All the president’s Goldman Sachs men; Update: A look at the White House visitor logs
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My syndicated column today shines light on all the Goldman Sachs company men in the Obama administration’s midst. The GOP wants SEC correspondence disclosed. Here’s that story. In related news, Goldman Sachs cheerleader and beneficiary Rahm Emanuel met with NYC business elite about the financial reform plan. Listen up:
Another attendee, who spoke anonymously to discuss remarks that were intended to be private, said the chief-of-staff emphasized that there was a “12-week legislative calendar” to get the administration’s main goals accomplished.
Related must-read from Conn Carroll at The Foundry: The Crony Capitalist Threat to Our Economic Freedom.
***
All the president’s Goldman Sachs men
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2010
While President Obama assails the culture of greed and recklessness practiced by the men of Goldman Sachs, his administration is infested with them. The White House can no more disown Government Sachs than Da Boss-in-chief can disown Chicago politics.
Obama is headed to Wall Street on Thursday to demand “financial regulatory reform” — just as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed civil suit against Goldman Sachs for mortgage-related fraud. Question the timing? Darn tootin’. There are no coincidences in the perpetually orchestrated Age of O. Everyone from disgraced former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer to analysts at the Brookings Institution and Barclays Capital to the GOP leadership and Rush Limbaugh has noted the reeking political opportunism in the air.
As the New York Post reported Tuesday, the Democratic National Committee immediately bought sponsored Internet ads on Google that direct web surfers who type in “Goldman Sachs SEC” to Obama’s fundraising site. “It’s time to hold the big banks accountable,” the money-grubbing DNC message bellows. But just like his crony capitalist predecessor George W. Bush, Obama has relied on Goldman Sachs and Wall Street power brokers to engineer massive government interventions to “rescue” failing businesses with the tax dollars of ordinary Americans.
While irony-challenged Democratic candidates like mob-linked banker Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois (who hopes to fill Obama’s old Senate seat) call on Republicans to return their fat-cat Goldman Sachs donations, the Democrats are silent on the $994,795 in Goldman Sachs campaign cash that Obama bagged. The class-warfare Dems are also mum on all the president’s Goldman Sachs men sitting in the catbird’s seat:
– Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler is Obama’s Commodity Futures Trading Commission head. He was confirmed despite heated congressional grilling over his role, as Reuters described it, “as a high-level Treasury official in a 2000 law that exempted the $58 trillion credit default swap market from oversight. The financial instruments have been blamed for amplifying global financial turmoil.” Gensler said he was sorry — hey, it worked for tax cheat Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner — and was quickly installed to guard the henhouse.
– Goldman Sachs kept White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel on a $3,000 monthly retainer while he worked as Clinton’s chief fundraiser, as first reported by Washington Examiner columnist Tim Carney. The financial titans threw in another $50,000 to become the Clinton primary campaign’s top funder. Emanuel received nearly $80,000 in cash from Goldman Sachs during his four terms in Congress — investments that have reaped untold rewards, as Emanuel assumed a leading role championing the trillion-dollar TARP banking bailout law.
– Former Goldman Sachs lobbyist Mark Patterson serves under Geithner as his top deputy and overseer of TARP bailout — $10 billion of which went to Goldman Sachs. Left-leaning government watchdog Melanie Sloan of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington responded: “It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another.” Paul Blumenthal of the Sunlight Foundation noted that, while at Goldman Sachs, Patterson lobbied against executive pay limits that Obama had crusaded for as senator (before, that is, his administration carved out exemptions for AIG). While Patterson agreed to recuse himself on any Goldman Sachs-related issues or related policy concerns, Blumenthal wrote, it “still creates a serious conflict for Geithner, as Treasury is being partly managed by a former Goldman lobbyist. Geithner is also placed in a tough position considering that his chief of staff is limited in the areas in which he can work (supposedly).”
