Cover Needed to Seal Rushed Deals

Trump II has been busy stirring the stink after his midterm election pasting.  Why Stephen Miller as Chief of Staff and Dana White possible Press Secretary?  

Attention must be diverted elsewhere.  Also, Trump II loves a donnybrook (as long as someone else is swinging and taking the real punches).

Trump has essentially two months to press government deals that benefit his family, heavy donors and Red Team political insiders.  I expect an "all of government approach" to funneling contracts to Trump aligned companies, especially those where a Trump son or Cabinet member child has an equity stake, a senior advisor position or a board of director seat.  Just dismissed Trump Chief of Staff Susie Wiles' daughter raked in big lobbying money from those wanting insider access to the White House. Thus, lots of noise and bombastic behavior will be required of Trump's minions.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one or related to one.  TechGods may finally learn from their PEU forefathers to stay in the background as they use their money and influence toward further enrichment.

Trump II wrote on Truth Social:

Democrats were targeting people “just because they happen to be Republicans, or Republican supporters.”

Look away press and political opponents with a new job to do.  Independent voters have long been sick of hyper-partisanship, especially the kind that sweeps bad things under the rug (Jeffrey Epstein).  

Trump's cruelty always occurred inside his obsession to ceaselessly grow his power and finances.  None of that changed in the last week.  

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie called Miller's appointment an emotional support choice by a flummoxed President.  If he just stayed Trump II's emotional support creep (ESC) I would not complain.  Stephen Miller running White House operations is a nightmare for our country and intended to keep sunlight far away.

Update 11-9-26:  "Just Us" Chief and Epstein Cover-up Super Villain Todd Blanche indicated he might investigate Congresspersons for investigating "potentially bad things."

My wise friend offered:

Investigate everyone involved taking money for contracts or pardons. Prosecute fully under RICO laws for their part in a criminal enterprise against the US government and its citizens. Anyone on either side of the aisle should be fined 3X (treble damages) and go to jail. 

Who would you get to do the investigation? Why not Chris Christie From the Republican side and William Black from the Democrat side? No one gets immunity.  

From PEU to TechGod

In less than two years Dan Driscoll went from private equity underwriter (PEU) to a Trump II appointee to TechGod.

Flex Capital COO Driscoll accepted the call of public service, heading the U.S. Army until War Czar Pete Hegseth drove him into the waiting arms of OpenAI.

FlexCapital Chief Operating Officer - 2021 to February 2025

Army Chief - February 25, 2025 to September 2, 2026

OpenAI hiring - announced November 2, 2026

 Driscoll's LinkedIn page shows his PEU background:

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

Bipartisanship will likely arise from Reed Hoffman and Michael Bloomberg negotiating with their staunchly Red peers.  C'mon guys, we can all get our cut of Uncle Sam's largesse...

Legends TBD for $TRUMP Gala Dinner

Summer 2026 found Trump II's memecoin setting up three reward events for coin holders.  The first was the F1 Grand Prix race in Singapore.  

The F1 race occurred just after the TOKEN2049 cryptocurrency event which drew 25,000 people and headlined Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Ray Dalio and Eric Trump.  Surely Eric donned his $TRUMP baseball cap and mingled with the $TRUMP leaderboard winners.

Smoke from Indonesia wildfires impacted air quality for the event.  Indonesia's President expressed interest in meeting Eric Trump in October 2025 at a Gaza Peace Summit.  

$TRUMP rose from $1.40 to $3.67 during the F1 contest period.  It traded over $2 on the last day of the contest (October 5th).

Event two is yet another dinner with the President at one of his properties.  

The midterm elections put a big dent in $TRUMP's price. It traded around $1.60 in the week prior to November 3rd.  The price fell to $1.22 yesterday and $1.11 today. 

The gala dinner may not be as big a draw.  The "Three Legends" are yet to be named and the event is just over two weeks away.

Event three is a Super Bowl experience.  The start date for this reward competition has not been revealed.

Future House and Senate leaderboards will be full of Democratic Party members.  TechGods, Middle Eastern sheiks and other people who have been throwing money at $TRUMP memecoins will need to decide if that remains a useful "investment."

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

RePEUdiation

Fortune reported on the impotence of billionaire money in the midterm election in light of voter anger over Trump II's Iranian War and ongoing economic hardship.  

President Trump was front and center for this independent voter as I marked the ballot against all but two incumbents, both local.  

Voters repudiated the political Red Team, in part a protest against a system that seems stacked against the little person.

Trump II and his mendacious minions have but months left to craft self-serving deals before a new Congress is sworn in.  

