Has anybody who wasn't a former President ever gotten $250,000 or more per speech?

[Octafish]

I've searched on the GOOGLE and only one name popped up for me besides First Lady-Senator-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. She is second from the left in the photo above.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/washingtons-highest-lowest-speaking-fees/story?id=24551590#1

The Donald Trump, on the left in the photo above, claims to get $1.5 million per. As he won't release his tax returns, we'll have to take his word on it.

[Octafish]

4. That guy is a former President. He's very qualified to rake it in.

"Grab all you can, any time you can." -- Levi Walking Bear in The War Wagon, on his education in the white man's ways.

[Fresh_Start]

2. Donald Trump

Real estate mogul and star of “The Apprentice ”Donald Trump made 17 speeches to The Learning Annex between 2006 and 2007. After each speech, Trump received $1.5 million (¥153.9 million) for his real estate advice and thoughts on business. Learning Annex founder Bill Zanker reportedly charged $500 per ticket to each Trump event and generated a profit for every speech.

[Octafish]

11. What a rip off.

That guy can barely put a complete sentence together and I haven't heard him utter one where he wasn't the subject or object or both.

[Fresh_Start]

14. Agree with you but apparently he's been paid over $1MM per speech

more than one time

[6chars]

56. it probably more than paid off for the attendees

with their increased real estate profits.

[Fresh_Start]

3. Paris Hilton was offer $1 million but turned it down nt

nt

[Octafish]

6. Can she afford to turn down work? How is she doing?

I haven't heard too much about her recently. She's 35 so it may be time to get serious about starting a career.

[Fresh_Start]

12. She's a business woman

there are now more than 45 Paris Hilton stores in more than 40 countries, Variety named her its ‘Billion Dollar Entrepreneur’ in 2011 and her fragrance collection is fast approaching a $2 billion industry — so it’s more than time to take her seriously in the category. And, yes, it’s a lot easier to make money when you start with money, but, as she pointed out when we sat down in her Beverly Hills home, she didn’t have to work at all.

[Octafish]

28. Awesome!

The idea she intends to use her wealth and fame to make this a better world is very heartening. Knowing she's your friend gives me even more confidence, Fresh_Start.

[Fresh_Start]

40. I'm sorry if I led you to believe she is my friend...I don't know her

but I think its impressive what she has done...given she could have been lolling around enjoying her inheritance

[seabeyond]

5. Kick ass woman. Know your valued, and expect to be paid. You betcha.

[Octafish]

8. What do the people who paid get in return?

Something nice, I bet.

[seabeyond]

10. Her speech.... Duh. Lol. Really?

[Octafish]

13. LOL! Like at UBS!

UBS is a Swiss bank that is enjoying better days, thanks to the US taxpayer and a number of key US political leaders.

Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions to the Clintons

The Wall Street Journal’s eyebrow-raising story of how the presidential candidate and her husband accepted cash from UBS without any regard for the appearance of impropriety that it created.

by CONOR FRIEDERSDORF, The Atlantic, JUL 31, 2015

The Swiss bank UBS is one of the biggest, most powerful financial institutions in the world. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton intervened to help it out with the IRS. And after that, the Swiss bank paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for speaking gigs. The Wall Street Journal reported all that and more Thursday in an article that highlights huge conflicts of interest that the Clintons have created in the recent past.

The piece begins by detailing how Clinton helped the global bank.

“A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts,” the newspaper reports. “If the case proceeded, Switzerland’s largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court. Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement—an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS.”

Then reporters James V. Grimaldi and Rebecca Ballhaus lay out how UBS helped the Clintons. “Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according to the foundation and the bank,” they report. “The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House.”

The article adds that “there is no evidence of any link between Mrs. Clinton’s involvement in the case and the bank’s donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, or its hiring of Mr. Clinton.” Maybe it’s all a mere coincidence, and when UBS agreed to pay Bill Clinton $1.5 million the relevant decision-maker wasn’t even aware of the vast sum his wife may have saved the bank or the power that she will potentially wield after the 2016 presidential election.

SNIP...