– Obama’s close hometown crony, campaign finance chief and senior adviser Penny Pritzker was head of Superior Bank of Chicago, a subprime specialist that went bust in 2001, leaving more than 1,400 people stripped of their savings after bank officials falsified profit reports. Pritzker’s lawyer at O’Melveny and Myers, Tom Donilon, is now Obama’s deputy national security adviser. He earned just shy of $4 million representing her and other high-profile meltdown clients including Goldman Sachs.
– White House National Economic Council head Larry Summers reaped nearly $2.8 million in speaking fees from many of the major financial institutions and government bailout recipients he now polices, including JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs. A single speech to Goldman Sachs in April 2008 brought in $135,000. Summers has prior experience negotiating government-sponsored bailouts that benefit private concerns. In 1995, he spearheaded a $40 billion Mexican peso bailout that bypassed Congress. Summers personally leaned on the International Monetary Fund to provide nearly $18 billion for the package. Summers’ boss, then Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin, was former co-chairman of Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs — the Mexican government’s investment banking firm of choice.
Rubin continues to mentor another former employee of his with regular visits and chats — Treasury Secretary Geithner, who was head of the New York Federal Reserve, which pushed bailed-out insurance conglomerate AIG to cover up sweetheart deals for investment banks that benefited, you guessed it, Goldman Sachs.
As Obama harangues Wall Street to clean up its house, all the president’s Goldman Sachs men have their feet on the coffee table at his.
***
Update: Well, well, well. Take a look at the White House visitor logs, courtesy of McClatchy:
While Goldman Sachs’ lawyers negotiated with the Securities and Exchange Commission over potentially explosive civil fraud charges, Goldman’s chief executive visited the White House at least four times.
White House logs show that Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein traveled to Washington for at least two events with President Barack Obama, whose 2008 presidential campaign received $994,795 in donations from Goldman’s political action committee, its employees and their relatives. He also met twice with Obama’s top economic adviser, Larry Summers.
…Goldman’s connections to the White House and the Obama administration are raising eyebrows at a time when Washington and Wall Street are dueling over how to overhaul regulation of the financial world.
…According to White House visitor logs, Blankfein was among the business leaders who attended an Obama speech on Feb. 13, 2009, and he also joined more than a dozen bank CEOs in a meeting with Obama on March 27, 2009.
Blankfein also was supposed be among the CEOs who met with Obama in December, but he and two others phoned in from New York, blaming inclement weather.
He and his wife, Laura, were listed on the logs among 438 presidential guests at the Kennedy Center Honors the previous week.
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Villainous Company
» Must Read Post of the Day. Possibly, the YearSister Toldjah
» Barack Obama: Can we call him a Socialist now?
Crooks covering for Crooks.
Will our children be chanting ‘Obama lied, America died’?
Most Transparent Administration Evah!
Yes, we can see right through the crap they’re trying to pull.
What we are witnessing is probably the most corrupt US administration in 100 years.
May God help us all.
I wonder if there was ever a conversation that went something like “Ok Goldman Sachs, you’re going to get hit with a civil action from SEC that won’t even put a dent in your Q1 profits, just play along, and then you can get $xxxB from the new nationalization of your bad debts and risk”.
Why wait?
Probably? Only 100?
Horizontal, black and white stripes are in fashion this year. The new bling will be ball and chains.
I think the Rush Limbaugh theory, the charges aren’t designed to stick, just advance his anti-capitalist agenda, is close to the truth.
Not a pure Marxist, Obama, at least in the sense that for now certain chosen businesses will be allowed to exist in return for favors.
Where is the outrage from the left?
As ArizonaNeanderthal says:
Pray for a reckoning..
Though this could sure be true, I’m not convinced. With the technology available to us today, it’s very hard for the politicans to hide things from us. They just haven’t learned that yet.
I see another book in MM’s future: Culture of Corruption II. It’s imperative that the rug under this administration be pulled out from under them in November. Absolutely critical.
The stench is overpowering! This administration makes the Clinton administration look like the Salvation Army!
I’m actually pining for the Clinton’s, how effed up is that?!
Another cheap card trick. They’re playing us for chumps.
