Hillary Clinton's GOLDMAN SACHS PROBLEM.

[Segami]

A few weeks ago, Hillary Clinton delivered a much-touted policy speech at the New America Foundation in Washington, where she talked passionately about the financial plight of Americans who "are still barely getting by, barely holding on, not seeing the rewards that they believe their hard work should have merited." She bemoaned the fact that the slice of the nation's wealth collected by the top 1 percent—or 0.01 percent—has "risen sharply over the last generation," and she denounced this "throwback to the Gilded Age of the robber barons." Her speech, in which she cited the various projects of the Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton Foundation that address economic inequality, was widely compared to the rhetoric of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the unofficial torchbearer of the populist wing of the Democratic Party. Here was Hillary, test-driving a theme for a possible 2016 presidential campaign, sticking up for the little guy and trash-talking the economic elites. She decried the "shadow banking system that operated without accountability" and caused the financial crisis that wiped out millions of jobs and the nest eggs, retirement funds, and college savings of families across the land. Yet at the end of this week, when all three Clintons hold a daylong confab with donors to their foundation, the site for this gathering will be the Manhattan headquarters of Goldman Sachs.



Goldman was a key participant in that "shadow banking system" that precipitated the housing market collapse and the consequent financial debacle that slammed America's middle class. (A system that was unleashed in part due to deregulation supported by the Clinton administration in the 1990s.) This investment house might even be considered one of the robber barons of Wall Street. In its 2011 report, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, a congressionally created panel set up to investigate the economic meltdown, approvingly cited a financial expert who concluded that Goldman practices had "multiplied the effects of the collapse in [the] subprime" mortgage market that set off the wider financial implosion that nearly threw the nation into a depression. Hillary Clinton's shift from declaimer of Big Finance shenanigans to collaborator with Goldman—the firm has donated between $250,000 and $500,000 to the Clinton Foundation—prompts an obvious question: Can the former secretary of state cultivate populist cred while hobnobbing with Goldman and pocketing money from it and other Wall Street firms? Last year, she gave two paid speeches to Goldman Sachs audiences. (Her customary fee is $200,000 a speech.) In recent years, Goldman Sachs has hardly exemplified the values and principles Clinton earnestly hailed in her speech. A few reminders:

* In April 2011, Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who chairs the Senate's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a report, based on a two-year investigation, that concluded that Goldman had misled clients and Congress about its investments in securities related to the housing market. Levin called on the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate if Goldman had violated the law by selling complicated securities to customers without informing the buyers that Goldman would pocket profits if these financial products dropped in value. Goldman denied the charge, but the previous year Goldman had paid $550 million in a civil settlement with the SEC regarding its sale of these securities. (When the case was first filed, the SEC maintained that Goldman had committed fraud by creating and peddling a mortgage investment that was secretly designed to fail.)



* In March 2012, Greg Smith, a top Goldman executive who was resigning, wrote an op-ed for the New York Times slamming the screw-the-client culture that permeated Goldman: "To put the problem in the simplest terms, the interests of the client continue to be sidelined in the way the firm operates and thinks about making money…I attend derivatives sales meetings where not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients. It's purely about how we can make the most possible money off of them…It makes me ill how callously people talk about ripping their clients off. Over the last 12 months I have seen five different managing directors refer to their own clients as 'muppets,' sometimes over internal e-mail." The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission's report also described Goldman as a first-class predator: "Despite the first of Goldman's business principles—that 'our clients' interests always come first'—documents indicate that the firm targeted less-sophisticated customers in its efforts to reduce subprime exposure." In other words, the firm knowingly peddled junk to suckers who trusted it. The report quoted an expert who noted that Goldman's actions were "the most cynical use of credit information that I have ever seen" and who compared Goldman's wheeling-and-dealing to "buying fire insurance on someone else's house and then committing arson."



* Last year, the New York Times published a fascinating investigative article that revealed how Goldman Sachs and other financial firms engaged in shrewd maneuvers to drive up the cost of aluminum. This rigging of the market, the paper reported, "ultimately costs consumers billions of dollars." That did not help struggling middle-class families.

Given Hillary Clinton's Warrenesque address at the New America Foundation, I asked a spokesmen for the potential 2016 candidate if there was anything incongruous about her association with Goldman, and he forwarded this statement:

The support the Clinton Foundation receives from companies such as Goldman Sachs, organizations and individual donors helps maximize the impact of our philanthropic work. This support is helping enterprise partnerships in South America that are creating jobs; efforts to improve access to early childhood education in the U.S.; development programs that help small holder farmers in Africa; and rebuilding and economic development efforts in Haiti.