As McClatchy noted last month in a more broadly focused article that also mentions UBS, “Ten of the world’s biggest financial institutions––including UBS, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs––have hired Bill Clinton numerous times since 2004 to speak for fees totaling more than $6.4 million. Hillary Clinton also has accepted speaking fees from at least one bank. And along with an 11th bank, the French giant BNP Paribas, the financial goliaths also donated as much as $24.9 million to the Clinton Foundation––the family’s global charity set up to tackle causes from the AIDS epidemic in Africa to climate change.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/hillary-helps-a-bankand-then-it-pays-bill-15-million-in-speaking-fees/400067/

About UBS Wealth Management

It's Buy Partisan

After his exit from the US Senate, Phil Gramm found a job at Swiss bank UBS as vice chairman. He later brought on former President Bill Clinton. What a coincidence, they are the two key figures in repealing Glass-Steagal. Since the New Deal it was the financial regulation that protected the US taxpayer from the Wall Street casino. Oh well, what's a $16 trillion bailout among friends?



It's a Buy-Partisan Who's Who:

President William J. Clinton
President George W. Bush Heh heh heh.
Robert J. McCann
James Carville
John V. Miller
Paula D. Polito
Anthony Roth
Mike Ryan
John Savercool

SOURCE: http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

One of my attorney chums doesn't like to see his name on any committees, event letterhead or political campaign literature. These folks, it seems to me, are past caring.

Some of why DUers and ALL voters should care about Phil Gramm.



While the nation's "news media" aren't really following this story, it should be of great concern for people who understand what "Conflict of Interest" means.

[Hoyt]

29. They get a lot of attendees, some insight into world, and they look "connected."

That's exactly the message investment groups want to portray, and it's a lot cheaper than traditional advertising. They got their money's worth, and Clinton owes them nothing more.

[uponit7771]

17. +1

[AgerolanAmerican]

26. point of inquiry

What exactly is the point of insulting our intelligence here?

[seabeyond]

36. I am sincere. Sincerely.... Clinton kicks ass getting her worth. Many women settle or not offered

[JI7]

7. there are more presidents than first lady senator sec of state

[Octafish]

15. Did Bush Jr. ever get $250,000? I know Rev. Moon paid Poppy a pretty penny one er two times...

Here's his wife and a lieutenant cutting the cake...



Know your BFEE: Rev. Sun Myung Moon OWNS Poppy Bush.

[JI7]

18. Bush isn't very popular

[oldandhappy]

9. well, not me, giggle

I am out of the loop, and I suspect most of the voters here at DU are also out of the loop. I just paid my house insurance and am grateful to say that I was able to do that.

[Octafish]

68. You are a truly rich person, oldandhappy. You'd be worth $250,000 to hear speak.

You follow the law plus you care about Democracy, among infinite other reasons.

Regarding money and its influence on Democracy:

Banks Behind Hillary Clinton's Canadian Speeches Really Want The Keystone Pipeline

by Paul Blumenthal and Ryan Grim
The Huffington Post, May 31, 2015

WASHINGTON -- Two Canadian banks tightly connected to promoting the controversial Keystone XL pipeline in the United States either fully or partially paid for eight speeches made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the period not long before she announced her campaign for president. Those speeches put more than $1.6 million in the Democratic candidate's pocket.

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and TD Bank were both primary sponsors of paid Clinton speeches in 2014 and early 2015, although only the former appears on the financial disclosure form she filed May 15. According to that document, CIBC paid Clinton $150,000 for a speech she gave in Whistler, British Columbia, on Jan. 22, 2015.

Clinton reported that another five speeches she gave across Canada were paid for by tinePublic Inc., a promotional company known for hosting speeches by world leaders and celebrities. Another speech was reported as paid for by the think tank Canada 2020, while yet another speech was reportedly funded by the Vancouver Board of Trade. But a review of invitations, press releases and media reports for those seven other speeches reveals that they, too, were either sponsored by or directly involved the two banks.

Both banks have financial ties to TransCanada, the company behind the Keystone XL pipeline, and have advocated for a massive increase in pipeline capacity, including construction of Keystone. Further, Gordon Giffin, a CIBC board member and onetime U.S. ambassador to Canada, is a former lobbyist for TransCanada and was a contributions bundler for Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign.

