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Treasury Secretary

MsSage

Well-known member
November 24th, 2008 4:25 PM Eastern
Obama Should Think Twice About His Economic Team — Oops, Too Late!
Should some of the same people who helped get us into this Wall Street meltdown mess be relied upon to get us out? And is it OK if the colleagues and mentors of the new Obama economic team make millions and maybe billions along the way? President-elect Obama seems to think that the answers to those two questions are “yes,” and “yes”—and his appointments today proved it.

Tim Geithner, the pick to be the next Treasury Secretary, is the current president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, where he was intimately involved in all the bailout decisions of the past year, including the decision to bailout AIG, the insurance giant.
Back in October, right here on FOX News, I noted that the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, was in the room when the bailout decision was made—a decision which, according to The New York Times, protected a $20 billion Goldman Sachs position with AIG. And, of course, Goldman Sachs is the Wall Street firm once headed by the Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. I compared that incestuous financial relationship to the Teapot Dome scandal of the 20s, but the Obamans don’t seem to agree.

Meanwhile, in the words of the Competitive Enterprise Institute economist Jon Berlau, Geithner means “More of the same… more bailouts, more lack of transparency in the bailouts, and more corporate welfare. … In choosing Geither, Obama might as well have nominated Hank Paulson to another term!”

So when Obama said today of the man he’s nominated to lead the Treasury Department, “He will start his first day on the job with a unique insight into the failure of today’s markets,” the President-elect was more right than he knew.

But there is one figure that looms above them all, a man who was once the boss to both Geithner and to Larry Summers (who was named today to chair the National Economic Council inside the White House) and is the leader of the dominant political-economic school of thought in the Democratic Party today. And that man is Robert Rubin, Treasury Secretary for Bill Clinton and currently the Chairman of the Executive Committee at Citigroup.

As The New York Times puts it this morning, “It is testament to former Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin’s star power among many Democrats that as President-elect Barack Obama fills out his economic team, a virtual Rubin constellation is taking shape.” A “Rubin constellation“—how ‘bout that?


But wait just a second here. Democrats might think that Rubin is some sort of financial rock star, but he also helped lead a deeply troubled financial giant, which bet heavily—and badly—on the subprime mortgage market; Citi’s stock has plummeted 90 percent over the last year.

Here’s a sobering assessment from an article in Sunday’s New York Times, “As chairman of Citigroup’s executive committee, Mr. Rubin was the bank’s resident sage, advising top executives and serving on the board while, he insisted repeatedly, steering clear of daily management issues.”

But as the Times noted:

“While Mr. Rubin certainly did not have direct responsibility for a Citigroup unit, he was an architect of the bank’s strategy. In 2005, as Citigroup began its effort to expand from within, Mr. Rubin peppered his colleagues with questions as they formulated the plan. According to current and former colleagues, he believed that Citigroup was falling behind rivals like Morgan Stanley and Goldman, and he pushed to bulk up the bank’s high-growth fixed-income trading, including the C.D.O. business. … Once the strategy was outlined, Mr. Rubin helped [former CEO Charles] Prince gain the board’s confidence that it would work.

And then, asked if he had made any mistakes at Citigroup, he answered, “I’ve thought a lot about that. I honestly don’t know. In hindsight, there are a lot of things we’d do differently. But in the context of the facts as I knew them and my role, I’m inclined to think probably not.” [emphasis added]

But now, of course, Citi is a big winner; just last night it received a $300 billion or so (nobody really knows) financial guarantee from Uncle Sam. And the stock, which was below $4 a share on Friday, is now up to around $6. That’s a 50 percent increase.

Not bad one for one day’s worth of politicking in Washington. And of course, there’s much more of that, where that came from.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Ain't this just great? Before the election, the libs were completly ignoring the irrefutable fact that McCain and other Republicans predicted this crisis and tried to head it off. They were in complete denial about all the Liberal policies that caused this. All they could do was point the finger, worship Obama, and chant "change". Now their chosen one is filling his cabinet with the very same people who are neck deep in this mess - and they're strangely silent.