Kalshi already signed a Blue stable of political advisors to navigate the new legislative terrain.  Private equity underwriters (PEU) are polishing or enhancing their Blue cred as are many corporations.  TechGods lurched so far to MAGA right they may have their head rattled trying to reorient.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more have been one.  We'll see how the Blue Team legislates and holds other branches accountable.  It will be instructive.  

Update:  Blue White House hopeful and former PEU Rahm Emanuel was on Bloomberg this morning while the Reds face some internal soul searching as to how things deteriorated like cracks in a freshly redone Reflecting Pool.  

Politico weighed in on Trump II's mindset post defeat.

Politically Connected PEU Speaks on this Election

Carlyle co-founder David Rubenstein read the political tea leaves for the midterm elections.  He proposed different political priorities under varying voting scenarios.

Rest assured that Carlyle and Declaration Partners (Rubenstein's family office) are ready to play under all of those possibilities.  

My wise friend wrote:

David's very comprehensive with this political note. Thank you. He's very hopeful someone carries his interest.

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

Everybody vote.  

Parasites Unite Pre-Election

Kalshi's political Red Team connections are crème de la crème with Donald Trump Jr. as their strategic advisor.  At times it makes sense to shift a bet.  Thus, Kalshi has gone Blue recently.  

Kalshi has proven its predatory nature with nearly 3 users losing money on the platform for every long term money winner.  

"You're not just up against ordinary people on Kalshi, you're up against Wall Street."

Former Biden advisor John Bivona said this upon joining Kalshi in January 2026.

"...At a time when people feel like our financial system is rigged against the everyday person, Kalshi levels the playing field and brings more public participation to the issues that people care about most.”

Joining a wagering site populated by Wall Street does not sound like Mr. Bivona's promised de-rigging.  

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

Kalshi knows where to place, or at least hedge, its political bets.

The Richest Bastards

The Super Wealthy can come together for a cause, albeit one very self-serving.  Asset accumulators, otherwise known as TechGods and private equity underwriters (PEU), quiver at the thought of paying their fair share in taxes to support governments that send them so much business.

PEUnity, it's an inglorious thing to watch.  Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

TechGods Don't Care Nor Share

Self serving billionaire TechGods have worn out the patience of the average citizen.  They've trashed industry after industry, while destroying customer service 

Don't Care:

I tried to buy healthy snack bars in Sam's Club but the product would not ring up for the third day in a row according to workers.  I told them their IT people must suck, that is if they haven't been replaced by unreliable and unpredictable AI.  

Walmart's Sparky, Customer Service Assistant, Merchant Tools and Agentic End to End Workflow could not get their Sam's Club scanner to read that barcode, not once over a three day period.

Don't Share:

Founders, from private equity underwriters (PEU) to TechGods, take their companies public for monetary gain but game it so they retain all the control, get financial subsidies for the few taxes they are asked to pay and continue to grow their private jet/luxury yacht/multiple villa/political donor class lifestyle.  Whatever they can shift from their pocket to the company, they do that and more.

Elon Musk has total control of all his corporate entities and he puts them together and takes them apart like Play-Doh toys.  Anthropic plans to keep all the control in a similar fashion.

Meta just changed their capital structure to their founder's benefit.  Apparently, it's just never enough.

My wise friend noted:

Our leaders' objectives line up with Sodom and Gomorrah principles. We're going back to where we started from.

As for Anthropic's IPO generating thousands of instant millionaires,  I got this capitalism thing all wrong. The more money you lose, the more you are worth.

Anthropic lost over $80 billion the first half  of 2026.  

The deal keeps getting better for billionaire TechGods and PEUs, while the average person struggles mightily and workers are ignored.

That's because politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

Political Tea Leaves for "tradexyz"

Stanley Druckenmiller, the storied investor backing tradexyz, worked alongside Treasury Chief Scott Bessent and mentored Fed Chair Kevin Warsh.  Stan expects tradexyz to be approved for business in the U.S.  He should know as he rubs shoulders with the political elite, which enable the 24/7 functioning of the insider money funnel.

Tradexyz's website promotes trading anything, anytime with no gatekeepers. 

Druckenmiller posted the following on X:

I am excited to be an investor in trade(xyz) as they partner with ICE to bring 24/7 perpetual futures on Hyperliquid to the United States. As a market participant, I am looking forward to to using their innovative product to enhance my investment process.

I'm not sure that is a draw given the $6.3 billion Binance cryptocurrency theft (which now has the attention of the U.S. Secret Service).

As a market participant I expect my holdings to not disappear because somebody commandeered a company laptop.  It seems everything is asymmetric nowadays.  

A handful of people with the "right keys" funnel $ billions to themselves and their friends.  That game for the greedy never ends and consumes souls for power and other earthly ends.

