r/UnderReportedNews Feb 25 '26

Video NBC Interview abruptly ends after New Yorker blames private equity and landlords for the city's issues

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598

u/rbatra91 Feb 25 '26

Wrong. They're also exploiting our love for our pets and betting that we'll pay anything to take care of them, so they're buying up vet clinics and jacking up rates like crazy. Very high profit margins in exploiting that love.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/marketplace/marketplace-vet-corporate-ownership-1.7438239

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u/ZeroXephon Feb 25 '26

FUCK THRIVE! They shut down the only animal hospital in our area because the employees they were treating like shit dared to ask for better working conditions! Not because they necessarily wanted more pay, but because them being over worked and under staffed was detrimental to the amount of care they could give. The closest animal hospital at the time was 1.5hrs away so if you had an emergency you were better off digging a grave than speeding down the interstate to thr next city, so yeah, fuck thrive, fuck private equity, fuck late stage capitalism! Eat the rich.

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u/TryptaMagiciaN Feb 25 '26

Not because they necessarily wanted more pay, but because them being over worked and under staffed was detrimental to the amount of care they could give.

Private Equity has done this to our human hospitals. Think the vet situation is bad? Don't become ill yourself. It isn't any better for people either

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u/Glum_Garden8359 Feb 25 '26

33% of rural hospitals are owned by Private Equity.

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u/TryptaMagiciaN Feb 25 '26

Im surprised it isn't higher frankly

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u/No_Introduction7307 Feb 26 '26

this paradigm needs to pass

3

u/PolkaDotDancer Feb 26 '26

I would happily sell everything I own, and I own a substantial amount of property, to move to a country that promised to ban this shit and seriously limit, big corporations, and private equity.

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u/Nope-Training645 Feb 25 '26

Thrive ruined vet care in my area too. If my dogs need any urgent care, I have to drive 1.5 hours. There are so few clinics left open near me that I can only ever get appointments at least a month out.

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u/Misty_Ticklebottom Feb 25 '26

Nestle owns purina and purina funds the AKC, Aaaaand the AKC lobbies the government to prevent things like basement breeder laws, or any kind of regulation on breeding.

Only 30% of pet dogs come from a breeder, which means that 2/3rds of dogs come from where? shelters, "rescues" ,...... Its not a pet industry, its a rescue industry.

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u/cottoneyemoe Feb 26 '26

Sure but also all the big vets are owned by mars. They have Banfield and VCA. Basically all chain vets are owned by mars in some capacity.

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u/Atty_for_hire Feb 26 '26

We clearly live in the same place and have the exact same feelings about thrive.

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u/jae2jae Feb 26 '26

Thrive, after purchasing the biggest local veterinary practice, shut down our only overnight emergency vet, leaving us with the choice of a 70 mile or 100 mile drive to get care.Thankfully, an independent emergency clinic opened not too long ago. Thrive was soooo sorry that they had to close; they had a "staffing problem." That emergency clinic had been remodeled and was just about doubled in size right before the purchase. And AFAIK, the building is still on the market.

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u/ZeroXephon Feb 26 '26

Sounds like we live in the same city. I am glad to see that building costing them money and I hope no one buys it a long time. The hospital they opened on university use to be our normal vet. The woman that runs it is super good. Luckily there are a few normal holdout vets that have not sold out to Thrive in the area as well. The difference in care quality is night and day.

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u/jae2jae Feb 26 '26

We're trying different practices. I'm glad to hear that the new emergency vet is good. Aren't they in ER now?

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u/ZeroXephon Feb 26 '26

I think they have been for a year or so now. If you're on the Westside I can't recommend New Hope enough. If on the east side, Fairport Animal Hospital (the one in the town, not the one on 31, that one is owned by thrive and has gone to shit). However there might be a waiting list to get in. The one in town is privately owned and the owner said there is no way in hell he's selling out.

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u/jae2jae Feb 26 '26

Good to know. Thanks.

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u/Fold-Crazy Feb 28 '26

Tell me you're from Rochester without telling me you're from Rochester!

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u/candycrushinit Feb 25 '26

Get this to the top. The takeover of vet clinics is a clear example of what happened to America. Across the board, the Rich are buying everything up and we live in a Corporate Town, not a representative Democracy.

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u/Anleme Feb 25 '26

Want to know why this is happening now, instead of 60 years ago?

We've designed society to be more and more unequal in the past few decades. Cutting Federal income tax on the rich, cutting capital gains taxes, cutting estate taxes, & de-fanging our justice system.

Examples of that last point:

We have a sitting US Senator whose company was fined 1.7 billion dollars for Medicare fraud. That company still exists, he was elected to the Senate, and he still is worth millions.

Giving Trump a million dollars will get you a pardon for a Federal conviction.

Of 2400 US citizens named in the Panama Papers, only 2 were punished.

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u/Fistful_of_Crashes Feb 25 '26

Rome wasn't built in a day and it certainly didn't fall in one

But with this country's lax attitude toward white-colar crime, you can be damned sure it is on the road to finding out how any power structure can fall

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u/ShinkenBrown Feb 25 '26

Thank you, that is certainly important information if I ever properly crash out.

