This year, Synapse, a middleman between nonbanks offering deposit-style products to end users and their partner banks, filed for bankruptcy. The firm appears to have failed to properly track customer account balances and may have engaged in other shady practices. As a result, tens of thousands of customers have had their funds frozen for months. The banks have been unable to reconcile all the records necessary to get end users their funds back. This has led to severe harm, especially for people who were using the nonbank account as a primary checking or savings account.
Sunday, February 9, 2025
TechGod Cheers CFPB Stand-down
Saturday, February 8, 2025
Trump Usurps Kennedy Center Board
Trump II, the digital Caligula, just usurped Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founder David Rubenstein with his social media post that he intends to install himself as Chairman of the Kennedy Center and replace the current board.
This move came after budget meetings with Congressional Reds. Trump declared he would eliminate private equity's preferred "carried interest" taxation.
The man likes to piss on people. To my surprise he aimed his stream on a number of his fellow billionaires. I expected Trump to crap on his "near peers" at some point, just not this early.
To "the spoiled" goes the victor.DOGE PEU Executives Telecommute while Nutcutting
WaPo reported:
Krause became CEO of Cloud Software Group after a private equity underwriter (PEU) buyout of Citrix by Vista Equity Partners and Evergreen Coast Capital, an affiliate of Elliott Investment Management. Workers evaporated under Krause as interest expense, EBITDA and ROE became a higher priority.The Treasury Department is appointing an ally of billionaire Elon Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service to a senior position in the department overseeing the nation’s powerful payment systems, according to two people with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to reflect private deliberations.
Tom Krause, a Silicon Valley executive with ties to DOGE, will become the financial assistant secretary of the Treasury Department, the people said. He replaces David A. Lebryk, who resigned after objecting to Krause’s demands to stop payments on foreign aid – a measure Lebryk resisted as illegal.
Krause’s position will give him control over the Treasury Department system responsible for disbursing more than $5 trillion in annual payments, including for Social Security, Medicare, tax refunds and thousands of other measures. Musk has demanded on social media that Treasury unilaterally stop sending these payments, accusing the department’s career staff of breaking the law.
Tom Krause will continue to hold the top job at Citrix parent Cloud Software Group while working with the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).Krause told CSG employees in an email viewed by CRN that he is advising the Treasury as a “special government employee,” which is “in addition to my duties as CEO of Cloud Software Group.”
It used to be a great place to work until Tom Krause took over as CEO. Where to start...1) Cloud Software Group (CSG) is all about EBITDA/profitability. While I understand that every company must be profitable, this is far beyond reasonable.2) Transparency is a huge problem. Don't listen to what they say; pay attention to their actions. Their actions will tell you more than anything else.3) The commission compensation plan is terrible. The commissionable employees earn much less than they used to under the old CEO.4) Tom Krause, CEO, is the most egotistical person I've ever met and is seemingly incapable of making good decisions. Because of the constant changes and layoffs, productivity is at an all-time low. Unfortunately, Tom Krause only hires yes-men, so this will likely continue.5) Tom Krause has zero integrity6) Finally, don't expect to stay long if you have a job here. Several deep staff reductions occur throughout the year. The few remaining staff members are either looking for another job or stuck at Cloud Software Group for one reason or another.If you're someone who thinks, "How much can the CEO impact my day-to-day work?" I'll tell you... He'll ruin your life. Find a workplace that will treat you well and compensate you fairly for your work. These are just SOME of the cons. There are many, many more.
Senior leadership is completely out of touch with the needs of both customers and employees, often making decisions without considering how they’ll impact the front-line teams or customers.The company’s IT and support services have been outsourced, leading to slower response times and unresolved issues, causing significant disruptions to both employees and customers.Micromanagement has reached a new low. CEO Tom Krause personally approving low-level tasks, like new hires, performance reviews and promotions, is just one example of how leadership wastes time on trivial matters instead of focusing on strategic direction.The employee rating system has been weaponized, forcing managers to name underperformers even when there are none, damaging morale and trust within teams.There is no longer a clear vision or mission. All focus has shifted to immediate revenue, and the company is losing long-tenured technical talent in droves due to frustration with leadership and direction.
