Another Red Team PEU Candidate

Former CEO of Bridgewater Associates David McCormick is running for the U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.  This super rich "man of the people" made the NYT for misrepresenting his upbringing. 

Voters might assume anyone "raised on a family farm" is the son of actual farmers.  Not so.  McCormick has more in common with Sam Bankman Fried given his father's job as university President and his mother's raising of Arabian horses.

McCormick's bio shows his forays between public service and Bridgewater: 

David McCormick is CEO of Bridgewater Associates, responsible for overseeing the firm’s strategy, governance, and operations. David joined Bridgewater in 2009 and previously served as President and then Co-CEO before becoming CEO in 2020. Before joining Bridgewater, David was the U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for International Affairs in the George W. Bush Administration during the global financial crisis, and prior to that served in senior posts on the National Security Council and in the Department of Commerce. 

From 1999-2005 David was a technology entrepreneur, serving as CEO and then President of two publicly-traded software companies, FreeMarkets, Inc. and Ariba, Inc., and prior to that was a consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Bridgewater Associates is the largest hedge fund in the world, requiring a minimum $7.5 billion investment..  Bridgewater claims to be an "idea meritocracy."  The $7.5 billion entry fee instantly throws that into the trash bin.  It's a firm oriented to gargantuan wealth.  Consider this employee review from Glassdoor:

An implicit caste system based on degree of family wealth and where you went to undergraduate school. 

-Not actually transparent at upper levels - Unclear to me if people promoted, actually deserved it - Turnover was brutal in that people kept leaving after 2 years and there were barely anyone at that 3-8 year range - Brutal hours - I also look at the other reviews and genuinely wonder if they're fake by HR - Hides under a veneer of meritocracy but ultimately it's office politics like everywhere else - The metrics to define your impact really depends on the agenda your manager has, not what you think will add impact. Remember that. Normally this is obvious, except that Bridgewater likes to hide under the idea of letting the best ideas succeed, it doesn't.

Voters who've worked for a private equity underwriter (PEU) acquired firm know the trauma the greed and leverage boys wreak on staff and quality operations.  Hedge funds are a close cousin to private equity as they are a levered bet, for or against future success of corporate debt/equity.  Many private equity underwriters have their own hedge funds.  Bear Sterns' hedge fund collapses were the canary in the 2008 Financial Crisis coal mine.

McCormick's comfortable academic upbringing turned into a bonanza adulthood. Business Insider reported:

According to his 2024 financial disclosure, McCormick and his wife own at least $123 million in assets, which would make him one of the wealthiest members of Congress if elected. 

Somewhere between $1.1 million and $2.25 million are held in an account called "David H McCormick 2020 Dynasty Trust."

Voters are sick of political takers who can't seem to get enough power, prestige and the chance to furter distort the system to the advantage of their PEU peers.  Government catered to this bunch for decades and now the greed and leverage boys want to occupy the actual seats of power, legislative and executive.

Adding another obscenely wealthy, tax avoiding Red Senator could dismantle Social Security and other safety net programs.  Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one.