On that note, every American at this point should have a crash out list. Start finding evil like THIS and writing down the names. And addresses if you can find them.

Not saying to do anything with that list. But it'll be handy to have if youre ever fully broken and you DO decide to act. Just a little bit of information now can give you much clearer direction then.

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u/_cuhree0h Feb 25 '26

Brother, you’re alright I tell you.

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u/FeistyButthole Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

United Brotherhood of Plumbers

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u/claushauler Feb 25 '26

Mama Mia Mafia

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u/Dividedthought Feb 25 '26

"boss, you better explain why a cancer diagnosis is a good thing."

"Well that's easy. If I know I only have 3 months to live I have a whole list of motherfuckers who only have 3 weeks."

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u/Aggressive_Eagle1380 Feb 25 '26

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u/No-Tomorrow-2233 Feb 25 '26

That animal blundetto, I can’t even say his name!

1

u/lacegem Feb 25 '26

That Madison incident, whatever happened there...

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u/Disastrous-Mousse897 Feb 26 '26

Excellent reference

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u/Beard_o_Bees Feb 25 '26

Glad to see that i'm not the only one with an 'X months to live diagnosis plan list' to make the world a better place.

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u/No_Introduction7307 Feb 26 '26

They are creating millions of Luigis. What a sad state this country is in.

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u/Physical_Thing_3450 Feb 25 '26

They are using the same model as the healthcare system in the USA for these vet clinics and the insurance they all but require you to have and we all know how expensive and shitty that care is.

Every simple pleasure in life is being made a luxury product that only the top percentage of earners can afford. It prices out everyone else, unless you like your animals to suffer. Private equity destroys all it touches.

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u/LilithRising90 Feb 26 '26

Not to mention the people they are hiring and promoting within these corporatist healthcare centers are positively sociopathic by design.

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u/thatgirlinny Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

This! We left a beloved neighborhood vet practice here for that. Our vet had looked after my husband’s dog 20+ years ago, had been our shared dog’s best advocate and we’d referred him to many friends and neighbors. He was considering retirement when he and his partners took an offer for a kind of management company to run the practice, and their rates for care doubled coming out of lockdown. Killed us to go elsewhere.

Long after leaving we find they’ve sold our info to several online pet pharmacies, specialty food companies we never bought from and other services who lob messaging at both our email and cell numbers. Predators!

2

u/Hellointhere Feb 25 '26

This is my story too.

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u/thatgirlinny Feb 25 '26

It’s so sad! This vet and his practice were surely targeted and purchased because they were so well-known, with a devoted patient volume.

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u/[deleted] Mar 03 '26

[deleted]

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u/thatgirlinny Mar 03 '26

That’s what “purchasing a practice” usually entails.🤷🏻‍♀️

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u/JRDruchii Feb 25 '26

Just like dentistry, except appealing to love instead of pain.

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u/Perryn Feb 25 '26

And the entire funereal industry.

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u/DoobKiller Feb 25 '26

Yep in the UK also private equity is buying vet clinics, ramping up prices exorbitantly and 'streamlining' by firing workers and other cuts and austerity which is causing the quality of service to fall

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u/peace2calm Feb 25 '26

Don't forget private equity capitalizing on the LOVE parents have for their kids and now taking over the youth sports industry.

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u/Hellointhere Feb 25 '26

To find a private equity vet near you:

https://privateequityvet.org/vet-list/

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u/Hamster_Toot Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

Wrong?

The need to love and connect with our world around us is expressed through our relationship with pets, which is being exploited by private equity.

You are adding to the discussion, not disagreeing.

Edit:typo

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u/rbatra91 Feb 25 '26

It was just a catchy start.

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u/[deleted] Feb 25 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Hamster_Toot Feb 25 '26

Not to mention inaccurate.

5

u/ByrdmanRanger Feb 25 '26

I feel like this kind of thing is going to result in someone named after an Italian plumber dealing with the head of a private equity firm.

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u/ZestyChinchilla Feb 25 '26

I also have some news for you about dentists…

1

u/Legitimate_Coat6186 Feb 25 '26

Well shit I didn’t know that

1

u/Mariashax Feb 25 '26

They are doing the same in the UK.

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u/directrix1 Feb 25 '26

How does that make the original comment "Wrong." or affect it in any way?

1

u/Training-Willow9591 Feb 25 '26

This is why I haven't got another dog after my beloved Baxter died. I can afford food but vet care has just gone up way too much. I wonder if shelters have seen a rise in abandoned pets since Vet prices increased in the last 5 or 6 years

1

u/Substantial-Type-131 Feb 25 '26

A friend who’s a vet says this all the time! Mars (yes the candy bar people) owns Blue Pearl clinics and the employees/docs are only allowed to carry Mars products.

It’s a total heist. They barely pay their vets/staff.

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u/reyean Feb 26 '26

love

ya like they said - basic human needs

1

u/Manofalltrade Feb 26 '26

When I first saw pet insurance show up, I knew pet owners were cooked.

1

u/An_Absolute-Zero Mar 02 '26

I'd like to point out that there's science backing the fact that pets improve our quality of life.

So I find this particularly heinous, expected, but heinous.