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.  

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.

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?

Crypto is People Too

Flashback to 2018, before FTX imploded because its vaunted risk management existed of words on paper.

The former CEO of PayPal had this to say about bitcoin.

.... it’s a colossal pump-and-dump scheme, the likes of which the world has never seen. In a pump-and-dump game, promoters “pump” up the price of a security creating a speculative frenzy, then “dump” some of their holdings at artificially high prices. And some cryptocurrencies are pure frauds. Ernst & Young estimates that 10 percent of the money raised for initial coin offerings has been stolen. 

 The losers are ill-informed buyers caught up in the spiral of greed. The result is a massive transfer of wealth from ordinary families to internet promoters. And “massive” is a massive understatement — 1,500 different cryptocurrencies now register over $300 billion of “value.” 

It helps to understand that a bitcoin has no value at all. 

Promoters claim cryptocurrency is valuable as (1) a means of payment, (2) a store of value and/or (3) a thing in itself. None of these claims are true. 

1. Means of Payment. Bitcoins are accepted almost nowhere, and some cryptocurrencies nowhere at all. Even where accepted, a currency whose value can swing 10 percent or more in a single day is useless as a means of payment. 

2. Store of Value. Extreme price volatility also makes bitcoin undesirable as a store of value. And the storehouses — the cryptocurrency trading exchanges — are far less reliable and trustworthy than ordinary banks and brokers. 

3. Thing in Itself. A bitcoin has no intrinsic value. It only has value if people think other people will buy it for a higher price — the Greater Fool theory. 

Cryptocurrency is best-suited for one use: Criminal activity.

The pump is back on given both political teams campaigned to legitimize crypto.  Consumer protection is soooo yesterday.

Money is free speech and Crypto can use whatever bathroom it f___ing wants.  

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

Dr. Oz is a PEU

Pitchbook's blurb on Dr. Oz notes: 

Dr. Mehmet Oz is a Co-Founder of YouBeauty and Jungo TV. Dr. Oz served as an Executive and Board Member at Enforcer eCoaching. Dr. Oz Co-Founded and served as a Board Member at Sharecare. He serves as an Advisory Board Member at 100Plus and Kairos Society. He also serves as a Board Member at PanTheryx. He serves as an Advisory Board Member at Radius Ventures.

Private Equity International describes Radius Ventures as:

Formed in 1997, Radius Ventures was a New York-based private equity firm which targeted venture capital investments in life sciences and healthcare technology companies across the United States.

The pitchman is a private equity underwriter (PEU).  He's also the Donarch's appointee to head Medicare/Medicaid.  

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 PEU supporters.

U.S. Will Have its First Donarch

President elect Donald Trump has been holding court.  Vassals scurry around seeking the King's favor.  Gauging the Donarch's mood is critical for those hoping to influence political appointments in their direction.  The prize of a travel invite is a priceless opportunity to be elevated or turned into a floor mat for the wiping of dung.  

The list of nominees includes a number of cringe worthy people.  Two of those are to reform government as efficiency experts, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.  Consider what their employees said.  

This one worked for Vivek the Pharmabro Chairman:

Upper management will protect each other at all cost and is seemingly immune to repercussions. - Managers are in over their head and don't have a clue what it means to run a pharma company let alone a research-focused one. - Tendency to only hire and retain people at management roles, completely neglecting the employees that actually put in the work. Almost 1:1 manager to "do-er" ratio. I've attended meetings with more project managers than software developers in them. - No clear sense of direction, company success is based on sheer luck. Change in direction so frequent, it will make your head spin. - Mass lay offs as their go-to answer if things go wrong or they run out of ideas - Acquired a drug discovery company and then ran it into the ground effectively losing half a billion dollars.

As for Elon the Space Commander:

You will always have 80% of what you need, and the goal posts constantly move. Zero consideration for work life balance

Overtime is scheduled naturally and is expected. Wasted time during every shift.  Extremely inefficient processes

Very chaotic work environment with little accountability. Lots of mandatory overtime with little flexibility. Often very unsafe.

This SpaceX review has a Trumpian ring to it:

You will trauma bond with your co-workers. You will see them develop drinking problems, stress related health issues, psychological trauma. You will eventually break under the load. 

You can do EVERYTHING right and because someone else broke the weight will shift to you and destroy you. You will be redlined for years working for them. And by the end you won't even realize what a ghost of a human being you have become. 

Budget a year of recovery time doing nothing difficult after you leave, at least. I don't regret taking the role. I just wish I knew when to pull the cord and get out.

