J.P. Morgan Banker Selected for FDIC. 13 Bankers | The Wall Street Takeover and the Next Financial Meltdown. Two Former Watchdogs Ring in the New Year on the Other Side of the Revolving Door. By NEIL GORDON Welcome to another episode of "As the Washington Revolving Door Turns. " The two latest ex-government officials to land jobs with private companies formerly served as very high-profile watchdogs of those companies. The first revolver is Michael Thibault, former co-chairman and commissioner of the Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan (CWC). The CWC released its final report in August and officially sunset a month later—with all of its internal records sealed from public view until 2031, unfortunately. Last month, Thibault joined DynCorp International as its vice president of government finance and compliance.
Thibault worked for many years at the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), serving as Deputy Director from 1994 until 2005. Between his government postings at the DCAA and CWC, Thibault briefly worked for federal contractors Navigant Consulting and Unisys. Neil Gordon is a POGO Investigator. Image via (rt48state). Follow @NEGordon. Revolving Doors Matter. Revolving Door Makes Lobbying Cheaper and More Effective. Revolving Door Makes Lobbying Cheaper and More Effective June 14, 2011 - by Donny Shaw The conclusions will probably come as a surprise exactly none of you, but a new study from the International Monetary Fund on the influence of campaign donations and lobbying politics is worth a mention because of the completeness of the research and the authority of its source.
Two IMF economists, Deniz Igan and Prachi Mishra, have been examining how the targeted political activities of financial corporations between 1999 and 2006 affected how Congress voted on bills that strengthened or loosened regulation of Wall Street leading up to the 2008 crisis. They found — surprise! — that the more the corporations spent on campaign donations and lobbying, the more likely Congress was to vote in favor of deregulation. A preliminary version of the economists’ research paper, replete with detailed methodology information, can be found here (happy to see OpenCongress mentioned as a data source).
» Goldman Sachs: Investing in political influence Alex Jones. David GutierrezNatural News April 15, 2012 (NaturalNews) A Venn diagram released by Harvard law professor and political activist Larry Lessig reveals the shocking connections between our government and banking and investment giant Goldman Sachs. Click for full image. Goldman Sachs was a major contributor to (and beneficiary of) the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis that helped initiate the current depression. The bank then proceeded to heavily avail itself of bailout payments and other monetary assistance from the federal government. In 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it had deceived investors about the nature of one of its products, costing them a total of $1 billion.
Goldman Sachs was defended in the lawsuit by its longtime legal firm, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP. Craig is a classic example of the “revolving door” in this country between industry and government. Sources for this article include: U.S. U.S.