Will those relationships produce and contribute to good, bad or ugly regulatory legislation and oversight?
Not mentioned was Sen Schumer of NY and what he may, or may not, do with any new legislation that deals with his State’s leading industry. And then, there is Sen Dodd, Chair of the Banking Committee.
The road to banking reform is fraught with peril. Oh yeah, and then any legislation has to go through the House.
Then there is the matter of enforcement and the same relationships will impact that effort.
I don’t have the answers, though this is how it has been forever. Relationships between Government and private industry, cross pollination and potentially incestuous opportunities.
Sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes ugly.
Yes WE can see right through it-those of us watching with even a hit of interest; Goldman Sachs has been part and parcel of the meltdown and beneficiary of it, allowed to absorb the assets of competitors under TARP and all the while in bed with one administration after another. But the scam was well facilitated by the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977-a Jimmy Carter monstrosity three Republican Presidents did not reign in. Neither Reagan nor Bush l had a Republican Congress to do so, Bush ll had six years with a Republican Congress but did nothing.
The Community Reinvestment Act has been amended time and again at the behest of such groups as ACORN to make ever more funds available to people who could not repay loans. With Fannie and Freddie flooding the market with sub prime bonds, a housing bubble-insane home price increases- and trading of those sub prime bond funds this crash was a given. Bear Sterns was the big financial house that went down and caused panic-Bear Sterns was one of the first big houses to issue and buy sub-prime bonds. Bear Sterns was absorbed by JP Morgan, another “player”.
A legitimate investigation of Goldman Sachs is long over due-the Bush Administration actually started this one. Yes Obama is playing politics in his War on Fat Cats. He certainly won’t hurt Robert Golden Boy Ruben, anyone in his administration, his contributors and friends, Secretaries of Non Performing Departments and such.
But we can rest assured any “Wall Street Regulations” and “Bank Reforms” that come out of this will strengthen the hand of Freddie and Fannie guaranteed to bring us more of the same. Screaming Control the Fat Cats while surrounded by fat cats has been Progressive mantra for generations. That there are millions of Americans still ready to fall for it is heartbreaking.
After every crisis or disaster comes looting.
….And thinking up more ways to steal from my wallet!
Who will tell these temple monkeys that we know who you are and we see what you are doing, aside from MM of course?
I hope they never figure this out. What I do want however is for someone, anyone to start making them pay for their crimes against the citizens of this country. I would like to say serious retribution. I read where the Feds are investigating Rubio. Just more of the same,
I hope the lawyers for Goldmansachs are taking note of all this leg work Michelle is doing for them. They could sure embarass the hell out of the administration if they were to call on all these people mentioned to testify at a civil trial and bring forth all this documentation. They could end their questioning as to why it is a big deal now when it wasn’t such a big deal during their conformations?
I can see November from my house.
That’s because cheap money (the Fed kept rates too low for too long) was fueling the economy, giving a false sense of security and masking the bubble ahead.
Don’t you remember the media harping on every bit of bad economic news starting the day after the 2000 recount was over? That’s the same media that finds bad economic news “unexpected” these days and attributes it to holidays and weather.
THE most disingenuous and corrupt President to ever hold the office.
But then…….what do you expect from a Marxist Muslim?
Just prior to Clinton’s last term ending, I remember gas prices going through the roof. I had just bought an off road huge 4×4 Dodge pickup that got 13 mpg and I drove 30 miles to work one way so I remember. Clinton screaming “OMG, we must slow down this economy.” Gas prices are a tool.
The SEC and the White House colluded on this GS issues and the WH reform initiative. They did it in such way that it will be impossible to uncover unless a whistle-blower from the SEC comes forward.
The SEC announced this during the trading day. That in and of itself is unusual.
The SEC held a press conference about their plans. That’s unheard of. The SEC is not in the business of talking to the press about pending actions…..unless they are working with politicians to publicize an action for the benefit of those same politicians.
Nevermind the fact that the bill they are pushing does NOTHING to address the issues that caused the housing bubble to grow then burst. Nor does it address the issue of lack of credit to credit-worthy borrowers. Nothing.
