Shamed & Shameless Insiders: PEU Window

The banquet of consequences may actually be arriving for powerful political insiders who captained government functions for their personal power, prestige, protection and profit over the last several decades.  

Insider Larry Summers declared his "deep shame" after email communications with Jeffrey Epstein were made public.  Summers has a long history of getting access, key government appointments, plum jobs with universities, hedge funds and private equity underwriters (PEU).  Those are the very groups Epstein slithered with and around.  This group provided him funding, connections and protection.

The public has a split screen given major events underway today, the looming House vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files and Trump's high ceremonial welcome for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Three Representatives, two Red and one Blue, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capital with Jeffrey Epstein survivors and family representatives.

How did we allow this to happen?  Larry Summers told us years ago with his coaching on how to become an insider, how to rub shoulders with powerful people such that one day, you too could become one of them.  Stay silent, go along, accept insider rewards,  recognize the rules really don't apply, turn away from anything untoward....but never ever say anything ill about fellow insiders, even to the authorities (which insiders control as the ultimate fail safe).

The other side of this split screen is Trump II's ceremonial excess for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man who U.S. intelligence authorities believe ordered the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Trump bull-horned the very message of Epstein survivors, "powerful people are untouchable."  Survivors are trying hard to get that changed but they are yet to win.  Jamal Khashoggi's fiancée is yet to receive justice.   She stands alone in her pursuit.  The Crown Prince has the most powerful man in the world at his beckon call.

Ghislaine Maxwell has proven her insider worth and value to Trump II and is rewarded with a cushy prison environment and special privileges.  Seven years from now will she receive a ceremonial welcome at Mar-a-Lago?

The White House has been called the People's House.  

Today it honors the man who ordered the murder of a U.S. journalist in the most evil and heinous way.  It used his Saudi nationality and love for his fiancée to lure Khashoggi into a trap.

The public has the opportunity to see the gross excesses of wealth and privilege that funded Epstein's criminal enterprise.  PEU profits garnered Epstein over $170 million from Apollo founder Leon Black.  Every White House from Bill Clinton to today catered to the PEU class.  Most cabinets, Red and Blue, were chock full of PEUs.

Those excesses exist today, albeit at grossly higher amounts.  PEU legends have been joined by TechGods and Cryptobros in mining Uncle Sam's wallet and steering government policy in a billionaire friendly direction.  How many of these insiders have a predilection for underaged girls?  Who is their supplier?  These are important questions for girls of today.  

One way to protect them is have Epstein's abusers named, shamed and detained.  Is the United States up to it?  

We damned well better be....

Update:  Trump castigated a Bloomberg journalist with a "Quiet Piggy" over an Epstein question on Air Force One.  He followed that with attacking an ABC News reporter in the Oval Office after a question regarding the brutal Saudi execution of Jamal Khashoggi.

"You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen."

Trump saved the Crown Prince's backside yet again.  Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward chronicled the first save.

Semafor indicated the Crown Prince is receiving Epstein level protection pre-November 18, 2025:

House lawmakers on both sides of the aisle plan to attend a reception with him on Wednesday, when Trump and the crown prince will also attend an investment conference. 

And even most Democrats focused more on potential conflicts of interest than on the crown prince’s human rights track record, which provoked bipartisan worries a few years ago.

Memories are short.

And their manhood (as in Johnson - the Speaker) is even shorter.  Politicians Red & Blue...

Jesse wrote:

There are levels of lawlessness being tolerated because it benefits a rich and powerful few, the public and the health of the economy be damned. 

And this is why the Congress and White House continue to twist themselves into knots to cover up and hide the sexual, political, and financial corruption of the Epstein scandal.

And how, over time, we have come to tolerate war crimes including genocide, and extra-judicial murder. We are truly exceptional.

Both the House and the Senate passed the bill requiring the release of the Epstein files.  It now heads to Trump II's desk. 

Update 11-19-25:  Epstein "wingman" Larry Summers resigned from the OpenAI board of directors.

Crown Prince Dinner Guest List: MISSING

"The most open and transparent administration in the history of our country" is yet to reveal who has been invited to the Black-Tie dinner for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tomorrow evening at the White House.

Will the public ever be informed of the PEU Legends, TechGods/CryptoBros, Wall Street Titans, corporate chiefs and subservient politicians of both political stripes that get to dine with the future Saudi King?  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

And their princely sons shall be far richer than their kingly fathers.  Everybody else, not so much...

Update 11-19-25:  Business Insider got the guest list for the dinner.  They highlighted a number of TechGods, CryptoBros and Red Team oriented billionaires.  