It is not immediately clear what the sponsorship of speeches by the two banks entailed. Did they pay upfront costs to tinePublic to cover Clinton’s fees? Did they purchase a large number of tickets to underwrite the event? The banks themselves were not helpful on that score.

CONTINUED...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/31/hillary-clinton-speeches-keystone_n_7463108.html

Who, who wasn't born with a Trust Fund, can compete with that?

[SFnomad]

16. There are a few .....

Tony Blair
Mr. Noun+Verb+9/11
Alan Greenspan
Ben Bernanke

Then you have certain sports stars that might not make the quarter million club, but are probably pretty close.

[oberliner]

19. Yes, many

Al Pacino
Award-Winning Actor
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Amanda Arlauskas
Amanda Arlauskas was the third finalist for season eight of The Biggest Loser.
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Amy Poehler
Comedian and Actress, Known for NBC's Hit Comedy "Parks and Recreation"
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Andre Agassi
Tennis Champion; Founder, Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Ang Lee
Oscar-winning director of films like "Life of Pi," "Brokeback Mountain" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Anne Hathaway
Oscar-winning actress known for her roles in films like "Les Miserables," "The Dark Knight Rises," "The Devil Wears Prada" and "The Princess Diaries," among others
Fee Range: $200,000 and above;

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Actor, Model, Producer, Director, Writer, California's 38th Governor; Cultural Icon; Environmental Crusader
Fee Range: $200,000 and above; About Fees

Ashton Kutcher
Actor, Producer, and Co-Founder, Katalyst Media, Activist
Fee Range: $200,000 and above; About Fees
Travels From: Los Angeles - CA

https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/searchfee.php?category=&subcategory=&maincategory=&fee=6&travel=&page=1

That's just the A's.

[Octafish]

27. Thanks! I wouldn't pay a dime to hear any of those.

Then, at my age, I'm not much impressed by celebrity. ETA I think Al Pacino was very good in Glengarry Glen Ross and Ann Hathaway also is tops.

I paid to hear John Glenn speak, but that included a fund raiser for Macomb Community College. If I had the dough, I'd give him $5,000,000 per speech. Neil Armstrong and a bunch more heroes, too.

You ever see this Buzz Aldrin interview?

Cohen's lucky he didn't get launched. Their speech is priceless.

[oberliner]

37. Me neither

It's crazy.

[jamese777]

21. Rudy Guiliani & Alan Greenspan

have both been paid more than $250,000 for public speaking appearances.
http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/04/10-highest-paid-public-speakers-in-the-world/

[Octafish]

73. Thanks! Greenspan who trusted the Banksters & Rudy G of the BFEE...

...have done much harm to the nation. After recommending Bernie Kerik, his secret swinger police chief, for STASI Homeland Reichsmarshal, Rudy accused Hillary of being a "founding member of ISIS." What a rat.

http://m.nydailynews.com/news/politics/rudy-giuliani-hillary-clinton-founding-member-isis-article-1.2576160

America, we have a problem, a financial problem that gets ZERO coverage in Corporate McPravda:

Milton Friedman and the Rise of Monetary Fascism

The Dark Age of Money

by JAMES C. KENNEDY
CounterPunch Oct. 24, 2012

EXCERPT...

Monetary Fascism was created and propagated through the Chicago School of Economics. Milton Friedman’s collective works constitute the foundation of Monetary Fascism. Knowing that the term ’Fascism’ was universally unpopular; Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics masquerade these works as ‘Capitalism’ and ’Free Market’ economics.

SNIP...

The fundamental difference between Adam Smith’s free market capitalism and Friedman’s ‘free market capitalism’ is that Friedman’s is a hyper extractive model, the kind that creates and maintains Third-World-Countries and Banana-Republics, without geo-political borders.

If you say that this is nothing new, you miss the point. Friedman does not differentiate between some third world country and his own. The ultimate difference is that Friedman has created a model that sanctions and promotes the exploitation of his own country, in fact every country, for the benefit of the investor, money the uber-wealthy. He dressed up this noxious ideology as ‘free market capitalism’ and then convinced most of the world to embrace it as their economic salvation.