Goldman Sachs has been a long time supporter of the Clinton Global Initiative where they have advanced a commitment designed to support 10,000 women across the world through business training and education. We are grateful for their support.

cont'

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/hillary-clintons-goldman-sachs-problem

[PoliticAverse]

1. What 'problem'!? Didn't the check clear?? n/t

[Segami]

4. It did!

....but the amount was too 'skim' and NOT enough whole!


Well, grab them Goldman 'Sacks' and keep on.....

[nationalize the fed]

56. *perfect*

I think I've hurt myself laughing...no really...something in my tummy isn't right..

[Whisp]

2. ''widely compared to the rhetoric of Sen. Elizabeth Warren ''

Like that is going to be believed by anyone with two brain cells to rub together.

[Mnpaul]

10. Just like Warren?

But Clinton offered a message that the collected plutocrats found reassuring, according to accounts offered by several attendees, declaring that the banker-bashing so popular within both political parties was unproductive and indeed foolish.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/22/1264660/-Hillary-Clinton-Tells-Wall-Street-She-Believes-Anti-Wall-Street-Rhetoric-Foolish

[Whisp]

11. No, Hillary is nothing like Warren.

I wish!
I think Warren is an amazing person that is beholding to the people and not to big money and dynasties and $400,000 speeches to banksters.

[Mnpaul]

15. Standard Clinton triangulation

She tells the banks that criticism of their activities is unproductive while at the same time telling everyone else that we need to do more to help those who are being left behind.

She just runs out and tells people what they want to hear. I remember her dodging all controversial issues as Senator. My Senator(Klobuchar) does the same thing. They only care about self promotion and nothing else.

[marmar]

3. k/r

Get ready for more Goldman Sachs-approved legislation.

[progressoid]

5. G Sachs is just one of her problems.

K/R

[Vincardog]

27. Do ya think being on Wallie World's board could hurt too?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. $400,000 leads to a quid pro quo between a politician and bankers? Perish the thought.

Why, Hillary would have refused or returned the payoff...er..fee...contribution..if she thought there were strings attached beyond her gig entertaining the bosses.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. I think the technical term is

"Squid pro quo"

[DURHAM D]

8. Juvenile drivel. nt

[Octafish]

9. Goldman Sachs making the rich richer and the rest into indentured servants.

http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-and-the-secret-end-game-memo/

[antigop]

12. Papantonio: Hillary Can’t Shed Corporate Stripes (video)

[Jefferson23]

16. She wants to shed them?

[antigop]

13. cue the "hater/basher" posts...countdown....3...2...1...nt

[NYC_SKP]

14. "Blast off!" Clinton's record speaks for itself.

To anyone truly paying attention.

eom

[antigop]

17. why, yes, yes it does.....

Thanks for the kick.

[Divernan]

18. Clintons have always MARKETED themselves as 2 for PRICE of 1

Going back to Bill's first presidential campaign - elect me and you get my wife as well - it's a "2 for the price of 1" (his exact words). How appropriate that he referred to their "price". That has proved to be the operative factor with the Clintons. I expect the same would hold true if Hillary were elected.

Both Clintons are making the case that theirs was a co-presidency -- an echo of Bill Clinton's controversial statement during the 1992 campaign that voters would get "two for the price of one" if they elected him. At times, the former president has seemed to cast the current race as a referendum on his administration.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102588.html


So let us remember Bill's attitude toward his Big Banking friends and those who dare criticize them:

Clinton's relationship with Goldman Sachs is not unique. Bill and Hillary Clinton have always nurtured cozy ties with Wall Street—in terms of policies and funds-chasing (for their campaigns and the foundation). The chief economic guru of the Clinton administration was Robert Rubin, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, and the financial deregulation and free-trade pacts of the Clinton years have long ticked off their party's populists. In his new book, former Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recalls visiting Bill Clinton at his Harlem office and asking his advice, as Geithner puts it, on "how to navigate the populist waters" and respond to the American public's anger about bailouts and Wall Street. The former president didn't seem to have much sympathy for these popular sentiments and replied by referring to the CEO of Goldman: "You could take Lloyd Blankfein into a dark alley and slit his throat, and it would satisfy them for about two days. Then the bloodlust would rise again."

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/06/hillary-clintons-goldman-sachs-problem

[truedelphi]

58. Yep, that sums up a lot for me.

She has already served her goddamn two terms, and it is against the Constitution to have a third term.

