Posted by Tina
Jack I hope you, and of course our readers, will slog through the article, “Goldman Sachs Prospers at Tax Payer’s Expense,” by Fred N. Sauer in The American Thinker. You would probably understand the nuts and bolts of the article better than I but even with my limited knowledge I was able to understand the gist of it. The bottom line isn’t exactly new, althought the particulars are to me. It’s disturbing to say the least:
The real crime of the matter is revealed by our discovery of exactly the nature of Goldman Sachs Mysterious Business. Quite simply, the Mysterious Business is the largest highly leveraged hedge fund in the world that is run exclusively for the benefit of the employees of Goldman Sachs. All risks are absorbed by the Federal Reserve System with the U.S. taxpayers standing by at all times as ultimate guarantors.
Except for this alliance, Goldman Sachs would have disappeared under the waves of the financial crisis whose destructive excesses could no longer be prevented by the Glass-Steagall Act. The process by which this happened is a disgrace at best.
Robert Rubin left the top of his career at Goldman Sachs in 1995 to become Treasury Secretary in the Clinton Administration. He quickly, and controversially, disbursed $20 billion to support the bailout of Mexico’s government bond market in which Goldman Sachs had extreme, if not life threatening, risk. He then became the architect and engineer of the removal of the Glass-Steagall Act whose principal immediate beneficiary would be Sandy Weill, who would make billions by merging his Travelers Group into Citicorp. Not surprisingly, Robert Rubin would go to work almost immediately for Sandy Weill as a top executive for Citicorp.
When the dust finally cleared, it became obvious that the demise of Glass-Steagall allowed the risk-taking traders at Citicorp to jeopardize nearly $1 trillion worth of customer deposits, which is the main reason the feds had to spend so much bailing it out. With that, Bob Rubin’s Wall Street career was over. He was forced to resign from the Citi board and the firm itself with his reputation in tatters, but not without earning more than $100 million. (emphasis mine)
DemocRAT lending regulation written under Clinton and Carter, DemocRAT executives at Fannie Mae, and DemocRAT executives at Goldman Sachs and Citicorp managed to orchestrate some very heavy duty destruction on the American people while positioning themselves to make a lot of money. The rats in the system need to be stopped. One way to begin would be to rid ourselves of these corrupt players when we discover their corrupt ways. Unfortunately those that are elected have supporters that are both dumb and loyal…and so they just keep rewarding them. Others are protected by the very legislation that made it possible for them to set up the scams in the first place. They were in business to help themselves to as much cash as they could.
This is not an example of greedy corporate America or greedy Wall Street. It is an example of using the political system to manipulate business operations and practices for personal gain. It is corruption at the highest levels. Interesting that many of those who benefited from these schemes also are the ones likely to point fingers at corporate America and Wall Street as the greedy bad guys. They do it under cover of being the ones who care most about people, ie, loans for people who can’t afford them.
They do it to provide a target for all of the anger the public rightly feels.
The word that best fits these jerks is decivious. They are people who are both deceptive and devious, working within our political/economic system for their own personal benefit and gain.
Hey, if Sarah Palin can create a new word, refudiate, why not I?
“[A democrat] then became the architect and engineer of the removal of the Glass-Steagall”
Excuse me, but I think the architects and engineers of the Graham-Leach-Biley Act were Messrs. Graham, Leach, and Biley!
THIS is why nothing gets fixed, Tina. You foolishly believe only ONE party is involved in the sodomy of America.
You foolishly believe everything your party tells you.
Q: “Excuse me, but I think the architects and engineers of the Graham-Leach-Biley Act were Messrs. Graham, Leach, and Biley!”
True..they were responsible for getting the legislation through Congress. they also believed philosophically that it would be good for business given the competitive nature of business in the modern world. They were not, to my knowledge, passing the bill to enrich themselves or create a fantastic personal opportunity for themselves. Rubin and others were. Let me remind you…as you have reminded me…Bill Clinton signed the legislation. What is also true is that he and Rubin were the architects of the move to repeal Glass Steagall.
I know you hate cut and paste but since I’m not an expert and not connected except by the internet here goes:
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/business-regulations/500983-1.html
http://my.opera.com/richardinbellingham/blog/show.dml/1796860
http://www.allbusiness.com/government/business-regulations/500983-1.html
In Addition to Tina’s information on the Graham, Leach, and Biley! (Good Job, cut and paste shows we are looking and learning) which as pointed out was replacing the FDR inspired but now disintegrating Glass-Steagall act of 33, not only was it ‘Signed by Clinton’, it had been overwhelmingly passed (90% plus) by both sides in both houses of Congress. So Q what was your point again about only one party?
However, when it comes to electing anyone this would be my opinion!
‘Too many political leaders act too irresponsibly, failing common sense or foresight. However the biggest failure in politics is always the voter’.
Harold I’m with you!
The voters in America have been terribly indifferent and have signaled to the politicians for a long time that we don’t care how they behave or what they do. That’s why TPers, radio personalities, bloggers and others are making so much noise now.
The sleeping giant has awakened! We are dedicated to the pursuit of the truth and determined to make our voices heard. We are demanding a much higher level of integrity from those who serve and more thoughtful consideration about the ultimate consequences of their actions for all Americans.