The guest list, shared by the White House, included members of the Saudi government and royal family, as well as almost 50 US business executives. Soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo also attended.

Notable guest included Elon Musk (X, xAI, SpaceX, Telsa, Boring, Neuralink), Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Tim Cook (Apple), Marc Benioff (Salsforce), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase), David Sacks (VC & Trump AI Czar), Bill Ackman (Pershing Square), Vlad Tenev (Robinhood), David Ellison (Paramount/Skydance), Lisa Su (AMD), Greg Brockman (OpenAI).  That's 11 out of nearly 50.  Not very comprehensive reporting.

The guest list remains unavailable on the White House website.  Pictures indicate a blurry figure might be Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman.  

Add Jeremy Allaire (Circle), Cristiano Amon (Qualcomm), Brendan Bechtel (Bechtel), Marc Beckman (DMA United), Albert Bourla (Pfizer), Stefan Brodie (Bro-Tech), Charles Cascarilla (Paxos), Derek Chang (Liberty Media), Larry Culp (GE), Michael Dell (MSD Capital/Revolution)

Trump-Crown Prince to Headline Investment Forum

For the fourth time in 2025 Trump II will spend quality time working on behalf of the Saudi monarchy. 

From Riyadh to Washington, the partnership that powers progress. Where innovation meets ambition, and every handshake tells a story of shared prosperity.

Trump II is throwing a Black-Tie dinner for Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tomorrow night.  Invitees include those doing the handshaking at U.S.-Saudi investment events, legendary private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods/CryptoBros, Wall Street titans, corporate chiefs and politicians.  They've all made big bank while regular folk garner a smaller and smaller portion of the economic pie.  

On the agenda for Wednesday morning:

DIGITAL BLUEPRINT FOR TOMORROW’S AI WORLD

Rest assured, you are in the blueprint and they have big plans.  

If this does not sit right or you aren't feeling the shared prosperity, you may wish to have your voice heard.  Do so at your own risk as neither Trump or the Crown Prince are interested in feedback, only kowtowing and excessive compliments regarding their manhood, looks and accoutrements of power/wealth.

Both men will eventually exit the political scene.  They arrived by beating and both will leave as beaten men.

Credit Investors Should Watch Blue Owl

In 2017 Blue Owl Capital launched its first credit fund for retail investors, Blue Owl Capital Corporation II.  It intends to merge this fund with Blue Owl Capital Corporation (OBDC), a larger publicly-traded business development company (BDC) focused on private credit.

FT noted that some Fund II investors could lose in the share exchange.

If the mooted deal were to be approved by shareholders and completed at current prices, Blue Owl Capital Corporation II shareholders would see the value of their investments fall by about 20 per cent.

Blue Owl's merger presentation showed a 98% overlap between Fund II and OBDC.  

How does that turn into a 20% loss of share value?  Essentially, the investing public does not believe in Fund II's marks, given the number of recent private credit implosions.  

Blue Owl's CFO talked to FT about the merger.  He conceded Fund II investors could take a haircut under the deal structure.  The CFO called other options, like a public offering or a wind down, unappealing.  I don't believe making your long term investors angry is a winning strategy either.

FT shared the reality that Fund II investors may never get to tender their shares for early redemption, a right they had prior to the merger announcement and had been increasingly utilizing.

Blue Owl executives don't want to let their Fund II investors go at the price they have valued the assets (redemption cancellation).  It remains to be seen what happens with OBDC's share price between now and the closing date.  

Fund II investors should expect a hard sell, likely very different than the hard sell that got them into OBDC II.  

Retirees weighing what to do with your 401(k), please don't put it into private equity, private credit or anything crypto, straight up currency or a company with a digital treasury strategy.  Also, avoid AI at all costs, investment or use.  Blue Owl just did a big financing for Meta's AI.  

Eight years after launching investment grade private credit for retail investors in OBDC II, Blue Owl has set up a possible 20% haircut.  Eight years from now what might the Blue Owl-Meta joint venture debt ($27 billion) look like?  

Update 11-19-25:  Blue Owl called off the proposed combination.

Another Formal Party for Elite Potentates

Trump II will host a Black-Tie dinner at the White House for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday.  News reports indicate the guest list includes "business executives, lawmakers and governors."

The Crown Prince will host a U.S.-Saudi investment conference during his visit.  Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, Public Investment Fund (PIF), is headed by the Crown Prince.  It has been busy lately.  

Trump II's son-in-law Jared Kushner manages over $2 billion in Saudi money via Affinity Partners, a private equity underwriter (PEU).

At prior Saudi-U.S. investment meetings PEUs, Wall Street Giants and TechGods have been front and center.  Executives are invited to the upcoming White House dinner but the list of invitees is yet to be posted on the White House website.

