PEUroes: Lords of Capital & TechGods

"PEUroes" is an adaptation of "Heroes" by David Bowie.  This 2026 rewrite is inspired by the Lords of Capital - private equity underwriters (PEU) and their TechGod brethren.  

I, I will be lord
And you, you will be god
No officials will steer us away
We can stiff retirees just for more fees
We can be PEUroes just for one IPO 

And you, you need to disrupt
And I, I'll be greedy all the time
'Cause we're investors, that is a fact
Yes, we're investors, that is that 

Though Epstein can keep us together
Jeff could steal jailtime, just for one lay
We can be PEUroes living forever
What'd you say? 

I, I wish you could IRR
Like the mafia, like dons can IRR
Though Trump, Trump will keep us together
We can be richer for ever and ever
Oh, we can be PEUroes just for an epoch 

I, I will be lord
And you, you will be god
No officials will give us away
We can be PEUroes just for big bills
We can be TechGods who "just don't die"

I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the vault (by the vault)
And the crypto fell by our feet (by our feet)
And we kissed as though no asset could fail (no asset could fail) 

And the shame was never on the sponsor
Oh, we can beat banks for ever and ever
Then we could be PEUroes
Just for an epoch 

We can be PEUroes
We can be PEUroes
We can be PEUroes
Just for an epoch
We can be PEUroes 

You're nothing, but our carry will help you
Maybe we're lying, but you better not say
Yes, you could be richer, for more than an epoch
Oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh, more than an epoch

Just do things our way... 

And Elon will give you that Penthouse.  Enjoy the centerfold.

SimPEUlarity is Here!

West Texas has achieved SimPEUlarity.  To understand the term it is useful to examine Singularity in physics.

Singularity - a point or region of infinite mass density at which space and time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces and which is held to be the final state of matter falling into a black hole

The Big Bend region is home to The McDonald Observatory.  Texas has long had numerous political black holes.  

I offer the following with a private equity underwriter (PEU) twist.

SimPEUlarity - a point or region of economic development in which government, private equity (the Lords of Capital) and their TechGod brethren have distorted market and political forces to the point citizens feel like they are falling into a black hole.

This happens when citizens have four data centers interested in San Angelo/Tom Green County and two of the four are a complete secret.  

This happens when Chamber of Commerce executives excitedly share how private equity has "discovered" our area and wants to do deal after deal after deal.  Many of our local employers already had PEU sponsors.  They implemented job/benefit cuts and pay raises?  They were few and far between.  Generous applied more to executive gains than to anything that actually dribbled down to staff.

This happens when elected officials prioritize the needs of corporations over the interests of and service to citizens.  

This happens when nearly nearly every story could be cross-posted on all three of my blogs, 1) private equity, 2) local focus and 3) national politics.  

It's SimPEUlarity.   For those unaware of what is happening in our area of West Texas I offer the following

The City of San Angelo has partnered with private equity backed Skybox Data Centers since March 2025 when City Council approved a letter of intent for land sale and annexed that very property into city limits in the same meeting.  PEU Blue Owl Capital has financed numerous Skybox projects.

Skybox hired Emergent Data Centers to develop their potential project.  Emergent markets the SA1 Data Center as "a municipal partnership built for speed" and having "exceptional municipal support."  Emergent's founder Chris Sumter highlighted his private equity pedigree in a recent public meeting.

The other three potential data centers are exploring sites in Tom Green County.  Beacon Data Centers has an option on land west of San Angelo in the Dove Creek area.  Beacon is owned by PEU Nadia Partners.  Dove Creek residents spoke loudly in a public meeting, asking for Beacon to go elsewhere.  Beacon executives said they would conduct their studies (which few wanted done) and get back with the community on the results.  No one wants to hear the words "we're coming."  

The two secret data center developers will be named at some point if their interest continues.  Their PEU ties can be examined once they are identified.  

The Lords of Capital and their TechGod brethren are the dark energy of the American economy.  They operate unseen and only look out for themselves.  