There is far, far more that money can never buy.  God's peace, love, understanding and acceptance are available to all.  One just needs to stop the taking, the harming, the killing and the destroying.  But most of all we need to stop replacing God with godless, addictive technology.

TechGods, CryptoBros and Private Equity Underwriters (PEU) want to make a new world, one that they control.  I say "a pox on that."  I do not need to trade anything, anytime with no gatekeepers.  

Calling St. Peter...."We need some help down here.  Can you come up with a predictive algorithm for heaven?"  

I believe it's called the Sermon on the Mount, which calls for loving God and loving one's neighbor.  It might be good not to addict your fellow human being.

Apollo Economist Trashes AI's Corporate Impact

Apollo Chief Economist had this to say about the impact of AI:

"Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech."

He went on to say:

"AI does not understand accountability, trust, culture, unwritten rules, ethical trade-offs or fairness, all of which shape reputational risk and ultimately drive revenue growth and profit margins."

It does know how to harm people or assist humans with harming others.  No mercy could be one AI motto.  

Elected officials have been AWOL on setting AI safety laws/standards.  That's because politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters who finance much of the AI stack) and their new TechGod brethren (purveyors and promoters of all things AI).  Increasingly, more are one.

Texas does seem a good fit for an industry that leaves millions out in the cold and does not protect children from danger.  

Apollo is a politically connected private equity underwriter whose co-founder Leon Black funded Jeffrey Epstein's child endangerment lifestyle to the tune of $170 million.

Update 11-1-26:  Oracle warns AI costs can be unpredictable and that high usage does not equate to value.  

PEUs May Use AI to Knife Creditors

Private equity underwriters (PEU) have been early adopters of AI in their operations.  McKinsey noted that PEU affiliates that broadly embraced AI had much higher revenue multiples than companies that did not.  

AI impacts are the PEU knife that only cuts one way.  It increases revenue multiples for winning affiliates but becomes an act of God (force majeure) if that investment is severely disrupted.  

AI shares something with the greed and leverage boys, a disdain for human suffering under new operating models and a penchant for revenge if they are insulted or their secrets are revealed.  

TPG and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe showed no care for staff terminated under their "new operating model" for a former employer, a large hospice company.  

Disruption is the TechGod model and a core part of how PEUs pick and choose investments.  Both have suckled to Uncle Sam's budget teat to the point the Trump administration looks like a Milken Global Conference or World Economic Forum (Davos) attendee list. 

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and far too many rely on greed and revenge as primary strategies.  Lord, help us all.

Charmless PEUple with No Charisma

The PEUture of the political Red Team is below (according to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie):

"take the two, probably two of the most prominent Trump wannabes in our party, J.D. Vance and Vivek Ramaswamy, and what they're showing America is, we want to be just as morally bankrupt as Trump, but we don't have any of the charm or charisma that people might like. 

This is the future of our party if we don't get our act together, is to have charmless people with no charisma and the lack of moral clarity and center that Donald Trump has."

J.D. Vance founded Narnia Capital, a private equity underwriter PEU), while Vivek Ramaswamy founded Roivant, essentially a pharmaceutical development PEU.  Vivek cut his teeth flipping companies for a profit at QVT Financial where Ramaswamy specialized in Cayman Islands offshore entities.

Vance and Ramaswamy are creeps.  Unfortunately, there is a political market for that.

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

Lonsdale's Intrusive Headlines

Clear the streets of homeless people.  Displace doctors with AI.  Turn everybody's private actions into data that can be mined, sold and run through some type of predictive model producing varying levels of nonsense.  

These are the gifts TechGod Joe Lonsdale is giving Americans and citizens in other countries that allow his infectious, addictive, intrusive corporate offerings.

Joe was on CNBC yesterday and his interview is so valuable it's under their Pro offering, which requires a subscription. 

I happened to be viewing that channel and was shocked by his creepy positioning in his private plane.  It gave off a Wizard of Oz meets Epstein's Lolita Express vibe.   Don't look behind the curtain, it might be the flying billionaire bonk palace.  

Joe was headed to or away from Dallas depending on what time he gave his headliner talk at Venture Dallas 2026.

“Texas is the greatest [state] in this country, and America is going to win because of people like you who are building,” said Joe Lonsdale, co-founder of Miami-based software company Palantir Technologies and founder and managing partner of Austin-based 8VC. 

Lonsdale’s VC firm was an early backer of Dallas-based life insurance startup Bestow.

Red Team reject Senator John Cornyn spoke at the event.

“Every day I wake up, it seems like some other sort of science fiction thing has happened.”