SNIP...

[font color="green"]Monetary Fascism, as conceived by Friedman, uses the powers of the state to put the interest of money and the financial class above and beyond all other forms of industry (and other stake holders) and the state itself.[/font color]

SNIP...

Money has become the state and the traditional state is forced to serve money’s interests. Everywhere the Financial Class is openly lording over sovereign nations. Ireland, Greece and Spain are subject to ultimatums and remember Hank Paulson’s $700 billion extortion from the U.S. Congress. The $700 billion was just the wedge. Thanks to unlimited access to the Discount Window, Quantitative Easing and other taxpayer funded debt-swap bailouts the total transfers to the financial industry exceeded $16 trillion as of July 2010 according to a Federal Reserve Audit. All of this was dumped on the taxpayer and it is still growing.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/10/24/the-dark-age-of-money/

We need to get back to the day when people were more important than profits; when peace trumped money.

[PeaceNikki]

22. Lady Gaga, Larry the Cable Guy, and Jerry Seinfeld to name a few.

[JoePhilly]

23. Well W Bush is a pirah ... GHWB was a failed one termer.

And Reagan was "bu-bye" when he left office.

[Octafish]

39. JoePhilly, Reagan was bu-bye in March of '81.

Through a Glass Darkly

Alexander Cockburn
Lies Of Our Times (p. 12-13)
November 1991

What was surprising to me was Reagan’s condition. He was exhausted to the point of incoherence throughout much ofthe interview and could not remember the substance of any subject that had been discussed apart from Mitterrand’s expression of anticommunism. I had not seen Reagan at such close rangesince the assassination attempt nearly four months earlier, and was shocked at his condition.... Reagan simply was unable to recall the contents of the talks in which he had just participated.... The interview concluded at a signal from Deaver,who did not seem to find the president’s condition unusual.”

Thus ran Lou Cannon’s recollections of an interview with the Commander-in-Chief in 1981, as set forth in his book President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime (New York: Simon & Schuster,1991), published earlier this year. But how did Cannon describe Reagan’s condition to the readers of the Washington Post when he wrote up his interview? In the July 23, 1981, Washington Post,Cannon’s story appeared under the headline “Reagan Describes Summit Meeting as ‘Worth Its Weight in Gold.’ ” Cannon’s report gives the impression of a lucid chief executive returning home after a fruitful colloquy with other western leaders at the economic summit held in Ottawa in mid-July. Cannon did mention in the tenth paragraph that “Reagan appeared tired to the point of near-exhaustion,” but this observation was quickly qualified by the opinion of “aides” that the president had been doing a lot of prep for the conference and was also worried about the Middle East.

Cannon shared his brief session with Reagan aboard Air Force One with Hedrick Smith of the New York Times, who similarly gave his readers the impression of a president in touch with things rather than the incoherent old man they had actually encountered. As did Cannon, Smith wove the few quotable remarks from Reagan into a tapestry of attributed presidential dicta passed on — and no doubt confected— by Meese, Deaver,and Speakes. It is clear from Cannon’s account of the conference itself that Reagan was fogged up throughout the actual conference, occasionally interjecting trivial observations or homely jokes into the proceedings and then relapsing into bemused silence. Cannon’s memoir is one more indication of the cover-up that took place in the wake of Hinckley’s assassination bid on March 30, 1981. At the time of the shooting, the press was full of phrases like “bouncing back,” “iron constitution,” and other terms indicating that Reagan had emerged from the ordeal in good shape. In fact Reagan very nearly died on the operating table and was a dotard afterwards. He never fully recovered.

Conclusion: Unless a president is actually dead, the WhiteHouse press corps can be relied upon to present him as both sentient and sapient, no matter how decrepit his physical and mental condition.

SOURCE in PDF form:

http://liesofourtimes.org/public_html/1991/Nov1991%20V2%20N10/Nov1991%20V2%20N10.pdf

No wonder he thought ketchup was a vegetable.