Less than two weeks ago Trump II spoke at the American Business Forum in Miami.  The Saudi PIF was the presenting partner for the event.  

PIF has a Future Investment Institute (FII) and Trump spoke at the FII Priority meeting held from February 19-21, 2025 in Miami.

On May 13. 2025  Trump II might as well as have kissed the toes of the Crown Prince the way he slathered over the man at the U.S.-Saudi investment conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.  Trump II brought back "trillions" in deals.  Remember, deal makers get deal fees.

Time will reveal if the guest list is made public.  It is still the People's House, although Trump II is determined to make it the PEUples'.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  They will gather Tuesday evening to celebrate murderous tyrants.  

Update:  The Sunday morning news shows interviewed two former PEUs, now in government roles under Trump II.  Affinity Partners' Kevin Hassett was on ABC's This Week and Flex Capital's Dan Driscoll was on CBS' Face the Nation.  Hassett worked for Jared Kushner and PEU founding father Michael Milken, while Driscoll had a number of major TechGods as limited partners at Flex.  I'm sure most watchers had no idea they were being PEU'd.  

Trump II Targets TechGod, PEUs & JP Morgan

Trump II, the digital Caligula, dined with J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, then threw his bank under the Jeffrey Epstein bus the next morning.  Did he give Dimon the courtesy of a warning?  Doubtful.

Several months ago Trump II sought to change the Epstein narrative.  I wrote:

I imagine the Trump "Just Us" Department shopped the list of predators for Blue Team members and any never Trumpers of the Red version.

One of those Blue Team members is TechGod Reid Hoffman.  Bill Clinton is a former private equity underwriter (PEU) with Yucaipa   Larry Summers served as Managing Director for hedge fund D.E. Shaw and Special Advisor to Andreessen Horowitz (more TechGods).  

Jeffrey Epstein levered tax avoidance, money, and power just like the PEU boys and their new TechGod/Cryptobro brethren.  Epstein added illegal, underage sex, which apparently some very powerful men liked.  

Trump II has no truth for the American people, otherwise he would release the Epstein files.  Instead he's on a campaign of diversion, unjust personal enrichment and retribution, most recently to those wanting to force that Epstein release.

As for the Red Team's Marjorie Taylor Greene, Trump II may want to watch out.  She's angling for the next Speaker of the House.  There's not a Polymarket for that yet but I expect one in not so distant future.

Trump II is the boiling frog in the Epstein pot.  You can't be boiled in a pot you never jumped in.

Update 11-16-25:  Marjorie Taylor Greene offered:

“I would like to say humbly, I’m sorry for taking part in the toxic politics,” Greene said. “It’s very bad for our country.”

Speaker Greene?

TechGods Offer Another Way to Throw a Fight

Americans will have another sports micro-prediction option to add to their addiction portfolio thanks to Polymarket and TKO, the parent company of UFC and Zuffa Boxing.

TechGods brought us micro-dosing ketamine, micro-betting and now micro-prediction marketing (a fancier name for wagering between two people/entities/AI bots).  CNBC reported:

“What’s exciting about our approach is you can buy and sell and you can trade just like a stock throughout the fight,” Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Thursday. “You can buy and sell as momentum swings we will start with that and we will take from there based on customer feedback.”

Stock is equity in an organization.  Polymarket customers have no equity in the fighter they are wagering on to win or lose.  Most Polymarket wallets are losers, 85%.  

Professional athletes have been caught recently throwing micro-bets, so what better thing to introduce in a sport with a long history of throwing fights.  

To sum up:

Social media - addicting

AI bots - addicting, even deadly

AI porn - coming....

Online Sports Betting - addicting

Micro-dosing opioids - addicting

Micro sports betting - addicting

Generally regulated and taxed -  Casino Betting - addicting....Tobacco use - addicting....Alcohol use- addicting

TechGods have occupied the unregulated and untaxed addiction zones.  Enter those at your own physical, mental and financial risk.  They do not have your best interest at heart.

transforming passive viewership into active participation

Wallet activation countdown:  Five, four, three, two.... one... 

Zero dollars left.  TechGod takeoff complete....  Thank you for your active participation.

Trump Dines with Wall Street & PEU Legends

ZeroHedge reported on a White House dinner with Wall Street executives to be held this evening.  The guest list includes private equity underwriters (PEU):

Invited guests include JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Nasdaq’s Adena Friedman (former CFO for The Carlyle Group), Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, Morgan Stanley’s Ted Pick, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, and Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon. 

Bankers and investors back Trump’s pro-growth agenda but remain uneasy about his tariffs, trade volatility, and pressure on the Federal Reserve.