Like he has been since day one…. Obama is out for his pals and himself. His enemies… that would be Tea Party folks and any conservatives…. will be beat down if Obama gets his way.
NO WAY could President Affirmative Action come up with all he has done, or is planning to do, on his own. He’s the pitch man, window dressing – because just how many are going to argue with the black guy and not suffer racist charges? His administration, at all levels, are packed with uber-leftists seeking to overthrow and control the country…if not the world.
Just the old liberogoguery. (sometimes you need new words)
Evil powers are repressing the masses – Progresso arrives, gets in their face, smacks them down, swings some hip, grabs the girl – all’s well. Elvisian Politics. You can’t not like Elvis, no?
ChiefThief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Better. You can not come out of the Chicago Machine with honor and integrity any more than you can crawl out of a cesspool and not stink.A bit off topic, but here is my review of Obama’s recent speech announcing his new PowerPoint, errrr, space policy.
http://www.rv-103.com/?p=457
Be safe and well.
And we will all suffer every time from the greed and shenanigans of these politicians. They play us like a fiddle. They are Evil.
Yes indeed-a classic case of “situational ethics” also known as cynicism. The inability to stand on principle in difficult times is the very essence of the weakling.
Compassionate Conservatism
Big Government Conservatism
New World Order
Reaching Across the Isle
No exactly “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” is it?
corruption is what defines this very criminal administration, and zero is simply taking care of the garbage he belongs to.
C’mon, you know the drill…
It is Bush’s fault that Obama named all these Goldman Sachs people to the jobs they now hold.
I suppose it’s nothing new for corporate bigwigs to be in the White House. But ZerObama promised his gullible supporters that his would be a different administration, pure as the driven snow. Suckers all…
More like bread and circuses.
They are…if they were driven through an oil slick then a sandstorm.
Karl Denninger @ The Market Ticker wonders the same thing:
And I have to agree with you and him. Somebody needs to pay for this with jail time, loss of income or both. And that includes the
535536 (forgot the Criminal-in-Chief) criminals in DC.Corruption rules. “Show me the money!”
We’ve GOT to stop these thugs!! Cuff em, book em, throw their arses in jail and throw away the key!! There are a lot lesser criminals in jail right now who could be let out to make room for the entire Obama administration. If we don’t put a stop to this crap soon, it will become “normal” and we will be done. Who can step up and bring these criminals down??
Michelle,
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Thank you for helping to expose the “Axis of Weasel”.
Apparently many commenters here have missed one of Michelle’s main points: this isn’t new with Obama but has been going on for quite a while.
No matter how you cut it, it is all just one big kabuki play. The end result is always bigger and more intrusive government while our liberties slip away.
Aside: how about the two Juans McCain and Kyl demanding tighter border security yesterday? They want 3000 more troops by 2015. What is that? One additional troop per day?
Hopeless. We need to vote out all incumbents.
Why is it that all these Liberal Politicians that strive for Social Justice, fight for the “little guy”, take on Wall Street, stand up to the “Fat Cats” are all so damn rich themselves and shovel billion$ to former employers and associates? Term limits for everyone is
starting to bevery appealing.It is all marketing aimed at the simple-minded and those who barely pay attention. All the radical/revolutionary diehards are aware it is just a subterfuge and taken with a nod and a wink.
2015? Really? What the crap? In five years, Mexico could already own Arizona. Why would Juan M. want to wait five years? I do believe senility is finally showing on that fool.
This “reaching across the aisle” “big tent” GOP strategy sure worked out well didn’t it? How ironic is it that Goldman Sachs is being “sued” by a Dem administration to their own benefit while the Republicans are defending them arguing for less regulation just before they sign a bill authorizing a ginormously intrusive new bureaucracy?
They are so lame that they are once again reacting to their fear of appearing to be the party of “NO!”. That’s what happens when a party stops standing for something by standing for everything and everybody.
The GOP is truly The Stupid Party.