Yes, Senator.  The evil overlords who usurp God at every turn have arrived on a technological chariot.

Cornyn prognosticated:

“As long as we have people like those in this room who are willing to take a few well-calculated risks and create something new and something useful and important, I think the future is bright indeed.”

Bright for whom?  Lonsdale wants in on Iran, as does nearly every private equity underwriter (PEU) and TechGod.  

Bully for John Cornyn whose Congressional peers gave TechGods free range to harm children for decades, virtually unabated and untaxed.  

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and the whole lot is frankly insufferable.

Update 10-25-26:  Lonsdale is part of the morally bankrupt and charmless crowd referred to by former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  Vivek Ramaswamy and J.D. Vance personify this group.

Insufferable PEU/Pharmabro Goes Low

Vivek Ramaswamy decided to enter the world of underage girl child abuse by running a political ad against his opponent who was raped by her father from age 10 to 12.  The "father" was arrested for raping his daughter and fled accountability after being charged.  Yes, it has a Jeffrey Epstein defense ring as well as a Trump "nothing is too low" quality to it.  

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Ramaswamy also called Medicare and Medicaid "a mistake."  He founded offshore pharmaceutical drug developer Roivant in 2014 and served as CEO or Board Chair until 2023.  

Roivant Sciences Ltd. (inclusive of its consolidated subsidiaries, the “Company” or “RSL”) aims to improve the lives of patients by accelerating the development and commercialization of medicines that matter. 

The Company does this by creating nimble subsidiaries or “Vants” to develop and commercialize its medicines and technologies. Beyond therapeutics, the Company also incubates discovery-stage companies and health technology startups complementary to its biopharmaceutical business. 

The Company was founded on April 7, 2014 as a Bermuda exempted limited company. The Company’s subsidiaries are wholly owned subsidiaries and majority-owned or controlled subsidiaries.

The public, having had several decades for their employer to be bought and sold by private equity underwriters (PEU) and venture capitals (TechGods), now hate the whole lot.

Creeps can't help but being creeps.  It's their nature.   

Update 10-29-26:  Creep Trump complained that people reacting negatively to Ramaswamy's swarmy ad are treating Vivek unfairly.  Rejecting a low brow political ad that crosses the line?  I can't think of anything more fair, Trump II.

PEUs Often Have Missing Arms

Bloomberg highlighted a practice by private equity underwriters (PEU) that has been going on for years.  I wrote last year:

First, sell to self, i.e. move stale investments from one Carlyle fund to another. Charge fees. Repackage. Partner with financial advisors. Sell to retirees. More fees.

In 2017 I wrote about Carlyle monetizing to self regarding PPD.   The first round went at $3.6 billion while the second flipped at $9 billion.

Non-arm's length transactions going at a "mark to whatever" price are core PEU strategies.  My wise friend wrote two years ago:

All this cross ownership/ investment in each other also raises another interesting point about arms' length transactions. What happens when they are equity holders and debt holders of the same entity? Especially with private debt transactions where they get to restructure the terms privately. If they are on both sides couldn't there be a quid pro quo under the table type of acknowledgement where there is a give and take on different deals? 

No one will know because none of this will be out in the open but many of the investors that have funds with them on both sides will be in the dark as usual. I just remember CVNA defaulting and the next minute busy restructuring which was a little unclear to this date still and that was an Apollo deal. I still think they manage the default figures through PIKS's and other covenant violations that don't seem to make it to market. 

The whole space stinks and the Fed allows it because it helps narrate the environment for policy making decisions.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.  The greed and leverage boys' lack of arms is more than made up by the ever present open palms of elected officials.

Legacy PEUs Lose Ability to Gather in Riyadh

FII10 attendees will have to wait until 2027 to hear the following private equity underwriters (PEU) and TechGods scheduled to speak at Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's signature event.

The Power of Legacy is the theme for this year's/next year's event.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they have long gone global.

Smerconish Hosted Two PEUs

CNN's Michael Smerconish raised the specter of the unaccountable super rich "doing their own thing" in regard to Elon Musk's "mercurial" moves on Ukraine's access to Starlink/StarShield.  He did so on a program with two such persons, Walter Isaacson of Perella Weinberg Partners and Admiral James Stavridis of The Carlyle Group.  Smerconish failed to disclose either guest's private equity underwriter (PEU) positions.  

At least one of the two guests used the word "robber baron."  Those gentlemen were powerful enough to tell the government what to do during the Gilded Age.  

StarShield is the Pentagon version of secure satellite communications provided by SpaceX.  The Pentagon is run by a number of former private equity underwriters, many from Cerberus Capital Management.  Conflicts of interest have gone by the wayside.  My wise friend noted:

Stephen Feinberg has turned the Defense Department into a private equity shop with his cronies placed at the center.

