Revolving Doors Matter. » 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. The Political Economy Of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, And U.S. Policy In The Congo Crisis. J.P. Morgan Banker Selected for FDIC. Summers: “Inside Job had essentially all its facts wrong” In mid-2009, I went on a search for apologies, from the people who laid the intellectual and regulatory foundations for the financial crisis. I wondered whether and when Larry Summers, in particular, would apologize for what he did at Treasury, and I was heartened when Bill Clinton came out and said that, with hindsight, he was wrong about derivatives regulation. Then, in 2010, Inside Job came out, and demonstrated the need for the likes of Summers to be asked direct questions about their culpability on the record, on-camera.
But Summers refused to be interviewed for that film, despite having known its director, Charles Ferguson, for many years. And when he does sit down for a rare on-the-record video interview, these questions never seem to get asked. So I was very happy to see that Krishnan Guru-Murthy at least tried to ask Summers these questions earlier this week. And Summers doesn’t even come close to apologizing, or admitting that he made any kind of mistake at all. “You didn’t?” The new WH Chief of Staff and Citigroup. (updated below) When President Obama last January announced the departure of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, many liberals were furious that his replacement was the Midwest Chairman of JP Morgan and Boeing Director William Daley, who was also an opponent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a critic of Obama’s health care bill as too leftist.
As but one example, Rachel Maddow harshly condemned the choice, noting Daley was a hedge fund manager and “business lobbyist” and “is known for pushing Democrats toward business interests”; said “liberals are banging their heads against the wall as they try to comprehend this choice”; and then sardonically observed: “mmm – a banker and a lobbyist: smells like change.” Yesterday, the White House announced Daley’s departure — he will now co-chair Obama’s re-election campaign, which basically means raising huge amounts of money from his Wall Street friends — and unveiled his replacement as Chief of Staff: Jacob Lew.
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. Should Bankers Serve on Federal Reserve Bank Boards? - Daniel Indiviglio - Business. A new GAO report finds conflicts-of-interest present. Does the system need reform? What the Report Says Persistent Fed critic Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) seized on the report to cite these conflicts-of-interest. An amendment by Sanders to the Dodd-Frank financial regulation bill actually called for this investigation in the first place.
Here are some of the points he makes in a statement he released on Wednesday: The GAO identified 18 former and current members of the Federal Reserve's board affiliated with banks and companies that received emergency loans from the Federal Reserve during the financial crisis including General Electric, JP Morgan Chase, and Lehman Brothers.Many of the Federal Reserve's board of directors own stock or work directly for banks that are supervised and regulated by the Federal Reserve. These points show that conflicted board members could benefit their firms through the power they wield at Fed banks. The Fed Is There to Protect the Financial Industry. Blue Dogs, decimated by defeats and retirements, turn to lobbying shops. Protect and Supervise Your Kids Free tracker phone is made to help you supervise your kids, turning their Android phone into a spying device. With this program, you’ll always stand behind their back and know when they need your help or protection.
Hoverwatch will constantly track their location recording their every step, and watch closely who they speak with and what they talk about. Conversation Recording Many phone tracking apps offer 'call logging'. However, call logging is very different from actual call recording. Hoverwatch brings call logging to the whole new level. Finally, Hoverwatch adds fully featured call recording, allowing you to record conversations made with your kids’ phone. Track Text Messages Hoverwatch tracks SMS messages sent and received, allowing you to read text messages in your account. Single Account. With Hoverwatch, you’ll have full access to all tracking information from a single place. What’s Recorded (and Why) Hoverwatch is not a spying app. 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). Study shows revolving door of employment between Congress, lobbying firms. The report, which tallies a greater number of workers moving between Congress and lobbying than found in previous studies, underscores the symbiotic relationship: Thousands of lobbyists are able to exploit experience and connections gleaned from working inside the legislative process, and lawmakers find in lobbyists a ready pool of experienced talent.
Of the 5,400 lobbyists with recent Hill experience, the study found that 2,900 were registered to lobby on behalf of clients this year. Twenty-five powerhouse firms and organizations employ 10 or more former Hill workers. The largest number are at the Podesta Group, followed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which employs at least 21. “People who are experienced in Washington tend to be better at doing this kind of work than people who have never worked in the government before,” said Tony Podesta, founder and chairman of the Podesta Group, one of Washington’s most prominent lobbying firms.