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.Another take: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.
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.
