Free Republic

Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon, as Milton Friedman, the economist and intellectual author of the Reagan Revolution used to explain. Which means that when Federal Reserve prints out more cash to shell out for bigger and bigger government programs, look out. Inflation is on the way. Don't take this from me, this time. It's now what one of President Obama's top economic advisors is now warning as Joe Biden gets ready to sign the $1.7 trillion Omnibus bill passed by Congress, including 18 skeevy Republicans: On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Steve Rattner, who served as...

Steven Rattner, a fundraiser for Democrat Hillary Clinton and someone who was fined by the SEC, has a column criticizing Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina in The New York Times titled "Carly Fiorina Really Was That Bad." ... "Not mentioned by the Times is the fact Rattner was once President Obama‘s 'Car Czar' back during the Cash-for-Clunkers days. He’s also a major fundraiser for (drumroll…) Hillary Clinton." Rattner also paid $10 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 for alleged involvement in a New York State pension fund scandal. ... What’s next, Grey Lady? Can we...

The New York Times is declaring that disgraced private equity mogul Steven Rattner has gotten his reputation back in the Manhattan lunch circles that matter. This was probably only a matter of time given that it was the Times itself that played a leading role in his rehabilitation. It’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, naturally, who pronounces the cleansing complete, even wondering aloud if Rattner could be a Treasury secretary someday. This about a guy who just two years ago paid $16 million to settle SEC and New York lawsuits against him for taking part in a kickback scheme with public officials...

Carly Fiorina may come from the executive suite, but that hasn’t stopped other executives from slamming her record. The latest critique comes from Steven Rattner, a former Wall Street banker and private equity executive. Rattner, in an opinion piece in the New York Times on Saturday, called Fiorina’s time as the CEO of HP “short and disastrous.” Rattner said HP’s acquisition of Compaq, pushed through by Fiorina, caused an amount of divisiveness at the company that Rattner says he never saw in his 33-year career on Wall Street. He said that while Fiorina did serve during a tough period for...

According to the most recent information available, Steve Rattner's net worth is at least $188 million. So perhaps it's not surprising that the hedge fund partner and former Obama car czar, who flies his own private jet, doesn't deem $100G+ per year to be a "full-time" salary. On today's Morning Joe, commenting on the arrest of Dem NYS Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver on bribery charges, Rattner claimed that "they don't pay these guys full-time salaries. They pay them, I think, $112,000 a year." In fact, as Speaker, Silver was pulling down $121,000. The median annual income in the US during...

A couple of weeks ago, Jazz Shaw wrote that conservatives should consider Morning Joe a good forum to have for moderates and independents that tune into MSNBC to get some semblance of the truth. We've already noted Mark Halperin's cutting criticism of Team Obama's "Bindergate," and this is another piece of data that these viewers would not have heard had MSNBC scheduled a Hardball/Rachel Maddow clone for this slot.Steve Rattner, the former "car czar" for Barack Obama, explains why voters may have narrowly given Obama the edge in the debate on Tuesday night, but give Mitt Romney a 31-point advantage...

President Barack Obama’s former auto industry adviser and two former Treasury Department officials cracked at the last minute before a House oversight committee subcommittee hearing and agreed to stop stonewalling an investigation into alleged union favoritism during the administration’s General Motors bailout. Ron Bloom, Obama’s former auto czar, and former Treasury officials Matt Feldman and Harry Wilson have refused to give interviews to the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) about their roles in topping up pensions for union workers while non-union workers lost nearly their entire pensions. The Treasury Department’s actions during the auto bailout...

That brings us to this month. In an article last week, Politico ended its story on Bloom’s resignation with a curious quote. In reference to Obama attempting to forge a partnership between manufacturers in several states and academia — in order to revitalize American factories — Bloom apparently saw something Mao-esque in the way government was attempting to support private business, stating the approach would, “let the great thousand flowers bloom in America.” If that sounds familiar, it should. While the correct wording is in fact a “hundred flowers,” there is no question as to where the phrase derives from....

The financier Steven L. Rattner (Obama's lead auto industry overhaul administrator), has agreed to pay $10 million to settle civil charges that he engaged in a kickback scheme involving New York state’s pension fund... Rattner will pay restitution to the state pension fund and will be barred from appearing in any capacity before a public pension fund within the state for five years. He did not admit any wrongdoing... Rattner accused Mr. Cuomo of “extortion” and said this conduct was “not the kind of behavior I think we want out of an attorney general or a governor.” Cuomo was infuriated...

Former Obama car czar Steven Rattner has agreed to pay $6.2 million to settle federal charges over his role in a "pay-to-play" scandal, but says he won't be "bullied" into accepting a harsher penalty from New York authorities. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed two lawsuits Thursday accusing Rattner of paying illegal kickbacks to help his private equity firm land a $150 million investment from the state pension fund. Cuomo is seeking at least $26 million from Rattner, and a lifetime ban from the securities industry.