Current Fed Chair Jerome Powell also worked for The Carlyle Group before moving on to another PEU.  Trump nominated Powell for the job in his first term as President.

Possible Fed Chair nominee to replace Powell is Kevin Hassett.  Kevin also has a private equity background having worked for Affinity Partners, Jared Kushner's PEU.  Kushner is Trump II's son in law.

Hassett received a $192,040 salary for his work with Affinity Partners.  Simultaneously, Kevin worked for the Milken Institute as Managing Director with a salary of $234,312.  

Founder Michael Milken branded leveraged buyout organizations (LBO), which is the former name for what is now called private equity.  Trump pardoned Milken, absolving the convicted Junk Bond King of his crimes.

Hassett received a salary from six other organizations, according to his financial disclosure form.  Between the eight employers Hassett received $763,045 last year.

This is how the insider money funnel works.  Big sums are thrown at the politically connected by multiple employers, each not expecting full time work production.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  

The current Fed Chair is and the next one may be PEU as well

Update 11-13-25:  When asked about the dinner Trump II's SBA Chief told CNBC "The government is there to support them."  

That's billionaire PEU Legends and Wall Street CEOs.  She avoided the fact that PEUs exported jobs by the tens of thousands under both Red (W. Bush) and Blue (Obama) administrations.  It was clear to some by July 2011.

That was around the time child sex predator Jeffrey Epstein wrote accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell about Trump being "the dog that hadn't barked." (April 2011).  It seems the government is there to support them too.  

Maxwell enjoys extra perks in her country club federal prison as Trump II scrambles to prevent the full release of the government's Epstein files..

I imagine the public is not interested in steering more resources to policy making billionaires of the PEU or TechGod variety and voters are not keen on protecting pedophiles or their accomplices/enablers.  

White House dinner invitee JP Morgan paid $365 million to date in Epstein related settlements for its role in financing Epstein's sexual crimes against children.  PEU Apollo founder Leon Black provided $170 million to Epstein.  This is the weave Trump II wants to hide.

Sonder Implodes, BlackRock Largest Equity Holder

Short term rental provider and Marriott partner Sonder Holdings declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy.  Company auditor Delloite & Touche issued a going concern warning on Sonder in July 2025.  Around the same time an employee posted this on Glassdoor: 

This job started off easy and manageable, even with some clunky internal systems. But since the company was acquired by Marriott (rebranded as a “partnership” to avoid properly compensating employees), everything has gone downhill. The systems we use to do our jobs have become harder and more frustrating. 

But the real problem is the toxic, unaccountable management at both the direct and upper levels. We are now expected to juggle multiple roles — front desk, housekeeping, minor maintenance, billing, emails, live chat, in-person guest interactions, and more — all without proper training or increased pay. Management gaslights you into thinking this is normal and acceptable. When you push back, they deflect responsibility and create new rules on the fly to wear you down. The strategy is clear: overwork and exhaust the team to make us easier to manipulate. They even force you to stand for your entire shift now, as if the emotional labor wasn’t enough. 

Raises? You get a 60¢ “increase” as part of this Marriott shift — a complete slap in the face given how much more they demand from us. If you voice concerns, you’re told to be grateful or start looking elsewhere. 

The CEO “stepped down” to pursue other things, but let’s be real — this was always a sellout move. He cashed in and left the front-line workers to deal with the fallout. If you’re informed, strong-willed, and unwilling to be a pushover — you’ll be targeted. 

Sonder used to be a promising brand. But now, it feels like Marriott is draining it for all it’s worth before phasing it out completely. 

Bottom line: This job is not worth your mental health. Management doesn’t respect that you have a life outside of work. They will treat you as disposable — and expect gratitude in return. 

Advice to Management:   Prepare to be treated by the company the same way you've treated us; everyone's time comes.

Sonder began as Flatbook in 2014.  It changed names in 2016.  Sonder became public via an SPAC in 2021, valued at $2.2 billion.  Prequin reported the following sponsors:

The Gores Group, alongside Atreides Capital, BlackRock, Fidelity Investments, Moore Capital Management - Private Equity, Principal Global Investors, and Senator Investment Group

Several are private equity underwriters (PEU).  The PEU/TechGod playbook is embedded in that employee review.  Crappy technology, toxic management/executives, poor pay/benefits, excessive hours worked, top execs cashing out (getting all the rewards), no ability to move up and financial sleight of hand given the company never got close to being cash flow positive (even on an adjusted basis).  That's thirteen years of massive operating losses.  

