Elon to Jack Up Federal Government?

Walter Isaacson returned to CNBC to talk about Elon Musk's efforts to make government more efficient.  Isaacson panned Musk in October for jumping neck deep into the political realm.  Today he sang Elon's praises.  Walter said Musk would do the federal government what he did at Twitter and SpaceX.  

Musk jacked up X (formerly Twitter), losing investors big money.  

X is worth 72% less than the $44 billion owner Elon Musk paid for the app formerly known as Twitter, despite that Fidelity had recently marked up the value of its shares by 32.37%, according to a valuation from Fidelity. 

 The new valuation — which says the company formerly known as Twitter is now worth $12.32 billion

Driving away nearly $32 billion in valuation does not sound like a success worth emulating.

X's Glassdoor site had the following comments under employee reviews (click on the image to make it larger):

Walter Isaacson wrote a biography on Elon Musk, so he knows the man better than most.  Maybe not as well as one of Elon's daughters.  Vivian Wilson removed the Musk from her name.  She torched Isaacson's work.

“Elon was your darling Tony Stark apartheid-American hero with a semi-tragic backstory who was saving the world and you were too fucking cowardly to write anything other than a sad excuse for a puff-piece,” Wilson wrote in her thread. “To further this goal, you portrayed me in a light that is genuinely defamatory and I’m not going to mince my words.”

Walter is more than an author, he is an Advisory Partner with private equity underwriter (PEU) Perella Weinberg Partners. Isaacson  focuses "on client development and providing strategic advice on matters, including technology, innovation and the new economy."

It's always interesting to hear a PEU dismiss conflicts of interest, as Isaacson did on Elon's and even Donald Trump's behalf.  The greed and leverage boys have non-lobbying "policy making billionaires."  Elected officials take their phone calls and accept their meeting invitations.  PEUs can be on all sides of a deal, playing multiple roles on each side.  

Saying everything is "at arm's length" and "above board" is pabulum for public consumption.  Isaacson basically praised corporate chiefs lining up to kiss the rings of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  That's strategic advice from an insider PEU.  

Anything goes, because it's too far gone.  Trump and his fellow usurpers have lots to incorporate into their spheres.  Donors, step right up.  They're adding floors to the Tower of Babel.  Get your pre-construction pricing locked in.  It's sure to go up and up and up......until it falls over.

Update 12-21-24:  Trump II, the digital Caligula, set up DOGE to be outside government and its conflict of interest requirements.  Elon Musk has been camping out full time at Trump's side in Mar-a-lago and elsewhere.  That includes meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders and other TechGods.  

This is the kind of nonsense our leaders offer:

"The transition team will ensure the Department of Government Efficiency and those involved with it are compliant with all legal guidelines related to conflict of interest"

They left off, "which are none."  Anything goes....Tyrannical Rectums Usurping as Much as Possible

Ref_ctoring Healthcare Post Assassination

A health insurance CEO used the outrage over his industry's practices to push his own book.  That's after one of his peers was assassinated on a New York city street.  His background as a hedge funder is only slightly less detested than health insurance executive.  

Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini would eliminate employer sponsored health insurance, coverage under group plans.  Employers would still pay, they would contribute to individual employee plans alongside the employee.  Isn't the point of insurance to spread the risk over a pool of people, not have everyone signup for an individual plan? 

Oscar got its boost from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  A former Obama advisor, David Plouffe, sits on the Oscar board of directors.

Like most of the evolved libertarian TechGods, Oscar counts on the federal budget to fund the company (via the ACA and through Medicare Advantage).

One can see a sampling of TechGod firms under Oscar's SEC filing.

Oscar went public in 2021 and insiders made serious bank.  Board members granted themselves 50,000 shares of common stock vesting over three years.

The filing revealed many related party transaction with funders from its various rounds.  Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund is among the list.

The future of Oscar is bright, given Thrive purchased $5.4 million in shares after the election.

“positioned for long-term growth—appealing to GOP desires for consumer choice and a free market approach.”

It's also politically positioned as father Charles Kushner has been named as Trump II's Ambassador to France and brother Jared remains married to Trump daughter Ivanka.

Whatever happens there will be lots of money pushed to insiders and a record amount of self dealing.  It's the PEU way, now imitated by TechGods.  The little people have value in their "fees for service."

K$H to Eat Crow for FBI Appointment

Trump II's FBI nominee Kashyap Patel said this about his plans for the agency:

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state."  

Might it have a giant gift shop with lots of merchandise from Based Apparel and kids books on an Orange King being treated unfairly by his enemies?  Kash could install a Florida swamp to make his Palm Beach and Sarasota friends feel right at home.

Stop the presses!  It seems those words were simply hyperbole:

Patel got backing from Senator John Cornyn, who told reporters he expected Patel to be confirmed as FBI director and dismissed concerns about his plans for the FBI as rhetoric. “I interpret that as hyperbole and I think he will tell you that same thing,” he said.

Many voters viewed Trump's emphasis on retribution as hyperbole.  Many of Trump's political appointments are a middle finger to America.  Kash Patel's appointment as FBI Director is consistent with Trump II's revenge theme.  Having the order taker recant does not inspire confidence if the order giver remains in full retaliation mode.

Everyone in Trump's circle is subservient.  Kash is no exception.  That may be his greatest skill.

Patel served on the board of Trump Media & Technology Group for no board compensation.  He did get a $120,000 per year consulting contract from the company.

Trump owns 78.7 million shares of TMTG, which trades under the DJT stock symbol.  Kash has no shares according to the SEC filing.

Kash Patel's Trishul LLC is a vendor for political action committees according to Open Secrets.