Texas just approves permits for building, permits for pollution faster than other places and that makes it easier to build this kind of large infrastructure project.

Residents opposing the data center rush can sense the black hole closing in.  Most Texas politicians were sucked in long ago.  Many will need to break away from the SimPEUlarity to actually serve the people.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that the common person suffers.

Update 5-17-26:  Wired wrote about companies cutting benefits for the worst reasons. 

Trump II Traded TechGods & PEUs

Trump II's financial disclosure indicated millions in stock trades in the first quarter of 2026.  He bought and sold shares in private equity underwriters (PEU).  They include:

• Apollo Global Management
• Blackstone, Blackstone Secured Lending, Blackstone MTG TR Inc. REIT & Invitation Homes
• Blue Owl
• Carlyle Group
• KKR 

TechGod stock purchased/sold by Trump II include:

• Apple 
• Amazon
• Alphabet
• Broadcom
• Intel
• Meta
• Microsoft
• NVIDIA
• Oracle
• Palantir

The filing shows gobs of trades on 2-23-26.    

Trump II and Bibi Netanyahu attacked Iran five days later.  That conflict remains unresolved.  Trump II alternates from "needing help to resolve it" to not needing any.  

Lurch, he does.  

Trump II loves PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  He loves them so much they are in and out of his portfolio.  

Trump II loves them, he loves them not.  He loves them a little and then something happens.  He really loves them NOT.

Update 5-16-26:  Anyone with Trump Discernment Skills (TDS) can see this as his latest egregious, grand, in-your-face violation of historical norms within top political leadership.

Previous presidents divested assets or took other steps to avoid conflicts of interest or even the appearance of ethical issues while in office.

Trump II is a alone in his own ethical ether:

Federal law only required officeholders to report transactions involving securities after the passage of the STOCK Act in 2012, which strengthened disclosure requirements for executive branch officials and members of Congress. 

 Neither former President Barack Obama, whose money was invested in Treasury bills and broadly diversified mutual funds, nor Joe Biden traded stocks or bonds while in office. Trump is the first president who triggered the disclosure requirement.

There is no conflict of interest according to White House officials as the concept has gone the way of race in Crackerland.  Neither one exists anymore in Trump world, the place where liars cheat and cheaters lie.  

Trump usurped the White House to further his business at every possible turn.  

Dominari Reported Material Weakness in Internal Controls

Dominari's most recent 10-Q noted:

Item 4. Controls and Procedures 

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures 

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that material information required to be disclosed in our periodic reports filed or submitted under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Our disclosure controls and procedures are also designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in the reports we file or submit under the Exchange Act are accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. 

We carried out an evaluation, under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, as of March 31, 2026, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective due to the material weakness in our internal controls. 

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. 

Material Weaknesses in Internal Controls 

During the period ended March 31, 2026, due to staffing and resource constraints, the Company required significant additional effort to close the books and records, and record appropriate account adjustments. As such, information technology, business processes and financial reporting controls were deemed to be ineffective due to (a) the lack of personnel to ensure the books and records are closed accurately and on a timely basis, (b) lack of sufficient review over the accounting for certain transactions recorded at fair value, (c) the lack of appropriate segregation of duties, (d) certain general information technology control deficiencies regarding user access provisioning and administrative access review, and (e) insufficient documentation to support and evidence the design and implementation of controls. 

Remedial Actions 

As a result, our management performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Management understands that the accounting standards applicable to our financial statements are complex and will seek to enhance controls over its experienced third-party professionals with whom management can consult with respect to accounting issues and remediate this material weakness. The Company has engaged an outside consulting firm to assist in the closing process to ensure that steps are taken to remediate the control environment and to specifically improve the timeliness and accuracy of its financial reporting process. Additionally, the Company is planning to implement certain information technology related changes over the year ending December 31, 2026. 

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting 

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting for the quarter ended March 31, 2026 that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. 

Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls 

Our management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal controls will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within our company have been detected.

To sum up:  internal financial controls are weak, the company sought outside help for monthly and annual close and IT changes are coming.  

