Elon to Jack Up Federal Government?

Walter Isaacson returned to CNBC to talk about Elon Musk's efforts to make government more efficient.  Isaacson panned Musk in October for jumping neck deep into the political realm.  Today he sang Elon's praises.  Walter said Musk would do the federal government what he did at Twitter and SpaceX.  

Musk jacked up X (formerly Twitter), losing investors big money.  

X is worth 72% less than the $44 billion owner Elon Musk paid for the app formerly known as Twitter, despite that Fidelity had recently marked up the value of its shares by 32.37%, according to a valuation from Fidelity. 

 The new valuation — which says the company formerly known as Twitter is now worth $12.32 billion

Driving away nearly $32 billion in valuation does not sound like a success worth emulating.

X's Glassdoor site had the following comments under employee reviews (click on the image to make it larger):

Walter Isaacson wrote a biography on Elon Musk, so he knows the man better than most.  Maybe not as well as one of Elon's daughters.  Vivian Wilson removed the Musk from her name.  She torched Isaacson's work.

“Elon was your darling Tony Stark apartheid-American hero with a semi-tragic backstory who was saving the world and you were too fucking cowardly to write anything other than a sad excuse for a puff-piece,” Wilson wrote in her thread. “To further this goal, you portrayed me in a light that is genuinely defamatory and I’m not going to mince my words.”

Walter is more than an author, he is an Advisory Partner with private equity underwriter (PEU) Perella Weinberg Partners. Isaacson  focuses "on client development and providing strategic advice on matters, including technology, innovation and the new economy."

It's always interesting to hear a PEU dismiss conflicts of interest, as Isaacson did on Elon's and even Donald Trump's behalf.  The greed and leverage boys have non-lobbying "policy making billionaires."  Elected officials take their phone calls and accept their meeting invitations.  PEUs can be on all sides of a deal, playing multiple roles on each side.  

Saying everything is "at arm's length" and "above board" is pabulum for public consumption.  Isaacson basically praised corporate chiefs lining up to kiss the rings of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.  That's strategic advice from an insider PEU.  

Anything goes, because it's too far gone.  Trump and his fellow usurpers have lots to incorporate into their spheres.  Donors, step right up.  They're adding floors to the Tower of Babel.  Get your pre-construction pricing locked in.  It's sure to go up and up and up......until it falls over.

Update 12-21-24:  Trump II, the digital Caligula, set up DOGE to be outside government and its conflict of interest requirements.  Elon Musk has been camping out full time at Trump's side in Mar-a-lago and elsewhere.  That includes meetings and phone calls with foreign leaders and other TechGods.  

This is the kind of nonsense our leaders offer:

"The transition team will ensure the Department of Government Efficiency and those involved with it are compliant with all legal guidelines related to conflict of interest"

They left off, "which are none."  Anything goes....Tyrannical Rectums Usurping as Much as Possible

Ref_ctoring Healthcare Post Assassination

A health insurance CEO used the outrage over his industry's practices to push his own book.  That's after one of his peers was assassinated on a New York city street.  His background as a hedge funder is only slightly less detested than health insurance executive.  

Oscar Health CEO Mark Bertolini would eliminate employer sponsored health insurance, coverage under group plans.  Employers would still pay, they would contribute to individual employee plans alongside the employee.  Isn't the point of insurance to spread the risk over a pool of people, not have everyone signup for an individual plan? 

Oscar got its boost from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare.  A former Obama advisor, David Plouffe, sits on the Oscar board of directors.

Like most of the evolved libertarian TechGods, Oscar counts on the federal budget to fund the company (via the ACA and through Medicare Advantage).

One can see a sampling of TechGod firms under Oscar's SEC filing.

Oscar went public in 2021 and insiders made serious bank.  Board members granted themselves 50,000 shares of common stock vesting over three years.

The filing revealed many related party transaction with funders from its various rounds.  Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund is among the list.

The future of Oscar is bright, given Thrive purchased $5.4 million in shares after the election.

“positioned for long-term growth—appealing to GOP desires for consumer choice and a free market approach.”

It's also politically positioned as father Charles Kushner has been named as Trump II's Ambassador to France and brother Jared remains married to Trump daughter Ivanka.

Whatever happens there will be lots of money pushed to insiders and a record amount of self dealing.  It's the PEU way, now imitated by TechGods.  The little people have value in their "fees for service."

K$H to Eat Crow for FBI Appointment

Trump II's FBI nominee Kashyap Patel said this about his plans for the agency:

“I’d shut down the FBI Hoover Building on day one and reopen it the next day as a museum of the ‘deep state."  

Might it have a giant gift shop with lots of merchandise from Based Apparel and kids books on an Orange King being treated unfairly by his enemies?  Kash could install a Florida swamp to make his Palm Beach and Sarasota friends feel right at home.