[Calista241]

24. Companies and organizations pay for speeches all the time.

I was an employee at Hewlett-Packard in the past, and for our kickoff, they had Steve Young come and give us a speech. It was VERY entertaining. I don't know what they paid him to do the speech, but it was and hour long speech in front of a couple thousand employees, so it couldn't have been cheap.

[eastwestdem]

55. Yes, and I've been to the AAP meeting many of times. There is always a big name speaker

giving the keynote address. People don't seem to realize that there is actually an entire industry out their for paid speakers. It's not that unusual, and by and large the talks are pretty generic.

[Calista241]

66. Yeah, I was at the Marketo customer conference last week

And they had freaking Will Smith as their keynote speaker. Later in the evening, he and DJ Jazzy Jeff got up and had a mini concert.

I bet Marketo paid at least a couple million dollars for that kind of time investment. And DJ Jazzy Jeff probably got a half mil at last for the performance.

[moriah]

25. I don't know $250k+, but here's 136 who get $200k plus.

https://www.allamericanspeakers.com/searchfee.php?fee=6

[MineralMan]

42. Yup.

[6chars]

57. my fee is well north of $200k

only problem is no takers, so far.

[ContinentalOp]

30. Yep, this is exactly why this line of attack is dumb.

Freaking Sarah Palin got $100k! SARAH PALIN. You don't think Hillary is worth at least 2.5x that?

I don't fully understand why there's so much money in public speaking fees for celebrities, but as much as Clinton is dumb for having taken that money prior to running for president she'd be equally dumb to turn down that much money just to give a speech!

It looks like she was paid pretty much a fair market rate given her level of celebrity, and hey, nice work if you can get it.

[mythology]

32. Actually with Palin

she showed up, started to speak and they paid her 100k to shut up and go away.

[SFnomad]

46. I had heard that Princess Dumbass Of The Northwoods gave half her speech and then quit n/t

[ContinentalOp]

50. My dream job!

[LaydeeBug]

31. It seems to *bother* you that a woman commands that much

"Has anybody who wasn't a former president...." <<<<---------are none of them are female either.

Funny that.

[Octafish]

33. But that's what you said, though.

What bothers me is when someone who has not yet been President of the United States is commanding that much per speech. Usually, that amount is awarded to celebrities, I've learned, as well as former Presidents. I didn't begrudge them, as the group does include females, did I?

https://m.

[LaydeeBug]

34. No, that's what the title of the OP says, clearly.

PS. Hillary Clinton *is* a celebrity.

You're welcome.

[Octafish]

35. Where in the title does it say a woman making money bothers me?

It bothers me that a woman running for President received millions from the corporations she will have to regulate as President.

[LaydeeBug]

44. To quote you, my dear,

"What bothers me is when someone who has not yet been President of the United States is commanding that much per speech. Usually, that amount is awarded to celebrities"

and now it's "It bothers me that a woman running for President received millions from the corporations she will have to regulate as President."

It *bothers* you that a woman...

It certainly, certainly does.

[Octafish]

47. How nice it is to waste one's words.

That still doesn't say what you said I said.

LadeeBug

31. It seems to *bother* you that a woman commands that much

That's why I made clear what I am interested in, integrity.

[LaydeeBug]

48. No one wasted your words, and your *concern* is ntoed. nt

[Octafish]

49. What's concerning is getting accused of misogyny for criticizing conflict of interest.

You do it well, my Friend.

[LaydeeBug]

69. It should be concerning that you don't think Hillary Clinton *should* earn that

kind of coin. That she doesn't *deserve* it.

You do *that* well, my friend

[Octafish]

70. Like an investment in an employee, then.

Wall Street banks and other corps pay big bucks for employees to go into public office, promising their old jobs back, when they're done working in public sector. Here's one story that didn't get much mention in the news media:

Michael Froman and the revolving door

By Felix Salmon 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.

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.

CONTINUED...

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

Hadn't thought of it that way till now. Thanks, LaydeeBug! A Revolving Door, through which step the richest people on earth.

[LaydeeBug]

71. No. Not at all.

But don't let it stop you.

wow.