“Now the whole country gets the experience of what it’s like when private equity buys the place you work.”
Update 2-9-25: Krause was mentioned in an article about Booz Allen Hamilton walking back their concerns about Treasury data access. It said:
The Treasury’s most senior career official retired abruptly following tensions with DOGE team members over granting them access to the sensitive system that oversees trillions of dollars in federal government payments.
The official, who held the role of fiscal assistant secretary, has since been replaced by Tom Krause, one of the representatives of Musk’s team, even through the role has traditionally always been held by a career Treasury official, and not a political appointee.
Thursday, February 6, 2025
TMTG (57% Trump Owned) to Start Fintech with Yorkville & Schwab
Trump Media & Technology Group is 57% owned by President Donald Trump. TMTG announced last week it would add a fintech division. Today it shared more information on its new fintech Truth.Fi via press release.
TMTG has applied to register trademarks for brand names connected to the launch of its customized exchange-traded funds ("ETFs") and customized separately managed accounts ("SMAs") beginning this year.
The trademarks comprise the following:
- Truth.Fi Made in America ETF
- Truth.Fi Made in America SMA
- Truth.Fi U.S. Energy Independence ETF
- Truth.Fi U.S. Energy Independence SMA
- Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF
- Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus SMA
The investment vehicles will be components of the new Truth.Fi brand covering financial services and financial technology. The launch of Truth.Fi is part of TMTG's financial services and FinTech strategy that includes the investment of up to $250 million to be custodied by Charles Schwab, which will partner with TMTG to develop the SMAs.
Additionally, the company has signed a services agreement and a licensing agreement with an affiliate of Yorkville Advisors ("Yorkville"). Subject to necessary approvals, Yorkville will act as the Registered Investment Advisor for the new financial vehicles, playing a lead role in constructing the products and shepherding them through the regulatory process.
TMTG operates Truth Social, a social media platform established as a safe harbor for free expression...., as well as Truth+, a TV streaming platform focusing on family-friendly live TV channels and on-demand content. TMTG is also launching Truth.Fi, a financial services and FinTech brand incorporating America First investment vehicles.
Trump Media & Technology Group already did business with Yorkville Advisors. TMTG's most recent quarterly report stated:
On July 3, 2024, the Company entered into the Standby Equity Purchase Agreement (“SEPA”) with YA II PN, LTD., a Cayman Islands exempt limited partnership (“Yorkville”). Pursuant to the SEPA, the Company shall have the right, but not the obligation, to sell to Yorkville up to $2,500,000.0 of its Common Stock, subject to certain limitations and conditions set forth in the SEPA, from time to time during the term of the SEPA. As consideration for Yorkville’s commitment to purchase shares at the Company’s direction upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth in the SEPA, on July 3, 2024 the Company agreed to pay YA Global II SPV, LLC, a subsidiary of Yorkville, (i) a structuring fee in the amount of $25.0 and (ii) a commitment fee in the form of 200,000 shares of Common Stock (the “Commitment Shares”). The Company also issued to EF Hutton LLC 125,000 shares of Common Stock as consideration for acting as placement agent (the “Placement Agent Shares”). During the quarter ended September 30, 2024, Yorkville purchased 17,330,365 shares of Common Stock for prices between $14.31 and $36.13 per share, pursuant to the terms of the SEPA. Proceeds of these equity sales under the terms of the SEPA were approximately $339,463.1 for the nine months ended September 30, 2024.
