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Octafish

(55,745 posts)
Sat Mar 1, 2014, 01:07 PM Mar 2014

If TPP is so good for us, why does Wall Street pay negotiators millions in bonuses?



For Services Rendered? Wall Street’s Big Paydays For Trade Negotiators

by Richard Eskow
Published on Friday, February 28, 2014 by Campaign for America's Future Blog

EXCERPT...

Here’s one possible answer: You negotiate trade deals like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the new pact that the administration is currently trying to ram through Congress. A recent report confirms that some of the officials crafting this latest agreement were paid handsomely by the Wall Street institutions that stand to benefit from it.

As the United States trade representative, Michael Froman has primary responsibility for the TPP. A new investigation from Republic Report reveals that Froman received more than $4 million in payouts from his then-employer Citigroup as he was leaving to join the Obama administration.

SNIP IMPORTANT STUFF...

The New York Times reports that Froman also had a half-million dollars in a Cayman Island account managed by Citigroup, which used the infamous Ugland House tax dodge. This modest building houses more than 18,000 legal entities. Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) called Ugland House “the biggest tax scam in the world.”

Froman also reportedly invested in funds that took advantage of the “carried interest” loophole. It’s a political embarrassment for an administration appointee to profit from tax deals that the White House opposes. Perhaps that’s why Citigroup also paid him a multimillion-dollar bonus to cash out of these funds.

Consider the sequence of events. First, the taxpayers created Citigroup, then it shafted the taxpayers. And meanwhile, its CEO has been trying to convince Americans that their government can’t afford to pay Social Security benefits or pay for other important programs, through his membership in the Wall Street front group known as “Fix the Debt.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/02/28-5

21 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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If TPP is so good for us, why does Wall Street pay negotiators millions in bonuses? (Original Post) Octafish Mar 2014 OP
K&R woo me with science Mar 2014 #1
Top 10 TPP myths used by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman Octafish Mar 2014 #4
+1 jsr Mar 2014 #12
Froman's exit payment from Citi was *conditional* on accepting a high level government post. pa28 Mar 2014 #2
For some reason, Corporate McPravda is not telling this part of the TPP story. Octafish Mar 2014 #6
Good Grief... KoKo Mar 2014 #3
Obama TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses from Big Banks Octafish Mar 2014 #7
oh c'mon. we don't even know what's in it! why should we be again' it? KG Mar 2014 #5
Yeah, see. It's all legal-like, see. Octafish Mar 2014 #9
If it were good for most people.. sendero Mar 2014 #8
That would be the Democratic thing to do. Octafish Mar 2014 #10
If the TPP is so good for us, why not more transparency? octoberlib Mar 2014 #11
Because we peasants don't know how to read jsr Mar 2014 #13
That's due to teachers' unions. Octafish Mar 2014 #15
Democracy and the Republic require transparency. Octafish Mar 2014 #16
TPP Will Have Strong Environmental Protections; Then Immediately Denies Saying That Ichingcarpenter Mar 2014 #14
''...he's doing what he's always done best: talking out of both sides of his mouth...'' Octafish Mar 2014 #17
Its all the little pieces we add up Ichingcarpenter Mar 2014 #18
It's no pony and it smells like sulfur... Octafish Mar 2014 #19
If the big boys are for it then you know we're going to get screwed. hobbit709 Mar 2014 #20
Guy who hired Tim Geithner to bail out the banksters got set for LIFE. Octafish Mar 2014 #21

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
4. Top 10 TPP myths used by U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 09:52 AM
Mar 2014


Fact-checking Froman: The Top 10 Myths Used by Obama’s Top Trade Official

PublicCitizen.org, February 19, 2014

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman tried in a speech yesterday to defend the Obama administration’s beleaguered trade policy agenda: the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA) pacts and an unpopular push to Fast Track those sweeping deals through Congress. The list of those publicly opposing the Fast Track push includes most House Democrats, a sizeable bloc of House Republicans, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and 62% of the U.S. voting public.

In attempt to justify the administration’s polemical pacts, Froman resorted to some statements of dubious veracity, ranging from half-truths to outright mistruths. To set the record straight, here are the top 10 Froman fables, followed by inconvenient facts that undercut his assertions and help explain the widespread opposition to TPP, TAFTA, and Fast Track.

SNIP...

