Posted on 09/29/2009 3:17:13 AM PDT by Scanian
SO, is this how Goldman Sachs does it?
"It," of course, is making gobs of money even when nobody else on Wall Street can.
And those profits then go into outrageous bonuses to employees, which cause rancor on Capitol Hill and on Main Street.
You've heard the old saying, "it's not what you know, but who you know."
Goldman Sachs knows lots of important people. That fact is indisputable, mainly because former Goldman employees are scattered around the country, and the globe, in important, decision-making financial positions.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
bump for the bagel-and-Post routine.
EXCERPT Today, in these tumultuous times of bailouts and meltdowns when the investment banking leviathan needs Washington more than ever before, Goldman Sachs can leverage its most valuable asset yet White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.
Traditionally a Democratic booster, and one of Barack Obama’s top sources of funds in this past election, Goldman has always had particularly strong allies in government.
Rahm Emanuel is one such ally. An interesting early chapter in the Goldman-Emanuel relationship took place in the setting of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign for the White House. Clinton hired Emanuel as his chief fundraiser.At the same time, however, Emanuel was on the payroll of Goldman Sachs, receiving $3,000 per month from the firm to “introduce us to people,” in the words of one Goldman partner at the time. This is certainly a noteworthy relationship, but it’s one that has almost entirely escaped scrutiny. (snip)
In his four terms in Congress, Emanuel raised $74,750 from Goldman, making the firm his number four source of funds. Goldman has helped Emanuel. How has Emanuel helped Goldman? The most obvious answer, as mentioned in this column two weeks ago, is in Emanuel’s lead role in shepherding the “$700 billion” bailout—first proposed by former a Goldman CEO, Bush Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson—through the skeptical House.
Of course, back in the Clinton days, Goldman benefited from NAFTA and the bailout of the Mexican currency, with Emanuel pushing NAFTA through Congress, and Rubin hammering out the peso bailout.
Did Goldman improperly funnel money to the Clinton campaign by subsidizing Emanuel’s salary in 1992? Did Goldman’s help to Clinton spur the Democratic president to push NAFTA and the Mexican bailout?
The answers to these questions are opaque, and with Emanuel burrowed deep within the Obama White House, the continued relationship between Goldman Sachs and Obama’s right hand man won’t be easy to follow.
Watch which regulations of Wall Street Obama fights for. Watch where the bailout money goes.
SOURCE http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/TimothyCarney/ Goldman_Sach_Will_Be_Sitting_Pretty_With_Emanuel_in_the_Obama_White_House_112108.html
Goldman is more than surviving the current financial storm. Recently it gave out billions in bonuses. G/S cultivates clout in Washington. G/S alumni served as Treasury secretaries under both Pres Bush and Clinton. And now they have Rahm---their very own WH toadie---pushing their agenda.
Wolfram and Harte.
Goldman Sachs doesn’t only have former employees scattered around the globe.
Many people in our government (and others) are Goldman Sachs people, past, present and future. Their primary loyalty is to Goldman Sachs (and their own fortunes), not to their own countries.
Much of the TARP money was, and is, focused on the preservation of Goldman Sachs and their debtors (AIG), while their competitors were allowed to fail, or were even forced into bankruptcy, takeovers, or mergers by Goldman Sachs people in our government.
Loyalty to Goldman Sachs crosses party lines. Notice that they receive the same deference from the Obama administration as they did from the Bush administration.
Goldman Sachs has no loyalty beyond survival of Goldman Sachs and the accumulation of more money, influence and power. They don’t care if Obama destroys most of the US as long as they get to survive and make a profit.
Obama rants and raves about the excesses of free enterprise and Wall Street but it is for show - he doesn’t care how Goldman conducts their business as long as they assist him in reaching his goals. It is an unholy alliance of the corrupt.
“Obama rants and raves about the excesses of free enterprise and Wall Street but it is for show - he doesn’t care how Goldman conducts their business as long as they assist him in reaching his goals. It is an unholy alliance of the corrupt.”
Obama is too stupid to realize he is working for Goldman Sachs, not the other way around.
Thanks for the ping.
Sorry, not trying to hijack your thread but I don’t know how to post a new one.
Just a quick question...
Does anyone subscribe to WSJ to get the rest of this story, I think should be out there?
The discovery that Countrywide Financial Corp. recorded phone conversations with borrowers in a controversial mortgage program that included public officials — and that those recordings have been destroyed — has prompted new congressional calls for more information about the program.