Elon turned Twitter into a hellscape.  Shareholders voted to dissolve Vivek's groundbreaking pharma startup.  Stockholders lost big while Ramaswamy profited mightily.

The Donarch turned the most qualified cabinet under his first term into a court of buffoons.  He's clearly starting from where he left off with this bunch.  Who's the next loyal, poop-slinging spider monkey to achieve the coveted spot on Donarch's prized court?  

Will it be Apollo's Marc Rowan, a longtime private equity underwriter (PEU) who's former boss Leon Black funded Jeffrey Epstein to the tune of $158 million?  A former Carlyle Group PEU heads the Federal Reserve Bank.  Will a PEU also occupy Treasury?  That alone makes them systemically important.  The PEU boys already own our political system.

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

Update 11-21-24:  Matt Gaetz withdrew....his name for the Attorney General nomination.

Ayotte Leaves Blackstone Board for NH Governorship

Newly elected New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte resigned from the Blackstone Group Board of Directors.  Blackstone, like The Carlyle Group, is a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).

Ayotte's appointment to Blackstone's board was big news in 2019.

As a growing body of research shows that gender diversity on a company's board of directors usually improves long-term shareholder returns, Stephen Schwarzman's Blackstone Group has added former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire as a director. The appointment would double the number of female directors to two out of 11 total board members, or 18%.

The PEU boys like their female representation in line with their preferred tax rates.

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

Government Workers: Gird Yourself for Mandate

PEU Report offers these two cartoon depictions for government workers.  I feel for these people having been through several private equity takeovers and subsequent staff reductions.  

If you happen to be related to Elon Musk or Vivek Ramaswamy or are related to any influential members of the political Red Team then your job is safe.  

Vivek hired his mother and brother as a pharmabro before taking the company public.  Shareholders got "right sized" in a subsequent bankruptcy.  

Elon's AI just declared him the most significant spreader of disinformation on the internet.  Can't wait to see Elon's conflict of interest declaration given his many companies attachments to the federal purse.

Government workers, best of luck in your double man-date.  Hopefully, Glassdoor and Indeed will set up sites for people to give feedback on the DOGEBROS.

Gird yourself.

Update 11-17-24:  TechGods and PEU billionaires can't lose for winning under Trump II:

For all of Trump's railing against "unelected bureaucrats" holding political influence, he has now appointed a pair of unelected billionaires to propose changes to the same agencies that regulate and fund their companies.

 
“We need super high-IQ, small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” read a statement from DOGE's official X account, which already bears the grey check used to signify a government body. Interested parties must message DOGE directly after first paying Musk an X subscription fee. 

Musk and Ramaswamy will possess an official channel to advise Trump on who does or doesn't deserve the government funding, even as their own companies have benefited from massive federal subsidies.

"Conflicts of interest R Us" should be the Trump II tagline.

Mandate to Make Wealthy Wealthier

Three million extra votes in a country with 330 million people has been declared a "massive mandate" for Donald Trump to enact his agenda.  That's 0.9% of the U.S population.  

Compare that to the "lesser mandate" for newly elected President Barack Obama in 2008 (according to Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein).

Trump's mandate is like his crowd size, highly exaggerated.  So why would historical book writer Rubenstein mischaracterize the two victories?  Because Obama promised to eliminate private equity's preferred "carried interest" taxation.  It didn't happen, even with control of both houses of Congress.  That was partly due to Rubenstein's hard "non-lobbying" lobbying on Capital Hill. 

Trump wants to give the greed and leverage boys another bigger tax cut.  It's a gargantuan mandate from the politically connected super-wealthy.  

"Tax cuts for PE legends and TechGods.  Forever live the billionaires!" the little people cried. 

Bloomberg announced Blue Team former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick made Senior Partner at Vistria Group, a private equity underwriter (PEU) founded by Obama campaign treasurer Martin Nesbitt.  The promotion came a mere nine months after joining Vistria from Bain Capital.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer federal budget largesse to its friends.  They may fudge a few numbers along the way.

Update 11-15-24:  Fox News Jesse Waters emphasized my point.

“And I’m not just saying that because I know the entire cabinet and that I’ll be asking for special favors.”

Trump the Usurper in the Age of Sponsorship

Update 11-17-24:  Trump called his 0.9% popular vote win "the biggest political victory in 129 years"

GIDDY!

President elect Donald Trump is off to a shining start.  His efforts to remake the country in his image include bizarre political appointments (real), belittling the richest man in the world (real) and fitting his schlong for an Arnold Palmer extension (symbolic). 

