acquiring debt, private equity found they could live with it, or somebody else could die with it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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