[Octafish]

72. So I should be happy she got paid as much as anybody is your point, then?

All this time I thought you were implying something else. Here's what I mean about integrity:

[font size="5"][font color="blue"]Former SEC regulator Carmen Segarra taped the top federal regulator at Goldman Sachs say certain laws don't apply to the rich.[/font color][/font size]



Those interested in justice may want to download a copy before they're gone:

The Secret Recordings of Carmen Segarra

From This American Life:

An unprecedented look inside one of the most powerful, secretive institutions in the country. The NY Federal Reserve is supposed to monitor big banks. But when Carmen Segarra was hired, what she witnessed inside the Fed was so alarming that she got a tiny recorder and started secretly taping.

SOURCE: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/536/the-secret-recordings-of-carmen-segarra

What another economist noted before he got fired and then won the Nobel Prize:

Larry Summers: Goldman Sacked

Monday, September 16, 2013
By Greg Palast for Reader Supported News

Joseph Stiglitz couldn't believe his ears. Here they were in the White House, with President Bill Clinton asking the chiefs of the US Treasury for guidance on the life and death of America's economy, when the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers turns to his boss, Secretary Robert Rubin, and says, "What would Goldman think of that?"

Huh?

Then, at another meeting, Summers said it again: What would Goldman think? A shocked Stiglitz, then Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, told me he'd turned to Summers, and asked if Summers thought it appropriate to decide US economic policy based on "what Goldman thought." As opposed to say, the facts, or say, the needs of the American public, you know, all that stuff that we heard in Cabinet meetings on The West Wing.

Summers looked at Stiglitz like Stiglitz was some kind of naive fool who'd read too many civics books.

CONTINUED...

http://www.gregpalast.com/larry-summers-goldman-sacked/

Then there's Goldman Sach's legendary generosity, not limited to the Executive and Legislative branches.

Here's The REAL Connection Elena Kagan Has To Goldman: Three Days Of Easy Work

Newly nominated Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan's supposed connection to Goldman Sachs is much ado about nothing.

Reports are flying around that she "worked for Goldman," when she straight up did not.

She was one of many on a council that spent three days (one day each year from 2005-2008) advising on the Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute. Kagan was paid $10,000.

Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler explains in HuffPo, "They met once a year for a day-long conference organized around public policy matters. The group was not involved in making any investment decisions for the company."

SOURCE: http://www.businessinsider.com/heres-the-real-connection-elena-kagan-has-to-goldman-three-days-of-easy-work-2010-5

I have a problem with the big paychecks because people without money don't get much help from government these days. Banksters, though, are immune and get taxpayer paid bailouts and bonuses.

[LaydeeBug]

74. You still seem confused. Maybe you could take a class at Burlington College.

Oh, wait.

[Octafish]

75. No need to be condescending. I'm interested in accountability.

For instance:

“The Damage to Our Intelligence is Gut-Wrenching to See”

Why the Ruling Class is So Upset About Edward Snowden

by GARY LEUPP
CounterPunch June 26, 2013

EXCERPT...

It all, in my humble opinion, boils down to this. The entirety of the ruling elite and the journalistic establishment are keen on defending the programs Snowden has exposed; keen on punishing him for his whistle-blowing; determined to vilify him as a punk, narcissist, egoist, attention-hungry ne’er-do-well (anything but a thoughtful man who made a moral choice that has enlightened people about the character of the U.S. government); feverishly working on damage control while anticipating more damning revelations; and determined to get those four laptops with their incriminating content back into the bosom of the national security state.

What sort of state is it, that says to its own people, we can invade a country based on lies, kill a million people, hold nobody accountable but hey, when one of us does something so abominable as to reveal that the state spies constantly on the people of the world, we have to have a “manhunt” for him and punish him for treason?

The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, has the audacity to tell NBC News, “It is literally gut-wrenching to see” Snowden’s revelations… because of the “damage” they do to “our intelligence capabilities”! As though there were really an “our” or “us” at this point. As though we were a nation united, including the mindful watchers and the grateful watched.

