Former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote after Americans elected Donald Trump for President::
What happened in America Tuesday should not be seen as a victory for hatefulness over decency. It is more accurately understood as a repudiation of the American power structure.Billionaire Trump deployed many of the same strategies as private equity underwriters (PEU) as a businessman. He leveraged affiliates, ramping up returns on equity, when he successfully flipped them. For those that declined in value bankruptcy often meant others lost more than the Donald. The past is often a predictor of the future.
At the core of that structure are the political leaders of both parties, their political operatives, and fundraisers; the major media, centered in New York and Washington DC; the country’s biggest corporations, their top executives, and Washington lobbyists and trade associations; the biggest Wall Street banks, their top officers, traders, hedge-fund and private-equity managers, and their lackeys in Washington; and the wealthy individuals who invest directly in politics.
Donald's handlers were able to keep him on point for the last ten days of the campaign and he returned to the plight of the common man. I believe Americans voted to make our country fair again. The American power structure has been imbalanced for decades. During that time wages stagnated or declined, people shouldered a greater portion of their healthcare and retirement expenses, and workers have watched management devolve as executives ensured their outsized incentive compensation was maximized at the expense of workers and customer. Donald did this a boss and businessman.
Oddly, Americans elected a man whose treated workers like an input. Employees know the class system exists in most American branded corporations. For many of us management language is just as devoid of content and backbone as the words politicians use to get elected. Donald talked to hurting Americans and promised salves and balms. He may patch a few but I'm afraid he'll bring far more new wounds than he heals.
The greed and leverage boys are advising Donald. One served as his campaign finance chair. They come from Cerberus, Invesco, Dune Capital Management, Colony Capital and Founders Fund. Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir which spies on Americans in a maximally intrusive way, is on President elect Trump's transition team.
Americans repudiated the insider influence brought by modern day robber barons, who've taken so much the last few decades there's been nothing extra for the average citizen. We did it by electing one of their more recalcitrant members, one they don't even trust. If someone were writing a script for a psychodrama, this would be it. Planning for the movie is about to unfold. A good name might be "Pivot to PEU."
Update 11-12-16: At least three members of the Trump transition executive committee will represent the greed and leverage boys. A fourth is a billionaire's daughter. The billionaire is co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies. It's looking up for Red Team PEUs.
Update 7-7-19: Reich notes how Oligarchs control our government from the White House to Red and Blue Team corporacrats. Blue Teamer Kamala Harris let Dune Capital's Stephen Mnuchin go un-prosecuted for fraudulent home foreclosures at OneWest Bank.