The Real Deal noted:

....the company disclosed financial reporting errors affecting 2022 and 2023 statements

BlackRock took a number of hits on the debt side from recent bankruptcies.  Their Sonder losses are equity related, but I imagine it stings similarly.

Trump Boys' Dominari Holdings "Mining" Money

What fortune for Dominari Holdings, the Trump Tower renter that once was a bit financial player!  Thank the Trump Enrichment Accelerator.

In February the Trump boys joined Dominari's Advisory Board and participated in a private placement.  Since then Dominari has been skyrocketing.  Revenue is up over 700% in just nine months.  

Oddly, the company's website now returns an error message regarding their Board of Advisors.  Here's what it looked like months ago.

Dominari paid a dividend to shareholders in March (.32 per share) and September (.22 per share).    Together the Trump boys received over $1 million.  Each garnered over $530,000 between the two dividends (.55 per share total).

Dominari noted their profit from taking American Bitcoin public.  A SEC filing shows Eric Trump controlling over 68 million shares in ABTC.  At today's price of $5.15 Eric controls over $350 million in ABTC stock.

I'm sure the average citizen is far too busy trying to make ends meet to see the Trump administration minting money for family and friends.  Trump II, the digital Caligula, wants over $200 billion in net worth when he leaves office in January 2029.  

Deal makers get deal fees, directly or indirectly.  Remember that.  The Trump Enrichment Accelerator works 24/7/365.  It has over three more years to voraciously consume an obscene portion of economic resources.  For that many suffer.

Trump II Advancing Indentured Servitude

Fifteen year car loans and fifty year home mortgages are Trump II's answers to unaffordable houses and vehicles.  His advisors want to bring back the aristocracy and colonialism.  Why not add indentured servitude.  

Does the President believe these moves will help him with the general public?  If so, he is further out of touch than I thought and I did not think that possible given Trump II's irreality.  

Financiers win, but they always have.  Serf's up!

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Catering to NY & LA Billionaire Investors

Concho Valley Homepage reported Doral Renewables is partnering with Bechtel Corporation on the Cold Creek solar and battery farm.  Doral's description indicates they are backed by Apollo, a giant  private equity underwriter (PEU).  Cold Creek is projected to be operational in 2028. 

San Angelo City Council and Tom Green County Commissioners have a new constituency to serve, PEUs with specific hurdle rate requirements.

City Councilman Tom Thompson, Tommy Hiebert and Harry Thomas have been ringing the bell on cutting city services, I take it, to give these and future projects their massive tax abatements.  

Cutting retiree healthcare so billionaire founders can add to their massive net worth?  That has a national political feel to it.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Update 11-17-25:  Tony Deden wrote:

This essay was born out of revulsion to an accidental summer reading that paraded progress as virtue and private equity as its high priest. Every paragraph spoke the same pious language of “sustainable improvement,” “societal benefit,” and “long-term value creation,” as though leverage, asset-stripping, and balance-sheet cosmetics had become moral acts. I found myself revolted not merely by the hypocrisy, but by the vacuousness of it. In our hyper-financialized society, we have come to mistake valuation for value, and activity for achievement. The word ‘progress’ has been exploited to justify anything that moves—no matter what it destroys. What follows is an act of refusal to bow to the idea that more money is progress. If this essay has a motive, it is contempt for the trivial slogans that pass as thought, and for the hollow theory that confuses financial §engineering with human improvement.

Local politicians and Texas voters would be wise to read his piece.  

First Lady Lauds TechGods & PEUs

Bloomberg reported OpenAI, which will soon enter the pornography market, wants CHIPS act subsidies (tax credits) to be expanded to AI data centers.

....35% chips-focused tax credit to AI data centers, AI server producers and electrical grid components, such as transformers and the specialized steel used to produce them.

It seems TechGods want more subsidy from Uncle Sam (35%) than they are willing to pay in local taxes (generally 10 to 20% under 80-90% tax abatement). 

OpenAI scrambled to not look like a SNAP recipient or an Obamacare insured given what their CFO said.  CNN reported:

OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar raised eyebrows on Wednesday when she suggested that the US government should “backstop” the company’s aggressive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

“The backstop, the guarantee, that allows the financing to happen, that can really drop the cost of the financing but also increase the loan-to-value, so the amount of debt that you can take on top of an equity portion,” she said at a Wall Street Journal event.

TechGods need for an "all of government" subsidy.  Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with their huge capital pools, may soon be equity holders in tech firms.  FHFA Chief Bill Pulte is on it.

They even got the First Lady to equate TechGods, immigrants in many cases, with the greater good.  

Do you see how naturally, beautifully and inevitably the government is mobilizing all of its resources to enrich the PEU/TechGod class?  It's been going on for decades but regular people are beginning to notice.  

