Andreessen Co-Chairs Fed Taskforce

Andreessen Horowitz' decision to open a Washington, D.C. office has paid dividends as founder Marc Andreessen is now advising both the Federal Reserve Bank and the Pentagon.  

New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh has answered a number of questions about the failure of Silicon Valley Bank in today's Congressional testimony.

Andreessen's fintech Synapse tried to gain business from SVB's failure in March 2023.

Synapse itself failed in April 2024.  

So why would the new Fed Chair want the advice of an architect of a financial debacle that impacted people who'd been told their accounts had bank backing?  I have no idea.

Synapse paid a $1 penalty for all the concern and trauma it inflicted on its customers.

When Synapse Financial Technologies, Inc. collapsed in April 2024, more than 100,000 people lost access to over $265 million held across several fintech platforms.

Andreessen did nothing to make Synapse customers whole, at least that's AI's version of events.

TechGods started the bank run that led to SVB's collapse (Peter Thiel), tried to take advantage of its failure (Marc Andreessen) and now have the "next version" via Erebor Bank (Palmer Luckey).

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ponied up $46.5 million to make Synapse customers whole.  And how did Mr. Andreessen accept responsibility?  He didn't.

Anything Andreessen says should be taken with a shaker-full of salt.  

The Federal Reserve should take this dreadful collapse as a harbinger of the future given responsible parties have not been held accountable and are rejiggering the system once again for their obscene profit.  

PEUX America

" ...I'm anticipating that President Trump and maybe some of his other cabinet members are going to be impeached.  Their behavior is such that it almost demands it.  The self dealing and corruption we see in Washington is the worst since Warren Harding." -- Chris Whalen, July 11, 2026

“It’s not a happy place, America, and I wasn’t happy there. I’m interested in the condition of America now. It beggars belief what’s happening there now. When you hear a slogan like Make America Great Again, it makes a sort of weird sense because America could be great again, but at community level. Not with sort of strange billionaires making weird decisions” -- Actor Sam Neill (2025): 

Trump II has brought to the forefront the government's shameless catering to billionaire private equity underwriters (PEU) and their trillionaire pursuing TechGod brethren.  

The Department of Labor's major priority is giving PEUs liability free access to worker 401(k) retirement plans.

The State Department and Pentagon have explicit funds and initiatives promoting PEUs/TechGods.  It's even the answer to the current War on Iran:

Trump says US will take investment deals with Gulf states instead of fee for using strait 

US president Donald Trump says that the strait of Hormuz is open to ships from all countries apart from Iran and that he has struck “massive” investment deals with Gulf nations.

Trump II is a deal maker and deal makers earn deal fees.  Rest assured they are there.  The key is deciphering the form and manner.   

The Guardian reported:

Konstantin Sokolov, a Russian-born private equity investor in Chicago, will serve as chairman of a new state department enterprise fund overseeing more than $200 million designated for a central Asia trade corridor, including investments in transportation, energy infrastructure and critical minerals.

He is the founder of IJS Investments, a Chicago-based private equity firm specialising in “future ready” energy and telecommunications, and Gotthard Investment AG, a Zurich-based private equity firm focused on financial services, energy and global real estate.

Campaign finance records show that Sokolov has given more than $12 million to Republican campaigns and political groups during Trump’s second term, including $11 million to the president’s Super Pac Maga Inc, and $443,000 to the Republican National Committee. 

The Tripp+ enterprise fund, where Sokolov serves as founder and chair, takes its name from the Trump route for international peace and prosperity, a 27-mile trade corridor spanning southern Armenia and Azerbaijan. A state department spokesperson said the $201m fund is authorized to make loans, equity investments and grants promoting strategic private sector development in the south Caucasus and central Asia, including in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The State Department has more than the Trump Route for International Peace & Prosperity (TRIPP+).  It has Pax Silica, headed by former Palantir executive Jacob Helberg.

 I wrote this back in April:

TechGods gave total loyalty and servitude to Trump II and this unholy alliance drives much of U.S. foreign policy. Take Trump II's Under Secretary for Economic Affairs at the State Department Jacob Helberg. His ethics filing reveals conflicts that cannot be undone.

It's a whole of government approach to further enrich America's super wealthy.  

The Trump administration has asked Congress to expand its authority to create enterprise funds anywhere in the world.

Uncle Sam sets up pools of capital for PEUs/TechGods who've long known how to steer a cut back to those who enable them.  

Elected officials take their calls, as they once did for Jeffrey Epstein.  Recall that Epstein's major funder was a PEU, Apollo co-founder Leon Black.  The Guardian story mentioned Black's son Ben:

The Development Finance Corporation, a government investment arm led by the private equity scion Ben Black, has also announced plans to incorporate the “Tripp Development Company” to build railways and other infrastructure on the proposed route linking Azerbaijan to its contested exclave, Nakhchivan, and to Armenia and Turkey.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that the common person suffers, as they are not seen, much less heard.

Labor Nominee Loves PEUs

Heaven forbid private equity underwriters (PEU) should live in fear for pushing risky assets into workers' retirement accounts.  The Department of Labor is riding to the PEU rescue, making 401(k)s safe for private equity and private credit investment.

Trump II's nominee for Secretary of Labor is on record favoring such protection.  

I recall asking the San Antonio office of the Labor Department to look into the way our new PEU owners were stealing wages and mileage reimbursement from hospice clinicians.  That basic protection, fair pay for hours worked in compliance with labor laws, was absent  and low wage workers suffered.  

