What do JOANN Fabrics, Party City, Toys R Us, and Red Lobster all have in common? These businesses were looted by private equity.

Joanne Fabrics, Party City, Toys R Us, Red Lobster, they've all got something in common. They all got bought up by private equity and then went bankrupt. Private equity firms try to sell the same story. They say, we buy up failing businesses and make them better. Sounds nice, but it's actually the opposite. Over and over again, they buy up businesses that are doing just fine and run them straight into the ground. At this point, they're pulling from the same playbook. And it looks something like this. Step one, a private equity firm buys a business like Red Lobster. Step two, they strip the company of its assets to turn a profit. In the case of Red Lobster, this meant selling the land that their restaurants were built on. Meanwhile, Red Lobster starts drowning in debt, trying to pay rent on the land it used to own and trying to pay off the private equity company's expensive management fees. Step three, Red Lobster, now saddled in debt, is forced to file for bankruptcy. Workers lose their jobs, people lose their retirement savings. It's bad. So why haven't you heard about this whole scheme? Well, these private equity firms have also mastered the art of the coverup. With Red Lobster, they tried to tell us the restaurant just gave away too much shrimp. Or in the case of Joanne Fabrics, they claim people just didn't care about crafts anymore. What? The excuses don't add up. I mean, these are businesses that are the bread and butter of local malls. They're the restaurants you grew up celebrating birthdays at and the stores where you found the perfect Halloween costume. And the problem is only getting worse under Donald Trump. Trump just fired the officials who worked to make sure that private equity didn't take advantage of local communities. From the federal bankruptcy watchdog to the independent officials at the Federal Trade Commission. He's giving these companies, owned by his buddies, a green light to keep on bleeding these businesses dry. Look, I've been sounding the alarm on private equity for years. And I know there are so many awful things happening right now that it feels like your head is going to fall off. But we can't let Donald Trump keep giving private equity the license to destroy the businesses we love. We've all got to spread the word about this and join the fight to put a stop to private equity takeovers.