Melania's America is a club, the same one colonial powers used to beat "savage" locals into submission, the exclusive one the aristocracy created in their gilded ballrooms/dining halls and today the baton being used to demean the formerly middle class struggling day to day to survive.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one.

Update 11-17-25:  Tony Deden wrote:

This essay was born out of revulsion to an accidental summer reading that paraded progress as virtue and private equity as its high priest. Every paragraph spoke the same pious language of “sustainable improvement,” “societal benefit,” and “long-term value creation,” as though leverage, asset-stripping, and balance-sheet cosmetics had become moral acts. I found myself revolted not merely by the hypocrisy, but by the vacuousness of it. In our hyper-financialized society, we have come to mistake valuation for value, and activity for achievement. The word ‘progress’ has been exploited to justify anything that moves—no matter what it destroys. What follows is an act of refusal to bow to the idea that more money is progress. If this essay has a motive, it is contempt for the trivial slogans that pass as thought, and for the hollow theory that confuses financial §engineering with human improvement.

The First Lady would be wise to read his piece.

PEU Audax Experiences Home Renovation Affiliate Collapse

USA Herald reported:

Renovo Home Partners, a private equity–backed roll-up of home improvement businesses, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Delaware federal court, declaring as much as $500 million in debt across nearly 20 affiliated entities.

The equity loss goes to Boston headquartered Audax, a private equity underwriter (PEU).

The private credit hit goes to BlackRock at "more than $100 million."  BlackRock recently took  a beating on First Brands and Carriox Capital.  

Should anyone want to search BlackRock's various reports for their stated exposure, use HomeRenew Buyer, Inc.   Renovo Home Partners is a dba name for HomeRenew Buyers.

Below is the list of BlackRock Credit Strategies Fund's holdings of HomeRenew Buyer debt as of 12-31-24.  

News stories state most of BlackRock's exposure to Renovo/HomeRenew is under BlackRock TCP Capital.  

The cockroaches are swarming...

Financial crises start when the big money boys no longer trust each other to make good on their debts.

Update 11-10-25:  Another disturbing PEU tale:

The Brinton's family feels similarly after The Carlyle Group took over their company in an underhanded manner, laid off staff and dumped the pension onto British taxpayers.

Forging into ...? Schwab!

Charles Schwab is buying Forge Global, a fintech that serves as a private company stock exchange.

Forge went public in 2022 via a Motive Capital Partners SPAC.  It has private equity underwriter (PEU) roots according to the company website:

Founded in 2015, Motive Partners is a specialist private equity platform

 TechGod companies proliferate Forge's offerings:

And a number of these companies are flat out creepy.  Shein has childlike sex dolls.

The AI swerve into the porn lane caught many by surprise.  OpenAI's upcoming ChatXXX, xAI's digital sex talk bot using employee biometric data and Meta's engorging on adult content should have been forseeable, given their founders consistent creepiness and seeming inability to connect with carbon based people.  

Schwab, the investor for the little people, is going big, private and creepy.  I was thinking of reactivating my account but realize they have nothing for me.  

Update 11-7-25:  The Burning Platform wrote:  

It’s the .01% globalist billionaire class who are mainly to blame for the economic shitstorm brewing on the horizon.

That's the group politicians Red & Blue have catered to over the last two decades.  It includes private equity underwriters (PEU), TechGods and CryptoBros.  Increasingly, more elected officials and key government officials are one (a PEU/TechGod/CryptBro).  For that, all of us regular folk pay.....

....(only) a few hundred fall into the category of psychopaths in suits. Yes, they live in gated palaces with ample security forces, but the common folk of this country own over 300 million firearms.

I much prefer voters elect officials who will take back the levers of government from policy making billionaires.  The odds of that are extremely low, but one can hope.  The alternative is absolutely frightening.

Trump Speaks at Global Leadership Summit after Election Wipeout

Trump II spoke at the American Business Forum meeting in Miami , the day after the Red Team was shellacked in three high profile races.  Independent voters put Trump II back in the White House in 2024 and they don't like what they see today, not at all.

The Miami event's presenting partner is the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF).  Trump spoke at another PIF event in Miami in February.  His son-in-law Jared Kushner manages at least $2 billion of PIF money in his Affinity Partners, a relatively new private equity underwriter (PEU).

Below is a graphic which shows the promotional piece for the meeting alongside news articles relative to PIF and Trump priorities.

U.S. citizens should recall Trump II's preference for golf over working out a federal budget deal.  They should also note his desire for global operations vs. attending to things here at home.

PIF's deal with Trump and U.S. companies gives the Saudi's access to everything, Wall Street, Big Tech, AI,  AI SPY, War machines...you name it, the Crown Prince has it or is getting it.