Okay! Bring on Lindsay Graham (not to be confused for timeless hotty-hot Lindsey Wagner) and his shiny new Cap and Trade Bill. And when we pass that, bring on the McCain-Kennedy-Bush-Kyl-Graham Shamnesty bill too.
A “Be Our Guest” column today says BHO violated the Presidential Oath of Office. (Let us count the ways…!) He needs to be impeached and we need to assert our 10th Amendment right as soverign states to get the Feds off our backs and into jail where they belong. Our state’s bill is stalled in the legislature….no surprise there.
All those video clips from 2002 in the Congressional financial regulatory committee hearings which show Republicans and other sane people expressing concerns about Fanny/Freddie, Sub-prime mortgages, the Credit Swap Market, etc.; and Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Maxine Waters, Franklin Raines, et al, saying “there’s no problem” “no need for more regulation”, etc., should be shown over and over in every venue from now to November.
End the FED. Or nothing will change.
Now I see why you hid my comment #35 on the “Obama mocks, we remember” thread.
But it did get him through college, Chicago politics and the US Senate so how bad can it be? OH, you mean for us–yep.
Rush just gave you a mention on his show Michelle about this article! He said it was great.
L
This is surely the worst since Wilson … The first full fledged socialist.
Even the Progressive Woodrow Wilson came to lament the Federal Reserve which he signed into law.
The FED IS the very central bank so many founders warned against. I know many here do not like Ron Paul but he is the one man calling for an audit. This constitutional monstrosity is unchecked power over America and Americans. Congress ran away from it’s sworn duty To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof.
Article 1
Section 8
of our Bill of Negative Rights
Perhaps this crisis will awake many.
Michelle, it wasn’t a suit for mortgage related fraud.
The suit involves claims (bogus claims in my opinion) of fraud regarding a synthetic derivative of mortgage securities. In other words, no actual mortgage securities were sold to the parties which were supposedly injured.
Remember that SEC is one of the most inept government agencies and were probably under tremendous political pressure to bring this suit.
My prediction is that this will be dismissed or settle for $25 million or less.
Rush mentioned this column on his radio show today (around 12:15 PM Eastern).
When will Obama return the $994,795 from Goldman Sachs, you ask? Probably right after he returns the many more millions in illegal foreign donations that he collected during the campaign, i.e., never.
REPEAL THE GRAMM-LEACH-BLILEY ACT!
http://epic.org/privacy/glba/
History of the GLBA
The history of the GLBA has its roots in the separation of banks, brokerage companies, and insurance companies. As a result of the financial failures of the Great Depression, Congress in 1933 passed the Glass-Steagall Act prohibiting national and state banks from affiliating with securities companies. In 1956, Congress passed the Bank Holding Company Act that prohibited a bank from controlling a non-bank company. In 1982 Congress amended the Bank Holding Act to further forbid banks from conducting general insurance underwriting or agency activities. This changed, however, in 1999, when the GLBA repealed sections of these acts and allowed banks to engage in a wide range of financial services.
The privacy risks from such mergers were put onto the agenda by a series of international and domestic events. On the international front, in 1995, the EU passed the Data Protection Directive, which required that international data exchanges that used EU citizens’ personal data be accorded the same level of protection that their home country would afford them. This meant that US companies would have to ensure that when they used EU citizens’ personal data they provided the same level of protection these citizens were afforded within the EU. The EU was especially concerned with the US government’s preference for self-regulatory approaches to privacy and the lack of federal privacy legislation. While the EU-US agreed to a Safe Harbor proposal, which allowed for companies to self-regulate under FTC oversight, financial services industries were not included in the original agreement.
In the United States, privacy was increasingly cited as being at risk. Public polls at the time indicated citizen privacy awareness and unhappiness with the banking industry’s lack of concern for consumer privacy issues. These poll responses led to subsequent studies that indicated how much consumers were concerned with ineffectual bank privacy standards and the lack of consumer protections against unwanted information sharing.
These attitudes were further fueled by a series of high profile cases involving banks selling consumer information with adverse consequences for customers including marketing, credit fraud, and identity theft.