Someone in the Pentagon contracted with StarShield.  Did they do so on behalf of the U.S. and Ukraine?  What performance guarantees did StarShield make?   If they failed to meet them, why did that happen?

Mercurial Founding CEOs and Savagely Whimsical Presidents could be the answer if we are back in Gilded Age 2.026.  

It was interesting to hear Stavridis talk about his good friend Walter as both advised Smerconish on the riches that await in Ukraine.

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

Scully's WCAS Finishes Riding Humana for Massive Profits

A WCAS press release stated:

BlackRock will acquire WCAS's current equity ownership, valued at approximately $2.8 billion, with modifications to terms reflecting the maturity of the business today compared to when the legacy joint ventures were formed.

WCAS website already shows it "realized" its former investment

Stage one of the joint venture started in 2020::

Stage two bloomed in 2022:

WCAS, with former Medicare/Medicaid Chief Tom Scully on board, did multiple deals with Humana over the years.  Humana CEO Bruce Broussard was once the CEO of U.S. Oncology, a WCAS affiliate.  

Broussard chose to involve WCAS and TPG in its buyout of Kindred Home Health, Hospice and Community Care giving the pair of private equity underwriters (PEU) a 60% majority stake.  Humana was the operator of these services, integrating Home Health into their clinical operations and rebranding hospice under its former Gentiva name.  

WCAS put up $2 billion and got $2.8 billion, an $800 million profit.  I'm sure they earned deal and management fees over the period.  None of this helped healthcare costs go down.

Semafor had a strange take on the deal, turning it into a BlackRock vs. Apollo cage match:

A little-noticed deal this week for senior-care clinics is the first shot fired in a Wall Street turf battle. BlackRock’s HPS credit arm is essentially lending $2.8 billion to Humana, marking Larry Fink’s entry into a space that Apollo has had to itself until now.

The deal is the purchase of equity.  Humana's press release notes "Humana expects a significant reduction in the liabilities on its balance sheet."  That doesn't happen with a $2.8 billion loan.

Humana chose to partner with a PEU for its senior focused primary care clinics.  That PEU has been replaced by BlackRock and its captive HPS.  It may be the usual complex LLC, holding company arrangement with layers of entities, but someone has the equity.   

My conclusion would be that BlackRock has officially joined the greed and leverage boys.  Larry Fink, now a PEU, has a unique stench to it.  Let's call it Fink Stink.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren (who want AI to be your doctor).  Increasingly, more are one and for that many people suffer.  

Profiting from Trump II's Chaos

Trump II's new Press Secretary Katie Zacharia broke the news that the White House asked the U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle to resign.

Guilfoyle is the former fiancée of Don Jr., a strategic advisor to the betting site Kalshi.  Kalshi had Guilfoyle's exit odds at 77% before Zacharia broke the news.

Katie Zacharia came to the White House from Trump's media firm, which recently launched Truth API.  

This service focuses on licensed data delivery from Truth Social’s most influential users. Rather than a general firehose, the Truth API prioritizes accounts that drive public market sentiment and political discourse. This targeted approach ensures that financial services partners are not overwhelmed by noise, focusing instead on actionable intelligence metrics that impact asset prices and economic forecasts.

Also known as Trump II's savage whims.  

Zacharia's background means she understands that some White House news could be sent via Truth API for insider monetization.  

Take Trump II's posts on "our Greenland."

Greenland Energy is a year old Texas company chaired by Larry G. Swets, Jr.  Swets is a serial Cayman Islands based SPAC pusher.

Red Team super-donor billionaire Ken Griffin owns 9% of Greenland Energy.

So much information to move and so much to bet on... Trump II, the Wizard of Greenland, orchestrates it all.

Josh Harris Winning While Losing

Washington Commanders owner Josh Harris has a deal for a new stadium.  It has $1 billion in public funding as well as tax breaks for the stadium operation.  

That made me wonder about Harris' private equity operation and whether it had insurance affiliates that could fund its "sister" private equity affiliates, like Mark Walter.  The answer is yes.

That's a lot of financial winning for an NFL owner with a 22-33-1 record.

Josh's team at 26 North comes from Brookfield, Oaktree, Centerbridge, Moelis, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Apollo and Blue Owl.  

One executive's name was familiar.

It brought back memories of Summer 2011 when private equity founders were struggling to reach their second or third billion in net worth ($).    

Josh Harris was busy avoiding meeting with Jeffrey Epstein according to a January 2026 statement.  

