Worker's Share of Income Hits Record Low

The big money boys don't like to share.  Corporate executive compensation has far outstripped worker pay increases for decades.  

Private equity underwriters (PEU) grew like locusts in our economy, wielding inordinate political influence.  Their operating models add massive interest costs, deal and annual management fees to sponsor.  Headcount and benefits are usually reduced and wage increases become a footnote in corporate history.

TechGods rode those PEU coattails into political prominence but they've lacked the ability to use their influence behind the scenes, until Trump II.  The Tech/Crypto/PEU juggernaut has traded all sense for access to Uncle Sam's wallet.  

Trump II has no limitations (at least in his mind) and insiders feel likewise.  

Note how Leon Black thumbed his nose at a Congressional Committee by failing to show for his testimony.  Add that Black is actually suing them for asking for his non-disclosure agreements (NDA).  Leon's son Ben Black is Trump II's head of the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC).

They will take until there is nothing left.  It's the next step of the hollowing and occurs under Trump II, the Great Usurper of All Things.  

It is the Age of Mammon where politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that, many people suffer.

Update:  Jesse wrote about the preponderance of our elected officials and their PEU/TechGod sponsors.

The reckless disregard the power elite have for their own country is just astonishing until you realize that they do not consider themselves to be Americans, but a superior transnational class.

Trump II posted a Labor Day graphic on his Instagram account, nothing on WhiteHouse.gov or his Truth Social site.

Trump did post a Labor Day message on Truth Social in 2024, when he was running for President.

Leon Black Shows Congress Who Reports to Who

Apollo co-founder Leon Black slapped Congress with a lawsuit over not revealing his various non-disclosure agreements (NDA).  Black did not show up personally to deliver the message before the House Oversight Committee expecting his testimony.  

For decades elected officials did the bidding of the private equity underwriter (PEU) class.  Leon is used to giving them orders, not taking them.

As for attorneys, they exist to enact the will of the PEU class.  NDAs have been front and center as citizens try to find out the most basic information on data centers wanting to locate in their backyard.  Many of those data centers are being developed by PEU affiliates and/or financed by PEU private credit.

The PEU class knows full well how to protect their rights to the detriment of yours.  It's an old game but this version started in the 1980's and ramped up decade after decade.  

TechGods have joined the party.  They've learned well from their PEU forefathers how to keep the most basic information from public eyes.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Like all abusers, Leon believes power only goes one way.  It's time for that to change.  Congress?  DOJ?  The Supremes?  Your job is far more than protecting the insider class.  

There are days where common folk need protection from those very people.  Thus, the term survivor.

Pentagon Pete's Drone Purge Starts at the Top

Army Chief Dan Driscoll left office today with many things officially unsaid.  At least one Senator took umbrage to the ceaseless firings of top brass under Pentagon Pete Hegseth.  

One story listed the military leaders let go under Trump II.  All had ties to the military's drone warfare development, a space recently targeted by the Trump boys, Don Jr. and Eric.

 

General CQ Brown was no longer good enough for Trump II but worked out fine for drone maker Powerus (a Trump/Dominari investment) and tech focused Shield Capital.

TechGod Eric Schmidt is also in the military drone space.  There may be room enough for both the Trump boys and various TechGods and there may not.

Changing leaders in order to change programs that changes contractors to benefit the Trump boys, now that would take AI to track.  Or would it?  Trump II claims to be transparent and accessible.  

Will Dan Driscoll head back to Flex Capital or will another Washington, D.C. based private equity underwriter (PEU) land his services?  John Phelan went back to Rugger Management LLC after his Navy Chief stint under Trump II.  

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

Their sons shall be far richer than their fathers in today's PEU world, where all the lines are blurred.

Update 9-4-26:  Axios wrote about the tech side of Driscoll's resignation and other personnel moves.  The former Army Chief of Staff now works at Snowpoint Ventures.  They have a drone affiliate, Shield AI, that is achieving success in Ukraine.

NYT noted the pattern of military chiefs going to work for investment firms.

The Pentagon gave 3 million military associated people access to ChatGPT and GrokAI.  

Image Makers Beat Profit Takers in Trump II's World

Who fires their top service leaders in the middle of a military excursion?  Trump II did for the Navy less than one month into his war of choice on Iran.  Six months into the conflict he axed the Army chief.

Both men are private equity underwriters (PEU)

John Phelan - Rugger Management, MSD Capital

Dan Driscoll - Flex Capital

Trump II said Phelan did an "outstanding job" and gave him "special thanks."  He called Driscoll "highly effective" and a disrupter and change agent.

Neither man would be gone unless Trump wanted it. 

Phelan returned to the firm he started.  The Aspen Security Forum had this in his bio:

Following his government service, John returned as Founder and Chairman of Rugger Management, LLC, a private investment firm in Palm Beach, Florida.

Phelan spoke to his termination in his July 2026 interview at the Forum.