We are seventeen days into Trump II, the digital Caligula, where conflicts of interest are massive and widespread. It's as if they don't exist at all.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Trump's TechGod Orchestration
The Red Team blocked Congressional oversight over Trump II's Department of Greedy Executives (DOGE), specifically a subpoena for TechGod and DOGE Chief Elon Musk to answer for his unit's intrusions into various government agencies and their confidential databases.
So how did Elon get the keys to departmental computer systems? Plants, moles, operatives from fellow TechGods. Take some of Musk's early wins:
Government Services Administration Chief Stephen Ehikian came from Salesforce, which acquired Ehikian's AI company Airkit in 2023.
Andreessen Horowitz Managing Director Scott Kupor became Director of the Office of Personnel Management.
Andreessen Horowitz just hired Red Team star Daniel Penny, fresh off his "not guilty" verdict for killing a mentally ill man threatening other riders on a New York subway. Penny will be a deal partner on Andreessen Horowitz's "American Dynamism" Team.
Andreessen Horowitz joined Trump II, the digital Caligula, in summer 2024.
Billionaires wanting more billions via crypto and AI, while keeping the Trump tax cuts for the super wealthy plus even more tax cuts. That caused the pair of founders to each donate $2.5 million to a Trump Super PAC, $5 million in total.
I'll suggest Andreessen Horowitz also wanted protection from liability for the spectacular failure of fintech affiliate Synapse. Small people got hurt financially, some were wiped out because VC's don't throw good money after bad.
Rather than try to make that situation right, Marc Andreessen spent half his time at Mar-a-Lago. The money Andreessen Horowitz founders gave to Trump's campaign could more than cover the audit needed to help make Synapse customers whole.
Placing wealthy insiders in key government positions is a longstanding practice. Every president in this century put wealthy, connected insiders on their cabinet. As the number of private equity underwriters (PEU) soared, so did their presence on Red and Blue White House Cabinets. Many served as the President's Chief of Staff.
The unusual aspect of Trump II, the digital Caligula, is the widespread insertion of TechGods into government gears and their sudden freezing up department functioning. Red Team Rep, Mike Turner presented the crisis need for such action, urgent deficit reduction. Turner did not reference the $8 trillion in federal debt added during Trump I. Nor did he cite extending Trump's tax cuts for the super wealthy and the need for Congress to cut taxes even more for PEU Lords and their new TechGod peers.
Little people know what happens when their workplace is taken over. PEU's, usually the new owner, cut staff, implement crappy technology, rob employees by reducing a mix of benefits and institute a series of conflicting exhortations (high standards, no overtime, no raises, get job done within 40 hour week or we will find someone who will, etc.). All the rewards go to executives.
TechGods have a chokehold on government operations with the aim to further their firms, their pocketbooks, their influence and to reduce risk for the insane ventures they have on their plate. It's clear they answer to nobody.
Update 2-7-25: WaPo reported:
Agents of billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have gained access to highly restricted government records on millions of federal employees — including Treasury and State Department officials in sensitive security positions — as part of a broader effort to take control over the government’s main personnel agency, according to four U.S. officials with knowledge of the developments.
The records maintained by the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, amount to a repository of sensitive information about employees of most federal agencies — including addresses, demographic profiles, salary details and disciplinary histories.
Courtesy of an Andreessen Horowitz plant.
At least six DOGE agents were given broad access to all personnel systems at the OPM on the afternoon of Jan. 20, the day of Trump’s inauguration, according to two agency officials. Three more gained access about a week later, they said.
TechGods will have their way which includes:
...several members of Musk’s DOGE team — some of whom are in their early 20s and come from positions at his private companies — were given “administrative” access to OPM computer systems within days of Trump’s inauguration last month. That gives them sweeping authority to install and modify software on government-supplied equipment and, according to two OPM officials, to alter internal documentation of their own activities.Supplant people with software....I hear the TechGod cash registers ringing.
core units focused on modernizing the agency’s network and improving accountability are “likely to go away,” according to a recording of the sessionNot needed under the all knowing, all seeing Wizard of Musk and his boss, Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Trump issued an executive order last month that bypasses the normal procedure for White House staff security checks
Update 2-9-25: The unitary executive is now an Emperor under Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Trump's Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has been instructed to stand down by OMB Chief and Project 2025 author Russ Vought. The former chief took a strong position in regard to Synapse failure.
