CNN reported:
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg on Wednesday spoke to the historic nature of being named President-elect Joe Biden's transportation secretary nominee, and said he was "mindful that the eyes of history are on this appointment."
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg received over $82,000 in donations from The Blackstone Group, a private equity underwriter (PEU).
Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman believes his firm will make huge profits off the current crisis, as the PEU did after Fall 2008.
“You always have winners and losers — Blackstone was a huge winner coming out of the global financial crisis, and I think something similar is going to happen,” he said.
He then discussed how his firm is generating big revenues today.
“About half of the firm’s earnings are from a real estate business. Just to give you some idea how this breaks, we pick the good neighborhoods, if you will. Real estate has a lot of different sub-asset classes. And we’ve concentrated in logistics. It’s about 36 percent of all the real estate we own,” he said. “We’re the largest owner of real estate in the private world. And that asset class has boomed with huge increases in rents, almost no occupancies, rent collections from almost everyone.”
Transportation nominee Buttigieg
Biden added that he sees the Department of Transportation as the "site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better" and that he trusts "Mayor Pete to lead this work with focus, decency, and a bold vision."
The role of transportation secretary is expected to play a central role in Biden's push for a bipartisan infrastructure package.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU.
Vice President elect Kamala Harris noted opportunities for PEU investment:
"We will transform our roads and bridges, transit systems, railways, ports and airports, while powering them with clean energy. Spark a renaissance in American passenger rail that will not only connect our country, but unlock job creation and growth across our manufacturing sector," Harris said.The vice president-elect continued, "And we will expand and upgrade our transportation system in a way that is equitable, serving communities of every size, urban and rural, across our country."
Crédit Mobilier Scandal, in U.S. history, illegal manipulation of contracts by a construction and finance company associated with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad (1865–69); the incident established Crédit Mobilier of America as a symbol of post-Civil War corruption.
The key was how the transportation improvement was financed:
Crédit Mobilier was part of a complex arrangement whereby a few men contracted with themselves or assignees for the construction of the railroad. Along with certain trustees, the manipulators reaped enormous profits but impoverished the railroad in the process.
It rings familiar. The PEU way saddles affiliates with enormous debt burdens that can eventually sink the company. Sponsors usually have pulled a multiple of their original investment from the affiliate by the time it declares insolvency.
The projects remain to be seen but the PEU boys stand ready.