Stop the presses!  It seems those words were simply hyperbole:

Patel got backing from Senator John Cornyn, who told reporters he expected Patel to be confirmed as FBI director and dismissed concerns about his plans for the FBI as rhetoric. “I interpret that as hyperbole and I think he will tell you that same thing,” he said.

Many voters viewed Trump's emphasis on retribution as hyperbole.  Many of Trump's political appointments are a middle finger to America.  Kash Patel's appointment as FBI Director is consistent with Trump II's revenge theme.  Having the order taker recant does not inspire confidence if the order giver remains in full retaliation mode.

Everyone in Trump's circle is subservient.  Kash is no exception.  That may be his greatest skill.

Patel served on the board of Trump Media & Technology Group for no board compensation.  He did get a $120,000 per year consulting contract from the company.

Trump owns 78.7 million shares of TMTG, which trades under the DJT stock symbol.  Kash has no shares according to the SEC filing.

Kash Patel's Trishul LLC is a vendor for political action committees according to Open Secrets.

Friends of Matt Gaetz paid Trishul $145,000 during the 2022 election cycle, while Save America paid nearly $40,000 over the same period.

Kash gets by with a little help from his friends.  Like Elon Musk, Kash has a nonprofit that gives away very little money.

Voters are frustrated by insiders not having to follow laws or rules.  The FBI Director is the country's top lawman.  But what's to enforce when anything goes?

Conflicts of interest are the way, the Truth Social and the PEU.....   Crank up the insider money funnel.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  They do need some high profile diversions for the public not to notice the milking.  K$H can do it.

Update:  I added Truth Social CEO Devin Nunes' new appointment as Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board.  That makes three Truth Social board members nominated thus far.  There are many slots to go.

Devin Nunes received 1,300,325 restricted stock units in Trump Media and Technology Group on 11-2-24.

Update12-16-24:  One columnist believes "order taker" Kash will turn the FBI into the Federal Bureau of Retribution.

Bisignano New Social Security Chief

President elect Trump's Social Security Administration nominee is Frank Bisignano.  Like many other Trump appointees Bisignano has a  Wall Street and private equity underwriter (PEU) background.  Frank's was Chair and CEO of KKR affiliate First Data.  First Data was later acquired by Fiserv in 2019.

First Data and KKR paid Bisignano's former employer Jamie Dimon/JP Morgan after Frank violated his employment contract by hiring a number of JP Morgan executives.  The settlement was "just under $10 million."

Frank got the next laugh on Jamie by out earning him.

There's a scorecard in there that these guys regularly monitor.   Social Security could easily become a chit in their games that include invisible moves and taking very good care of their friends using other people's money.

Bisignano sat on the board of giant health insuror Humana from 2017 until mid 2022.  His early Humana bio indicates:

"Mr. Bisignano was previously vice chairman of the Options Clearing Corporation and a board member for the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation"

His annual Humana board compensation: 

• 2018 - $323,019
• 2019 - $324,365
• 2020 - $321,177
• 2021 - $133,354

Frank's total Humana board pay was over $1.1 million.  Bisignano served on the board organization and compensation committee, responsible for approving outsized pay packages for CEO Bruce Broussard and other executives.  Broussard moved his office to Washington, D.C. to get closer to the action.

During his time on Humana's board the company purchased Kindred Healthcare's hospice and home health divisions in conjunction with two PEUs, TPG and Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe (WCAS).  Humana had the minority stake (40%) with PEUs holding 60%, but Humana operated the company.  

While Bisignano made $647,384 (2018-2019) Humana drastically cut staff at our local hospice, eliminated two paid holidays and reduced holiday pay from 1.5x to regular hourly rate.

Frank has ties to another legendary private equity underwriter, Carlyle Group co-founder Daniel D'Aniello.  Bisignano serves on the Advisory Board of Syracuse University's D'Aniello Institute for Veterans & Military Families.  Carlyle connections around Washington, D.C. are serious political currency.

So far we have KKR, TPG, WCAS and Carlyle.  I'm sure this is the tip of the Bisignano PEU iceberg.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  Frank Bisignano could steer a good chunk of that as Social Security Administration Commissioner.  How much will go to his PEU peers?

AI Knows "David Rubenstein" Married, Not Which One

Google's artificial intelligence seemed unable to discern the middle initial for David Rubenstein.  The David that recently married has the middle initial S.  We don't know if "S" had a former wife.

The policy making billionaire David Rubenstein has the middle initial M.  His former wife is Alice Rogoff.  I would offer a correction, but the TechGods aren't known for their ease of customer service.  Nor are they known for their quality or standing behind their product.  Plus, I don't do their work for free.  

The few times I've looked at AI generated material I have found it error filled.  Moving bad information around at the speed of ignorance.  It's the purview of TechGods.  Little people with that error rate would be fired.  These guys get giant government contracts.  It's a PEU world.