It remains to be seen which PEU lands Dan Driscoll. 

The Pentagon is still chock full of PEUs.  I imagine they will be far more conscious of any rub points with the White House which views image as everything.  

Backstage Trump II wants his name plastered everywhere and his family obscenely enriched.  Yes, sir!!!

White House Ditches PEU Driscoll as Army Chief

The "highly effective" disrupter and change agent Head of the U.S. Army is leaving by year end, according to the White House.  Dan Driscoll is an Iraq war veteran, tech investor and former adviser to then Junior TechGod J.D. Vance (now Vice President). 

Fox News noted the Army's drone program underwent extreme strategic change recently:

....pulling the plug on a drone modernization program that Driscoll had heralded. An Army unit based in Europe was building its own drones before (that unit was) directed to end its efforts and return to being a traditional infantry battalion.

And who is in the drone development business?  The Trump boys.  There is considerable margin difference between supplying parts and selling the whole shebang.

Powerus, a US autonomous-systems firm, just locked in a $22.3 million contract to install a counter-drone detection and tracking system at an undisclosed energy facility in the Middle East. It’s one of the largest commercial deals for aerial threat protection at oil and gas infrastructure in the region.

Trump II needs not a solid reason to send someone packing.  Thus, people who have his ear are the ones influencing day to day "whim making."  The scramble is on for large chunks of Uncle Sam's war budget, growing more obese and obscene by the day.

It's Flex Capital's former COO Dan Driscoll vs. Dominari's Advisory Board (chock full of Trumps and Trump Organization executives).  It's a PEU (private equity underwriter) vs. TOE (Trump org executives) battle.  

Daddy or Trump II appears to be the decider as to how the Army's drone business develops.  He is advised by Pentagon Pete Hegseth, an expert in image generation.  That may be part of winning any war, but clearly far more is needed.

Trump II rails at profiteering military suppliers while positioning his boys to do same.  Eric and Don Jr. have access and their coddling is transparent.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren and increasingly, more are one.  Occasionally, they fight within their respective political teams.  Red on Red in the Pentagon.  Prepare for more such battles.

Saudis Sports Rinse LIV Golf

FT reported LIV Golf may be headed to bankruptcy.  Players who opted for outsized contracts found LIV ready to renege.  Star golfers reportedly received offers worth pennies on the dollar of their remaining remuneration.  

BC Partners private credit arm may fund the operation and Liberty Strategic Capital (Steve Mnuchin) may enter on the equity or debt side.  

The easy, fun big player money is gone as the Saudis decided not to throw more good money after bad. 

Flashback four years to the formation of LIV Golf:

... admitting the SGL was nothing more than what he called “sportswashing” by a brutally repressive regime. “They’re scary motherfuckers to get involved with,” he said. “We know they killed [Washington Post reporter and U.S. resident Jamal] Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights. They execute people over there for being gay. Knowing all of this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA Tour operates. They’ve been able to get by with manipulative, coercive, strong-arm tactics because we, the players, had no recourse. As nice a guy as [PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan] comes across as, unless you have leverage, he won’t do what’s right. And the Saudi money has finally given us that leverage. I’m not sure I even want [the SGL] to succeed, but just the idea of it is allowing us to get things done with the [PGA] Tour.”’

Who knew sportswashing had a rinse cycle?  Who besides the players will be hung out to dry?

 Professional golfers will get an up close look at their new private equity/private credit owners.  I doubt they like what they see.  

Welcome to the world of the average worker over the last fifteen to twenty years.  They thought they were part of something until they were told they weren't.  Workers thought they would be fairly compensated, pay and benefits, for their hard work and contributions.  Executives nickeled and dimed them on pay while slashing benefits.  Workloads became absurd and quality suffered.  The system optimized returns to owners and executives, as that was the design.

Trump II expects LIV Golf to survive and keep booking tournaments at his courses.  The man tends to get his way, like all rich scary motherf'ers.

The Saudi royals killed a U.S. reporter because they did not like what he wrote.  I'd hate to be a key person in the golf league that cost them billions, especially one that used LIV Golf to "get things done with the PGA Tour."

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

Mr. O'Leary's Demotions

The Chief Financial Officer of New America Acquisition I Corp, George O'Leary,  resigned recently.  

New America Acquisition I hit the newswire in August 2025 with its recruitment of the Trump boys to its Advisory Board.

In the multi "full time job" world of insiders Eric and Don Jr. have few peers.  After the boys joined New America Acquisition I Corp, George O'Leary lost his board slot (February 2026).  Then he lost his CFO slot (August 2026).  

Nearly three years ago George O'Leary expressed a desire to sit down with fellow Palm Beacher Trump II to discuss solar energy and the important role it could play going forward.  

I'm pretty sure that meeting never happened.  Did George's invite begin the long series of demotions and terminations from New America Acquisition Corp I?  Or did he do something different to piss off the boys or their old man?  We may never know.