[antigop]

19. Hillary Clinton's Business Legacy at State Dept (leading part in drafting TPP)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101667554

Hillary Clinton's Business Legacy at the State Department (leading part in drafting TPP)

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-10/hillary-clintons-business-legacy-at-the-state-department#p1

On her 79th and probably last overseas trip as secretary of state, Hillary Clinton made a pit stop in the Czech Republic. One purpose of the 11-hour visit on Dec. 3, squeezed between NATO talks on the future of Afghanistan and the Syrian civil war, was to make a personal appeal to Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas on behalf of Westinghouse Electric, which is vying for a contract to build a nuclear power plant there. The company is locked in a $10 billion bidding war with a state-owned Russian energy giant, and Clinton pressed the Czech officials about the wisdom of depending on Vladimir Putin’s Russia for something as essential as electricity. Westinghouse Chief Executive Danny Roderick, who’s still awaiting a decision, says Clinton’s intervention made a big impression on the Czechs: “I was proud that she was in the trenches with me.”

In four years as the nation’s top diplomat, Clinton, who is expected to step down this month, has made dozens of similar sales pitches on behalf of U.S. companies. In 2009 she toured a Boeing plant in Moscow and met with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to persuade state-owned Russian Technologies to buy 50 Boeing 737s instead of jets made by Airbus. That $3.7 billion deal was one of several large contracts Clinton helped clinch for Boeing (BA). In December 2011, Lockheed Martin (LMT) announced a $7.2 billion deal to upgrade Japan’s aging fighter jet fleet, beating out Eurofighter. Clinton advocated for the contract with her Japanese counterpart at the United Nations General Assembly. In February 2012, Space Systems/Loral, which builds communications satellites in Palo Alto, won a contract for equipment to create a national broadband network in Australia. Clinton met with former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd several times to press for the deal. Last summer, Clinton’s undersecretary for economic growth, Robert Hormats, a former Goldman Sachs (GS) vice chair, took executives from Google (GOOG), MasterCard (MA), and Dow Chemical (DOW) to Myanmar to network with government officials, the first such meeting since sanctions against the country were lifted in 2012.

...
She’s pressed the case for U.S. business in Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia, and other countries in China’s shadow. She’s also taken a leading part in drafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the free-trade pact that would give U.S. companies a leg up on their Chinese competitors.

[MannyGoldstein]

20. Can't you people just leave it alone?

What is this obsession with bashing Hillary?

Just think what this brave and good woman has done to for you people!

Think of each piece of helpful piece of legislation she's sponsored!

Think of her brave stances on keeping America safe from Terra!

Think of the tough fights she's won!

Think of the financial sacrifices she's endured!

All for you, the little people. Where's the love she desrves?!

And think about the uncertainty of having Elizabeth Warren's husband as First Gentleman. It's scary - what do we really know about him? I hear he's a Libertarian, and plan to post that fact daily. With Hillary, we get a husband who's known to be as Liberal as she is. WIN!

Regards,

Ready-For-Hillary! Manny

[stonecutter357]

21. I don't care how much hell you raise, I am going to vote for Hillary.

[KamaAina]

22. Don't forget her WALMART PROBLEM.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton#Later_Arkansas_years

In addition to her positions with nonprofit organizations, she also held positions on the corporate board of directors of TCBY (1985–1992), Wal-Mart Stores (1986–1992) and Lafarge (1990–1992). TCBY and Wal-Mart were Arkansas-based companies that were also clients of Rose Law. Clinton was the first female member on Wal-Mart's board, added following pressure on chairman Sam Walton to name a woman to the board. Once there, she pushed successfully for Wal-Mart to adopt more environmentally friendly practices, was largely unsuccessful in a campaign for more women to be added to the company's management, and was silent about the company's famously anti-labor union practices.

[Alkene]

23. I suspect she'll be just fine.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get to the food bank early enough to get a good position in line.

[stevenleser]

24. 99% of Americans do not care about this. It's not a problem. nt

[frylock]

25. 1% of Americans do not care about this.

[JackRiddler]

43. Bold statement!

I don't think 99% are watching you and your colleagues on FOXNEWS, but there are many other distractions, so it is true that too many people don't understand that Wall Street (meaning the owners and managers of the major institutions) is a criminal syndicate, their enemy in a murderous class war from above, and a driving force in the ongoing destruction of the biosphere itself.

I can't imagine why anyone informed would think it was a good thing that many people are so hopelessly ignorant about their own interests, not to mention right and wrong. Of course, some well-informed people still want for some reason to protect the banksters, or at least sustain their own denial. Perish the thought, in your case.

