Posted on 04/09/2010 7:39:57 AM PDT by Liz
Former Citi Chair Bob Rubin (ex-Goldman Sachs banker and Clinton Treasury Secy) was criticized by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission for not accepting blame for Citi's ill-advised drive into CDOs (collaterized mortgage-backed securities that got a $45B TARP bailout). "You were not a garden-variety board member," he was told. Rubin got a $115M paycheck sitting on Citi's board 1999-2009; Rubin is frustrated with the view that he should have been more involved in Citi's operations during the crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
CSPAN/YOUTUBE | 04.06.98 | NakedEmperorNews
FR Posted Thursday, March 19, 2009 by PetroniusMaximus
VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivmL-lXNy64&feature=channel
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In 1999 Clinton repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, which had been enacted to ensure a complete separation between (1) commercial banks that accept deposits, and (2) investment banks that invest and take risks. Clinton's ill-advised move prompted the era of the superbank and primed the toxic sub-prime pump. The year before Clinton's repeal, toxic sub-prime loans were just 5% of all mortgage lending. By the time the credit crunch blew up it was approaching 30%. (According to ex-FanMae board member Edward Pinto, the actual number was over 40%. Pinto claims that FM calculatedly disguised many loans that were sub-prime to falsely appear as prime loans).
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BACKSTORY Candidate Obama expounded on 'Price Signals' to 'Change Behavior'.... In an interview on Iowa Public TV in 2007, Obama advocated sending “price signals” to middle class consumers in order to “change their behavior.” “Price signals” being an Orwellian-Marxist code word for "punitive taxes and fees."
BACKSTORY Obama, Esq, represented ACORN in lawsuits to sue banks into loaning to marginal people. Illegals were never asked for proofs of employment or citizenship---pay stubs, SS numbers, etc. As long as they had a pulse and could write the name of one of their phony identities, they got a loan. Most illegals were scam artists----flipping the home back and forth among immigrant families at higher and higher profits, duping banks at every turn. When they were done looting, the last "homeowner" defaulted and absconded to Mexico with $tens of thousands in cash.........leaving banks (and taxpayers) holding the bag.
Americans found out that toxic mortgages poisoning the global economy (that brought the US economy to its knees) were held by leeches with larceny on their minds, who had no moral integrity......just parsites who never intended to pay back banks.
EXTORTION, SHAKEDOWN, PROTECTION RACKET Candidate Obama aided and abetted SEIU and ACORN’s ‘muscle for money’ protection racket. The strategy involves SEIU extorting ‘donations’ from targeted government and corporate officials, offering them Mafia-like protection from protests by SEIU’s paid thugs, many of them convicted felons. ACORN blocked bank mergers until the targeted financial institutions agreed to change their lending policies to ACORN’s satisfaction.
It began to play out----in the context that candidate Obama's "hope and change" anarchy intended to nationalize entire industries----- banks, auto, healthcare, energy----on a march to socialism, and then communism.
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BARNEY FRANK'S ROLE An SEC complaint claims Freddie Mac circa 2000-02 misreported profits by $$billions to deceive investors ----the self-same scam used by Fannie Mae that skyrocketed executive bonuses.
That would indicate officials at Fannie and Freddie were colluding in ways to bilk the system for personal enrichment. Fannie and Freddie’s PAC, employees and lobbyists donated $4.8M to Congress since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
In Obama’s short time in the Senate, $125,000 was poured into his campaign coffers. That’s second only to Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd’s $165,000 longtime total.
In the last 10 years, Freddie Mac spent almost $95 million for lobbyists; Fannie Mae spent more than $79 million on lobbying. In 2006, a record $3.8 million FEC fine was levied on Freddie Mac for illegal political fundraising for a member of the House committee overseeing the corporation. Democrats argue that slide into the abyss began in 1999, when much of the banking world was deregulated under the leadership of Gramm, leading to the financial derivatives that led to the current credit crisis.