I would let him keep it if he would return to Kenya or Indonesia AND STAY THERE.
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HI TARPON–#60. Yes–President Wilson was the first socialist, President FDR was the second one, and President LBJ was the third one.
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But in my opinion–President Obama has outdone them all. I think of him as our first Marxist / communist president. I can’t think of any other explanation for his actions.
***
Vote out all Dimocrats and RINO’s in the 2010 and 2012 elections. Support good conservative candidates in the primary elections.
***
John Bibb
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You forgot Carter and Clinton
AZ, did you propose this?
Nice job!
Exactly.
If Americans knew what was really going on they would storm Washington by the millions.
But hey… who’s the next to get kicked off DWTS? Who’s going to be the next American Idol?
These are the more important questions in our society.
Sadly.
Goldman Suchs.White House.Congress.K Street.Wall Street.
Gangsters.
Liars.
Thieves.
Michelle, I’m sorry, I love you dearly even if you are a self-hating white woman, but I have a bone to pick with you. You seem to think a corrupt Marxist President ruining America while his cronies loot the place is important news, when the real story is Kate Gosselin getting kicked off Dancing With the Stars. America isn’t interested in your old white man racist theories while there are celebrites to be watched instead. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch Insider for the real scoop you right-wing Klan bloggers ignore.
#71 Surveyor, oops, didn’t read your post first. We had similar thoughts!
“Paolo Pellegrini told the government that he informed ACA Management that Paulson intended to bet against, or short, a portfolio of mortgages ACA was assembling.”
“If true, the testimony would go directly against government claims that ACA did not know Paulson was hoping the collateralized debt obligations would fail, and subvert charges that Goldman breached its duty by not informing ACA of Paulson’s position.”
My, My, My what a tangled web the Empty Suit weaves.
sigh
All of this simply proves that the federal government is so far outside its constitutional limits as to create a danger to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This is what the tea party is about at its core.
I’m all for re-formatting and then re-installing Constitution v1.0
Thanks for the cultural literacy review Aloha. I am deeply heartened by the fact that 1) I didn’t really have any idea who Kate Gosselin is, and 2) have never watched an episode of Dancing With the Stars.
The fact that I am in the minority is much less encouraging.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/4647166/Sold-Out—How-Wall-Street-and-Washington-Betrayed-America/
fyi
I personally know several Wall Street guys that are publicly declaring their voter’s remorse over voting for Zero..
and these are the type of people that don’t like to admit they’ve been wrong (i mean who does, but especuially them)..
so I have to assume there are many many more…
RECOUNT TODAY!
How many ‘fixes’ have these fools legislated with their friends to ‘regulate’ these industries in the last 100 years, or more? Then proposed more legislation to fix their fixes.
According to their own rhetoric nothing they’ve done in 200 years has worked. Why should this be allowed to continue. If Congresspeople and Senators had any honor, they’d commit mass Hara Kiri on the steps of The Capitol.
The fix is simple REPEAL THE GRAMM LEACH BLILEY ACT! That was the cause of the derivatives and mortgage swaps!!!! Bill Clinton allowed Citigroup to buy Travelers Ins. under Glass Steagall this was illegal so 2 yrs later low and behold we have the GLBA!!!!!!!
I don’t watch them either swede…
But since I do have TV’s in my house…
it’s a little hard to avoid not hearing anything about these zombie shows.
No problem – I don’t want anyone to get too hung up over the dismantling of America as our Founding Fathers gave it to us, when there are more important news events to watch – such as Katie Couric’s interview with the founder of Twitter. Somehow I imagine “Twitter” would also describe what happens inside her head…
Accompanied by a very loud echo.
History is repeating it’s self…NAZI Germany in the 1930′s.
But she has such a nice smile. Dumbed down and tarted up may be the only accurate observation Ducu-Dan has had since the ’68 Dem convention in Chicago.
What exactly is the frequency Kenneth?