[font color="green"]No, there are us, and there are them. The tiny power elite that controls the mainstream press and cable channels, the corporations that dutifully hand over meta-data to the state (and then deny doing so to allay consumer outrage), the twin political parties, are sick to their stomachs that they’ve been so exposed.[/font color]

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/06/26/why-the-ruling-class-is-so-upset-about-edward-snowden/

It's always money with these people. It's how they measure stuff. Like Freedom. And Success! And Democracy.

Oh, yeah! The rolling eyes emoticon: So profound!

[LaydeeBug]

76. Now you're off on a tangent. nt

[Skid Rogue]

38. According to moriah's link..... (Thanks, btw)

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen are paid over 200k per speech. That list is so funny. Neil Young and Bob Dylan are on it.

[Octafish]

41. Where do the Ashley twins stand re the repeal of Glass-Steagall?

Phil Gramm who shepherded the repeal through the Senate and Congress and a couple of former Presidents (well, one who signed it into Law, anyway; the other one is a pretzeldent) are into Wealth Management these days at UBS.

http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

[Skid Rogue]

43. Your question was,

"Has anybody who wasn't a former President ever gotten $250,000 or more per speech?"

I thought the list was an interesting reply. It reminds us all exactly how much money gets tossed at famous people for just showing up.

As far as the Olsen twins stand regarding the repeal of Glass–Steagall ?

Umm... my guess would be they're against it. They've grown into NYC arty types and I believe pretty liberal, though I'd have to read their transcripts to be sure. LOL

[Recursion]

45. Bono, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Al Gore

Rudy Giuliani, Richard Branson, Sarah Palin, Elon Musk...

[think]

51. Here's Hillary's 2 year tour. Enjoy!

[fun n serious]

52. Collin Powell nt

[Octafish]

59. Thanks! I think the big bucks came after retirement from public life.

[LibDemAlways]

53. I am more interested in the content of her speeches

than what she was paid for them. Since she is stonewalling releasing the transcripts, I assume what she said would be potentially damaging to her campaign. One of the many reasons I find her objectionable as a presidential candidate.

[Octafish]

60. Walmart found her irreplaceable on its Board.

The content may offer insight as to her eco mic priorities. Personally, I can't afford four more years of Trickle Down.


Important history from 1992 campaign:

Bush Ventures to Clinton Turf, Honors Sam Walton

Republicans: The trip to Arkansas is billed as nonpolitical. The gravely ill Wal-Mart founder is given the Medal of Freedom.

by Douglas Jehl
Los Angeles Times, March 18, 1992

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — On the day Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton emerged as the prohibitive favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, President Bush visited the governor's home state on a trip he insisted had nothing to do with politics.

Bush made the journey to present the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, to one of its richest men, Sam Walton, the gravely ill 73-year-old founder of Wal-Mart Stores.

SNIP...

Walton, who built the Wal-Mart empire from one store to a $9-billion fortune, now is confined to a wheelchair, and Bush choked up during the ceremony at the company's headquarters in Bentonville as he praised the entrepreneur as an emblem of "America's success."

"I think it's important that all Americans understand that some things are going very, very well in the United States of America," Bush said. "And one of those things is Wal-Mart."

SNIP...

Wal-Mart has retained its Arkansas roots even as it has grown beyond the region. The chain also has links to the Clintons--the governor's wife, Hillary, has a substantial financial stake in the company and serves on its board of directors.

Walton's family has generously supported many of Clinton's past campaigns. This year, Walton has contributed the legal maximum of $1,000 to both Clinton and Bush.

CONTINUED...

http://articles.latimes.com/1992-03-18/news/mn-3841_1_sam-walton

Walmart continued to grow since then, making the heirs of Sam Walton very wealthy. Most everone else in the USA has not done so well.

[Maedhros]

54. That kind of fundraising doesn't bother Hillary supporters.

This is what disgusts them:

There's a thread that's talking about how BS has less than $6 million and DUers are throwing money at him, some who have literally NONE to spare. What the hell is wrong with this picture? He CANNOT win and people who can't afford it are sending him money. I'm disgusted that he does this to his supporters and they are so BLIND to how they are being exploited.

I can't even express my sadness on that thread because I'll be torn to bits for actually caring.

I have no words.

