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A comment on You Can Thank Private Equity for That Enormous Doctor's Bill. Parent comment

Re:You Can Thank Private Equity for That Enormous Doctor's Bill by Arnt on Thursday May 30, 2024 @10:24AM (#40524108)
If a cartel forms around tropical fruits… that strikes me as a strange and unreal example. Private equity buys supermarket chains in the real world.

There are about six supermarket chaions in the city where I live. Most people will struggle to guess which ones are owned by private equity (one isn't), but almost everyone can name at least a couple of hospitals that aren't.

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Re:You Can Thank Private Equity for That Enormous Doctor's Bill by Turing_Machine on Thursday May 30, 2024 @11:58AM (#40525215)
> If a cartel forms around tropical fruits… that strikes me as a strange and unreal example.

It may seem unreal to you, but I can assure you that it actually happened at one point. It was a duopoly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Fruit_Company

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Re:You Can Thank Private Equity for That Enormous Doctor's Bill by Arnt on Thursday May 30, 2024 @12:17PM (#40525436)
Good for podcasters who need weird and unusual events for their podcast stories. Less good if you want to understand the world.
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Re:You Can Thank Private Equity for That Enormous Doctor's Bill by Turing_Machine on Thursday May 30, 2024 @11:51PM (#40531306)
What?

The history of Central America is essentially the history of these companies. Looking into it will give you more "understanding of the world" than you probably think.

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