2. Income inequality

Froman: “Our trade policy is a major lever for encouraging investment here at home in manufacturing, agriculture and services, creating more high-paying jobs and combating wage stagnation and income inequality.”

Fact: First, study after study has shown no correlation between a country’s willingness to sign on to TPP-style pacts and its ability to attract foreign investment, casting doubt on Froman’s promise of a job-creating investment influx. But more importantly, Froman opted to ignore a big part of why U.S. workers are currently enduring such acute levels of “wage stagnation and income inequality.” He did not mention the academic consensus that status quo U.S. trade policy, which the TPP would expand, has contributed significantly to the historic rise in U.S. income inequality. The only debate has been the extent of trade’s inequality-exacerbating impact. A recent study estimates that trade flows have been responsible for more than 90% of the rise in income inequality occurring since 1995, a period characterized by trade pacts that have incentivized the offshoring of decently-paid U.S. jobs and forced U.S. workers to compete with poorly-paid workers abroad. How can the TPP, a proposed expansion of the trade policies that have exacerbated inequality, now be expected to ameliorate inequality?


3. Internet freedom

Froman: “I’ve heard some critics suggest that TPP is in some way related to SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act). Don’t believe it. It just isn’t true….”

Fact: Froman’s attempt to assuage fears of a TPP-provided backdoor to SOPA-like limits on Internet freedom would be more convincing if a) he offered details beyond “it just isn’t true,” or b) if his statement didn’t directly contradict leaked TPP texts. A November leak of the draft TPP intellectual property chapter revealed, for example, that the U.S. is proposing draconian copyright liability rules for Internet service providers that, like SOPA, threaten to curtail Internet users’ free speech. Indeed, while nearly all other TPP countries have agreed to a proposed provision to limit Internet service providers’ liability, the United States is one of two countries to oppose such flexibility.

SNIP...

7. Labor rights

Froman: “In TPP we’re seeking to include disciplines requiring adherence to fundamental labor rights, including the right to organize and to collectively bargain, protections from child and forced labor and employment discrimination.”

Fact: The TPP includes Vietnam, a country that bans independent unions. And Vietnam was recently red-listed by the Department of Labor as one of just four countries that use both child labor and forced labor in apparel production. While Froman acknowledged such “serious challenges,” he did not explain how they would be resolved. Is Vietnam going to change its fundamental labor laws so as to allow independent unions? Is the government going to revamp its enforcement mechanisms so as to eliminate the country’s widespread child and forced labor? Barring such sweeping changes, will the U.S. still sign on to a TPP that includes Vietnam?


CONTINUED w/ Links and details...

http://citizen.typepad.com/eyesontrade/2014/02/fact-checking-froman-the-top-10-myths-used-by-obamas-top-trade-official.html



I can almost remember the days when I usually tried to look on the bright side.

pa28

(6,145 posts)
2. Froman's exit payment from Citi was *conditional* on accepting a high level government post.
Sat Mar 1, 2014, 04:33 PM
Mar 2014

Now he's back in the same room with Citi and Chase and their international counterparts negotiating our laws away in secret.

The level of institutionalized corruption and open conflict of interest is stunning.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
6. For some reason, Corporate McPravda is not telling this part of the TPP story.
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:03 AM
Mar 2014

This story should have legs, on un-democratic principles alone.



Obama’s TPP Negotiators Received Huge Bonuses from Big Banks

By RT

A controversial trade deal being touted by the White House is expected to give American corporations broad new authority if approved. Now according to newly released documents, big banks gave millions to the execs that are now orchestrating the agreement.

Investigative journalist Lee Fang wrote for Republic Report on Tuesday this week that two former well-placed individuals within the ranks of Bank of America and CitiGroup were awarded millions of dollars in bonuses before jumping ship to work on the Trans-Pacific Partnership on behalf of the White House.

SNIP...

In Fang’s report, he noted that such hefty bonuses aren’t unusual on Wall Street.

“Many large corporations with a strong incentive to influence public policy award bonuses and other incentive pay to executives if they take jobs within the government,” he wrote.


SNIP...

When WikiLeaks released a draft version of a section of the TPP last year, the anti-secrecy group warned that “Particular measures proposed include supranational litigation tribunals to which sovereign national courts are expected to defer, but which have no human rights safeguards”

“No wonder they kept it secret,” internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom told RT at the time. “What a malicious piece of US corporate lobbying. TPP is about world domination for US corporations. Nothing else.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/obamas-tpp-negotiators-received-huge-bonuses-from-big-banks/5370423



I think I'm with you, pa28. I prefer people with integrity -- meaning no outside conflicts-of-interest -- making policy.