Bloomberg Yesterday: Peterffy, Rubenstein, Paxos & WLF

Watching Bloomberg TV yesterday I saw a news blurb on InterActive Brokers CEO Thomas Peterffy.  The blurb mentioned IAB's use of Paxos for crypto trading.  Minutes later a promo graphic for The David Rubenstein Show appeared.  I wondered how many viewers knew of David's significant investment in Paxos through his family office, Declaration Partners?  

Later that evening I flipped through several channels, briefly landing on PBS Nightly News Hour live from the David M. Rubenstein studio in Washington, D.C.  

The same David Rubenstein agreed to stay on as Chairman of the Kennedy Center in D.C. until December 2026.  He'd been slated to retire with a blue ribbon committee appointed to find his replacement.  Even his Kennedy Center bio failed to mention his ties to Declaration Partners.

Back to the interview with Peterffy who said: 

.frankly, I am sort of scared of cryptos, because they can go to any price because it's basically just a figment of imagination. It does not have any underlying value. The only value it has is the paper dollar, which is nothing.

Peterffy is scared of crypto but lauds prediction markets.  Prediction requires knowledge.  To understand people's motives one must understand their conflicts of interest.  That includes holdings and connections.  Nobody declares those anymore.  Conflicts are to be used to garner more and more and more.

And America's hawker in chief was named TIME magazine's Man of the Year and rang the opening bell at the NYSE.  I'll leave you with this image of World Liberty Financial's Chief Crypto Advocate:

Shape of a new era - the fat get fatter, way fatter

Siren Call of the TechGods

"You'll have an 80 hour workweek and no pay."   That's the lure of the TechGods.  But you better be at their beckon call.  An e-commerce CEO canned 90% of his staff for missing an online meeting.  Most of the "staff" were volunteers with a "high potential for full time paid conversion in 2025."

DOGE, the Department of Greedy Executives, wants freeple and plenty apparently desire to kiss the ring.  I'm not sure how the TechGods can turn that gig into a sorrier one, but rest assured, they will.

Arctos Bills & Ares Dolphins

NFL teams continue to stake their affiliations with private equity underwriters (PEU), mere months after the league opened the door for the greed and leverage boys to hold a 10% ownership interest.  The Miami Dophins chose Ares Management while the Buffalo Bills landed Arctos Partners.

Get your new pom poms for the Arctos Bills and Ares Dolphins!  Can't wait for the Carlyle Commanders and Blackstone Jets.

Everybody Needs One: A Wise Friend

My wise friend noted: 

No one seems to notice that financialization creates extreme wealth for some and declining standards of living for the many. It's all fun and games until it's not fun and games anymore. DEBT builds fortunes for the plutocracy/oligarchy, but poverty for the plebeians. No one cares. Stresses build. Costs rise. Jobs are lost. Money is recognized as weaponized. Healthcare premiums get less for more. Health care benefits are toggled by management. Distress BUILDS. People die by deny! No one cares . 

Number only goes up! But not the wage.  Automation, artificial intelligence, Bitcoin, productivity. For wealth, ride the risk curve. 

But there is no value? Get on the meme, baby! Nihilism, now that's the ticket. It's a DOGE World. 4th turning.  They can't handle the truth! Can you hear me now?

From private equity to venture capital to crypto

Private equity removed labor from their jobs, paid themselves extraordinarily well. Venture capital created companies with no earnings and bubble valuations to remove labor from their jobs. Now both are automating and using crypto as the next frontier basically removing labor from their jobs and money. Jeff Bezos wants to help Trump create a more efficient government along with his X space competitor Elon Musk the Rat. They are assembling quite a cabinet, if you like to drink. Maybe they'll rename K Street the Apian way? Something's burning.

The moneyed class is not interested in hearing from the little people.

They will never admit it. the GINI is out of the bottle. They feel vulnerable? How vulnerable do you feel when you're working two jobs and you're behind on your credit cards and your mortgage and your kids need health care? Hate speech again? They will not own it. Here we go again 

In response to Carlyle taking Medline public for huge gains:

That number only go up too.  It's a lost cause, they (PEUs) own the country lock, stock and barrel.  What a terrible mistake they made by propping them up during the financial crisis.  The country will be privatized slowly and all our resources will go to them.  They are all cashed up and ready to go they just need to get more tax abatements, economic development subsidies and a treasury line to finalize the swap.

On Justin Sun's $6.2 million banana duct tape "art" purchase: 

Bad money, bad behavior. There is so much money around....  Can you really decipher what is good versus what is truly bad, but covered up by money? I guess money is too loose and there are too many bad ideas being held up by too much money. Think Unicorns ETC.

I would have rather seen this Sun guy take $6 million and buy real bananas for food shelters but that's me I'm a so called socialist who went to business school.  The moral of the story is there are no morals winning!  

On the failure of leaders to protect us:

Our elected leaders allow fraudulent practices, bad policies, and the likes of the private equity boys.