[antigop]

45. maybe those who want to protect the banksters profit from the status quo. nt

[JackRiddler]

46. Maybe!

[MannyGoldstein]

52. If any FDR Democrat is in a debate with Hillary,

Hillary will implode over this issue.

There's no defense that most Americans believe anymore.

This is why I suspect Hillary will sit this race out.

[Thinkingabout]

26. OMG, WTH, if those complaining can give enough money to support a campaign to run for president

then maybe you have the answer? We have to accept the fact there are those who has more money than the rest of us, it has been and will continue to be. Maybe some does not know there are some little people who invest in Wall Street, it does not make us bad, also there are Democrats which invest in Wall Street. More than likely if you have a pension the funds are invested in Wall Street. Elizabeth Warren is invested in Wall Street and if she is lucky enough she will receive campaign funds from Wall Street.

[think]

28. Investing in stock is not the equivalent of taking money for speeches

from a bank with a dubious record in regards to the law.....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#Controversies

[Thinkingabout]

29. When someone of Hillary Clinton gives speeches they are compensated for those speeches. There are

many organizations in which has a shady holding and they still receive contributions from different sources. There have been consulting fees received by many people also. If those who speak at different events are able to receive compensation in doing so, why are you so concerned?

[think]

31. Why am I so concerned? Because it smacks of impropriety. /nt

[Thinkingabout]

33. Since this is a common practice I do not understand your impropriety statement.

She has written books also is this also impropriety?

[think]

34. Did she write the book for Goldman Sachs and get a huge advance to write it for them?

Does the company that financed the book deal have former employees in positions of high importance in the president's administration that exude a large amount of influence on public policies that directly benefit the former employer?

Has the company that financed the book been subject to a history of litigation for it's activities which have been investigated by the DOJ only to be let off with fines rather than criminal prosecution?

Comparing writing a book to taking money for speeches from a bank with a long history of using it's influence in the political realm to make enormous profits while avoiding criminal prosecution kind of misses the point doesn't it?

[Thinkingabout]

35. Do you work? Do you receive compensation for your work? Are you sure everyone

which might ever have a connection with any banks or has done anything illegal? I work, I receive compensation for work. It is like someone making a movie and who knows who is going to watch the movie of which royalty is paid to those who perform. There are lots of folks who are avoiding prosecution and making profits.

[think]

37. Do you think Bernie Sanders would take money from Goldman Sachs? Should he?

Would he still be trusted to put the public's interests ahead of a corporation with a blatant history of political cronyism?

The Face of Class Warfare
Thursday, November 29, 2012

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein came to Capitol Hill this week to call for cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. As Congress and the White House are negotiating a year-end deficit deal, Blankfein sought to “lower people’s expectations” about their retirement and health care. He spoke with all the sympathy for someone struggling to get by on $14,000-a-year retirement that you’d expect from a Wall Street banker paid $16 million last year. “Think about the arrogance of these guys on Wall Street who were bailed out by the middle class of this country when their greed and recklessness nearly destroyed the financial system and now they come to Capitol Hill to lecture Congress and the American people about the need to cut programs for working families,” Sen. Bernie Sanders said in a Senate floor speech.

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/the-face-of-class-warfare

[Thinkingabout]

39. If you work and do not expect compensation then Hillary does not agree with you

And neither does people who work. We do not work for free. You are asking about Bernie Sanders, do you think everyone who is in Congress is without fault? Bernie is taking compensation and also Elizabeth Warren, what is the problem with them taking compensation for their services.

[think]

42. Speaking of Elizabeth Warren and Goldman Sachs:

Elizabeth Warren Wants To Take This Goldman Sachs Aluminum Story And Run Right Over Wall Street With It

Today the Senate Banking Committee met to discuss Wall Street's role in the global commodities business, and as you can imagine Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) was quite outspoken about the fact that she wants it majorly diminished.
"...I share the concern of many of my colleagues about asset managers at huge Wall Street banks exercising control of key parts of America's infrastructure," she said.

This discussion is crucial, as all of that will come up for consideration in September.

Back in 2003 the Federal Reserve decided to temporarily allow banks to purchase commodities directly. That means oil, power, copper, aluminium etc. This September, that temporary regulatory relaxation is set to expire, and if it does, a big chunk of Wall Street's business will expire with it...

~Snip~

If that general tone sounds ominous, recent news stories haven't helped. This weekend, the New York Times reported that Goldman Sachs has allegedly been using its aluminum warehouses to manipulate the price of the metal.