Now I’ll admit up front that finance is not my strong suit, but I do have a question for those (I’m thinking Pasadena Phil and xler8bmw in particular) who are calling for the reinstatement of Glass-Steagall. Would it really be necessary to do that if we didn’t have the so-called “Community Reinvestment” Act requiring banks to make bad loans, a Federal Reserve playing Santa Claus and devaluing our currency in the process, and a Congress reflexively hell-bent on bailing out “too big to fail” institutions?
And as long as we do have all these things screwing the system up, how realistic is it that Glass-Steagall would ever be much more than a bandaid on a ruptured aorta?
OT – but this will stir the pot. Good for Arizona..they are turning out to be quite the leaders.
http://www.kpho.com/news/23202195/detail.html
Blackstone: I am trying to think of a simple answer to your question. Discussing today’s mess limiting ourselves to only CRA and Glass-Steagall doesn’t capture the context or dimensions of this catastrophe. The simplest way I can answer your question is to say that repealing Glass-Steagall was essential to creating and marketing the toxic mortgage securities.
CRA established the political mandate of home ownership as a social goal for Washington to further through political means. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were the government-sponsored enterprises that served as the primary tools but eventually grew to take away the mortgage business from the banks. Under Clinton and then Bush, they became such indiscriminate mortgage printing factories that risk grew exponentially and had to be addressed.
Reducing risk was politically impossible so it became a matter of “diversifying” risk into everybody else via derivatives. Enter the bankers who create such financial products.
The bankers needed opacity (to mask toxicity) and scale (“snake eating a pig” problem) so as to make their new products marketable to unwary buyers on an unimaginably large scale. They succeeded but in so doing, corrupted the entire system. Let’s not forget that the junkiest securities ever came with AAA credit rating. The corruption was deep and wide if not all-encompassing.
Re-instating Glass-Steagall will not fix the problem but by returning most of America’s capital into the hands of conservative management, it would go a long way in restoring the public’s confidence in financial markets. It would make “too big to fail” impossible.
Investment bankers would then be forced to only take risks with their own money, not government-insured deposits or insurance reserves or tax-payer subsidies.
It is never too late to do the right thing.
Great job on Hannity tonight Michelle!
But now that the cat’s out of the bag, so to speak, buyers are going to be just a little bit more savvy than they were before. You know, “fool me once” and all that.
I do see what you’re saying in terms of keeping institutions relatively small, so that they don’t get so big that the failure of one would send shock waves throughout the markets. On the other hand, I’m wondering if allowing mergers can enable institutions to rescue each other (by buying them out) without government having to get involved.
Remember the Culture of Corruption Bela Pelosi and others were campaigning on just a few years ago? Abrahmoff? Enron (although Clinton and other lefties were deep into that one as well)? Macaca? Foley? Dare I say it? Halliburton?
I know I’m missing some but GEEZ. All of that was less than ripping off a hotdog stand (and many were simply trumped up by hyperventilating nutballs) compared to these disgusting thieves.
A market that is assumed to be crooked is far less efficient than one (well-regulated) where investors, particularly smaller investors, feel like they have a fair chance. There is a reason why there is so much cash on the sidelines (and it keeps growing) despite a stock market rally that has now rallied 80% about the bottom. There are some very big investors who won’t come back until there are some rules.
Trading volume is down 52% from 3 years ago and of that volume, somewhere between 70-80% of that daily volume is now accounted for by computerized “high-frequency” trading programs by hedge funds who own nothing in the morning and exit owning nothing at market close. They are not investors but professional and well-funded day traders.
Look at the volume decline numbers another way, volume from investors has declined 75-88& from three years ago. Maybe they have a good reason? Maybe they don’t want to play in a rigged market?
Our capital markets depend on trust and the cronyism, lawlessness and government rigging is killing the very source of our culture’s innovation and high-quality jobs.
I noticed that everyone in the pictures (except Obama) is white. So, under the standards established by Chris “The Thrill” Matthews, Charles Blow, and the rest of the dinosaur media, on top of everything else Goldman Sachs is guilty of, they are also racists.