This year, Synapse, a middleman between nonbanks offering deposit-style products to end users and their partner banks, filed for bankruptcy. The firm appears to have failed to properly track customer account balances and may have engaged in other shady practices. As a result, tens of thousands of customers have had their funds frozen for months. The banks have been unable to reconcile all the records necessary to get end users their funds back. This has led to severe harm, especially for people who were using the nonbank account as a primary checking or savings account.
Whatever the CFPB was doing in regard to Synapse, if anything, is on hold and may be shelved for good. TechGods win.
A HuffPo article on Trump attending the Super Bowl stated:
Trump’s attendance at the big game follows his decision to attend the Army-Navy football game in December, accompanied by then-Vice President-elect JD Vance, now-Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Daniel Penny, who put a homeless Black man in a chokehold on the New York City subway in 2023. (Penny was acquitted of killing the man, Jordan Neely, in 2024.)
Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Karp's Bright PEUture
TechGods supported Donald Trump's re-election and are currently remaking the federal government in their image. They head DOGE, the Department of Greedy Executives, and are blasting away federal monies so they can be repurposed to their benefit.
In the PEU world all the spoils went to the sponsor and corporate executives. Under Trump II, the digital Caligula, the spoils go to political supporters and his triumvirate of TechGods (sitting front row at his coronation).
- senior staff at OPM had to identify 30% of their workforce they could cut in the near term, with a floated goal of an eventual 70% reduction in staff
- every office agency must present proposals this week to cut 50% of their business expenses
Monday, February 3, 2025
Trump Pens SWF to Life
"The oligarchy is flexing its financial power. Odder things are in the cards." - Jesse
Update 2-4-25: A U.S. Senator noted Trump's new SWF could invest in Bitcoin.
I came across Trump's "Plan for Establishing a U.S. SWF" executive order and had some fun with it.
Elon Has All the Rights
removed contract content moderators, the company's human rights team and investigators tasked with curbing political manipulation and child sexual abuse material.
Surely Musk had some idea of advertiser expectations before he made the change.
“I hope they stop. Don’t advertise,” Musk told interviewer Andrew Ross Sorkin. “If somebody is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is.”
I imagine this tantrum will show up in court. My defense would be:
"Your honor, I followed Mr. Musk's directive and was so busy fucking myself I had no time to put my company's ads back on X. Oh, and he said 'don't advertise', so I didn't."
Musk wants to impugn any professional association that sets standards. For him to get more money, why does he have to make society worse?
The man with six companies, which one might equate to full time jobs, has a seventh, heading up the Department of Greedy Executives (DOGE).
Many U.S. workers have been through a private equity underwriter (PEU) takeover and the corresponding trauma. DOGE employs the PEU playbook, essentially an adult version of Lord of the Flies where employees are subjected to an "anything goes" culling.
The problems with the PEU playbook applied to government are at least twofold, conflicts of interest and confidential information. Musk has the right to unclassified information per Trump's DOGE Executive Order. Yet, DOGE has the computer keys to the most sensitive systems in government.
“USAID is a criminal organization. Time for it to die,” Musk posted on X.
When you think about it, we have been conditioned to think Musk is superhuman. He tells us. The people around us tell us. They put him in movies with Tony Stark. He's impervious to SEC regulations, Federal Transportation Safety regulations, and I'm sure I left out others. He has a cult following.
He's the Babe Ruth of dark stock valuations. Elon points and everyone ponies up cash. The fraud has gone on so long no one questions it anymore. His accounting is not up to snuff, his board rubber stamped him for so long, his biographer loves him, and the rest of us, well we're just jealous.