Rep. Darrell Issa of California, the ranking Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is trying to subpoena the remaining records of Countrywide’s VIP loan program. So far, the committee’s chairman, New York Democratic Rep. Edolphus Towns, has turned down that request.
The committee’s Republican staff investigators have spent months looking into the VIP program, and learned of ...
need to be a subscriber for the rest.
wolf, ram & heart
My mistake. How funny, I always thought Wolfram and Harte!
Excellent article on just how sleazy and powerful the GS gang along with a number of other big bank officers really are.
Glad you liked the post.
It really goes hand in hand what I and others have said for some time. Big bank organizations run things in the background in far access then most would think possible. They are just getting more brazen of lately. They used to stay quiet as church mouses.
A complaint filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics led the Senate Ethics Committee to begin looking at mortgages Sens Dodd (D-Conn), and Kent Conrad, D-ND, received from Countrywide Financial Corp via a "VIP" program for "friends of Angelo (Mozilo)," Countrywide's then-chief exec. The SEC filed a lawsuit accusing Mozilo of civil fraud and illegal insider trading.
HOW DODD'S DEAL MIGHT HAVE GONE DOWN For nearly a year and a half, Countrywide Financial failed (or declined) to secure its interest in Dodd's home by taking the ordinary and essential step of presenting the documents to the local town clerk and recording them in the land records. The escrow company that handles the transaction always does that, once the monies are wired.
JUST WONDERING Why would someone instruct the escrow company not to record the Deed? Actually on a refi, the deed would be in Dodd's name and the recording would be a lien by Countrywide. (A) Was the mortgage non-existent? (B) Were wired monies a payoff "laundered" as a mortgage? (C) Were the monies diverted-----maybe wired to a Conn casino account?
RECAP The escrow company that handles mortgage transactions always records the deed once the monies are wired. Why would someone instruct the escrow company not to record the Deed? Was the mortgage perhaps non-existent? Were wired monies a payoff "laundered" as a mortgage? Wired monies could be a smoking gun. Were the monies diverted-----maybe wired to a Conn casino account?
NEED TO KNOW Dodd (and his wife and family) could be enrolled in high-roller comp programs at Conn casinos (and/or in other gambling venues). These casino programs show every nickel high rollers bet---including wins on which high rollers may not have paid taxes.
Casinos are very tightly regulated. They are more than happy to cooperate with authorities---to protect their licenses. Casinos would also have records on the amount of untraceable casino chips Dodd (his wife and his family) received-----maybe gifts from his pal Angelo.
Authorities should also inquire if Dodd wire-transferred--- or if Angelo and other sub-prime lenders--- wire-transferred monies into Dodd's casino account........and if taxes were paid on these monies.
CONTACTS: Connecticut Division of Special Revenue (Gaming Control Board)
WEB SITE http://74.125.95.104/search?q=cache:EPdMRVRy8g8J:www.ct.gov/dosr/
Mailing Addresses:
Division of Special Revenue (casino control)
555 Russell Rd.
Newington 06111-1523
Division of Special Revenue (casino control)
P.O. Box 310424
Newington CT 06131-0424
Another possibility: Dodd, his family, and Angelo, may have used NETeller Plc to illegally convert monies that were then transferred offshore---to overseas gambling companies, for their personal use later. NETeller is an Isle of Man-based payment processor for gambling Web sites (suspected of having operations in the US Virgin Islands---a notorious money-laundering bank haven).
You got that right. That's what Wall Street does best---loot and pillage large caches of money---and make it look legal.
A FAMOUS RAHM STORY Emanuel Attended A Meeting With Clinton Campaign Advisers Following The 1992 Campaign Victory To Discuss Which Politicians And Members Of The Press They Would Seek Revenge Upon. “Emanuel, then Clinton’s chief fund-raiser, repaired with George Stephanopoulos, Mandy Grunwald and other aides, to Doe’s, the campaign hangout. Revenge was heavy in the air as the group discussed the enemies — Democrats, Republicans, members of the press — who wronged them during the 1992 campaign. Clifford Jackson, the ex-friend of the President and peddler of the Clinton draft-dodging stories, was high on the list. So was William Donald Schaefer, then the Governor of Maryland and a Democrat who endorsed George Bush. Nathan Landow, the fund-raiser who backed the candidacy of Paul Tsongas, made it, too.”