Trump the Usurper consumed the Red Team long ago.  That's nowhere near enough.  Trump II wants an over $200 billion net worth by January 2029.  The American Business Forum has the people who can make that happen.  

American Business Forum....Saudi PIF....Side events that unlock access.....Global leadership summit of the world.....World meets America......World bleeds America while Trump II, PEUs, TechGods and CryptoBros profit handsomely.  

That is, until people wake up.  

Update 11-6-25:  Trump II, the digital Caligula and extremely sore loser, received a key to the City of Miami from Mayor Frances Suarez, also a private equity underwriter (PEU).  The conference's presenting partner also has PEU holdings.

SWFs, PEUs, TechGods, CrypotBros, AI ....what's not to detest?  

Rick Scott's Whining? Pardon He

Red Team billionaire Senator Rick Scott pulled out the persecution violin and played it up a storm.  It sounded like the "Devil Went Down to Florida."

Surely, this guy deserves a pardon or commutation for all his trials and tribulations.  Not needed?  Scott was never charged with a crime.  None of his personal assets were confiscated by the Justice Department.

Scott left Colombia/HCA with $300 million in stock, a $5.1 million severance and a $950,000-per-year consulting contract for five years.

I got the message that Trump II believes he is the law so therefore whatever he does is sacrosanct and deserves judicial blessing and celebration.  I was not aware that trickled down to Congress, the people who generate actual laws. 

Scott's history rewrite has been long underway.

Flipping shape shifters.....

Politics is an insufficient way to explain our world, given its ever shifting sands, serial mistruths and mind numbing double standards.

Politicians & Sons Power TechGods as Little People Pay

Fortune reported:

Backed by former U.S. energy secretary and Texas governor Rick Perry, AI power startup Fermi went from nonexistent to an October IPO with a mammoth $16 billion market cap in less than a year without any announced customers or construction—or even a single dollar of revenue.

It's a Texas political insider family affair.  

Founder Rick Perry's son Griffin is an executive and fellow founder Toby Neugebauer is the son of former Congressman Randy Neugebauer.  

Neugebauer ran a conservative fintech that imploded.  Red Team TechGods backed him before blaming Neugebauer for bankrupting Glorifi.  Neugebauer countersued.  WFAA.com noted "a spokesman for Ken Griffin called Neugebauer's allegations 'fabricated nonsense.'"

Fermi America's Matador Project is on a 5,236 acre site leased from Texas Tech University.  It will use both local water and power.  Initial water use is up to 2.5 million gallons per day, increasing up to 10 million as the project advances.

The tax abatement zone has been set up by the county.  It remains to be seen the size of tax breaks given by the City of Amarillo, Carson County and local school districts.  Tax breaks are generally massive, 80-90% of the project's taxable business assets.

Initial electrical power will be met by gas turbines and the local electrical utility.  The State of Texas granted preliminary approval for 6 gigawatt natural gas generated power.  

Fermi's SEC filing noted:

Through a combination of natural gas turbine purchases, a focus on procuring other long lead-time equipment, and negotiations with Southwestern Public Service Company (“SPS”), the local utility, we expect to secure approximately 1.1 GW of power for our operations by the end of 2026 (including an expected 200 megawatts (“MW”) from our expected contractual arrangement with SPS).

Fermi will need 18.2% of its power to come from the same source as Amarillo residents.  That is all new demand.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration projected Texas energy "demand will rise another 14% in the first nine months of 2026."

The SEC filing said this about water:

Project Matador’s groundwater lease with the Texas Tech University System (the “Groundwater Lease”) includes dual-aquifer fresh and salt water rights, which provides a resilient, scalable water supply for cooling and other operations. Project Matador is located directly above the Ogallala Aquifer. Within Groundwater Management Area #1, which includes eighteen of the northernmost counties in Texas, the Ogallala Aquifer had an available volume of 3.19 million acre-feet per year as of 2020 and is expected to have approximately 1.99 million acre-feet per year availability in 2080 according to the Texas Water Development Board Groundwater Division.

Add aquifer depletion to the AI "public cost" list.

Another interesting interlock is Rick Perry's role as Fermi America co-founder and Board position with natural gas pipeline company Energy Transfer.  Energy Transfer is supplying the gas to Fermi per an October 2025 announcement.

Fermi America™, developing the world's largest, behind-the-meter artificial intelligence private grid campus with the Texas Tech University System, has secured an agreement with Energy Transfer, one of the largest and most diversified midstream energy companies in North America, to deliver firm natural gas supply to Fermi's HyperGrid™ campus located outside Amarillo, Texas.

