Episode 154: Two Tales of Wall Street Vultures; A Progressive Takes On Another Corporate Democrat.
Episode 154: The Gordon Gekko boast in the fictional movie “Wall Street” that “Greed is Good” is really an organizing principle for the financial vultures who rob the country day after day. Today, you will hear two tales of greed and robbery by hedge fund and private equity vultures. First, it’s Paul Singer, the CEO of a hedge fund called Elliott Management, who has a net worth of $3.5 billion, is a political buddy of the Koch brothers and is a funder of climate change deniers. As Beth Allen, the communications director of the Communications Workers of America, explains in our chat Singer now has his sights set on screwing thousands of CWA members who work for AT&T by trying to extort money from AT&T. Then, I circle back with Eileen Appelbaum, the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, who was on the program just three weeks ago digging into how private equity vultures are behind the plague of surprise medical bills. This week, Eileen and I talk about a sham study that private equity leaders have ginned up to try to deflect the rising chorus of criticism against their tactics. And last up, finally, thankfully, a leading corporate Democrat Gregory Meeks has a primary challenger in New York’s 5th Congressional district—Shaniyat Chowdhury, a great progressive and a proud democratic socialist, chats with me about his campaign. -- Jonathan Tasini Follow me on Twitter @jonathantasini Sign up for The Working Life Podcast at: www.workinglife.org Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jonathan.tasini.3
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