Is this the "change" that we were promised? :mad:
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
Ain't this just great? Before the election, the libs were completly ignoring the irrefutable fact that McCain and other Republicans predicted this crisis and tried to head it off. They were in complete denial about all the Liberal policies that caused this. All they could do was point the finger, worship Obama, and chant "change". Now their chosen one is filling his cabinet with the very same people who are neck deep in this mess - and they're strangely silent.

Is this the "change" that we were promised? :mad:

And the Repubs won't admit that their boy Foreclosure Phil Gramm led the charge for deregulation and nonstranparent trading-and the removal of rules put in in the early 1900's to prevent this type situation- all of which was backed and passed by a Repub majority Congress- and which all experts agree not only allowed all the events to unfold- and leaves the Administration/Oversight folks with absolutely no idea of how much debt even exists in the world- but may have allowed a large group of insider FATCATS to make $Billions of dollars at the suffering of the small/working man traders/investors....
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
How can you blast Gramm while remaining silent on Obama picks that supported the same policies Gramm did? That tells me that it's not really about the policies to you.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Sandhusker said:
How can you blast Gramm while remaining silent on Obama picks that supported the same policies Gramm did? That tells me that it's not really about the policies to you.

Because Gramm was the one that did it....And you Koolaid drinkers seem to think Repubs are totally blameless- when they have as much or more blood on their hands as the Clinton Dems did...
 

TexasBred

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Sandhusker said:
Ain't this just great? Before the election, the libs were completly ignoring the irrefutable fact that McCain and other Republicans predicted this crisis and tried to head it off. They were in complete denial about all the Liberal policies that caused this. All they could do was point the finger, worship Obama, and chant "change". Now their chosen one is filling his cabinet with the very same people who are neck deep in this mess - and they're strangely silent.

Is this the "change" that we were promised? :mad:

And the Repubs won't admit that their boy Foreclosure Phil Gramm led the charge for deregulation and nonstranparent trading-and the removal of rules put in in the early 1900's to prevent this type situation- all of which was backed and passed by a Repub majority Congress- and which all experts agree not only allowed all the events to unfold- and leaves the Administration/Oversight folks with absolutely no idea of how much debt even exists in the world- but may have allowed a large group of insider FATCATS to make $Billions of dollars at the suffering of the small/working man traders/investors....

Graham was ONE of the sponsors of the bill....Bill Clinton signed it and said it was the best thing since sliced bread...come on OT. Find the picture of him smiling and signing and read what he had to say. It actually got his rear out of an illegal deal he had already made with CitiCorp.
 

Sandhusker

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Sandhusker said:
How can you blast Gramm while remaining silent on Obama picks that supported the same policies Gramm did? That tells me that it's not really about the policies to you.

Because Gramm was the one that did it....And you Koolaid drinkers seem to think Repubs are totally blameless- when they have as much or more blood on their hands as the Clinton Dems did...

Phil Gramm didn't do it! Everybody that voted for a particular measure are equally responsible for the consequenses. You can't hammer Gramm just because he sponsored the bill and then give a free pass to those who's vote counted just as much as his.
 

aplusmnt

Well-known member
Oldtimer said:
Sandhusker said:
How can you blast Gramm while remaining silent on Obama picks that supported the same policies Gramm did? That tells me that it's not really about the policies to you.

Because Gramm was the one that did it....And you Koolaid drinkers seem to think Repubs are totally blameless- when they have as much or more blood on their hands as the Clinton Dems did...

Have you not been reading your own thread on the Economy??? I just showed were the Grahm bill passed with bipartisan support. And then was signed by the Democratic President Clinton.

Funny thing is McCain did not vote on the final bill, maybe he knew something was wrong? But that is a mute point now.

But the reality is Democrats supported the Bill both in the house and in the Senate and Clinton signed it, who cared who sponsored it, Grahm is one vote when the rubber met the road.
 
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