As this blog is called PEU Report, here's the private equity underwriter (PEU) angle of the Arnold Palmer dangle.  

Carlyle Group co-founder and policy making billionaire David Rubenstein is GIDDY!  Maybe as giddy as he was in 2010 when the Blue Team let the greed and leverage boys keep their preferred carried interest taxation.

Trump is going to cut their taxes further!  Let the good times roll.  

All you disappointed people can take heart in one thing.  "Trickle down now."  It's like "Simmer down now", the economic version.  Be patient and wait your turn for Uncle Sam's largesse to make its way through the Rubenstein's and Schwarzman's.  Yes, it may be discolored and gain an odor in the process, but rest assured "your share is coming."

God bless us all.  May we survive our grossly imbalanced leaders' insatiable need for more.

Update:  The TechGods are also giddy.  They used the term "buckle up."  I have a feeling we are about to be ridden.

The Moment Democrats Chose PEU over Little People

Blue Team political consultant James Carville named the devastating moment Kamala Harris lost the Presidential race.  BusinessWeek reported:

A Tax Hike Has Carlyle Up in Arms 

6-21-2010 

For David Rubenstein, the founder of private equity firm Carlyle Group, the prospect of losing a three-year fight over legislation that would force him to pay higher income taxes was bad enough. Then, in late May, he discovered a clause in the same bill that would more than double the taxes he would owe if he sold his stake in the firm or took it public. Rubenstein became one of several high-profile private equity executives who personally took to the Capitol's corridors to persuade lawmakers to remove the clause. Rubenstein visited Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), the Finance Committee chairman whose panel oversees all tax legislation. He also got an audience with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Other private equity chiefs, including Glenn Hutchins, co-founder of Silver Lake Financial Management, and David Bonderman, founding partner of buyout firm TPG, also called on lawmakers.

The measure with the tax increases passed the House in May and is stalled in the Senate by lawmakers worried about adding to the deficit. Meanwhile, the lobbying by private equity executives may be having some effect. Senator Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) objects to the proposal's impact on sales of buyout firms and other partnerships.

The head of the private equity trade group called the measure "discriminatory and inequitable."  This was shortly after the Supreme Court granted money free speech rights.

Baucus dropped the provision and private equity underwriters (PEU) still enjoy their preferred taxation today.  No end is in sight.  For once, neither the Reds or Blues promised the voting class that they would take it on that Herculean task.

Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one (including Evan Bayh at Apollo).

Trump's Treasury Candidates: PEUs & Hedge Funders

Seven candidates have been mentioned for Treasury Secretary under Trump II.  They include former Carlyle Group co-CEO and current Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, CEO of seven Wall Street companies and DEI lover Howard Lutnick and Senator Bill Hagerty, founder of private equity underwriter (PEU) Hagerty Peterson & Co LLC and most recently with Hall Capital.  Hagerty also has Trident Capital in his PEU history.

Two other Treasury candidates include hedge fund mavens Scott Bessent and John Paulson.  The PEU boys allow hedge funders into their "never enough" family, which happen to also charge high fees.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.  It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's wallet to their PEU friends.  Who will get the Treasury job, with its gigantic money shovel?  President elect Donald Trump wants to start slinging cash the government does not have.

What part of that sounds the least bit conservative?  Zero, zip, nada....  Remember the Red Team is "done catering to Wall Street."   They plan to cater to PEU legends and TechGods.

Update 11-20-24:  The Trump Treasury Sweepstakes are down to three candidates, Bill Hagerty, Apollo's Marc Rowan and Kevin Warsh, advisor to Stanley Druckenmiller's Duquesne Family Office.  Since sexual predation has no political consequences, Rowan's ties to Jeffery Epstein's main benefactor (Apollo founder Leon Black) should not hold up Marc's nomination.  Button down the NDA's.

Trump Fix is In

Polls showed people voted for Trump as he 'is a businessperson" and "from outside Washington, D. C."  What business person says "there is no price tag" for one of his signature promises?  He owes Congress and citizens a proposed budget for his initiatives.  Flashback to Trump I:

The national debt rose by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office.

Trump's budget will need to pass the House and Senate.  Trump II wants Red Teamer Rick Scott to head the Senate.  Scott's background includes a massive $1.7 billion Justice Department settlement for Columbia/HCA's fraudulent billing of Medicare and Medicaid.  

Scott himself got to keep most of his vast fortune which he invested in private equity or ring fenced in family partnerships and/or trusts.  While serving as Governor, the State of Florida sunk $200 million into a Cerberus FSBA Levered Loan Opportunities Fund LP.  A week prior the Cerberus CEO put $500,000 in a Scott Super PAC.