~Snip~

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/senate-banking-on-wall-st-commodities-2013-7#ixzz33jaSltgy

Guess she won't be getting any cookies from Goldman Sachs either......

[Thinkingabout]

47. Don't bet on that.

[think]

48. Do you expect Warren to get paid for making speeches to Goldman Sachs?

I plan to vote for the most ethical and public minded candidates possible.

Giving paid speeches to the likes of GS tends to knock down my expectations for a candidate to keep the public's interests at heart when the paid contributor's financial interests are at stake......

[Thinkingabout]

49. Do you think everyone who has purchased stocks is a bad person? There are lots of good people

in the stock market, and BTW, having investments in stock markets does not make someone a bad person, my goodness, if this is your aim to never vote for anyone who has not bought and sold stocks is going to make your pickings very slim. Perhaps one of these days you can also purchase stocks, plan for your retirement and hope you have enough money.

Are you contending Elizabeth Warren has never invested in the stock market, she teaches economics, she would be a poor teacher of economics if she has not invested in stocks herself.

[think]

50. Giving a paid speech to GS is NOT the same as buying stock

The two are not even close to being synonymous.

Goldman Sachs is NOT the stock market. Goldman Sachs is a banking conglomerate ON Wall Street.

Why should anyone care if someone buys stock in a company who doesn't have a history of violating the public trust and operates in an ethical manner?

[Thinkingabout]

53. What is Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is a leading global investment banking,
securities and investment management firm ...

Securities and investment into.......stocks which is traded at stock markets. If you want to tear down Hillary for dealing,speaking with investment firms then you have to tear down the rest who invest.
Are you financially able to write the big checks to a Elizabeth Warren campaign in order for her to run?

if not then the big funding will come from investment companies and any other source willing to provide the funding. I like Elizabeth Warren, I also like Hillary but which ever Democrat candidate comes out on top in 2016 will be the candidate I support. As a Democrat I do not plan nor participate in a running campaign in which the GOP hopes we do. We have to stop this now.

[think]

55. Hillary is better than the GOP alternative but don't expect people

to feel good about her involvement with THIS company.

[MannyGoldstein]

51. Likewise, all Americans should be allowed to own nuclear weapons.

We can own guns, right? Guns and nukes are both weapons, no? Same thing.

I want my nuke.

[rhett o rick]

40. It's called bribery. She has a cup of tea and they give her personal account $400,000. Dont

try to tell us that she had information for them that was valued at $400,000. It is corruption.

[Whisp]

30. Inevitable.

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[antigop]

32. you're sooo yesterday. Dontcha know --- the "inevitability" meme has given way to the

"she can win" meme.

Cue the Third Way sycophants....countdown.....3....2.....1

[davidpdx]

38. or the who else is there to save us

I've seen that one repeated quite a number of times. Apparently some think there should only be ONE candidate and everyone else will step aside for that person.

Until candidates actually start declaring their intention to run, I'm not backing anyone.

[antigop]

36. Lloyd Blankfein: "I held fundraisers for her."

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/wall-street-republicans-hillary-clinton-2016-106070.html?hp=t1

But the private consensus is similar to what Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said to POLITICO late last year when he praised both Christie — before the bridge scandal — and Clinton. “I very much was supportive of Hillary Clinton the last go-round,” he said. “I held fundraisers for her.”

[JackRiddler]

44. And he remembers it...

So they must have been important. (Think of all the fundraisers he's held, for Democrats and Republicans.)

[rhett o rick]

41. H. Clinton-Sachs is the apple of the eye of the Corptocracy. nm

[Agony]

54. screw the GS philanthropy, start paying people for the work they do.

NOW, not later, not tomorrow, now.

[nationalize the fed]

57. Goldman $achs: Water: Emerging Risks & Opportunities

Water is a critical economic issue in the United States. In the face of growing demand for water, coupled with extreme weather conditions, our nation’s water infrastructure system is failing.

[center][/center]

In February 2013, Goldman Sachs hosted a summit entitled “Water: Emerging Risks & Opportunities”, bringing together municipal and corporate clients, leading investors, government representatives, academics and non-government organizations to discuss the intersection of capital, policy and technology in addressing the water challenge. The summit builds upon an ongoing partnership with General Electric and the World Resources Institute, who co-hosted the event.

DOWNLOAD: Read the white paper that summarizes the themes of the summit. (PDF)
http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/our-conferences/water-conference/water-summit-white-paper.pdf

[benz380]

59. k/r