U.S. Public Officials at Davos

U.S. taxpayers should know that a number of their government representatives and public servants will travel to Davos, Switzerland this week for the World Economic Forum 2014 meeting.

The U.S. Economic Outlook - January 23 from 5:30 pm to 6:15 pm
Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew
Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker
U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman

The Big Brother Problem - January 22 at 10:30 am
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) will talk alongside Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies CEO Shyam Sankar.

The Future of U.S. Power - January 24 at 11:00 am
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is one of three speakers moderated by a BBC representative

The Drugs Dilemma: Consequences for Society -January 23 at 2:45 pm
Texas Governor Rick Perry (R) is part of a five person panel moderated by a Univsion anchor.

Rethinking Global Food Security - January 23 at 9:00 am
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah will moderate a five person panel

Davos holds many private sessions for members of the Government-Corporate Monstrosity (those with money/connections).

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) is not on the public list of speakers.  Cantor’s office declined to share details about what the No. 2 House Republican plans to address this year at the forum.

The following Red Team members will be at Davos:

Senator Rob Portman (R-OH)
Senator Bob Corker (R-TN)
Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC)
Representative Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL)
Representative Kay Granger (R-TX)
Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA)

Blue Team members going to Davos include:

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Representative Chris Van Hollen Jr. (D-MD)
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)

I expect the American people to get very little of value from these people attending the annual meeting of global tamperers. We'll see what they say, if anything about their trip and travels. 

Note:  The Government-Corporate Monstrosity (GCM) is President Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids.  Exposing it causes the GCM to break into roid rage.

Update 1-29-24:  Shah is now head of the Rockefeller Foundation and was recently interviewed on The David Rubenstein show.

PEU Players at Davos Include The Bain Ten

The "complete" list is out for this year's World Economic Forum, only this meeting of global tamperers always has an unpublished list of participants.  Those people may come to light in the glare, glitz and partying at Davos.  Many private equity underwriters (PEU's) will be in Davos, including:

Al Gore - Double PEU with Generation Investment Management and Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield, Byers

Anthony Scaramucci - SkyBridge Capital

The Bain Ten - best viewed in the image below:

Bono - Elevation Partners

David Rubenstein - The Carlyle Group

George Soros - Soros Capital Management

Stephen Scwarzman - Blackstone

Larry Summers - Studied PEUs and watched their back in financial reform post the 2008 financial crisis.

Orit Gadiesh -  Chair of Bain and Company

Paul Singer - Elliot Management

Peter Thiel's Palantir Technologies CEO which specializes in spying via massive secret databases.

Mason Capital Management has two attendees.  Consider their WEF description:

Mason Capital is a US$ 8 billion event-driven hedge fund that combines deep fundamental analysis with a hard catalyst and a global perspective. 

Event driven, global perspective.   Is there a better place than Davos to source global tampering events?

What would a meeting of the monied and powerful be without a Clinton?  The question is how many will show up.  My money is on Bill, Hillary and Chelsea appearing.  They love the limelight, they love to boogie...

Update 1-19-14:  I missed a number of PEU's going to Davos.  CVC Capital Partners has two attendees, co-founders and co-chairmen Steve Koltes and Rolly von Rappard.  CVC has $20 billion to put to work, according to FT.  The article identified factors contributing to increased deal costs and further bubble stress:

The insufficient supply of new deals means competition will be intense, said Graham Elton, head of Bain & Company’s private equity practice in Europe.

“The deal supply and demand imbalance has become something of a fixture, inflating prices,” he said. “Corporate buyers with large cash piles and a need for growth are coming back on the scene, creating yet another layer of competition for quality assets.”

Perry, Kerry, Lew and Banksters Headed to Davos for Deals

CNN reported:

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend Davos and deliver remarks on "the United States' commitment to and engagement in the Middle East region," according to the State Department.