OBAMA THE CROOK. It Looks like Chrysler was Railroaded This could be a scandal of epic proportions and one that makes Nixon's Watergate or Clinton 's Monica Lewinsky affair pale by comparison. Why was there neither rhyme nor reason as to which dealerships of the Chrysler Corporation were to be closed? Roll the clock back to the weeks just before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Chrysler, like GM, was in dire financial straits and federal government "graciously" offered to "buy the company" and keep them out of bankruptcy and "save jobs." Chrysler was, in the words of Obama and his administration, "Too...

Puffing out his chest in Tuesday’s Washington Post, Steven Rattner, former-head of President Obama’s auto task force and architect of GM’s and Chrysler’s restructurings, asks, rhetorically: “Isn’t it time to agree that the auto rescue has been a success?” Rattner’s declaration of “Mission Accomplished”—based on one calendar quarter of mediocre financial results—is a galling display of arrogance and deception, and betrays a disturbing cluelessness about the broader costs and consequences of the government’s heavy-handed intervention. Rattner’s verdict rests on the singular consideration that “a year after the government-sponsored bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, both patients are alive and progressing well...

Remember Steven Rattner, President Obama's first auto industry czar? His tenure as the official liason between Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the Auto Industry Task Force that guided Obama's takeover General Motors and Chrysler was short-lived, owning to revelations of investigations by the SEC and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The investigations center around allegations first reported soon after Rattner's appointment that he paid bribes to win business for Quadrangle from the New York state pension system. Quadrangle has since paid $12 million in fines in a settlement with state and federal officials, and publicly condemned its founder's activities...

Obama Czar Agrees With Mao, Too, and Thinks Free Market is "Nonsense" http://www.breitbart.tv/obama-czar-agrees-with-mao-too-and-thinks-free-market-is-nonsense/ Breitbart.TV and Naked Emperor News

Subject: Fw: Car czar To: This is unbelievable. This could be a scandal of epic proportions and one that makes Nixon's Watergate or Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair pale by comparison. Why was there neither rhyme nor reason as to which dealerships of the Chrysler Corporation were to be closed? Roll the clock back to the weeks just before Chrysler declared bankruptcy. Chrysler, like GM, was in dire financial straights and federal government graciously offered to "buy the company" and keep them out of bankruptcy and "save jobs." Chrysler was, in the words of Obama and his administration, "Too big to...

By now Ron Bloom’s professional road to becoming the Obama administration’s car czar has been widely reported. Missing from the coverage, however, has been any mention of those formative years at Jewish summer camp. Born in New York City and raised in Swarthmore, a suburb of Philadelphia, much of Bloom’s early life revolved around Habonim (now known as Habonim Dror), a progressive Labor Zionist youth movement that emphasizes cultural Judaism, socialism and social justice. It’s all part of an upbringing that the man overseeing the country’s bailout of the U.S. auto industry cites among his earliest influences... ...At age 10,...

Immediately following Obama's coup at General Motors, and near-takeover of Chrysler as well, there was about two weeks of news coverage of the shocking number of dealerships summarily, and seemingly arbitrarily, put out of business. The demand for explanation of why and how one dealership was killed, while another was spared execution, was ever so briefly loud, then quieted, and finally silenced. This front page story moved to the back pages and, in short order, to oblivion - and the questions it raised were never answered. Case in point: Ron Marhofer, the owner of Marhofer Chevrolet in the little burg...

Originally, the title Czar (derived from Caesar) meant Emperor in the European medieval sense of the term, that is, a ruler who claims the same rank as a Roman emperor. The title of Czar is being used by the President of the United States, to turn himself into a new Caesar. Our founding fathers wanted the to protect the United States against too much power being placed in one person so they built checks and balances into the constitution. Presidential appointees reported to the chief executive but with the advice and consent of congress. Appointees were approved by Senate, and...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The head of the White House's auto task force is warning Congress against a House-approved plan to restore General Motors and Chrysler dealerships being closed by the car companies' bankruptcies.

The House passed a Treasury appropriations bill last week that includes an amendment reversing President Obama on the closure of nearly 800 Chrysler car dealerships and more than 2,000 GM dealerships. The amendment sponsor was Republican Steve LaTourette of Ohio. 215 Democrats and 4 Republicans voted for the overall package. Bipartisanship! The most snort-worthy reaction from the White House: The White House said Wednesday it strongly opposes the measure, arguing it would “set a dangerous precedent, potentially raising legal concerns, to intervene in a closed judicial bankruptcy proceeding on behalf of one particular group.”