Everything and every decision and every engineering technique is his alone. There was never those three guys from Tesla that he bought out, they were never engineers and physicists that worked at NASA that laid out groundwork for him to build on. Only him, god like.
Now he's in government telling us how it's going to be? People don't see how dangerous this is, not because all of his decisions are wrong, but because there are no checks and balances. Once he gets away with this, he'll get away with everything.
Saturday, February 1, 2025
Trump the Donarch's Dick-ocracy
I recall a time when leaders had a "no asshole" rule. That clearly has been supplanted over the last fifteen years as greed hollowed out company after company, industry after industry, often under the sponsorship of private equity underwriters (PEU). I see dick after dick after dick in corporate C-suites and key political roles, elected and appointed. Old rules have been replaced:
1. Avoiding conflicts of interest is gone. Conflicts are ignored at best, applauded at worst. (Era of Self-Dealing)
2. A full time job with fair pay for hours work has been replaced by two tracks. Regular folk get insulted, spied upon, go years without raises and often have to deal with incapable technology that makes it difficult to receive "pay promised" upon hiring. Executives and insiders have multiple ways to pull down large sums of money where one way alone would be considered handsome remuneration. (Age of Sponsorship)
3. Former checks against abuse of people/power have been co-opted. Human Resources became strategic and turned into the Human Abuse Department. Legal and compliance became a weapon to use against people reporting concerns, often characterized as whistleblowers. (Intrusive Human Abuse Systems)4. Technology is the answer to all problems and numerical targets, whether volume or financial, are sacrosanct. Problems arise when technology produces garbage, makes the job harder and/or is unreliable. Management, as keeper of the numbers, can steamroll experts in their field, engineers, physicians, nurses with a simple spreadsheet, however inaccurate. (Siren Call of Incapable Technology)5. Rewards, once shared, now flow to the top. Executives serve on each other's boards and their compensation committees, a concrete circle of enrichment that never goes down and includes very few people. (Actualization of Greed)
Mushroom management keeps employees in the dark and feeds them shit.
Beware the Donald Trump and Elon Musk "mushroom shadows" lurking around the White House and many federal agencies. "No assholes" has been replaced by "Who's the top dick?"
The irony is Elon Musk's biographer is himself a PEU. "Some employees survive but a whole lot don't" may someday apply to private equity underwriters, that is if the government stops propping up everything.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. TechGods recently joined PEUs in bear hugging elected officials, doing so more publicly than their PEU brethren. Trump II, the digital Caligula, loves the overt fawning. In fact, he demands it. It's the Red Team's turn to distribute the federal spoils to their friends and family. For that the little people must pay and pay and pay.
It's a Dick-ocracy, meaning "happy endings" for a select few.
Update: My wise friend offered:
They change the rules of the game at will. Never forget, they must win, at any cost which includes cheating & propaganda. Trump is loud because he is weak. His noise removes the coherent. Isn't it great that David Sachs the AI Czar will overlook that bill in Congress for AI? How **** corrupt do you have to get?
Noah's flood couldn't clean up this mess.
Update 2-2-2025: Elon Musk may have your Social Security number.
Update 2-3-25: Whitney Webb wrote:
Musk, in his new role, does not have to divest from any business interests, including X, and can easily use DOGE or other means to fulfill his "everything app" desires and king-make companies which he owns/controls or in which he is deeply invested.
Update 2-9-25: The unitary executive is now an Emperor under Trump II, the digital Caligula.
Friday, January 31, 2025
Carlyle Credit Opportunities: Tyrion Lannister vs. Bruno Zago
privately-negotiated debt and capital solutions partnering with high-quality sponsors and leading family or entrepreneur-owned companies.Private credit has been marketed as "low risk" and "relatively safe." Carlyle Capital Corporation investors were told similar things before that highly leveraged mortgage backed securities vehicle collapsed in March 2008. Carlyle's legendary founders distanced themselves from that financial corpse before tapping TARP funds for other affiliates and garnering a massive FDIC subsidy for BankUnited. Enough sordid financial history.