Scott had the most money invested in private equity of any member of Congress in 2022.

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 PEU friends.  My guess is most Trump voters will miss out on the cash bonanza.

Trump Win Portends More PEU

My wise friend shared several assessments after the November 5th election.  His take:

Mobsters are great again! The Bible toting citizens of the USA have declared victory through the election of the morality-minded Donald J. Trump. Crypto wins, Howard Lutnick wins, Tether wins, private equity wins, plutocracy wins, Elon Musk and the PayPal Mafia wins.  Labor thinks they have WON? 

BIGOTS have won.  Taxes will be lowered and Social Security weakened. Trump I was a test of boundaries and limits and how far he could push them. Now he knows what's acceptable and tolerable to the detriment of anyone that believes in laws and regulations. Trump II has a mandate that he will execute with full force. 

PAYOLA rules, but please use Trump Crypto.  He's surrounded by the worst of the worst and will not use FBI background checks for security. Roy Cohn holding on line one. DJT stock - up 12 points. The 10 year is pushing 4.47percent and the Dow is up 1,200 points. China and Russia and Iran are on high watch. 

Maybe everyone gets everything they want and more which pushes everything to break.  Are we finally at the euphoric top?

Another piece from Russell Clark noted:

The victory of Trump and Republicans is potentially the next step on moving to a true digital world, that is distinct from the nation state world we live in today. American corporations control almost all the important aspects of the digital world - from optic fiber cables, to social media, to operating systems to payment systems. Large US corporates operate on purely global scale, that is at odds with the domestic focus of nation state. 

We have already seen that the nation state struggles to enforce its will against large US corporates, and with the reelection of Trump, tax rates will likely fall further. Elon Musk has already made the jump from businessman to politician (with control over SpaceX and Starlink making him the most powerful single person in military matters). The support of Bitcoin, which is outside of the control of the US government, also adds to the idea that we are moving to a new stage in Western civilisation, or returning to an age of Empire, with US tech company the digital world overlords. This would be similar to the arrangement between the UK government and the East India Company back in the day.

My wise friend later added:

Trump rhymes with hump and Elon will power the pump. Who knew Carlyle's David Rubenstein would become a closet Dick Cheney with "deficits don't matter"? 

The little people do not realize how sold down the river they are, but like Dave Portnoy says, no one works harder for the billionaire class. I have a nephew that works in investment banking that is overjoyed that Lina Khan and Gary Gensler are out of the way for more deals to be done. Monetization causes elation when it improves your station.  Little people be damned. 

The Republicans are using the complete annihilation of the Democratic Party turnout and results to send the message that  the Democrat platform needs to move more to the center. LOL, what they need to do is go read Bernie Sanders message. That's the real reason the platform didn't match up to Trump's rhetoric.

On the decline in accounting principles and practices:

We have no standards. We have rules but they're always broken. We have no ORDER. It's fictitious like our capital. Inflation nation in every way possible.

The lack of oversight and protection for citizens:

Can't wait until AI hallucinations become medical procrastinations to withhold medical treatment. 

Don't worry though, Elon Musk's DOGE will clean the budget but deliver oligarchs their share of government expenditures, for sure. 

And who owns all the data? If news is data then PE has accumulated quite a bit. We went from all the news that's fit to print to Hal saying "It's all good"?

No Gary Gensler, no Lina Khan, no disclosures, good times.

Think about how self-serving cutting government, especially regulatory bodies, as the crypto and private market model guys get a firm stronghold on the economy. It's like the  SEC, how can they fight fraud when we reduce the budget and staffing? You can't and guys like Howard Lutnick, Mark Cuban, Michael Saylor, private equity/credit, crypto, all get to thrive, especially Musk.

Isn't it great when they align their interests with nary a care for their victims out there?  LOL, what a **** world and poor Lina Khan will be out of a job after proving Google was a monopoly.

The Elon Musk/Donald Trump campaign team:

Did you see Elon's X post stating the future is the future? His tweet that had robots, self driving cars, spaceships etc., as if that is the human condition. This is the problem with these high functioning so-called geniuses with zero empathy for what is going on around them. It's like the idiot savant. But I don't think he's an idiot, I think he's a self-serving savant. 

It's all about the money grab. Private market valuations have created kingdoms with their own walls of money.

As for Trump, it's really incredible how we look the other way, over and over regarding his behavior. What truly sickens me is given all we know about his frauds, his cheating, his scheming, and he is able to run for the highest office with astounding support. 

