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In reply to the discussion: Jacob Lew: Another Brick in the Wall Street on the Potomac (William K. Black) [View all]Octafish
(55,745 posts)19. Another banker who profited from the 2008 financial crisis is empowered in the Obama administration
From Glenn Greenwald, upon Jack Lew's appointment as WH Chief of Staff a year ago:
The new WH Chief of Staff and Citigroup
Another banker who profited from the 2008 financial crisis is empowered in the Obama administration
BY GLENN GREENWALD
TUESDAY, JAN 10, 2012 04:58 AM EST
When President Obama last January announced the departure of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, many liberals were furious that his replacement was the Midwest Chairman of JP Morgan and Boeing Director William Daley, who was also an opponent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a critic of Obamas health care bill as too leftist. As but one example, Rachel Maddow harshly condemned the choice, noting Daley was a hedge fund manager and business lobbyist and is known for pushing Democrats toward business interests; said liberals are banging their heads against the wall as they try to comprehend this choice; and then sardonically observed: mmm a banker and a lobbyist: smells like change.
Yesterday, the White House announced Daleys departure he will now co-chair Obamas re-election campaign, which basically means raising huge amounts of money from his Wall Street friends and unveiled his replacement as Chief of Staff: Jacob Lew. In 2010, Lew became head of the Office of Management and Budget when Peter Orszag left and then, a couple months later, accepted a multi-million dollar position as a high-level Citigroup official. Lew has spent many years in various government positions, but he has his own substantial ties to Citigroup. Here is what Lew was doing in 2008 at the time the financial crisis exploded, as detailed by an excellent Huffington Post report from last year:
(Lew) oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. governments fraud case against Goldman Sachs. . . .
(I)t is his few years at Citi in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit thats likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.
Especially his units investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners.
In particular, the Citigroup fund run by Lew, Citis Alternative Investments, invested heavily in the hedge fund of John Paulson, who made billions off the deterioration of the housing industry by making bearish bets on securities tied to home mortgages particularly subprime home mortgages. One of Paulsons largest bets at the time involved Goldman Sachs, which the SEC has now charged with defrauding investors by creating and selling exotic securities tied to subprime home mortgages in 2007 without disclosing that they were handpicked by a hedge fund [Paulson] that was betting on them to fail.
CONTINUED...
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/10/the_new_wh_chief_of_staff_and_citigroup/
Fully EMO effect: I hope I didn't hurt any GG Haters' feelings with this.
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Jacob Lew: Another Brick in the Wall Street on the Potomac (William K. Black) [View all]
Octafish
Jan 2013
OP
The lesson is that just because the president replaces one of the elites doesnt mean he will replace
rhett o rick
Jan 2013
#2
Gee. That's the OPPOSITE of what Dr. Black wrote. Puro Third Way is more like it.
Octafish
Jan 2013
#12
Another banker who profited from the 2008 financial crisis is empowered in the Obama administration
Octafish
Jan 2013
#19
"Failure of Epic Proportions": Treasury Nominee Jack Lew’s Pro-Bank, Austerity, Deregulation Legacy
Agony
Jan 2013
#24
Well it seems, from the articles and the commentary posted on this forum that Romney should have
Purveyor
Jan 2013
#26