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In reply to the discussion: The Dark Age of Money: Milton Friedman and the Rise of Monetary Fascism [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)21. You are welcome, Uncle Joe! Didya see this about Sanford Weill?
A guy who got bounced* from his column at the LA Times reports:
For Hes a Jolly Good Scoundrel
By Robert Scheer
Posted on Apr 18, 2012
How evil is this? At a time when two-thirds of U.S. homeowners are drowning in mortgage debt and the American dream has crashed for tens of millions more, Sanford Weill, the banker most responsible for the nations economic collapse, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
So much for the academys proclaimed 230-plus year history of recognizing some of the worlds most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists, and civic, corporate, and philanthropic leaders. George Washington, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Albert Einstein must be rolling in their graves at the news that Weill, philanthropist and retired Citigroup Chairman, has joined their ranks.
Weill is the Wall Street hustler who led the successful lobbying to reverse the Glass-Steagall law, which long had been a barrier between investment and commercial banks. That 1999 reversal permitted the merger of Travelers and Citibank, thereby creating Citigroup as the largest of the too big to fail banks eventually bailed out by taxpayers. Weill was instrumental in getting then-President Bill Clinton to sign off on the Republican-sponsored legislation that upended the sensible restraints on finance capital that had worked splendidly since the Great Depression.
Those restrictions were initially flouted when Weill, then CEO of Travelers, which contained a major investment banking division, decided to merge the company with Citibank, a commercial bank headed by John S. Reed. The merger had actually been arranged before the enabling legislation became law, and it was granted a temporary waiver by Alan Greenspans Federal Reserve. The night before the announcement of the merger, as Wall Street Journal reporter Monica Langley writes in her book Tearing Down the Walls: How Sandy Weill Fought His Way to the Top of the Financial World ... and Then Nearly Lost It All, a buoyant Weill suggested to Reed, We should call Clinton. On a Sunday night Weill had no trouble getting through to the president and informed him of the merger, which violated existing law. After hanging up, Weill boasted to Reed, We just made the president of the United States an insider.
CONTINUED...
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/for_hes_a_jolly_good_swindler_20120418/
Just-us.
* and replaced by Jonah Goldberg, of all people.
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The Dark Age of Money: Milton Friedman and the Rise of Monetary Fascism [View all]
Octafish
Oct 2012
OP
You're welcome; but, you deserve the credit in bringing this little reported fact - a life
byeya
Oct 2012
#9
David Stockman, Pruneface Budget Director, said the wealth transfer was political...
Octafish
Oct 2012
#42
For roughly 20 years after WWII this nation built up enormous equity. Over the next 30 years
Egalitarian Thug
Oct 2012
#15
This sentence, "...uses the powers of the state to put the interest of money and the financial class
Egalitarian Thug
Oct 2012
#12
this is why the EU is failing: They put the demands of the banks above the needs of people.
librechik
Oct 2012
#17
The EU also needs a treasury and the individual nations need to be able to adjust
byeya
Oct 2012
#20
Govts need to use the military to take over banks, before the banksters buy their military, too.
WinkyDink
Oct 2012
#26
This entire thread is MUST READ stuff! ... My thanks to all of the contributors.
Bozita
Oct 2012
#32