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will attend according to a public list obtained by NYPost.  This follows Perry's attendance at The Bliderberg Group meeting in Istanbul, Turkey.

NYPost reported on banksters going to Davos.   

The big-bank CEOs are well represented with Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley’s James Gorman and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America.

Reuters reported:

Central bankers Mark Carney, Mario Draghi and Haruhiko Kuroda and U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew are also taking part, as well as IMF chief Christine Lagarde and World Bank boss Jim Yong Kim.

It's a special week for global tamperers.

Carlyle Group's Rubenstein Gives PEUpdate

Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein made numerous news stories early this week.  The famous private equity underwriter (PEU) was:

1.  Appointed to the new advisory board at Duke Kunshan University.  The new university will open in Fall 2014 and is a partnership Duke, Wuhan University and the city of Kunshan.

2.  Named a headline speaker at The Venture Capital/Private Equity Underwriter Club, a student club at Harvard Business School, will hold its 20th Annual VC/PEU Conference February 9, 2014, on the Harvard Business School campus in Boston.

3.  Had a message for all the young people on Wall Street concerned about burning out on long hours.  "If you love what you do, it's not 'work'" - Carlyle's David Rubenstein, on banking interns' workload.  Did he later add? "If it's not work, then pay becomes a non-issue." 

4.  Said on CNBC's "Squawk Box", "Things are not cheap. Right before the recession in 2007 and 2008, the average EBITA [earnings before interest, taxes and amortization] multiple for a buyout was 9.7 times.  It went as low as maybe six or seven times a couple of years after the recession.  Today, the average EBITA multiple for a buyout is back at 9.7 times.  You have to be very judicious looking for things that you can find ways to make 20 percent to 30 percent rates of return."  Rubenstein said activity is accelerating a bit because "financing is readily available ... on attractive terms." That's also a marker of the heady PEU days before the 2008 financial crisis.

5.  Is part of an industry with over $1 trillion in dry powder.  PEU's raised $431 billion globally in 2013.   Large players, like Rubenstein's Carlyle Group, are expected to prevail in 2014.

6.  The Carlyle Group has more than $185 billion in assets under management from 1,550 investors in 74 countries.  Assets per investor = $120 million

7.  "Talked about indicators to watch for in 2014. Rubenstein said after seven years of a recession, the US economy is finally picking up steam, growing about 3%. The US is still the best place to invest, although China remains attractive. He likes the energy and financial sectors in particular. Europe, especially northern Europe is doing reasonably well. Rubenstein expects Janet Yellen to continue Chairman Ben Bernanke's policies when she takes the helm at the Federal Reserve next month as it is the only game in town. He added, the Fed will not taper in large amounts to harm the economy. Finally, Rubenstein said Congress needs to pass the appropriations bill to help the economy grow."

Consider this your Rubenstein PEUpdate for 1-14-14.

Hillary Clinton Gets 2nd Carlyle Interview

Politico Magazine reported on December 11, 2013:

In Manhattan last week, Hillary Clinton sat down with the Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein for their second question-and-answer session in the last two months.

Unlike the first one, held for his private equity firm’s investor conference, this was a more public appearance, part of a program honoring the late diplomat Richard Holbrooke at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Hillary easily regaled the well-heeled crowd with stories from her past before Rubenstein ended their half-hour chat with a joke about her future: Would she be interested in joining a private equity firm?

“Is that an offer?” Clinton asked, laughing as the audience knowingly joined in. She may soon need many things from the titans of finance, but a job is probably not one of them.

The PEU boys are happy to pay her $200,000 per speech as she positions for the Presidency in 2016.  It pays to stay on Hillary's good side as her staffers hold grudges for the disloyal.

Bill Clinton enriched the big money boys while President and they've returned the favor several times over.  Bill frequently pushes PEU positions on aid and taxes.  Beware the Clinton sleaze, which seems to be unending.