FRANK OPINES “The conservative philosophy of deregulation that was dominant for far too long allowed private businesses to make terrible mistakes,” said Rep. Barney Frank, who became chairman of the Financial Services Committee in 2006. But Republicans say President Clinton signed the legislation (which passed the Senate 98-0), and Clinton’s then Treasury secretary, Robert Rubin---a top Obama economic adviser (recently ousted from his perch at Citibank)-----approved.
FRANK'S LOVE BUG Barney Frank protected the mortgage giants and Frank pushed to back risky low-income housing for years. Frank had a conflict of interest because Frank’s live-on partner, Herb Moses, worked at Fannie Mae, helping create affordable housing and home improvement lending programs. The couple broke up in 1988.
Federal regulator OFHEO released a damning report on accounting irregularities at mortgage finance giant Fannie Mae. One critical finding was that in 1998, Fannie misstated expenses in order to meet earnings targets that triggered huge executive bonuses.
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RAHM EMANUEL'S ROLE In Congress, Rahm Emanuel worked to pass a bailout of Fannie and Freddie, cosponsoring the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, which also dissolved OFHEO. It moved their regulatory authority to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), which took Fannie and Freddie under conservatorship in September 2008. The same act abolished the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB) and replaced it with the FHFA. After Mr. Emanuel was named Chief of Staff, the White House denied a Chicago Tribune Freedom of Information Act request for information on his Freddie Mac activities: “The Obama administration rejected a Tribune request under the Freedom of Information Act to review Freddie Mac board minutes and correspondence during Emanuel’s time as a director.
A 2003 report by Freddie Mac’s regulator indicated that Freddie Mac executives had informed the board of their intention to misstate the earnings to insure their own bonuses during the time Mr. Emanuel was a director. But the White House refused to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request from the Chicago Tribune for those board minutes on the grounds that Freddie Mac was a “commercial” entity, even though it was wholly owned by the government at the time the request was made.
The Ohaha White House, under the influence of Rahm Emanuel, (who controls the US Treasury) is moving a trillion-dollar Treasury slush fund into corruption-riddled companies with no oversight in place. This will allow Fannie and Freddie to continue to purchase more toxic assets from banks, acting as a back-door increase of the TARP without congressional approval.
Uh, a Republican congress repealed it. Clinton signed it.
Rubin never did a damn thing, but got paid millions. While they were ready to draw and quarter Chuck Prince, Sandy Weill and Rubin skated from scrutiny.
rubin is a vampire. rudy tried to go after him earning rubin’s
enmity but rudy couldn’t get to him because rubin “never
left fingerprints.” prolly has no reflection in mirror either.
45 Billion, and I know of Citi mortgage holders, trying to adjust their interest rates and Citi WON’T BUDGE. 45 Billion...what was it for??? Not for consumer relief that’s for damn sure.
This is a pure PR stunt to gain the public's favor to pass further regulation on the banks and our economy as we go on our march to socialism. Those that blame the bankers are being complicit in Obama's plan.
If congress was really interested in solving the problem, they would look in the mirror and the CRA. Sadly, this item is never menioned in these hearing.
CBS news showed a bit of this hearing with Rubin, who they described as a ‘former Secty. of Treasury’...but didn’t mention it was under Clinton and that they are democrats.
Their usual ‘reporting’.
But it wasn’t just dems riding in on Citi corp and the other big financial institutions.
This table lists the top donors to this candidate in the 2008 election cycle.
John McCain
Merrill Lynch $373,595
Citigroup Inc $322,051
Morgan Stanley $273,452
Goldman Sachs $230,095
JPMorgan Chase & Co $228,107
US Government $208,379
AT&T Inc $201,438
Wachovia Corp $195,063
UBS AG $192,493
Credit Suisse Group $183,353
PricewaterhouseCoopers $167,900
US Army $167,820
Bank of America $166,026
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher $159,596
Blank Rome LLP $154,226
Greenberg Traurig LLP $146,437
US Dept of Defense $144,105
FedEx Corp $131,974
Bear Stearns $117,498
Lehman Brothers $114,357
http://www.opensecrets.org/pres08/contrib.php?cycle=2008&cid=n00006424
Yeah, but it was Clinton’s idea.
Gag line?
Some people are SO unreasonable.
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