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.
