Comment by MarkusAllen

Private equity's destruction goes FAR beyond hospitals, nursing homes and vets:

Healthcare

  - Nursing homes / skilled nursing facilities
  - Hospitals (especially rural)
  - Physician practices (emergency medicine, anesthesiology, radiology, dermatology, ophthalmology)
  - Dental practices (DSOs - Dental Service Organizations)
  - Veterinary clinics
  - Hospice care
  - Addiction treatment centers
  - Behavioral health facilities
  - Physical therapy clinics
  - Urgent care centers
  - Home health agencies
  - Air ambulance services
  - Ambulance companies
  - Medical staffing agencies
  - Dialysis centers

  Retail

  - Toys R Us
  - Sears / Kmart
  - Payless ShoeSource
  - Shopko
  - Sports Authority
  - Gymboree
  - Charlotte Russe
  - Brookstone
  - Grocery chains (Albertsons, Safeway, etc.)
  - Pet stores (Petco, PetSmart)

  Housing & Real Estate

  - Single-family rental homes
  - Apartment buildings
  - Mobile home parks
  - Student housing
  - Senior living facilities

  Food & Restaurants

  - Casual dining chains (Red Lobster, Olive Garden era)
  - Fast food franchises
  - Local restaurant roll-ups
  - Food distribution (Sysco model)

  Media & Entertainment

  - Local newspapers
  - Radio stations (iHeartMedia/Clear Channel)
  - Movie theaters
  - Music venues

  Essential Services

  - Water utilities
  - Waste management
  - Ambulance services
  - Funeral homes
  - Cemeteries

  Home Services

  - HVAC companies
  - Plumbing services
  - Pest control
  - Security systems
  - Moving companies

  Financial Services

  - Payday lenders
  - Check cashing stores
  - Debt collection agencies
  - Insurance agencies

  Education

  - For-profit colleges
  - Childcare centers
  - Test prep companies
  - Tutoring centers

  Transportation

  - Auto dealerships
  - Car washes
  - Parking garages
  - Toll roads

  Technology & Software

  - Enterprise software (forced subscriptions)
  - SaaS companies (acquisition then price increases)

  Prisons & Justice

  - Private prisons
  - Probation services
  - Electronic monitoring

  Veterinary & Pet Care

  - Veterinary hospitals
  - Pet boarding facilities
  - Pet grooming chains

  Common Pattern: Take essential service → Load with debt → Cut staff/quality → Raise prices → Extract fees → Bankruptcy or sell before
   collapse → Taxpayers/communities absorb the damage

  The playbook: Buy with 10% equity, 90% debt → Fire workers → Sell real estate, lease it back → Cut quality → Raise prices → Pay
  themselves "management fees" → Company collapses with debt → PE walks away with 3-5x returns