Thursday, October 15, 2009

From the Dept of Simple Solutions: Any Financial Instrument Too Complicated To Be Regulated Should Be Prohibited


The vast, bi-partisan, federal conspiracy to empty the Treasury into the pockets of the Goldman-Sachs' elite proceeds apace.

Everybody from "thePrez" down to the hacks and shills on CNBC, et al, is extolling the proposed "re-regulation" of Wall Street in the aftermath of the worst financial meltdown in history (in raw numbers) being touted by Geithner, Summers, and the rest of the Wall Street hierophants.

Today comes the news that two of Geithner's closest (kitchen cabinet) advisors have been wallowing in bankster dough and peddling their influence in the Treasury in the name of the gangs of thugs they're ostensibly supposed to control: Via C&L's indefatigable Susie,
Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Some of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides, none of whom faced Senate confirmation, earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and other Wall Street firms, according to financial disclosure forms. [This and subsequent tmphases supplied @ C&L. W]

The advisers include Gene Sperling, who last year took in $887,727 from Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches mostly to financial companies, including the firm run by accused Ponzi scheme mastermind R. Allen Stanford. Another top aide, Lee Sachs, reported more than $3 million in salary and partnership income from Mariner Investment Group, a New York hedge fund.

As part of Geithner’s kitchen cabinet, Sperling and Sachs wield influence behind the scenes at the Treasury Department, where they help oversee the $700 billion banking rescue and craft executive pay rules and the revamp of financial regulations. Yet they haven’t faced the public scrutiny given to Senate-confirmed appointees, nor are they compelled to testify in Congress to defend or explain the Treasury’s policies.

“These people are incredibly smart, they’re incredibly talented and they bring knowledge,” said Bill Brown, a visiting professor at Duke University School of Law and former managing director at Morgan Stanley. “The risk is they will further exacerbate the problem of our regulators identifying with Wall Street.”
Here, Susie supplied a sardonic: "Ya think?" and then continues:
[...] Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said the department needs people with a deep understanding of markets and the financial system, especially as it works to fend off the worst recession in half a century.

“The secretary thought that the best way to utilize their talents was to allow these individuals to provide advice to the secretary on policy issues through appointments as counselor,” Williams said.

All of Geithner’s counselors are subject to federal ethics rules, including a pledge to avoid contact with their former firms for at least a year, Williams added.

Most officials at the Treasury who have been approved by Congress come from academic, legal or non-Wall Street backgrounds.
That's because the careers of these financial prodigies cannot withstand the spotlight of confirmation hearings, given their constant association with plague-bearing vermin in banks and other institutions,, and the corpoRat ponzi-schemers whose sole function is to separate people from their money and whose bounden allies they position themselves to be...

2 comments:

kelley b. said...

They don't just bear the plague, they are the plague.

therealhellkitty said...

If I recall correctly, Joe Kennedy was chairman of the SEC. Placed there by FDR on the theory that it took a crook to catch crooks...however this seems to be several orders of magnitude worse.
the massive conflict of interest and appearance of corruption is going to weaken this administration and it's ability to correct the problems we have.

I understand that life in Montenegro is very pleasant...