Friends of Matt Gaetz paid Trishul $145,000 during the 2022 election cycle, while Save America paid nearly $40,000 over the same period.

Kash gets by with a little help from his friends.  Like Elon Musk, Kash has a nonprofit that gives away very little money.

Voters are frustrated by insiders not having to follow laws or rules.  The FBI Director is the country's top lawman.  But what's to enforce when anything goes?

Conflicts of interest are the way, the Truth Social and the PEU.....   Crank up the insider money funnel.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  They do need some high profile diversions for the public not to notice the milking.  K$H can do it.

Update:  I added Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes' new appointment as Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.  That makes three Truth Social board members nominated thus far.  There are many slots to go.

Devin Nunes received 1,300,325 restricted stock units in Trump Media and Technology Group on 11-2-24.

Update12-16-24:  One columnist believes "order taker" Kash will turn the FBI into the Federal Bureau of Retribution.

Bisignano New Social Security Chief

President elect Trump's Social Security Administration nominee is Frank Bisignano.  Like many other Trump appointees Bisignano has a  Wall Street and private equity underwriter (PEU) background.  Frank's was Chair and CEO of KKR affiliate First Data.  First Data was later acquired by Fiserv in 2019.

First Data and KKR paid Bisignano's former employer Jamie Dimon/JP Morgan after Frank violated his employment contract by hiring a number of JP Morgan executives.  The settlement was "just under $10 million."

Frank got the next laugh on Jamie by out earning him.

There's a scorecard in there that these guys regularly monitor.   Social Security could easily become a chit in their games that include invisible moves and taking very good care of their friends using other people's money.

Bisignano sat on the board of giant health insuror Humana from 2017 until mid 2022.  His early Humana bio indicates:

"Mr. Bisignano was previously vice chairman of the Options Clearing Corporation and a board member for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation"

His annual Humana board compensation: 

• 2018 - $323,019
• 2019 - $324,365
• 2020 - $321,177
• 2021 - $133,354

Frank's total Humana board pay was over $1.1 million.  Bisignano served on the board organization and compensation committee, responsible for approving outsized pay packages for CEO Bruce Broussard and other executives.  Broussard moved his office to Washington, D.C. to get closer to the action.

During his time on Humana's board the company purchased Kindred Healthcare's hospice and home health divisions in conjunction with two PEUs, TPG and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS).  Humana had the minority stake (40%) with PEUs holding 60%, but Humana operated the company.  

While Bisignano made $647,384 (2018-2019) Humana drastically cut staff at our local hospice, eliminated two paid holidays and reduced holiday pay from 1.5x to regular hourly rate.

Frank has ties to another legendary private equity underwriter, Carlyle Group co-founder Daniel D'Aniello.  Bisignano serves on the Advisory Board of Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans & Military Families.  Carlyle connections around Washington, D.C. are serious political currency.

So far we have KKR, TPG, WCAS and Carlyle.  I'm sure this is the tip of the Bisignano PEU iceberg.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  Frank Bisignano could steer a good chunk of that as Social Security Administration Commissioner.  How much will go to his PEU peers?

AI Knows "David Rubenstein" Married, Not Which One

Google's artificial intelligence seemed unable to discern the middle initial for David Rubenstein.  The David that recently married has the middle initial S.  We don't know if "S" had a former wife.

The policy making billionaire David Rubenstein has the middle initial M.  His former wife is Alice Rogoff.  I would offer a correction, but the TechGods aren't known for their ease of customer service.  Nor are they known for their quality or standing behind their product.  Plus, I don't do their work for free.  

The few times I've looked at AI generated material I have found it error filled.  Moving bad information around at the speed of ignorance.  It's the purview of TechGods.  Little people with that error rate would be fired.  These guys get giant government contracts.  It's a PEU world.

Bloomberg Yesterday: Peterffy, Rubenstein, Paxos & WLF

Watching Bloomberg TV yesterday I saw a news blurb on InterActive Brokers CEO Thomas Peterffy.  The blurb mentioned IAB's use of Paxos for crypto trading.  Minutes later a promo graphic for The David Rubenstein Show appeared.  I wondered how many viewers knew of David's significant investment in Paxos through his family office, Declaration Partners?  

Later that evening I flipped through several channels, briefly landing on PBS Nightly News Hour live from the David M. Rubenstein studio in Washington, D.C.  

The same David Rubenstein agreed to stay on as Chairman of the Kennedy Center in D.C. until December 2026.  He'd been slated to retire with a blue ribbon committee appointed to find his replacement.  Even his Kennedy Center bio failed to mention his ties to Declaration Partners.

Back to the interview with Peterffy who said: 

.frankly, I am sort of scared of cryptos, because they can go to any price because it's basically just a figment of imagination. It does not have any underlying value. The only value it has is the paper dollar, which is nothing.

Peterffy is scared of crypto but lauds prediction markets.  Prediction requires knowledge.  To understand people's motives one must understand their conflicts of interest.  That includes holdings and connections.  Nobody declares those anymore.  Conflicts are to be used to garner more and more and more.

And America's hawker in chief was named TIME magazine's Man of the Year and rang the opening bell at the NYSE.  I'll leave you with this image of World Liberty Financial's Chief Crypto Advocate:

Shape of a new era - the fat get fatter, way fatter

Siren Call of the TechGods

"You'll have an 80 hour workweek and no pay."   That's the lure of the TechGods.  But you better be at their beckon call.  An e-commerce CEO canned 90% of his staff for missing an online meeting.  Most of the "staff" were volunteers with a "high potential for full time paid conversion in 2025."

DOGE, the Department of Greedy Executives, wants freeple and plenty apparently desire to kiss the ring.  I'm not sure how the TechGods can turn that gig into a sorrier one, but rest assured, they will.