KoKo

(84,711 posts)
3. Good Grief...
Sat Mar 1, 2014, 04:59 PM
Mar 2014

Every day another damned revelation of greed and corruption going on in our Government.

I thought the Bush days were bad with wondering what they'd be up to next...and usually it was something evil...but...it seems that they don't even care who they appoint and it will be reported in the media in various places and we will all be upset...and then they DO IT AGAIN!

Froman should resign. But, then so should Clapper...but he's still there.

What the hell did I vote for...?

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
7. Obama TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses from Big Banks
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:14 AM
Mar 2014

This type of generosity should have made headlines, coast-to-coast.



Obama TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses from Big Banks

BY LEE FANG
Republic Report

Officials tapped by the Obama administration to lead the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations have received multimillion dollar bonuses from CitiGroup and Bank of America, financial disclosures obtained by Republic Report show.

Stefan Selig, a Bank of America investment banker nominated to become the Under Secretary for International Trade at the Department of Commerce, received more than $9 million in bonus pay as he was nominated to join the administration in November. The bonus pay came in addition to the $5.1 million in incentive pay awarded to Selig last year.

Michael Froman, the current U.S. Trade Representative, received over $4 million as part of multiple exit payments when he left CitiGroup to join the Obama administration. Froman told Senate Finance Committee members last summer that he donated approximately 75 percent of the $2.25 million bonus he received for his work in 2008 to charity. CitiGroup also gave Froman a $2 million payment in connection to his holdings in two investment funds, which was awarded “in recognition of (Froman's) service to Citi in various capacities since 1999.”

Many large corporations with a strong incentive to influence public policy award bonuses and other incentive pay to executives if they take jobs within the government. CitiGroup, for instance, provides an executive contract that awards additional retirement pay upon leaving to take a “full time high level position with the U.S. government or regulatory body.” Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, the Blackstone Group, Fannie Mae, Northern Trust, and Northrop Grumman are among the other firms that offer financial rewards upon retirement for government service.

CONTINUED w/Links...

http://www.republicreport.org/2014/big-banks-tpp/



Stefan Selig may be doing most of the labor, as he got a bigger bonus. Froman donated his bonus millions to charity. Must be a tax gimmick.

KG

(28,749 posts)
5. oh c'mon. we don't even know what's in it! why should we be again' it?
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 09:54 AM
Mar 2014

the prez is all for it, so it must be, like, totally awesome!

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
9. Yeah, see. It's all legal-like, see.
Reply to KG (Reply #5)
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:19 AM
Mar 2014

Yeah. We right the laws, see?



I mean, "write." Who you lookin' at?

Many large corporations with a strong incentive to influence public policy award bonuses and other incentive pay to executives if they take jobs within the government. CitiGroup, for instance, provides an executive contract that awards additional retirement pay upon leaving to take a “full time high level position with the U.S. government or regulatory body.” Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, the Blackstone Group, Fannie Mae, Northern Trust, and Northrop Grumman are among the other firms that offer financial rewards upon retirement for government service.

SOURCE w/links and details: http://www.republicreport.org/2014/big-banks-tpp/

sendero

(28,552 posts)
8. If it were good for most people..
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:19 AM
Mar 2014

... it wouldn't be pursued under the cover of information blackout and non-transparency.

Didn't Obama promise us transparency? It must be those damn Republicans in congress that made another liar out of him.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
10. That would be the Democratic thing to do.
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 10:49 AM
Mar 2014
Civil Society Groups Urge Trade Transparency

Sunlight Foundation, NOV. 21, 2013, 10:13 A.M.

Today, the Sunlight Foundation joined with more than 30 Civil Society organizations from around the world and urged leaders to conduct the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any future trade negotiations in "a manner consistent with the democratic principles and openness and accountability."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership, along with other recent trade deals, has been negotiated under a cloud of secrecy, with only cursory public input. This secrecy represents a failed strategy that is in direct conflict with the ideals of openness embraced by many of the participating nations, who are also proud members of the Open Government Partnership. It is time for negotiating countries to heed the growing desire for transparency in these talks.

The letter, which calls "for governments around the world live up to their own rhetoric and extend their commitments to openness and public participation to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any future negotiations," can be viewed in full below.



