From Enron to Saudi Arabia, from Rikers Island to ICE's gulag, how McKinsey serves as "Capitalism's Consigliere"

On this week's Intercepted podcast (MP3) (previously), host Jeremy Scahill (previously) takes a long, deep look at the history of McKinsey and Company, whose consultants are the architects of ICE's gulags, a failed, high-cost initiative to curb violence at Rikers Island that used falsified data to secure ongoing funding -- a company whose internal documents compare management consultants to "the Marine Corps, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Jesuits" and whose government contracts bill out freshly hired, inexperienced junior consultants at $3m/year.

McKinsey has played a role in many of capitalism's greatest hits, from the Enron collapse to the Saudi purge of dissidents that culminated in the murder and dismemberment of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Scahill speaks to a variety of guests about how McKinsey grew to a global, multibillion-dollar enabler of despots, crooks, and murderers, including the health insurance whistleblower Wendell Potter (previously), whose must-read Twitter thread on Mayor Pete's "Medicare for Some" proposal is brutal and brilliant.

Scahill also talks with Propublica's Ian MacDougall (previously, the lawyer/journalist whose coverage of McKinsey has put the firm on its back foot.

As a bonus, the opening audio montage for this week's episode is stellar, even by Intercepted's high standards: it mashes up Trump with Dr Seuss, to startlingly good effect.

Capitalisms Consigliere: McKinseys Work for Insurance Companies, ICE, Drug Manufacturers, and Despots [Intercepted/The Intercept]' Read the rest