Trump pumps private equity with 401k changes | Breaking Points podcast

August 12, 2025| In the media, Podcast, Video

Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar is a fearless anti-establishment Youtube show and podcast with over 1.58 million subscribers.

In this episode, BP correspondent James Li sits down with economic analyst and SCP Fellow Rachel Wasserman to discuss Trump’s executive order opening up 401k plans to private equity. Private equity is a type of investment where firms pull money from wealthy individuals and institutions to buy companies usually outside of the public market. Over the past many decades, private equity has promised outsized returns by taking companies private, loading them with debt, improving their operational efficiency and selling them later at a profit. But with rising interest rates and frozen exit markets, that model could be under serious stress.

So, what are the implications of making this type of investment available to retail investors and their retirement plans? Rachel walks James through how private equity works, what’s so dangerous about the buyout-private equity model and who might get left holding the bag.

Speakers

James Li
Correspondent, Breaking Points

Rachel Wasserman
Corporate lawyer and SCP Fellow

Changing narratives Economic policy Regulating private equity

Share with a friend

Related reading

BlogNever 51

Are Canadian pension funds stepping up for Canada at this moment of threat? All signs point to maybe

Large Canadian pension plan OMERS announced earlier this week that it will attempt to increase its investments in Canada by $10B over the next five years. This is a good sign, says SCP CEO Matthew Mendelsohn, but announcements and good intentions will not be enough. The incentive structure for fund managers, and the allocation of resources across asset classes and geographies, will need to change if pension funds are able to deliver on what their contributors and beneficiaries expect of them.

VideoIn the media

Watch the video: Should pension funds help build Canada’s future? | TVO’s The Rundown

TVO's The Rundown convened a discussion about whether Canadian pension funds should increase domestic investments versus investing internationally. The video segment examines the risks and rewards of using Canadian pension capital for nation-building projects, highlighting that Canadian pension funds managed nearly $2.5 trillion in assets by the end of 2024, but a large portion is invested outside of Canada. Panelists Matthew Mendelsohn and Keith Ambachtsheer discuss whether funds should focus solely on financial returns or also on contributing to Canada's economic growth.

Report

Tied Up: Unleashing Canada’s non-profit housing potential

Canada’s non-profit housing sector is structurally constrained. Well-intentioned accountability mechanisms, designed to protect public investment and ensure affordability, often have the unintended effect of limiting balance-sheet capacity, restricting access to financing and preventing asset leverage. Consequently, the non-market housing sector remains underdeveloped. In consultation with stakeholders and partners in the non-profit housing space, report authors Michelle Arnold and Savraj Syan identify three technical issue fixes that could unleash Canada's non-profit housing potential.

Skip to content