Tony Abbott, Prime Minister of Australia
Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Sebastian Pinera, President of Chile
Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan
Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia
Enrique Pena Nieto, President of Mexico
John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand
Ollanta Humala, President of Peru
Tony Tan, President of Singapore
Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan
Barack Obama, President of the United States of America
Truong Tan Sang, President of Vietnam

We, the undersigned civil society groups, urge you to conduct any further trade negotiations in a manner consistent with the democratic principles of openness and accountability.

Countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations must reconcile the radically secretive process against the transparency values they purport to hold, to strengthen the legitimacy of any international agreements, and to seek appropriate balance between corporate and public interests.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a binding international agreement that could have far-reaching implications for commerce and trade around the globe, while modifying or undermining policies affecting consumer safety, access to medicine, intellectual property rights, and internet freedom. Twelve Pacific Rim countries participated in the most recent round of negotiations, which took place this August in Brunei, and several others have expressed interest in joining.

This agreement has the power to override national and local legislation on any number of issues because signatories to the Trans-Pacific Partnership will be required to bring existing and future national policies into compliance with the international norms established in the agreement. Despite the substantive importance of this agreement and growing international support for “open government” principles, it has been negotiated in secret, with only cursory input from the public; only government officials and a small group of industry representatives have been given access to the drafts of this agreement.

Many of the very same countries that have participated in the secret Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations, including Chile, New Zealand, the United States, Australia, Peru, Mexico, and Canada, attended this month’s Open Government Partnership meeting to tout their commitments to transparency. But, the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiating process has embodied the opposite values -- secrecy and elite access that undermines the democratic principles that these countries purport to represent.

The secrecy surrounding the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations has led to a widespread and decisively negative public reaction, including growing opposition in the U.S. Congress and among Members of Parliament in New Zealand, frustration in Japan and Australia, and skepticism all around the world. As shown by reaction to recent disclosures by Wikileaks which, for the first time, allowed advocates and experts to see and analyze a portion of the agreement, there is a clear need, and desire, for the public to have access to the negotiation process. Allowing industry representatives, in particular, to have access to the drafts and negotiation process all but guarantees that corporate interests will be represented at the expense of the public interest in areas as diverse as freedom of expression, access to medicine, consumer product safety, and many more.

In order to ensure that democratic principles are preserved, policy makers, civil society, and members of the public must be given the opportunity to have a level of participation and engagement in this process that is at least equal to that of industry representatives. Attempting to conduct international negotiations in secret has proven untenable in the past, with public opposition swelling when details of the plans are apparently leaked by those in positions of power who share these concerns. We believe that it is time for governments around the world live up to their own rhetoric and extend their commitments to openness and public participation to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any future negotiations.

Signed,

Africa Freedom of Information Centre
ARTICLE 19, Global Campaign for Free Expression
Center for Effective Government
Center for Independent Journalism, Romania
Centre for Law and Democracy
Christopher Allan Webber
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington -- CREW
Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society
Common Cause Zambia
Concerned Citizen
CPI Foundation, Sarajevo
David Eaves
Diritto Di Sapere
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Fundación Ciudadano Inteligente
Global Financial Integrity
Government Accountability Project
Knowledge Economy International
IndyMedia
International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development -- INFID
Iraqi Journalists Rights Defense Association
Melbourne Social Forum
New Rules for Global Finance
OpenTheGovernment.org
Oxfam America
Pro Media
Project on Government Oversight -- POGO
Public Knowledge
Sean Flynn, American University Washington College of Law
Sunlight Foundation
The Open Knowledge Foundation
Windmill



SOURCE: http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2013/11/21/civil-society-groups-urge-trade-transparency/

But, noooooo.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
15. That's due to teachers' unions.
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 02:05 PM
Mar 2014

The answer, obviously is standardized testing and charter schools.

for us, reality for Wall Street and its wholly owned subsidiary, Wall Street on the Potomac.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
16. Democracy and the Republic require transparency.
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 02:08 PM
Mar 2014

Otherwise, it's government by secrecy. And that means secret beneficiaries. For example...



CIA moonlights in corporate world

By EAMON JAVERS
Politico, 2/1/10

In the midst of two wars and the fight against Al Qaeda, the CIA is offering operatives a chance to peddle their expertise to private companies on the side — a policy that gives financial firms and hedge funds access to the nation’s top-level intelligence talent, POLITICO has learned.

