CNN's Michael Smerconish took the side of billionaire hedge fund giant Ken Griffin after New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani used Griffin's $238 million penthouse as a prop in his "tax the rich" announcement.
Smerconish reflected on the state of mental health in America by suggesting such an reference could put a target on Griffin's head.
Not having wealthy people support local, state and national government to the best of their ability has been a multi-decade long theme for both political parties. The benefit list includes tax cuts, loosening regulations, direct support for their sports teams, economic development incentives, tax abatements, preferred loans and now direct equity stakes.
Griffin's $238 million New York penthouse is valued at $9.4 million for tax purposes. That is a blistering 96% discount. This fact was not mentioned in Smerconish's story.
The Red Team and Blue Dogs (Blue Team) still push through legislation benefiting the wealthy. Progressive Democrats in Congress are a small minority.
Smerconish's poll showed 51% agreeing with the host that naming Griffin would hurt the Blue Team. The other 49% said it would not.
His next guest returned for his near weekly appearance since Trump II attacked Iran, Admiral James Stavridis. Only once in the last few months has the host disclosed Stavridis' full time job, Vice Chair for The Carlyle Group, a politically connected private equity underwriter (PEU).
Carlyle virtually wrote the book on how to influence the federal government and tap its coffers after it formed in Washington, D.C. in 1987. Former Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci was Chairman and Vice Chairman from 1989 to 2003. President George W. Bush served on the board of directors of Carlyle affiliate CaterAir before his election to the White House. Carlyle profited from his two wars, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Carlyle is ready to win again on defense firms and James Stavridis is guiding the ship.
PEUs kept their preferred (and widely hated) carried interest taxation, crafted legislation alongside friendly Congress members (coining term "policy making billionaire"), purchased companies serving Uncle Sam's present and future needs, later flipping those for huge profits (also preferentially taxed).
Along the way PEUs sent U.S. jobs by the junk-load to China and Southeast Asia,. They loaded affiliates up with debt, interest and management fees placing them in a precarious financial position after the PEU cased out. Workers, the ones lucky enough to remain employed, saw a long period of stagnant wages and worsening benefits. The winnings from their hard work went to executives and investors.
One PEU founder even funded Jeffrey Epstein's child sexual abuse, paying the pedophile for tax advice. That was Apollo co-founder Leon Black.
It was a long sordid road that led us to today where Politicians Red & Blue love PEU and their new TechGod/CryptoBro brethren. Increasingly, more are one.
Ken Griffin for President? Kneel before the Gods of Capital, as our elected officials and media frequently do. I'm pretty sure I heard the choir sing this morning, ably directed by Mr. Smerconish.