When they take away the large salaries on Wall Street New York City will turn into Detroit, not even a “nice place to visit”. There is supposed to be all this “outrage about Wallstreet. This can’t backfire soon enough!!!!
It’s up to the stockholders to control salaries and bonuses, not Obama and his ilk. Destroy Wall Street and destroy New York City. Capitalism works, crony capitalism is bad and appears to be wrapped so tightly around the Democrats that they can’t and won’t be able to proceed honestly.
When Barney Frank made his remark “there will be “There will be death panels enacted by this Congress, but they will be for non-bank financial institutions that will not be considered too big to die” the Boy Toy Tim Geitner thought it was funny. But one big government controlled state bank is essential to the collectivist goal of total power.
Why are they not all on trial right now? They should be in federal prison already.
“When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.”
Proverbs 29:2
Well isn’t this special…..
Goldman’s White House connections
The stench is overwhelming. Mainstream media no doubt already in damage control mode.
P.U.
When, oh WHEN WILL THE PRESIDENT’S THUGGERY BE EXPOSED BY THE M.S.M.???
Or in Sgt. Schultz mode. “I see nothing, I hear nothing, NOTHING!
OT – About time for some good news!
US military jury clears SEAL in Iraq abuse case
Investigate whether or not Snow was “set up” and pressured to resign. Investigate who pushed for Paulson to replace him.
Paulson was a Trojan Horse who successfully sold the “Chicken Little” scenario in Sept 2008, leading to TARP.
Many voters were livid about TARP, and many voted for “CHANGE”. What many of them didn’t realize was that instead of “CHANGE” they were going to get multiple times more of the same!
In my opinion, it appears that Geoge Soros triggered the credit freeze, and Paulson told the stories that without TARP our economy would collapse overnight. In my opinion, these two men turned the 2008 elections in favor of Obama and other Democrats in close races.
The TARP money was not spent on what they said it would be spent on, so clearly the “crisis” was a manufactured crisis. TARP money became a slush fund, and remember that ACORN was originally on the list of would-be recipients. Also remember that it was Obama who pressured Bush to request the 2nd half of the money.
Bush got the blame, Obama got the money.
Excellent news indeed.
The crony corruption between wall street and the white house has plagued us since the beginning of this nation. Jefferson vs Hamilton. Jefferson supported states and the people, Hamilton (a New Yorker) supported big gubmint, and New York money running the fed. Sounds familiar. The Northeast has always thought it was superior in intellect because of it’s first in line citizenry. This gave it the first schools, (which of course are vastly superior to any others), the first banks, (ditto), the first whorehouses and porn shops also. To keep it honest, CalTech is the best school in the U.S. followed by MIT (especially if you want a job) and an undergrad degree from the Ivy league makes good wallpaper, but if you get a good job with it, it’s because you know someone who gave you that good job. Cronyism is the lifeblood of the ivy league, which is probably why they are soooo liberal, because they know in the pit of their stomachs they are where they are because of who, not what they know.
FINALLY perhaps we have something to impeach his sorry butt with!
The MSM won’t cover how many liberal Democrats received campaign contributions from Richard S. Fuld, Jr. the disgraced former CEO and Chairman of Lehman Brothers Holdings. I did a simple search on fundrace and saw that Mr. Fuld gave to both parties but was especially generous with many liberal Democrats and I believe the DNC or similar organizations. A journalist should contact these liberal Democrats and ask if they will return Mr. Fuld’s donations. NY Times columnist Paul Krugman got a nice stipend from Enron. He says he did not know what was going on at Enron. That is like the piano player in a house of ill repute saying he did not know what was going on upstairs.
Do the Pritzkers still own Hyatt? Stay somewhere else…
This psuedo SEC investigation into Goldman-Sachs reeks to high heaven. I think the average American citizen does not have a clue about how corrupt this regime, this Congress, and these Wall Street thugs truly are. They are being told, and they believe, that Obelieve Me is watching their backs and their pocketbooks when he is, in fact, taking over control of the US economy. I pray for Obie’s impeachment.