“Suddenly Emanuel Grabbed His Steak Knife And, As Those Who Were There Remember [Sic] It, Shouted Out The Name Of Another Enemy, Lifted The Knife, Then Brought It Down With Full Force Into The Table. ‘Dead!’ He Screamed.” Suddenly Emanuel grabbed his steak knife and, as those who were there remember [sic] it, shouted out the name of another enemy, lifted the knife, then brought it down with full force into the table. ‘Dead!’ he screamed. The group immediately joined in the cathartic release: ‘Nat Landow! Dead! Cliff Jackson! Dead! Bill Schaefer! Dead!’” (Elisabeth Bumiller, “The Brothers Emanuel,” The New York Times, 6/15/97)
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Honest ta God---I just hate it when Rahm is dissed. We know The Wonder Boy is "totally perfect."
RAHM WAS CLINTON ADVISOR, WALL STREET MULTI-MILLIONAIRE, A CONGRESSMAN, WHITE HOUSE COS
AND RAHM WAS NOT EVEN VOTED "MOST LIKELY TO SUCCEED."
TIMELINE
1992 Emanuel's knowledge of the top donors in the country, and his rapport with potential donors within the Jewish community helped Clinton amass a then-unheard-of sum of $72 million which nailed his victory.
1993 Emanuel became a senior advisor to Clinton from 1993 to 1998. Emanuel was initially Assistant to the President for Political Affairs and then Senior Advisor to the President for Policy and Strategy. He was a leading strategist in the unsuccessful White House efforts to institute universal healthcare and many other Clinton initiatives.
1993 One of Rahm's proudest moments was an event that touched his political sensibilities and his personal ties to Israel: the 1993 Rose Garden signing ceremony after the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. Emanuel directed the details of the ceremony, down to the choreography of the famous handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat."
1998 While official Washington was in the throes of the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Rahm Emanuel, a senior political aide to Pres Bill Clinton, ventured out to an elegant restaurant in Dupont Circle for something of a job interview, The New York Times’s Michael Luo writes.
John Simpson, who ran the Chicago office of the investment banking boutique Wasserstein Perella & Company, had flown to Washington to meet with Mr. Emanuel at the behest of Mr. Simpson’s boss, Bruce Wasserstein, a major Democratic donor and renowned Wall Street dealmaker who had gotten to know Mr. Emanuel. “I had this idea that this could work and that it had upside,” Mr. Wasserstein, now chairman and chief executive of Lazard, the investment bank, told The Times. “It worked out better than I could have hoped.” And better than Mr. Emanuel could have imagined as well.
Over the course of a three-hour-plus dinner, Mr. Simpson and Mr. Emanuel discussed how they might work together. Shortly afterward, Mr. Emanuel accepted an offer, nudging him down what has by now become a well-trodden gilded path out of politics and into the lucrative world of business.
1998 Rahm "The Perfect" resigned his position as an advisor to Bill Clinton, to become a Wall Street investment banker with Wasserstein Perella, (now Dresdner Kleinwort), where he worked until 2002.
1999 Just like that (snaps fingers)----in 1999, Rahm became managing director at their Chicago office. According to Congressional disclosures, Emanuel made $16.2 million in his 2 1/2 year stint as a Wasserstein Perella banker AND he probably paid all his taxes.
Amazingly, Rahm "The Perfect" became a multi-millioniare overnight----and he wasn't even voted "Most Likely To Succeed."
At Wasserstein Perella, Rahm worked on eight deals, including the acquisition by Commonwealth Edison of Peco Energy and the purchase by GTCR Golder Rauner of the SecurityLink home security unit from SBC.
2002 Rahm "The Perfect" then ran for Congress (successfully, OF COURSE). Luckily (/snic) members of the securities and investment industry became Rahm's biggest backers, donating more than $1.5M up to 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
2006 Rahm also leaned heavily upon the financial industry as 2006 Dem Congressional Campaign Committee Chair. Financial industry donors contributed more than $5.8M to the Dem committee (behind only retirees).
Remember, the point of Obama bringing Rahm in was so that "tolerant and compassionate bi-partisan Rahm" could work constructively w/ Congress to pass an ambitious agenda.......
Here's tolerant Rahm expressing his feelings for America on inauguration day.
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SURPRISE Brother Zeke is JUST as PERFECT
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, was tapped as White House health care policy advisor (thank God Rahm will "help" Ezekiel handle Medicare/Aid billions).
Would you believe there is ANOTHER totally perfect Emanuel brother---in Hollywood?
Infiltrating government and giving your old firm a billion dollars? Ding, Ding, Ding!
“Zero” and “The Perfect”. Like some at this site have stated over the past year or so, we are up to our chins in ...., and the tide is still coming in. Then throw in Axelrod and the rest of the pack.
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