How much is Big Money and Private Equity Secretly Controlling Our Lives?

Daily writing prompt

Which topics would you like to be more informed about?

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As I sit here at 69, looking back over my life, I can’t help but ask: When did the world start changing so fast against the middle class? When did owning your own home—once a cornerstone of security and independence—become a battlefield against billion-dollar investors? Why are private equity firms and institutional investors allowed to buy up private homes faster than people can save a down payment? Was not homeownership always meant to be accessible to middle-class families, or did that change quietly while we weren’t paying attention? How long will the average person be forced to rent, obey rules set by distant corporations, and watch their wealth flow into the pockets of strangers?

And energy—why did the cost of heating, cooling, entertainment and commuting become a relentless burden? How did it happen that large utilities, backed by private equity, can raise rates and consolidate control while we just pay and complain? When did communication, data, and entertainment start becoming tools for corporate profit rather than convenience for the public? Can you live today without a smartphone? Technically yes—but practically no , how many of us can navigate banking, shopping, work, streaming, and even grocery coupons without being locked into corporate-controlled apps and platforms? Did anyone notice that the convenience of apps also means dependence? How much money is being quietly funneled out of our hands every time we scan a digital coupon or redeem a loyalty point?

And debt—what happened to the protections we once had? Why did laws that capped interest rates on credit cards disappear or get ignored? Why are banks now sending credit cards to young people with 20–30% interest rates, hidden fees, and penalties that were unimaginable in the past? How did it become acceptable for corporations and private equity-backed lenders to profit so aggressively off our dependency and inexperience? Mafia members are rolling over in their graves seeing the rates and fees banks or now getting.

Healthcare—why did hospitals, clinics, and even entire medical systems get swallowed up by private equity? Where are the local family doctors? Why are drug companies and equipment firms controlled by the same profit-driven conglomerates? Was healthcare ever meant to be so dominated by corporations whose main goal is extracting maximum profit from illness, rather than caring for people? How long can a healthy lifestyle protect us if the system itself is designed to make care expensive, complicated, and controlled by someone else’s bottom line? There will come a time when if you want health insurance you will be required to take certain meds and get certain tests or you will be dropped.

And savings—how much is inflation, corporate fees, and market manipulation eroding our ability to secure a comfortable retirement? If $1.2 million in 40 years only has the spending power of about $368,000 today, what does that say about our ability to keep up with these forces? Was it ever like this when I was younger, or did protections, regulations, and competition once make building wealth achievable for the middle class?

At 69, I ask these questions not because I am defeated—but because I want younger generations to see the patterns that have been quietly forming. How much control are corporations and private equity exerting over your life? How much of your time, money, and independence is being quietly extracted while you work, spend, and obey the rules they set?

Is it too late to fight back? Or is it possible, even now, to take back some control by owning your home, controlling energy use, managing debt, protecting your health, and saving aggressively? Can awareness and action at the individual level break the grip of these massive forces?

I don’t have all the answers—but I do know this: if we ignore how deeply these systems have infiltrated our daily lives, the next generation may never experience the independence we once took for granted. So, I ask again: how much is big money and private equity trying to control every part of our lives—and keep us under their thumb? And more importantly, what will we do about it?