And Michael Saylor running a leveraged debt induced arbitrage Ponzi is not to your liking? 

Everybody needs a wise friend, especially now.  There is too much direct nonsense coming from those with blatant conflicts of interest.  It's gotten so bad they throw throw the conflict out as a badge of courage, a critical qualification in steering budgets and regulations in their favor.  It is egregious to the level of obscenity.  

In case you are wondering my wise friend is the elephant.  I am the dog.

Department of Greedy Executives - DOGE

The nation watched as the horrific murder of an insurance company executive turned into an opportunity for people to share their mistreatment and abuse from health insurers.

Matt Stoller noted a contributing factor, elite disdain for the rule of law.

This could quickly spill over to DOGE, the Department of Greedy Executives.  Many voters sided with Trump as a result of the imbalanced hand they've gotten in their workplace.

Another recent story had 20,000 VW workers booing their CEO who wants to cut pay 20%.  The CEO insulted his employees by implying they aren't living in the real world.

So how did greedy executives consume our country?  It happened in stages,  Private equity underwriters crapified the workplace, a few companies at a time before exponentially swallowing most of corporate America.  PEU founders used their power and connections to influence taxation and government operations, earning the title "policy making billionaire."  After seeing the impact, TechGods and CryptoBros imitated the PEU playbook at lightning speed:

The PEU takeover of government operations was a bipartisan effort.  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It happened slowly, surreptitiously and secretly over several decades.  A major business reporter shared in 2011:

I have seen so many people -- particularly those in their 50s - 70s -- taken apart by what has happened in their industry as greed has hollowed out the economy. These are people took pride in their jobs and held themselves to this invisible standard that we all just took for granted, but is being wiped out. 

The Carlyle Group scares me more than anything I've ever seen on Wall Street. It seems to exist to corrupt politicians and it's hard to know who they even represent.

PEU corporate takeovers came with aggressive workforce and pay reductions.  Employees hated it.  TechGods turned professions into gigs, then made the gigs crappier and crappier.  

TechGods talking about "value" is laughable given the fantasy that they actually offer customer service.  When a subscriber/user wants to cancel or has a complaint they usually enter a multi-day, highly complex secret process that increases blood pressure to near aneurysm levels.   TechGods designed the most inefficient process possible for their customer, revealing that they are ones to be served.  

I expect they will continue to serve themselves, just as greedy executives of all stripes have done.  The rest of us get to scramble for fungible crumbs that fall off their table.

Update 12-10-24:  The Red Team must fall in line with the new King and his liege appendage:

Update 12-12-24:  The day after the murder UnitedHealth CEO said:

"Our role is a critical role, and we make sure that care is safe, appropriate, and is delivered when people need it," Thompson said in the internal virtual address, leaked by journalist Ken Klippenstein. "And we guard against the pressures that exist for unsafe care or for unnecessary care to be delivered in a way which makes the whole system too complex and ultimately unsustainable."

Here's what unsustainable.  My Humana health insurance paid 10 cents on the dollar for my two doctors visits in 2024, one my annual wellness visit.  I am on zero prescription medications.  And when I need care I know getting it approved will be excruciating.  

The UnitedHealth CEO told his employees:

"I encourage you to tune out that critical noise that we're hearing right now.  It does not reflect reality. It is simply a sign of an era in which we live."

No, Sir, it's called feedback and like most executives you lack ears to hear.

Update 12-13-24:  It's started:

The Trump transition team wants the incoming administration to drop a car-crash reporting requirement opposed by Elon Musk’s Tesla

David Sacks "No Plans to Step Away from Business Ventures"

President elect and former President Donald Trump announced David Sacks as his Artificial Intelligence and Cryptocurrency Czar.  Sacks has stakes in companies in both AI and crypto spheres. BankInfo Security reported:  

Sacks has strongly indicated he has no plans to step away from his business ventures while advising the president. In a post on X late Thursday night, Sacks said he looks forward "to advancing American competitiveness in these critical technologies."

Conflicts of interest?  Gone, disappeared magically by a simple statement.  That's part of the TechGod and CryptoBro juju.  

Craft Ventures did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Trump transition team did not return multiple requests for comment. Musk's social media platform X also did not return a request for comment.

Just like their tech non-customer service, there's no one to speak with about the issue.

Update:  Axios did a nice summary of Sack's conflicts.

April Anthony & PEU Partners Acted Egregiously

A judge ruled against two private equity firms and April Anthony, the former founder of Encompass Health, for "egregious breaches" of fiduciary duty. 

Anthony's bio states she was a CPA with Pricewaterhouse Coopers so she clearly knew about the highest of fiduciary duties.  

April's partners in crime included private equity underwriters (PEU) Vistria Group and Nautic Partners.  Vistria was founded by Obama buddy Marty Nesbitt.  Nautic Partners was founded as Fleet Equity Partners in 1986 but became an independent private equity firm in 2000.  The Blackstone Group acquired a minority stake in Nautic Partners in 2021.