In one case, these active-duty officers moonlighted at a hedge-fund consulting firm that wanted to tap their expertise in “deception detection,” the highly specialized art of telling when executives may be lying based on clues in a conversation.

The never-before-revealed policy comes to light as the CIA and other intelligence agencies are once again under fire for failing to “connect the dots,” this time in the Christmas Day bombing plot on Northwest Flight 253.

SNIP...

But the close ties between active-duty and retired CIA officers at one consulting company show the degree to which CIA-style intelligence gathering techniques have been employed by hedge funds and financial institutions in the global economy.

The firm is called Business Intelligence Advisors, and it is based in Boston. BIA was founded and is staffed by a number of retired CIA officers, and it specializes in the arcane field of “deception detection.” BIA’s clients have included Goldman Sachs and the enormous hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, according to spokesmen for both firms.

CONTINUED...

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/32290.html#ixzz0eIFPhHBh



Must be getting old, as I don't recall voting for any of that, either.

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
14. TPP Will Have Strong Environmental Protections; Then Immediately Denies Saying That
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 12:40 PM
Mar 2014

from the but-of-course dept




Back in January, you may recall that Wikileaks helped leak out the TPP's environmental chapter. It showed fairly weak efforts to protect the environment, many of which appeared to be there more for show than anything else. While it did reveal that the US had been negotiating for greater environmental protections, it also revealed that it was somewhat alone in that position, leading many to believe that any final agreement is likely to be even weaker than what's currently in the chapter. In response to this, the USTR put out what appeared to be a fairly strong statement that it won't accept weak environmental protections in the TPP.

However, over at Huffington Post, Zach Carter notes that USTR Michael Froman isn't convincing anyone in Congress, because he's doing what he's always done best: talking out of both sides of his mouth, first promising strong environmental protections, then denying he ever said any such thing:

"Ambassador Froman was asked on I think it was four different areas, and each time he said it was absolutely non-negotiable from a U.S. standpoint," [Rep. Mark] Pocan told The Huffington Post.

"So then at the end, I listed those four areas to make sure I had the U.S. position right. And he said again it was non-negotiable.

And then right after that, Lloyd Doggett got up and said, 'So does that mean that if we give you fast track, you won't send us a deal that doesn't have that stuff in it?' And right off the bat, the answer was, 'I didn't say that.' And to me, non-negotiable is, you know, non-negotiable."


And, of course, one of those four key areas was strong environmental protections.


"Froman said we're not gonna sign it unless there's an enforceable environmental chapter," another attendee told HuffPost. "And Doggett says, 'What does that mean? … If we give you fast track, you're not gonna come back with a deal that doesn't have an enforceable environmental chapter?'


Then Froman says very emphatically, 'I can't speak for the president. All I can tell you is we're working as hard as we can to get an enforceable chapter in there.'"


Except that, as USTR, it's kind of Froman's job to speak for the President on this issue.

But, even more to the point is that this highlights (yet again) how the USTR is flat out lying about fast track (also known as "trade promotion authority&quot .


As we've pointed out, Fast Track gets Congress to abdicate its (Constitutionally-granted) powers to regulate international commerce, by denying it the ability to actually explore what's in these agreements. Instead, fast track more or less gives the USTR a form of "pre-approval" to come back with a final agreement, such that Congress can only give the total thing a yes or no vote.



more;
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140227/17043826385/ustr-promises-congress-tpp-will-have-strong-environmental-protections-then-immediately-denies-saying-that.shtml



Straight talk...........LOL

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
17. ''...he's doing what he's always done best: talking out of both sides of his mouth...''
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 02:15 PM
Mar 2014

By their works shall Thee know them. Dr. Froman's the guy tapped to do Big Things.



Michael Froman and the revolving door

By Felix Salmon
Reuters, DECEMBER 11, 2009

Michael Froman is one of those behind-the-scenes technocrats who never quite makes it into full public view. But according to Matt Taibbi, he’s one of the most egregious examples — up there with Bob Rubin, literally — we’ve yet seen of the way the revolving door works between business and government generally, and between Citigroup and Treasury in particular.