It's as if there is no moral to the story, literally and figuratively. It's like catching an Olympian on tape for cheating and handing over the gold medal. This is what we teach our children. And honestly I am not sure Kamala Harris and the DNC are any better. Maybe we have hit peak fraud? Is that the new dollar bill is that the new $3 bill with Trump on it? E. coli UNUM?

If politicians treated individuals the same as Wall Street and private equity underwriters (PEU):

Donald Trump could offer any eligible voting citizen a $100 million US government loan for 100 years with A PIK toggle. The first three years of the loan will have an interest rate of .01%. The next 50 years will be in forbearance. The remaining years will be payment in kind. If you have an early demise before all balances are spent by you they may be transferred to any family member under the same terms. This instrument will be held by BlackRock and mark to make believe forever and ever and ever. Everyone in America should be oblivious to their debts as Blackstone, Apollo, and the Carlyle Group. These loans can be used as collateral for other loans on a non-recourse basis. MAGA millions are given away!

I don't think the PEU boys and their sponsored politicians like to share.  Good times for the policy making billionaire class and their new TechGod associates.  Thy will be done.

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

2024 Election: PEU Undergirded

If the economy is booming why do so many people feel the country is moving in the wrong direction?  Because the boom is not shared.  

Yes, many people listen to Red Team media and get worked up as the purveyors intend.  But many voters don't and are not diehard Trumpers.  They just know something's not right.

I offer this election backdrop (news articles over the last four years):

Noted investor Jim Chanos offered the following observation:

Private equity firms employ over 12 million people.  A study showed PEU ownership results in declines in "current employees’ satisfaction with their Compensation & Benefits...  We see similar declines in Culture & Values, and smaller declines in Work-Life Balance and Senior Management."

The crapification of the workplace accelerated as PEU barbarians stormed company after company.  Elected officials did not protect us.  

I shared my experience under private equity ownership with the Federal Trade Commission (after WCAS and TPG bought 60% of our hospice company):

After saying there would be "no changes" they reduced office staff 50%, cut the number of holidays 33% and stopped the 50% premium for holiday pay. They implemented unreliable technology. Numerous times the phone system stopped working altogether. It's critical that hospice patients, family and caregivers can reach someone 24/7. The system failed after the company took away company provided cell phones for most staff, so we were not able to use those phones as a backup.

 

The new "comprehensive" hospice EMR/Office management system robbed staff of fair pay for hours worked and shorted reimbursement for miles driven. Already overburdened hospice staff had to take hours they did not have to check the overly complex and convoluted pay portion of the system and add time to ensure pay for hours worked. It was virtually impossible for staff to decode the mileage reimbursement system. Promises to bring in experts to help staff went unfilled. I believe the company liked the significant money it was saving in both areas, pay and mileage.

Of the over 2,000 published FTC comments, half mentioned private equity.  Physicians, health professionals and patients shared dark experience after dark experience.  Even an insider offered:

Many of thepworst instances of a poorlygfunctioning corporate governance/economic incentive system have been through U.S. private equityafirms mismanaging investments in U.S. healthcare and technology companies -- are just the uniquely awful examples with broad public awareness. Private equity firmslcynically deny they have operational control of their portfolio companies when abuse is revealed, despite their effectiveicontrol through an interlocking directorate of board members, investors, and economic incentives. Some limited partner investors arevincentivized into complicity through access, equity co-investments, or fee breaks. Employees and management teams at these portfolio companies, like helots, are retaliated against if they speak out of line. The current governancepsystem in place for private equity is not effective and the DOJ, FTC, and Department of Health and Human Serviceseshould have a greater degree of oversight to stop this from happening again. This induced trauma is happening with full awareness from the wider private equity ecosystem. Many of the most resourced private equity firms in the world are right nowucolluding to ringfence their own liability and cover up the impact this misappropriation of resources is having on our healthcare system.

Simply providing the opportunity for public comment got the Blue Team in hot water with their PEU backers.  In their world everything is a trade secret or belongs under an NDA (nondisclosure agreement). 

The greed and leverage boys targeted FTC Chair Lina Kahn, who had the audacity to look into "vertical integration" (PEU ownership).  She likely had no job under either Trump II or Harris.  

I wonder how the PEU crapification of the workplace played into the election.  Was it a subconscious force steering voters to vote for "the entertainer" promising to "protect you"?  Maybe, may not.  Nevertheless, it leaves us on shaky ground.  Your protector may just be a predator.

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