At issue were the harms Anthony and her co-conspirators inflicted on her former company Encompass in their "building" of VitalCaring.  

At first she tried to buy the company (Encompass), in secret partnership with Nautic and Vistria, and then later chose to form a new, competitive company (VitalCaring) with her new PE partners.

D reported Encompass employees (working with April on the new venture):

...referred to Anthony as “the person that she shall not name“ and “Voldermort” to avoid using Anthony’s name in messages. The document said that when she retired on Good Friday in 2021, she compared her return to the home health business to Christ’s resurrection after his death on Good Friday.

A Forbes article on how Anthony built her fortune began with:

"I spend my drive to the office praying."

Anthony served on the board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University as well as First Financial Bankshares.  Her FFB board bio states:

April Anthony, Dallas, Texas, has served as a director of the Company since 2014. She serves on the Audit Committee and is designated as a “financial expert”. She is also a director of First Financial Bank, N.A., Abilene (the “Bank”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company and of First Technology Services, Inc. (the “Technology Company”), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank. She is chief executive officer of Encompass Home Health and Hospice, which she founded in 1998, and Homecare Homebase. Encompass Home Health and Hospice was named as one of the fastest growing companies in America and boasts national leading scores in clinical quality outcomes and patient satisfaction. It provides home care and hospice services to over 33,000 patients per day through a network of over 220 offices in 25 states. Homecare Homebase provides leading homecare software technology to over 175 homecare providers across the United States, representing 20% of homecare and hospice services in the nation. She is a graduate of Abilene Christian University and is a certified public accountant. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Abilene Christian University, serving for 16 years. She is also the founder and a director of Encompass Cares Foundation, a nonprofit foundation formed to support domestic and international medical mission efforts and over the past five years has provided over $2 million in mission grants. Her experience and qualifications provide sound leadership to the board of Directors. In addition, as a certified public accountant, Ms. Anthony brings strong accounting, management, strategic planning, technology and financial skills important to the oversight of our financial reporting, enterprise and operational risk management.

Somehow all that knowledge, money and faith did not prevent April Anthony from acting unethically in the pursuit of even more money than the $740 million she had accumulated as of 2023.

Disgorgement is coming after decades of engorgement.  It can't happen fast enough.  

Does anyone else smell a pardon coming?  Prayers for massive profits and surprise pardons are the order of the day.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Trump Selects PEU Atkins for SEC

 President elect and former President Donald Trump chose Paul Atkins as his nominee for the Securities and Exchange Commission.  Atkins will replace Gary Gensler who protected investors from cryptocurrencies.  

Paul Atkins is on the Board of Advisors for the Chamber of Digital Commerce.  He sits on the board of a private equity underwriter (PEU) that has changed names multiple times.

That protection is no longer wanted given Trump himself launched World Liberty Financial and declared himself "Chief Crypto Advocate."  If money is free speech, crypto is people too.  

Atkins will be in position to free up CryptoBros and Fintech Pinheads from draconian federal intervention, as well as grease the skids for selling secondary private equity stakes.  

Better Markets CEO had this to say (Politico):

Dennis Kelleher, CEO of the financial watchdog group Better Markets, called the complaints from Andreessen and the crypto industry “typical baseless billionaire claims.” 

“If legislation is going to be considered, it should have a very thorough hearing that focuses on — and finds — a fact-based reason, not a political argument, … that a law is necessary,” he said. “Because a law on fair access can be used against the banking and financial industry in a way that will not only harm investors and markets, but undermine financial stability.”

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends and family.  And they want to garner more than dollars.

Update 12-5-24:  Would you go to a digital merchant that can't reverse your transaction or keep it private?  

PEUs Are World Economy

Semafor shared the headliners for their upcoming World Economy Summit.  Three are private equity underwriters (PEU) while the fourth is a hedge funder.  All receive preferred carried interest taxation from Uncle Sam.  Also, all are policy making billionaires, thus they have an outsized impact on government policy, including tax rates.

Yes, Timmy, politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  Making the world a better place for one billionaire at a time...

Trump Appoints Yet Another PEU: This One Related

President elect and former President Donald Trump's penchant for private equity underwriters (PEU) is clear after his nomination of Charles Kushner for Ambassador to France.  Charles founded the Kushner Companies.  

Five days ago Kushner Capital Partners, LP submitted an SEC filing for a new private equity fund.  Director of the fund is Kushner Capital Partners GP LLC.  All parties share the same address.

Trump is related to Kushner via his daughter Ivanka's marriage to Jared Kushner, also a PEU with Affinity Partners.  Like son, like father.

Trump I pardoned Charles Kushner in December 2020 for his crimes of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign donations.  

I'm sure many investors will be interested in Kushner Capital Partners.  Everyone loves a freshly hatched PEU, especially one with impeccable insider connections.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's political power, influence and federal wallet to their friends and family.  D.C.'s swamp has a new Trump II PEU brand.