PEUs distort everything.  They can be on every side of a deal.  HR morphed into an exclusive tool to implement worker harming schemes.  Their political influence has turned the Labor Department into their marketing staff.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren (who want a 96 hour work week).  Increasingly, more are one.  Trump II is the grotesque cancerous outgrowth from this several decade phenomena.  It's a uniquely aggressive and malodorous cancer on our economy and body politic, this Trump II.  It usurps, consumes, degrades, violates all that is in its path.  Lord, protect us all.

Falling $TRUMP: Various Contests

Business leaders wanting a chance at $1 million in grants (actually distributed in $TRUMP) have two days left to submit their application.  The competition was announced in April at a Trump family Crypto event at Mar-a-Lago.  $TRUMP was worth roughly $2.50 a meme-coin at the time.  It has fallen to $1.55. 

Applicants must be holders of $TRUMP to enter the business competition.

 

The America First Business Challenge answered common questions with:

A disclaimer includes:

Any token, coin, or project using the America First Business Challenge name or likeness outside of $TRUMP is unauthorized and should be treated with caution.

Another project intended to promote the use of $TRUMP meme-coins is the Trump Billionaire Club Game.

Forbes reported the game was expected to be released December 30, 2025.

Trump Billionaires Club Game website still says it will be released soon.

The $TRUMP FIFA winners will claim their prizes soon.  Big winners will attend the World Cup final while others will watch the game from Trump Tower.  

There are lots of reasons to hold $TRUMP but appreciation in the value of the meme-coin has not been one of them to date.  

Trump Love for NATO is Albania Deep

The recent NATO meeting in Turkey ended with Trump II soaking up the love, the kind given to a dysfunctional tyrant to appease them.  

That appeasement may go both ways as NATO's next meeting will be held in Albania, the site of Jared and Ivanka Kushner's new luxury resort in the middle of a wildlife protection area.  Albanians have turned out massively to protest this development and its corrupt ties.

NATO is considering not holding a meeting in 2027, i.e. more appeasement.  Will that year off give Atlantic Incubation Partners time to build and even host the 2028 event?  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  The things they will give up for money.....

CNN Military Analyst Has Major PEU Conflict

This morning Carlyle Group Vice Chair Admiral James Stavridis told CNN's Michael Smerconish that Trump II would need to go after Iran economically.  

Not disclosed in this interview:

1.  Admiral James Stavridis' full time job as Carlyle's Vice Chair.  This includes mobilizing other senior military leaders on behalf of Carlyle as it pursues high growth defense investments.

2.  Stavridis recommendation three weeks into the U.S./Israeli excursion (March):

Admiral James Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO and a vice chair at Carlyle, told Semafor last year that a postwar Iran could be “the big investment opportunity in the Middle East.” An educated population of 90 million people with good demographic trends and a strong national culture — “they believe in themselves as Persians,” he said — could “look like the reconstruction of the Korean peninsula after the end of the Korean War.”

3.  The Admiral's ongoing assessments of the Strait of Hormuz as part of his Carlyle Group responsibilities.

There are some clear opportunities that emerge from the geopolitical uncertainty. 

 The first is obvious, which is the impact on energy. We believe the global system will see some level of “rewiring” to include more pipelines and shipping routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz. There will also likely be opportunities in renewable and sustainable energy technology, even in the era of “drill baby, drill.” The effort to bring more oil from other sources – for example, from Venezuela, the Arctic, and UAE now that they are out of OPEC – will likely increase. 

A second major opportunity set will be in defense spending, which is rising rapidly in the United States, Europe, and Japan. A premium on new technologies – drones, lasers, artificial intelligence for war, hypersonic missiles, and special forces – is clearly emerging not only from the war in Iran but also from the four-year conflict in Ukraine. 

Thirdly, given their geographic position somewhat out of the maelstrom of the Middle East and the geopolitical tensions between the west and Iran, we believe India emerges as an attractive investment opportunity. New Delhi seems keen to work with all sides in the current geopolitical environment, and alongside its strong demographics and status as the world’s largest democracy, exploring commercial opportunities there could make sense.

Trump II does not listen to his own military leaders, so why would he listen to Admiral Stavridis?  Because Trump watches television.  Lots of it.  

If someone wanted Trump to consider Stavridis advice, the best way would to make the Admiral look neutral.  A Carlyle Group tag would not help, given Trump's antipathy towards co-founder David Rubenstein.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

Everybody is shamelessly pushing their own book, especially Trump II and his disturbing progeny.  The role models are long gone.

Lifestyle of the PEU/TechGod Famous

Luxury Launches reported: 

Like a modern day Emperor, Jeff Bezos arrived with his wife in Costa Rica aboard his private jet to enjoy the springtime. As the marina was too small for his $500 million Koru yacht he took a helicopter and landed in utmost style on his $75 million support vessel Abeona.

TechGod Bezos is not alone in enjoying the super-yachting world.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) have a similar affinity for insanely expensive ships.

Next time you bite into a Jersey Mike's sub you can know your hard earned money went to Blackstone Group co-founder Stephen Schwarzman's treasure chest on his 332 foot floating palace.  

Thank heaven these guys get to depreciate their superyachts.  Wouldn't want them to pay their fair share in taxes to support our country.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.