Thank heaven.  It would be hard to funnel $1 billion in public money to a new stadium for Harris' football team if it had been otherwise.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU (private equity underwriters) and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and many are in the Epstein files.

Update 10-15-26:  777 Partners already behaved badly with its insurance subsidiary.  The stories are out there and new ones arrive every day.

Update 10-16-26:  Oaktree's planned buyout of Atlantic Coast Life imploded according to a Bloomberg report.  The State of Virginia told Atlantic Coast Life to stop writing policies.  South Carolina warned retirees their savings are at risk  Forbes reported:

Regulators allege that the private equity firm owning Atlantic Coast Life moved retirees' annuity money into illiquid private credit, including loans tied to collapsed investor 777 Partners. 

Roughly 50,000 annuity customers and more than 100,000 life and funeral-policy holders could be affected.

Combined, that is 150,000 customers.  It's more than Synapse, which had 100,000 customers when it imploded.  Note:   Billionaires do not stand behind their failed investments, instead walking away and leaving public entities to make up for their damages.

Trump II's Corporate Crossovers Go Both Ways

The news is chockfull of new jobs for insiders within the confines of the giant money funnel.  

Katie Zacharia left Trump Media & Technology Group (which sells early access to White House news) for the White House Press Office.  Her three months of TMTG experience should help her determine what gets steered to $100,000 a month subscribers and what becomes leftovers for the main street media.

At least five former Trump officials were hired onto OpenAI and Anthropic over the last year, according to Quartz.  These hires came as TechGods visited the White House numerous times.  Proximity to Trump II is a precarious thing given his predilections for usurping enticing items within his gaze.

I'm sure un-empathetic TechGods need all the consultation they can afford to navigate Trump II's savage whims and his spontaneously taking that which is not his.

The last crossover, George Kollitides managed to keep his feet in both the government and corporate side simultaneously.  The longtime private equity underwriter (PEU) worked at Cerberus Capital Management under Steve Feinberg, currently serving as Deputy Secretary of War.

Mr. Kollitides became Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of War and his name first appears in late 2025 (Pacific Forum).   

George Kollitides has served as a member of our board of directors commencing upon effectiveness of the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part. Mr. Kollitides is a Senior Executive Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of War at the Department of War (DoW), the Director of the Economic Defense Unit (EDU), where is responsible for all Department of War (DoW) investing, and economic activities, and the Vice Chairman of the Investment Committee for the Office of Strategic Capital (OSC). He is also a Senior Advisor to Alavarez and Marsal Capital, an approximately $6 billion multi strategy operationally oriented, middle market private equity firm and Star Mountain Capital, an approximately $5.0 billion middle market multi strategy private credit and equity firm.  - D. Boral Acquisition I Corporation Prospectus 2-10-26

The Star Mountain Capital role came in April 2025.  

At Alavarez and Marshal Capital, Kollitides continued his PEUing:

Mr. Kollitides served as a Partner and Co-Head of A&M Capital’s Opportunities Strategy, an operationally oriented, middle market private equity firm, where he was responsible for firm leadership and oversight,

Greed is part of the dark mix transforming the Pentagon.  While Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary of War, Senior Advisor to Alavarez and Marshal Capital and Senior Advisor to Star Mountaiin Capital, Kollitides was appointed to the Board of Directors of D. Boral Acquistion I Corporation.

As a founding board member Kollitides received:

George Kollitides received an indirect interest in 100,000 founder shares through membership interests in our sponsor (D. Boral Sponsor I LLC)

Current TMTG CEO Kevin McGurn received 250,000 founder shares.  

Since Kollitides' Pentagon appointment Alavarez and Marshal's federal consulting business has raked it in (ProPublica).  It's nice when two of your three high paying employers can find a way to do raise the dollar exchange size and speed inside the giant money funnel.

These hires show that the mantra holds, "Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one."

Update 10-13-26:  New White House Press Secretary Katie Zacharia made her debut this morning.  Her comment about Trump II's "family friendliness" shows how little she knows about the giant political cage match that is his closest advisors.   Staying late is but one of the ways to get ahead, as is running down the competition.  

How much White House news did she steer to Truth API and not share with the press corps?  That should be a daily report.

First Major FEMA Test Since DOUGEBAG

FEMA will have its first major test since TechGod Elon Musk unleashed the Department of Ungodly Greedy Executives Biased Against Government (DOUGEBAG).  

The storm is hitting on a Friday evening, a setback for government which often just runs during the week.  

Hospitals will need help as soon as the winds and water come down enough.  I say this having lived through a river flooded, teaching hospital in Virginia and worked to evacuate a Texas Gulf Coast hospital prior to a record hurricane (Hurricane Gilbert which failed to make the predicted turn and hit Mexico).