Update 12-2-24:  Add another billionaire Trump family father in law to his list of nominees:

President elect Trump announced he intends to nominate Massad Boulos, a billionaire businessman from Lebanon who is also father-in-law to Tiffany Trump, to serve as senior adviser on Arab and Middle Eastern affairs.

Add the Biden pardon of son Hunter and the Reds and Blue served up a lot of turkey over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  

Nothing Lures Like "Government Efficiency"

The billionaire boys club is coalescing around the proposed Department of Government Efficiency.  It's a mix of TechGods/Cryptobros, hedge funders and private equity underwriters (PEU).  

The plan is to cut government workers, cut regulations that impede the rights of their corporations to earn gobs of money while paying little to no taxes, steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their corporations and those of their friends/family,.  If that sounds like a conflict of interest soup, it is just that.  The Soup Stirrer of the House is Red Teamer Marjorie Taylor Greene.  

Trump II's Mara Lago Court is a testimony to inefficiency.  CEOs spend days to weeks there to curry favor.  Boards of Directors seem to not mind that their high paid talent is waiting for a few minutes here or there with the President elect.  

Under Trump II the Usurper, those are very expensive minutes.  There's CEO time and whatever Trump II extracts as proper penance for granting his genius presence.

Trump's patriotism is as real as his conservatism but nobody wear's the emperor's clothes better.  

Patriotism, Ego & Access

I'm afraid it back to the Gilded Bronzer Age...

Update:  On average, US billionaires pay an effective tax rate of less than 9%.

Trump's PEU Village

President elect and former President Donald Trump danced to The Village People's "YMCA" with Elon Musk at Mara Lago on Thanksgiving.  

The day before Trump appointed John Phelan as his nominee for Secretary of Navy.  Phelan has no military background.  The brought to mind another Village People song, "In the Navy."

A 2021 SEC filing for MSD Acquisition Corp shows:

John Phelan has served as the Chairman of the company’s board of directors since inception. He is the Co-Founding Partner and Chief Investment Officer of MSD Partners and MSD Capital and is responsible for overseeing investment strategy. Prior to co-founding MSD Capital in 1998, Mr. Phelan was a Principal at ESL Partners (“ESL”), a Greenwich, Connecticut-based investment firm. At ESL, he was responsible for Special Situation and Distressed Investments and helped grow the firm from $50 million to over $2 billion in assets under management. Mr. Phelan was previously a Vice President at the Equity Group: Zell-Merrill Lynch Real Estate Opportunity Funds, where he oversaw Acquisitions (Western Region). Mr. Phelan began his career as an Analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs.

MSD Capital is a private equity underwriter (PEU).  U.S. Naval Institute News reported Phelan is also founder of private equity firm Rugger Management LLC.  Most PEU founders are billionaires several times over.

Voters with economic angst inflicted by PEU ownership of their employer had no idea that a vote for "Washington outsider" and "businessman" Trump meant their relative in the U.S. Navy would soon get the same turd sandwich they've endured, no raises, benefit cuts and reduced output quality.  

It's not like the federal government hasn't tried to change under America's "unending do more with less so executives/investors can reap outsized rewards" management milieu.  PEU boys own big name consultants who did just that.  The Carlyle Group owned Booz Allen Hamilton, ARINC, and Mantech.  

What can a billionaire educated at Harvard, Southern Methodist University and the London School of Economics do for the Navy?  John Phelan can slice and dice, repackage it, while sucking off the cream.

PEUs win, employees and customers lose.  That's been the story in healthcare, where the public had a voice for a few short months.  That too is going away. 

If doctors are powerless against PEU executives, what can the average seaman do (other than say:  "Aye, aye, Sir!")?  

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends.  I'm not sure how well this particular move will go over in the Navy.  

Politicians Thankful for PEU

Blue Team President Joe Biden is back at the Nantucket compound of Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein for Thanksgiving.  This trip is a staple of Biden's time as President and Vice President.  Mr. Rubenstein is a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).

Red Team President elect and former President Donald Trump is pondering which private equity underwriter to put in charge of the Securities & Exchange Commission, Paul Atkins or Brian Brooks.  

Frontrunner Paul Atkins has his own consulting firm that caters to PEUs and Cryptobros.  He also sits on the board a private equity fund that changed names multiple times as well as the board of a private credit and direct lending fund.  All are under the auspices of Cliffwater.

Brian Brooks is founder and CEO of Meridian Capital Group and advisor to Valor Capital Group, both PEUs.  He has an extensive background with firms that at some point got on the wrong side of regulators, Fannie Mae, OneWest Bank, Binance and Coinbase.  That does not mean the bad behavior occurred under Brooks watch.  Mr. Brooks could be a cleanup guy.  Senate hearings may or may not shed light, depending on who Trump II picks.