It seemed like a low-risk bet when in 2020 Carlyle Group Inc. agreed to provide around €200 million ($210 million) in private bonds to Pro-Gest SpA, a family-owned paper and packaging company based near Venice.Carlyle's loan took priority over other Pro-Gest debt, which the firm defaulted on in June 2024. The company is in court supervised negotiations with its various lenders. A forensic financial analysis report by Deloitte indicated:
...founder Bruno Zago and other members of his family may have used company funds to pay for non-business-related expenses....€1.4 million purchase of a Ferretti Custom Line 94 yacht, and zero-interest loans to several Zago family members and close allies, some of which weren’t paid backZago family members allegedly used company funds to pay for aircraft rentals for purposes not related to Pro-Gest’s core business, and to cover about €530,000 in yacht maintenance costs between 2021 and 2024...expenses questioned included payments for a yacht and cash used to fund a prosecco winery.
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Rubenstein Seeks New Baseball Cap
Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founder David Rubenstein is known as a "policy making billionaire." For nearly fourteen years he's enjoyed preferred "carried interest" taxation because Congress granted his wish to not eliminate the highly unpopular billionaire tax dodge.
Rubenstein has another wish, maybe more of a declaration, that Major League Baseball institute a salary cap that helps small market teams like the Baltimore Orioles.
When Rubenstein makes a wish, political powers move mountains. Somebody give this MLB yet another break...
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Trump Kicks Off TEI: TechGod Enrichment Initiative
The stroke of a Trump II pen turned the established United States Digital Service into the United States DOGE Service. The Executive Order also established a temporary DOGE organization, headed by the permanent DOGE's administrator.
For those unaware of the US Digital Services department or its origin story:
Founded by President Obama in August of 2014, the U.S. Digital Service brought together the best engineering, design, and government talent to change our government’s approach to technology.The Executive Order specifies the DOGE Administrator start a Software Modernization Initiative. TechGods are masters of software and now have billions more taxpayer dollars in their sights.
Elon Musk is the head of Trump's DOGE. The Executive Order seems to indicate Musk will become the USDS Administrator, heading both temporary and permanent DOGE arms. Never mind that Elon has multiple billion dollar companies to run as CEO.
It appears Musk will get that coveted White House office and the perk of selling stock holdings and delaying the payment of capital gains taxes.
And the potential source of this money for software modernization? Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. It's truly Trumpian for billionaire TechGods to become trillionaires on the backs of voters struggling to get by.
DEI has been replaced with TEI, Trump's TechGod Enrichment Initiative.
Update: As with Trump there is a self enrichment aspect, given he is the Godliest of the TechGods.
Trump family-backed World Liberty Financial scooped up MOVE, the native digital token of the Movement blockchain, minutes before a report that the project might be discussing blockchain use with Elon Musk’s Department of Government EfficiencyEvery Hollywood villain needs a young understudy and Elon Musk is no different.
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
PEUject 2025 in Play
The world now knows that Trump II, the digital Caligula lied about not being aware of Project 2025. His barrage of executive orders clearly came from that body of political preparation.
“All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near.” The Art of War by Sun TzuProject 2025's author will head Trump II's Office of Management & Budget. That office
directed all federal agencies to freeze “all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance” to the “extent admissible by applicable law.”StateScoop reported:
The memo’s vagueness continues a trend of uncertainty for states and local governments ever since President Donald Trump’s administration.Trump loves chaos, the taste and exercise of power, however mendacious and arbitrary.
“Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” The Art of War by Sun Tzu
While many feel thunderstruck, that is Trump's aim. His political flash bangs conceal what?
My challenge is to clear my head enough to monitor how the Red political team is steering Uncle Sam's wallet and dismantling any regulatory apparatus to assist friends and donors.