When the Bush White House seemed slow on Hurricane Katrina, I sent my estimate of the number of patients remaining in New Orleans hospitals, many of which needed urgent evacuations.

Hurricane Isaias is hitting deep Red Trump territory weeks before an election.  They may be more charitable to FEMA than most, but their patience and understanding could wane if help is too slow.  

Praying for people in harm's way to be in safe places and for the Lord to watch over and protect them.  

(Posted on PEUReport as many government contractors are private equity underwriter (PEU) owned and many PEUs served on DOUGEBAG.)

Update 10-19-26:  The Guardian reported:

US disaster survivors still await at least $10bn in federal aid: ‘It’s devastating’

Update 10-31-26:  News5 reported several residents reaction to FEMA approving community funding but none yet for individuals.

“There’s still a big hole in the top of my roof, and I just don’t understand how this assistance is supposed to help me.”  

Many reacted on social media under the city’s post, saying things like, “Worthless for residents in need,” and “There shouldn’t be a thank you until individuals are covered too.” 

Waking Up to Insurance Distortions from PEU Ownership

The world is waking up to the fact that insurance company investments may join pension plans in not being able to fulfill their commitments to beneficiaries.  In November 2023 PEUReport wrote:

Several years ago private equity firms began buying insurance companies and steering those pools of capital to their PEU offerings. This was framed as smart capitalism vs. a conflict of interest.

The world saw this with Mark Walter's using captive insurance companies to finance his private equity holdings.  The more investigators dig, the more they find.  $17 billion in undisclosed loans becomes $21 billion.  

Apollo founded Athene in the aftermath of the financial crisis, later taking it over completely in 2021.

Carlyle bought their initial stake in Fortitude Re in 2018 and later acquired a majority stake with T&D Holdings (a Tokyo based insurer).  Many private equity underwriters (PEU) bought insurance companies in their search for permanent capital.

Forensic accountant Tom Gober outlined the risks associated with strategies undertaken by PEU owned insurers in The Institutional Risk Analyst.   Investing legend George Noble had Gober on his podcast recently.

Retirement Income Journal reported on Gober's House testimony in July 2023.

Gober, in his presentation, focused on the conflicts of interest inherent in certain life/annuity companies’ purchase of assets from sibling firms in the same holding company (“affiliated assets”). As for offshore reinsurance, he called it a “sleight of hand” tactic for reducing the amount of surplus capital supporting pension liabilities.

The warning is relative to current insurance company investments and how they are valued.  Things can get worse if insurance companies answer BlackRock CEO Larry Fink's call to finance data centers.

Law firm Quinn Emanuel’s March memo on data-center debt was making the rounds in recent days, laying out worst-case scenarios for the hundreds of billions of dollars being borrowed and spent to fund the AI buildout. It does the one thing professional-services memos never do: It names names.

Their report states:

The scale and complexity of the financing structures underpinning the AI data center buildout are already raising concerns among regulators, investors, and policymakers. For example, in January 2026, four U.S. Senators urged in an open letter that regulators investigate the AI sector’s growing reliance on debt. The letter warned that companies are increasingly turning toward “complex and opaque debt markets to borrow staggering sums of cash” and their inability to service the debt “could cause destabilizing losses for an interconnected set of financial institutions, triggering a broader financial crisis that harms the economy.” The Federal Reserve and the Bank for International Settlements have expressed similar concerns.

My wise friend noted:

When these data centers announce they are borrowing money in the trillions and the whole group and everything related goes up 10X, you would expect an equal retreat when Open AI basically fudges their numbers by $28 billion.  

It's all funny games when it's other people's money.  No one gives a hoot under big number = big fee.  If it all collapses, don't blame me.  I just package and sell "investments."

Congrees heard about this three years ago and nothing has been done?  That's because politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one.

SPAC-EX & Apollo Tie Up for "Epstein Level" Super Intelligence

 Elon Musk's SPAC-EX plans to borrow $40 billion and Apollo Global Management is leading the raise.

The smartest guys in the room, TechGods, are joining the other smartest guys in the room, private equity underwriters (PEU), to bring us "super intelligence" that furthers their wealth, standing and elite position in Western society. 

The public experienced such positioning over several decades as we learned of the predatory exploits of Jeffrey Epstein and how the "financial genius" was enabled at turn after turn by elected officials, those charged with public safety and our "Just Us" system.  

Epstein's largest financial sponsor, Apollo co-founder Leon Black, gave the predator over $150 million for "tax advice."  

Apollo's website has the following question:  What if the world doesn't work the way you think it does?

AI, recently rebranded by Trump II as super intelligence,  is already bringing us bad things.  It targeted a girl's school in Iran, killing hundreds of children.  

