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.