The press release did not mention Rick Perry's conflict of interest in this deal.

Conflicts of interest are so yesterday.  They are the fabric of today's PEU world, occupied by private equity underwriters (PEU) and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren.

Political Red and Blue Team supporters should be prepared to shoulder the financial burden for former elected officials and their sons with Fermi America as they purloin water, power, land and avoid their tax responsibilities.  Subsidies are required for the wealthy and connected.  Texas politicians know how to deliver for their brethren and their children.

Eventually the four nuclear plants referred to as "the Donald Trump Generating Plant" will produce electricity and toxic waste.  I thought Trump II was already at maximum toxic production.  Wrong again...

Update 11-7-25:  Bloomberg reported OpenAI, which will soon enter the porn market, wants CHIPS act subsidies (tax credits) to be expanded to AI data centers.

....35% chips-focused tax credit to AI data centers, AI server producers and electrical grid components, such as transformers and the specialized steel used to produce them.

It seems they want more subsidy from Uncle Sam than they are willing to pay in local taxes. 

OpenAI scrambled to not look like a SNAP recipient given what their CFO said.  CNN reported:

OpenAI’s Chief Financial Officer Sarah Friar raised eyebrows on Wednesday when she suggested that the US government should “backstop” the company’s aggressive investments in artificial intelligence infrastructure. 

“The backstop, the guarantee, that allows the financing to happen, that can really drop the cost of the financing but also increase the loan-to-value, so the amount of debt that you can take on top of an equity portion,” she said at a Wall Street Journal event.

TechGods are quickly passing the greed and leverage boys (PEU) in their calls for an "all of government" subsidy.  They even got the First Lady to equate TechGods, immigrants in many cases, with the greater good.  

Update 11-11-25:  Fermi stock tanked today after a huge unexplained charge caused losses to soar in the hundreds of millions.  Sherwood reported:

The company, which currently generates no revenue, reported a net loss of $346.8 million for its third quarter, compared to the $13.3 million loss analysts polled by FactSet were expecting. The loss was almost entirely comprised of unspecified “other expenses” totaling $309 million.

With a surprise loss like that a company needs some Alex Karp (TechGod of Spying) like diversionary blather.   

Fermi compared the race to build AI infrastructure faster than China to the Manhattan Project, the initiative to build the first atomic bomb in World War II. 

 “Not all enemies wear uniforms, but make no mistake, America is at war,” the company wrote.

Not all socialists are people. some are corporations seeking government subsidies like Fermi.  Giving giant subsidies to TechGods whose products harm people, including children?  That take a special kind of corporate socialist, one with zero conscience.  TechGods have repeatedly shown they lack the most basic moral standards.  But they know they sometimes have to give to get:

For the first nine months of 2025 Fermi reported $173.8 million in charitable contributions. 

Sleazy politicians like Rick Perry are a perfect match for the AI pinheads.  As a West Texan I do not want to pay a penny for their power or water.  

Update 11-17-25:  Tony Deden wrote:

This essay was born out of revulsion to an accidental summer reading that paraded progress as virtue and private equity as its high priest. Every paragraph spoke the same pious language of “sustainable improvement,” “societal benefit,” and “long-term value creation,” as though leverage, asset-stripping, and balance-sheet cosmetics had become moral acts. I found myself revolted not merely by the hypocrisy, but by the vacuousness of it. In our hyper-financialized society, we have come to mistake valuation for value, and activity for achievement. The word ‘progress’ has been exploited to justify anything that moves—no matter what it destroys. What follows is an act of refusal to bow to the idea that more money is progress. If this essay has a motive, it is contempt for the trivial slogans that pass as thought, and for the hollow theory that confuses financial §engineering with human improvement.

Local politicians and Texas voters would be wise to read his piece.  

Blackstone Chief: One Teeny Bite at a Time

Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman "enjoyed" a microdose of a Jersey Mike's sub in a company video.  

It's hard to see the man took any of the sandwich.  Was that because:

1.  The company dining room had steak and lobster and he did not want to ruin his real meal.

2.  His GLP-1 took away his desire for a Jersey Mike's sub.

3.  He likes his sandwich bites to be the same proportion as his tax bites (miniscule)

4.  Schwarzman is modeling how to get through the government shutdown for SNAP recipients.  "Look, one teeny bite and I am full!"

5.  He's headed over to the White House for McDonald's with Donald and needs to show eating gusto

The irony is four out of five could be true as only two are mutually exclusive.  

When the PEU boys and their TechGod/CryptoBro peers get hungry enough, then maybe the furloughed and fired get to go back to work.  Until then, prepare for lean days.