TechGods say it's just one of those "bad things."  Unsaid subtext:  their product is a very capable cyber and war criminal.  Their PEU financiers know, yet they still throw their retirees' money at this shockingly expensive, shoddy and dangerous product.

It seems super intelligence is supercharging predatory behavior along multiple fronts.  That is Epstein Level.

Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod brethren.  Increasingly, more are one and they've long been a law unto their own.

"No fatties, No beardos & No weirdos"

The Guardian reported:

Donald Trump on Tuesday announced the opening of a new $6.6bn shipbuilding factory in Baltimore, partly funded by the US government but owned by Anduril Industries, a politically connected defense company.

Trump II wants to build ships faster.

Trump said US taxpayers would “receive a 40% stake” in the shipyard. It is unclear what he meant, and whether the US government is taking an equity share in the company, as it has in some other firms. 

 Anduril said the operation would not be ready to produce ship parts until 2030.

The Navy Secretary spoke at the event:

In a bizarre warning to adversaries, Cao said: “Piss us off [and] we’ll sneak into your country in the middle of the night and snatch you and your wife while you sleep in your beds.”

That may be the best this group of creeps can do for the next few years, given they are running a pass through entity.  

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

Update:  My wise friend wrote:

ANDURIL Industries has $2 billion  in revenue with a $61 billion valuation.

We have no idea how profitable they are, yet venture capitalists investment bankers and private equity spreadsheet investors all get to mark up their positions based on some forecast of the future that goes bye bye if the US government doesn't take taxpayer money to create contracts to fit their narrative. 

There is our wealth inequality, everybody getting fees they don't deserve for valuations they don't deserve with the country's assets and reserves they don't deserve. 

Mom and Pop has to grow from retained earnings and borrowings which they have to cover out of their standard of living or bottom line. 

All these TechGods and PEUs get to borrow huge sums on forecasts which presume "numbers only go up" and therefore so does their net worth.  There is a pyramid on our currency, one inspired by Charlie Ponzi.  As far as management practice today, Charles looks like a founding father. 

Good Billionaire David Rubenstein

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein plucked the employment rose off the STEM with his coaching for young people.  Fortune reported:

“For a young person, the best thing to do is learn how to read and enjoy reading, learn how to speak effectively and persuasively, and learn how to write reasonably well,” Rubenstein told Business Insider in a recent interview. 

Instead of simply chasing checks or prestige, the cofounder of $14 billion global investment firm Carlyle Group advised budding workers to “find something that you really enjoy and make it your life’s work.” Rubenstein believes success will follow when young professionals truly enjoy a job that doesn’t feel like work. After all, “Nobody ever won a Nobel Prize hating what they do,” the 77-year-old billionaire said.

Rubenstein built an industry (private equity) around extrinsic motivation (do this to get obscene profits).  That included buying politicians and squarely planting themselves (their affiliates) on the federal teat.  

American workers felt no love from Carlyle or its PEU peers as they sent jobs to China by the junk-load.  Flashback to July 2011:

I have seen so many people -- particularly those in their 50s - 70s -- taken apart by what has happened in their industry as greed has hollowed out the economy. These are people took pride in their jobs and held themselves to this invisible standard that we all just took for granted, but is being wiped out. 

The Carlyle Group scares me more than anything I've ever seen on Wall Street. It seems to exist to corrupt politicians and it's hard to know who they even represent. 

I watched a video interview of (David) Rubenstein and his arrogance is really beyond tolerance.

Many of those workers were "doing what they loved" when private equity bought their employer.  Rubenstein's magic PEU formula ignored that.

At the age of 77 the legendary private equity underwriter (PEU) shifts to intrinsic motivators (doing what you love)?  Please. 

Young workers must be confused by the sudden shedding of STEM, an area they've been coached to pursue for much of their lives.  Is AI is taking that too?  

...tech models are already very good at STEM, so soft skills like EQ, communication, and curiosity are a premium. Those who have “critical-thinking skills” and can “interact with other people” will be best set up to thrive.

Management, including our political leaders, scorned soft skills for decades in favor of spreadsheets, hard targets, disruption and relying on foreign labor or tech solutions over our people (U.S. workers).  HR turned into strategic human abuse.  

I question the motivations of TechGods/PEUs for their 180 degree U-Turn.  It must be because AI is taking all the "get that."  Is "what you love to do" the only thing left?  Remember 2011:  PEUs took it before and they will take it again.

This fits perfectly with their insatiable need for more billions, such that it becomes trillions.  As for help from elected officials, forget about it.  Trump II is the biggest taker of them all.  

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