Update 3-2-14:  The Daily Star noted Hillary's taking big money in speaking fees from modern day robber barons.  The paper is not in Lebanon, New Hampshire but the Middle East Lebanon.

Update 3-22-14:  HuffPo expressed concern about Clinton's speaking fees.

Congressman Eric Cantor to Join Global Tamperers at Davos

Politico reported:

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor is leading a congressional delegation to Davos, Switzerland, later this month for the World Economic Forum.  The Virginia Republican made the trek to the event in 2013, where he spoke on a panel about “creating economic dynamism.

Cantor’s office declined to share details about what the No. 2 House Republican plans to address this year at the forum.

The World Economic Forum will take up Syria, Income inequality, climate change, health and population growth in its public agenda.  Private meetings at Davos determine the real agenda for global tamperers.  Cantor's "economic dynamism" program from 2013 did not make the public agenda. 

Others making the Davos announcement include Maria Bartaromo (now with FOX Business News), Huffington Post (going global), Korean singer-rapper Psy, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, billionaire George Soros, InterContinental Hotels CEO Richard Solomons (which has a new hotel in Davos), Korean President Park Geun-hye, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and World Trade Organization Director-General Roberto Azevêdo.

Israel is sending four leaders to Davos, President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Finance Minister Yair Lapid and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni. 

 

ManpowerGroup is sending four leaders as well, Chairman and CEO Jeffrey A. Joerres, President Jonas Prising, Executive Vice President-Global Strategy and Talent Mara Swan, and President of Northern Europe Hans Leentjes.  

 

CNN business correspondents Richard Quest, Nina dos Santos and John Defterios, as well as lead anchors Christiane Amanpour and Fareed Zakaria, will provide live daily coverage from Davos.

 

Former Vice President and PEU Al Gore will speak on:

Forces Reshaping our World
Through a powerful visual narrative, Al Gore reveals six forces that are radically changing our planet.

How many solutions to these six forces does Generation Investment Management or 

 

One of those world reshaping forces is American branded Government-Corporate Monstrosity, which will work to enhance its global breadth and control at the World Economic Forum.

 

Dealmakers love Davos and this event will have the creme de la creme.  Expect many more names to be revealed.

Fran Townsend Lands Two More Board Slots

Frances Fragos Townsed, the author of the hapless Hurricane Katrina Lessons Learned report, had a banner 2013.  Western Union appointed Fran Townsend to their Board of Directors in August.  Western Union is a leader in global payment services.

For Christmas Fran received a board seat with Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold.  It's odd that incompetence in public service is rewarded with private sector governance positions. 

Frances Townsend is also Chair of the Board of Directors for SAP National Security Services, Inc. and serves on the boards of SIGA Technologies and Scientific Games Corporation.

Five boards and one with a Chair seat, for the person who omitted the hospital with highest death toll post Hurricane Katrina in her woeful homeland security analysis.  I take it this is her reward for loyalty to the club.

Townsend voiced strong views on the NSA issues, arguing that the government needs privacy in order to do its job, and that any objection to what the NSA has done is incomprehensible.

Fran Townsend is a water carrier for the Government-Corporate Monstrosity (GCM), Eisenhower's Military-Industrial Complex on trillions in federal steroids.

The GCM, American branded but global in focus, handsomely rewards club members.  Speaking of such, Davos is just around the corner with its sessions:

The Big Brother Problem
What are the consequences of growing public alarm over personal privacy, data security and the lack of transparency in the gathering of data by public and private organizations? Dimensions to be addressed:
- Regulating ubiquitous data collection
- Balancing security, transparency and privacy concerns
- Building trust in public and private institutions

BBC World Debate: The Future of US Power
Syria, shutdown, Snowden and surveillance: has America lost touch with the world? Dimensions to be addressed:
- Global impact of the inconsistent US political system
- Risks of declining US engagement in the Middle East
- Geopolitical implications of a multipolar world

Might Fran be presenting in either session?  Stay tuned!