Trump Media & Technology Group stated things less harshly in their recent 10-k filing:

In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance of achieving the desired control objectives.

I would expect any Trump related company to have numerous errors and embedded fraud given the way Trump II runs the White House.  Competence and ethics are not our current President's strengths.  Setting up perpetual revenue streams for the Trumps seems to be the priority.

Trump II Takes TechGods/PEU Sight Xi-ing

As for the Trump II trip to China entourage, it's hard to report correctly when the White House does not share information.  

Trump II surrounded himself with TechGods, private equity underwriters (PEU) and CEOs of storied American corporations (some of whom already operate in China).  Trump is selling what has already been sold by predecessor Richard Nixon.

It is always precarious for a world leader to be around Trump II, even in their home country.  Trump, the usurper, will apportion something from those he interacts with along the way.  There's the flight over, the visit itself and the trip home.

An invite to go to China with Trump II is the proverbial short straw, a losing proposition.  The question is how much Trump extracts from his invitees, from his host?   Who has a new venture for my boys?  Anyone?

Trump has his family's wealth at the forefront of his mind, not the plight of the average American.  His boys keep winning new firms that land government contracts.  I'm sure Chinese President Xi is watching.  We may or may not find out what he is buying.  Our government does not share anymore, information or otherwise.

KKR Private Credit Echoes CCC 8-2007

KKR chiefs ponied up $300 million for one of their poorly performing private credit funds.  It brought back memories from Fall 2007.

A Guernsey-based mortgage investment offshoot of the private equity firm Carlyle has been forced to seek a $200m (£100m) lifeline from its US parent as it struggles to meet commitments to its lenders.

Carlyle Capital Corporation went on to implode in March 2008.  Financial crisis occur when the big money boys no longer trust one another to make good on their debts (bets).

Milken Global Conference had a private credit cheerleading session.  Host Michael Milken interviewed BlackRock's Larry Fink and Brookfield's Bruce Flatt.  They minimized the risk of investment default at the start of the interview. 

Milken cited Silicon Valley Bank's mismatch of long term holdings and short term financing of those assets as the primary cause of its failure.  He omitted the bank run, juiced by TechGod depositors such as Peter Thiel.  

Both Fink and Flatt shared the percent of their assets that are redeemable on a quarterly basis, less than 1% to a fraction of that.  This showed "the strength of these organizations."

 A private credit run cannot occur due to the small relative size of their whole portfolio.  Really?  I hope a former Carlyle Credit Corporation investor was in the audience to share otherwise.  

Milken also failed to note that smart money started the private credit runs at various funds, family offices and sovereign wealth funds.  If they want out, I as a small retiree should do likewise.

The three men noted that ten trillion dollars will be spent to rewire the world.  An enormous amount of capital will be used and these guys want you to believe it will all work out just fine for those on the upper part of the K.  The lower part of the K they did not address.  It is not their care or concern.

Milken is one of the annual gatherings of the powerful and connected, alongside the World Economic Forum and the annual Bilderberg Group gathering.  The world is being remade by power hungry, greedy private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods.  Elected officials are their enablers.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  For that, the common person suffers.

AI Deployment: PEU Sponsored

The AI deployment wars heated up in the last week with two announcements.  The first came from Anthropic on May 4th.  OpenAI fired back yesterday.  Who's your PEU (private equity underwriter)?  

Anthropic launched an initial attack with eight PEUs.  OpenAI responded with twelve.  

PEU affiliates should be nervous as these deployment efforts work their way through the ownership chain.  They likely felt something similar when initially acquired by any of the above listed PEUs.

WCAS and TPG cut 40% of our office headcount when they took over my healthcare employer years ago.  Their operating model did not care about customer feedback or national quality standards.  It did prioritize owner returns and executive enrichment.

TechGods can sell crap as if it were gold while PEUs have a long record of scheming/manipulation.  This should be quite the combination.  Who can the public turn to for help?  Sorry...

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and for that the common person suffers.