Polticians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their friends, which now include TechGods and CryptoBros.  Let the conflicts of interest be FLAUNTED!

Update 11-29-24:  Trump's new SEC Chair pick could pump the crypto.  Trump's Commerce Secretary could add to the pump given Howard Lutnick's ties to Tether.

Justin Sun to Eat Liberty?

 

The public got another lesson in the value of crypto.  Three days ago we learned crypto worth $6.2 million can buy a banana and duct tape.  

Today we learned five bananas and duct tape can buy a $30 million stake in Donald Trump's crypto venture.  

Buyer Justin Sun said he planned to eat the first banana.  It's not clear what he will do with the next five, otherwise known as World Liberty.  

If anything can eat liberty, I believe crypto can and probably will.  

Artificial intelligence is the tool of fraudsters.  Crypto has proven itself the currency of criminals.  You may wish to invest your money in Brazil.  They have a lot of bananas.

Update 11-26-24:  Trump II is being advised by Cryptobros on his selection of the next Securities & Exchange Commissioner.  

Update 11-29-24:  Justin Sun ate the certifiable $6.2 million  "edible token" banana.  

Update 12-7-24:  It turns out Justin Sun is a predatory financial criminal.

Trump II Cabinet: Haul of Predators

Trump II's cabinet is complete and includes a number of sexual predators (or enablers of same).  This is important for making the White House a great place for "pussy grabbing" once again.  

Both political teams expanded the power of the unitary executive such that the U.S. Senate is supposed to sit quietly and genuflect before Trump II's haul of predators.  

The irony of Donald Trump assembling a cabinet is rich given his history of stiffing cabinet makers.  I can't wait for Carpenter Don in his next NFT series.  Just don't give him a beard and a robe.

The cabinet list includes more than one private equity underwriter (PEU) and a hedge funder, blood "greed and leverage" brothers in preferred taxation.  

Trump II plans to cut taxes further for the super wealthy.  PEU Hedgies have long asked for a cut from capital gain levels to sales tax sized.  We will see if they get their way.  

They have a decent shot given politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.

Update 11-26-24:  Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn tried to shake down potential cabinet nominees for cash.  Once paid Epshteyn would put in a good word for them as a close Trump advisor.  Sounds like the Red Team version of Blue Rod Blagoejvich.

A former advisor had advice for those working close to Donald Trump:

Olivia Troye issued further strategies for women working in the Trump White House who will face “an extra set of challenges,” she wrote, amid what she described as its “chauvinistic male-dominated culture.”

Predator headed.

Update 11-30-24:  Defense Department nominee Pete Hegseth's mother said he abused many women.

Update 12-6-24:  Trump II, the digital Caligula, appointed financial predator David Sacks as his AI/Crypto Czar.  His Haul of Predators has at least a sexual predator side and another for financial barbarians.  Pump and dump.

Update 12-12-24:  CBS News has a list of Trump nominees to date.  Many a predator and many a family member.  Some are both.

Update 12-15-24:  Trump nominated Kimberly Guilfoyle for Ambassador to Greece.  

Guilfoyle, a former Fox News host, was accused of sexually harassing an assistant at the network, which the New Yorker reported in 2020 resulted in an out-of-court settlement upward of four million dollars.

Trump's Haul of Predators is growing larger by the day.

Trump's PEU & TechGod Protection Program

Many voters knew influential billionaires were behind both candidates for the White House.  Yet, they had to choose a candidate.  NBC News reported: 

Trump owes his victory to more common, less polarizing factors that drive many elections year in and year out. 

They include voters’ frustration with their own finances, deep dissatisfaction with the nation’s economy and persistent gloom about the state of the country — all of which fueled a desire for change: 

Nearly half — 45% — of all voters said they were worse off financially than they were four years ago.  

Another take:

Most of the respondents, 82%, “either strongly or somewhat agree that one of the biggest problems facing America today is that a handful of corporations and economic elites have too much power and the government is doing too little about it.”

Seven in 10 Republicans, 92% of Democrats and 81% of independents agreed with the statement.

Oddly, voters put into office someone who plans to do less about reigning in corporate power and economic elites.

Winners from "Trump II:  The Whitest House" include legendary private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods.  

Former Trump Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney predicted multi-CEO billionaire Elon Musk would have an easier time going to Mars than cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget.  Mulvaney also noted:

... that tech executives, including venture capitalist David Sacks and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, will have a big influence on Trump's second-term agenda.

Ten days ago TechGod Marc Andreessen celebrated Trump's victory as a "boot off the throat."  Andreessen's VC firm opened a Washington, D.C. office this past May.  

Affiliate fintech Synapse had gone bankrupt and political muscle was needed to dispose of "the mess."

On April 22, 2024, Synapse Financial Technologies, Inc. (“Synapse”) filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California.

