Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Alpha Males at FII7


CNBC
reported:

Carlyle Group CEO Harvey Schwartz stressed the presence of alpha opportunities even in the face of high interest rates and geopolitical conflict.

Harvey Schwartz had an "alpha male" reputation prior to Carlyle hiring him as CEO.  His alpha attitude came through loud and clear in the FII7 interview.  

After giving a PEUmercial for Carlyle's financial offerings Harvey schooled the interviewer:

Interviewer:  "I want to do a rapid fire round if we can." 

Schwartz:  "I thought that was really my job.  I didn't even know I was scripted for that, but I'm glad I fulfilled that for you."

Interviewer: "Ha, hah"

I wonder if Schwartz would have given David Rubenstein the same treatment?  Rubenstein served as interviewer for the Jamie Dimon, Stephen Schwarzman et al PEU panel.

It was interesting to hear all the references to the intelligence in the room at FII7 and how that would change the world for the good.  

The "Davos in the Desert" group has been changing the world to increase their power, their pocketbook and enrich other members of their exclusive club.  

China used the PEU boys and its Saudi Arabia's turn.  Crown Prince MBS plays by his own rules and they can change in an instant.  The greed and leverage boys should enjoy it while it lasts.

The smartest people are needed to stem a looming conflagration in the Middle East.  So far, the language is of retaliation at increasing orders of magnitude.  That kind of "rapid fire" usually leads to something bad.

Update 11-1-23:  Effective altruistic (changing the world for the good) Sam Bankman-Fried, another brilliant person, is unable to remember many actions he took as CEO of FTX.  Temporary memory failure is not unusual among the insider crowd.  Texaco/BP's Lord John Browne and Ivanka Trump had similar lapses.  The common element:  a courtroom.

A NASA climate scientist who predicted weather impacts from increased greenhouse gas emissions stated he:

"cannot help but feel “a sense of disappointment that we scientists did not communicate more clearly and that we did not elect leaders capable of a more intelligent response.”

Those elected leaders listened to the PEU class, supposedly the most intelligent people, the very people attending FII7 to get access to Saudi money. 

Update 11-7-23:  Schwartz has cut costs at Carlyle as the PEU under performed relative to peers on fundraising.  FT reported:

When pressed by an analyst to outline new financial targets for Carlyle, Schwartz declined to give a specific timeframe, stating his review of the group was ongoing.

Update 11-16-23:  The Carlyle Group cut its latest Asian fund target from $8.5 billion to $6 billion.