I’m not sure how much of this information is new, but a lot of it was new to me, especially the bit about Froman “leading the search for the president’s new economic team” — while he was still pulling down a multi-million-dollar salary at Citigroup, no less. Apologies for quoting at length:

Leading the search for the president’s new economic team was his close friend and Harvard Law classmate Michael Froman, a high-ranking executive at Citigroup. During the campaign, Froman had emerged as one of Obama’s biggest fundraisers, bundling $200,000 in contributions and introducing the candidate to a host of heavy hitters — chief among them his mentor Bob Rubin, the former co-chairman of Goldman Sachs who served as Treasury secretary under Bill Clinton. Froman had served as chief of staff to Rubin at Treasury, and had followed his boss when Rubin left the Clinton administration to serve as a senior counselor to Citigroup (a massive new financial conglomerate created by deregulatory moves pushed through by Rubin himself).

Incredibly, Froman did not resign from the bank when he went to work for Obama: He remained in the employ of Citigroup for two more months, even as he helped appoint the very people who would shape the future of his own firm. And to help him pick Obama’s economic team, Froman brought in none other than Jamie Rubin, a former Clinton diplomat who happens to be Bob Rubin’s son. At the time, Jamie’s dad was still earning roughly $15 million a year working for Citigroup, which was in the midst of a collapse brought on in part because Rubin had pushed the bank to invest heavily in mortgage-backed CDOs and other risky instruments…

On November 23rd, 2008, a deal is announced in which the government will bail out Rubin’s messes at Citigroup with a massive buffet of taxpayer-funded cash and guarantees… No Citi executives are replaced, and few restrictions are placed on their compensation. It’s the sweetheart deal of the century, putting generations of working-stiff taxpayers on the hook to pay off Bob Rubin’s fuck-up-rich tenure at Citi. “If you had any doubts at all about the primacy of Wall Street over Main Street,” former labor secretary Robert Reich declares when the bailout is announced, “your doubts should be laid to rest.”

It is bad enough that one of Bob Rubin’s former protégés from the Clinton years, the New York Fed chief Geithner, is intimately involved in the negotiations, which unsurprisingly leave the Federal Reserve massively exposed to future Citi losses. But the real stunner comes only hours after the bailout deal is struck, when the Obama transition team makes a cheerful announcement: Timothy Geithner is going to be Barack Obama’s Treasury secretary!

Geithner, in other words, is hired to head the U.S. Treasury by an executive from Citigroup — Michael Froman — before the ink is even dry on a massive government giveaway to Citigroup that Geithner himself was instrumental in delivering. In the annals of brazen political swindles, this one has to go in the all-time Fuck-the-Optics Hall of Fame.

Wall Street loved the Citi bailout and the Geithner nomination so much that the Dow immediately posted its biggest two-day jump since 1987, rising 11.8 percent. Citi shares jumped 58 percent in a single day, and JP Morgan Chase, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley soared more than 20 percent, as Wall Street embraced the news that the government’s bailout generosity would not die with George W. Bush and Hank Paulson.


[font color="green"]How much influence did Froman have over the appointment of Geithner as Treasury secretary? Geithner, who wanted to become Treasury secretary and who as New York Fed president was a central (if not the central) figure in orchestrating the massive Citigroup bailout just after the election, knew what Froman’s job was in the Obama transition team, and knew that Froman was a senior executive at Citigroup.[/font color]

CONTINUED...

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/12/11/michael-froman-and-the-revolving-door/



Thanks for the heads-up, Ichingcarpenter. I'd always wondered what happened to Stiglitz and Galbraith the Younger.

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
18. Its all the little pieces we add up
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 02:22 PM
Mar 2014

that makes a big pile of stinking shit which others chose to ignore the smell and think there's a pony underneath it.


Octafish

(55,745 posts)
19. It's no pony and it smells like sulfur...
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 02:34 PM
Mar 2014


After Smirko left, I was told the stink is due to the exhaust.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
21. Guy who hired Tim Geithner to bail out the banksters got set for LIFE.
Sun Mar 2, 2014, 08:29 PM
Mar 2014

Geithner, in other words, is hired to head the U.S. Treasury by an executive from Citigroup — Michael Froman — before the ink is even dry on a massive government giveaway to Citigroup that Geithner himself was instrumental in delivering. In the annals of brazen political swindles, this one has to go in the all-time Fuck-the-Optics Hall of Fame.

SOURCE: http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/12/11/michael-froman-and-the-revolving-door/

There are trillions of reasons why, from Wall Street to Washington, Froman is LOVED everywhere he goes.



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