Synapse users thought they had actual bank accounts with FDIC coverage.  Instead their accounts were under a "Synapse Brokerage program," otherwise known as a fee scraping middleman.  

Synapse customers had money, now they don't.  Inadequate controls to protect customers....that has a familiar ring.

"Software is eating the world" and elected officials have failed us at nearly every turn.  Children are exposed to predatory social media.  Two weeks ago, a court found Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg not personally liable for harm done to kids via Facebook and Instagram.  Lawsuits against the companies will continue.   

Whistleblower after whistleblower, yet Section 230 protections for social media remain firmly in place.

Crypto, the currency of criminals, has "the promise" of solving all the world's problems.  My wise friend said:

So Bitcoin is an ASSET class, IF; 

We bribed the left, we bribed the right, we get rid of Gary Gensler at the SEC, We get Donald Trump to push it, we get rid of the SPR for oil and replace it with Bitcoin, we get all corporations to put it on the balance sheet, We get all the pension funds of all the cities across all of the United States to recognize and fund it as an asset class, we get the Federal Reserve to print print, print, print, print so there's excess liquidity for all the financial brokers to push on all their clients, because you know Wall Street's a selling machine, And then we ride off into the sunset with a $15 trillion valuation. Someone please explain how 21 million finite of anything saves us? And if none of this happened would it still be an asset class? Something is wrong here.

Another way to make your money disappear?  Gambling.  Next up, wagering on political races.  Polling is out and gambling is in as "the global truth machine."  How small can that "little t" get?  And political futures contracts, yes you can buy one for a fee.  It reads more addiction than asset.  

Citizens were right to vote for someone who'd reign in the actors manipulating predatory systems to their personal and financial benefit.  It's a shame none were on the ballot.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  Add the TechGods, too.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's budget to their friends.

What once was free comment on the impact of corporate greed in healthcare has been replaced by an X registration fee for submitting ideas on reducing government spending (headed by two of the creepiest, greedy corporate types, one the CEO of X).

Update:  Trump's next FTC chair could be Abigail Slater, advisor to J.D. Vance and former Vice President of Legal and Regulatory Policy for the Internet Association.  Lately, she has been hanging out at Fox News as Senior Vice President for Policy and Strategy at Fox Corporation.

The President Elect's history with the FTC shows Trump is not a fan of disclosure.

Update 11-30-24:  Dr. Don Berwick testified before a Senate Committee on PEU harms in healthcare.  His testimony included:

Recent studies of private equity acquisitions of autism care programs show significant declines in staffing and increases in the use of “cookie cuter” care, rather than customizing care to individual patients’ need.2 The result is worse quality of care. Similarly, private equity ownership of nursing homes is associated with a 10% increase in mortality, lower patient mobility, and an 11% increase in costs.3 An important study by colleagues at Harvard last year comparing patient safety before and after private equity acquisition of hospitals showed major increases in important forms of avoidable and serious patient injuries. After PE purchase of hospitals, avoidable patient injuries increased 25.4% compared with hospitals not bought by PE.4 For example, patient falls rose by 27.3%, central intravenous line infections rose by 37.7%, and surgical infections doubled, from 10.8 per 10,000 hospitalizations to 21.6. And, anecdotally, my email inbox is full of disturbing reports from physicians and other clinicians about the changing circumstances of their practices as profit-seeking overtakes patient protection.

Carlyle et al to IPO Medline

The Carlyle Group, Blackstone and Hellman & Friedman may take Medline public in 2025.  The three private equity underwriters (PEU) bought Medline for $34 billion in 2021.  That buyout had roughly 50% equity and 50% debt.  

Rumored IPO value for Medline is $50 billion.  That would mean an equity double.  An S-1 will reveal the other ways Carlyle et al milked Medline for management fees, deal fees and special dividends/distributions.  

How is Medline after three years under the PEU playbook?  A Medline employee stated on Glassdoor:

It can be a great company or terrible company depending on what division you work with at Medline and who you report to directly. Also, your job is never done, and they work you like a dog. Previously they paid well but since they have been acquired the benefits are declining.

Another offered:

Most importantly, stop taking away the work/life balance we had. When I first started here I could say I really enjoyed it, got my job done and done well. But every benefit you take away makes it a worse environment.

This employee said:

Micro-managing constantly, bad management structure in local territories, old school culture for some & not others. Lots of quality issues with products and this affects our sales/quotas. Tons of zoom meetings at all hours of the day. They blame the sales reps for everything and have cut salaries by almost 60% for some but expect us to be available 24/7 in return. They will run you into the ground

What can PEU do for you?

My first 10 years with Medline were great and the last 2 were horrible.

The greed and leverage boys are "giddy" over Trump II.  Voters concerned about the destruction of their workplace should know that devastation will spread wildly as the government imitates the PEU boys under DOGE.  Workplace horribles, the PEU norm....

Final thought:  How much did your healthcare costs go down under PEU ownership of Medline?