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.” The Art of War by Sun Tzu
My wise friend wrote:
By deregulating and removing all oversight Trump will create enough chaos to thieve at will. Either way, they will call it in the interest of national security.
Right now, the VC and PE gang are a little upset with Deep Seek bursting their AI bubble. No bubble, no grift. Mega mansions come with mega bills
I am sure the giveaways will be endless in the next four years.PEU Legends and TechGods will be well served under Trump II. The rest of us? Not so much.
Thursday, January 23, 2025
Democracy Works Quite Well for PEU Class
Carlyle Group co-founder and Declaration Partners founder David Rubenstein cited the need for democracy to "work harder" at the 2025 World Economic Forum annual meeting.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2012 to the present, average hourly wages have risen at a relatively slow rate, with real average hourly earnings increasing by only around 0.8% annually on average.
With money as speech, democracy isn't turning toward the common person in any substantive manner. It will continue to work hard for PEU legends and their TechGod brethren, new partners in steering policy, budgets and taxation to their will.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. It's the Red Team's turn to steer Uncle Sam's resources to benefit their friends and supporters. That's not the kind of hard work needed. It is but more of the same.
Update 1-25-25: The Kentucky Attorney General is proposing a settlement with KKR and Blackstone over the illicit handling of state retirement investments. The proposal removes any personal liability for founders Henry Kravis and George Roberts with KKR and Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and Tomilson Hill.
Trump II Virtue Signals to PEU Gathering
President Donald Trump's monologue at the World Economic Forum was comedic in many ways. He cited record inflation, highest in U.S. history. Does he think people who lived through the 70's and early 80's are no longer alive?
His nose should have fallen off when he talked "law and order" after pardoning January 6th insurrectionists, which he called "hostages." These items show how hard Trump is working to usurp Jimmy Carter's legacy. After losing re-election (which Trump "never did"), Carter worked hard to bring Iranian hostages home and appointed Paul Volker to head the Fed during real record inflation.
The World Economic Forum removed the laugh track for Trump II's monologue. After his rant and ramble, the digital Caligula took questions from a distinguished panel, which included at least one friend.
Blackstone Group co-founder Stephen Schwarzman went first and the private equity underwriter (PEU) lobbed a giant softball about European regulation. The greed and leverage boys are giddy over even more tax cuts, reduced regulations and continued access to Uncle Sam's wallet. They'd love Europe to follow suit.
Politicians Red and Blue love PEU and increasingly, more are one. TechGods recently joined the PEU class in bear hugging politicians, doing so more publicly and with extreme checkbook vigor. The greed and leverage boys did so for decades but behind the scene, in places live Davos, Switzerland. They became oligarchs and Davos the annual oligarchic strategic planning session.
Trump uses and usurps people, as do the PEU boys. The game is on for the most powerful people in the world to further themselves and their firms. Regular people are not front and center in their mind.
Update: After watching the Trump's speech, my wise friend offered:
If this guy was a sponge he could soak up all the oceans. The self absorption is incredible.
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Rubenstein on TechGods from Davos
Biden said that when he prepared to live in the president’s residence in the White House, his brother said, “‘Look, you want to be able to see from your desk—you want to be able to see Rubenstein.’I said, ‘I beg your pardon?’ He said, ‘The Washington Memorial.’ This guy rebuilt the sucker.”“You’re the best, David,” Biden added. “You are.”
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Golden Calf Age of America
Just hours after he delivered an impassioned benediction at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, Reverend Lorenzo Sewell announced the launch of his own crypto token dubbed $Lorenzo.Trump II, the digital Caligula, chose his benediction speaker well. Shortly after the coronation Reverend Sewell started his own $LORENZO memecoin, following in the crypto footsteps of Trump's $TRUMP and Melania's MELANIA.
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’"Politicians creating self-serving memecoins is bad enough. A pastor doing likewise in support of that politician is even more discordant.
Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”