[think]

58. Considering the debt Hillary dropped on Obama it is pretty ironic as well...

Obama OKs Donors To Help Clinton With Campaign Debt

By RYAN CORSARO CBS NEWS June 24, 2008, 11:11 PM

(NEW YORK) Senator Barack Obama is giving the green light to his financial contributors to help pay off Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign debt from her failed election bid, sources tell CBS News.

CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic, who is traveling with the Obama campaign, confirms the Illinois senator gave the go-ahead on a conference call with his National Finance Committee tonight.

A Democratic source says that on the call, Obama's donors asked to help Clinton pay off her debt. Obama replied that if they have the ability and interest to raise or give money to Clinton, he encourages them to do so....

Read more:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-oks-donors-to-help-clinton-with-campaign-debt/

[polly7]

62. Yes. And that's exactly why they're so intent on preserving the status quo.

Those who have theirs don't care much about the suffering of those who don't even see a future, let alone all those living in obscene poverty and fear because of her foreign policy while SoS. It IS sad.

[Octafish]

64. Shocking, but understandable when Banksters can toss millions from their homes illegally...

...and so very few Democrats stood up to oppose them.

Tim Geithner sacrificed homeowners to “foam the runway” for the banks

Neil Barofsky, the former special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, has published a new book, “Bailout: An Inside Account of How Washington Abandoned Main Street While Rescuing Wall Street.” It presents a damning indictment of the Obama administration’s execution of the TARP program generally, and of HAMP in particular.

...

By delaying millions of foreclosures, HAMP gave bailed-out banks more time to absorb housing-related losses while other parts of Obama’s bailout plan repaired holes in the banks’ balance sheets. According to Barofsky, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner even had a term for it. [font color="green"]HAMP borrowers would “foam the runway” for the distressed banks looking for a safe landing.[/font color] It is nice to know what Geithner really thinks of those Americans who were busy losing their homes in hard times.

CONTINUED w VIDEO and links and more letters...

http://washingtonexaminer.com/video-geithner-sacrificed-homeowners-to-foam-the-runway-for-the-banks/article/2502982

Millions of Americans used as foam for the Banksters whose CORPORATIONS can afford to pay millions for speeches and lobbying versus a population living under fiscal austerity in the richest times in human history.

These are Gangster Times and most all don't even notice.

[randome]

61. Get an answer to your question yet?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Octafish]

63. Sure did -- $153 million dollars' worth!

Must be inflation.

$153 million in Bill and Hillary Clinton speaking fees, documented

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/politics/hillary-clinton-bill-clinton-paid-speeches/

Good money, right?

[randome]

65. Sure is, when most of it went to charity.

Of course you'll probably say you have incontrovertible proof that Clinton has spent it all on a Sharia Law sneak attack she plans to launch on inauguration day.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Stop looking for heroes. BE one.[/center][/font][hr]

[Octafish]

67. ''Charity'' as defined by ''Tax Shelter''

How Charity Navigator puts it:

Why isn't this organization rated?

We had previously evaluated this organization, but have since determined that this charity's atypical business model can not be accurately captured in our current rating methodology. Our removal of The Clinton Foundation from our site is neither a condemnation nor an endorsement of this charity. We reserve the right to reinstate a rating for The Clinton Foundation as soon as we identify a rating methodology that appropriately captures its business model.

What does it mean that this organization isn’t rated?

It simply means that the organization doesn't meet our criteria. A lack of a rating does not indicate a positive or negative assessment by Charity Navigator.

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.profile&ein=311580204#.V0ByAvkrK00

Oh. And thanks for the smear! You really are thoughtful.

Of course you'll probably say you have incontrovertible proof that Clinton has spent it all on a Sharia Law sneak attack she plans to launch on inauguration day.

As for religion and politics:

For 15 years, Hillary Clinton has been part of a secretive religious group that seeks to bring Jesus back to Capitol Hill. Is she triangulating -- or living her faith?

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2007/09/hillarys-prayer-hillary-clintons-religion-and-politics

[senz]

77. I don't think they're paying for the speech but for the speaker.

What she might do for them.

[silvershadow]

78. I really don't think so. nt