Obama would rein in masters of universe

The "Masters of the Universe" are on Wall Street?

Uh, Frank, the real "Masters of the Universe" are in the White House. Have been for decades, under different presidents. It's time you noticed.

Is this putting too much confidence in Geithner's abilities? After all, his first two months were hardly spotless...

http://www.political-buzz.com/

"The Obama Administration wants to give Wall Street's masters of the universe a new master, the federal government."


Wow. If this doesn't send shudders down your spine, you're not American, or maybe you just don't have a spine.

While they are on the "tough" government regulation inquires, how about "toughing up" regulations on political influence of the regulations and regulators. Seems there was a great deal of political interference in the oversight of Freddie and Fannie which generated all lot of toxic assets that are the underlying principle problem of this whole fiasco. Frank, your own gents at the Trib. are on a explosive story about Rahm's political influenced directorship role and excessive "executive " pay (recieving 100'sK in pay for little work) at Freddie during its days of fraudulent accounting resulting in massive questionable bonuses. Now we understand that the new Obama transparency administration is stonewalling a FOI request, because it involves the WH chief of staff, on this issue. I thought Obama was freeing up the FOI and the Swamp has championed this from the "secretive" Bush era. The investigating Swamp bloodhounds should be all over this.

As Mark Steyn said:

"If you own even modest assets (a small house, a savings account) and you think that in a battle between the political class and the business class it’s in your interest for the latter to lose, you’re a fool who entirely deserves the vaporization of his wealth on which Barney Frank & Co have embarked."

"We have a president who shows no instinct for economic issues; a Treasury Department that, in a supposed crisis, is just one designated fall guy rattling around an all but empty building for whose senior positions no one has even been nominated; and thug legislators-for-life who bear far more direct responsibility for this mess posing as champions of da liddle guy in order to extend their already disastrous “oversight” ever deeper into the private sector. Things are going to get a lot worse."

Not much to add to that-

http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/

We sure wouldn't be in the mess we are in, if it weren't for the Republicans' war cry of the late 1990's: "Deregulate, Self-Regulate, Deregulate !!" It's chief crier was Phil Gramm, McCain's chief whiner, who coined the con and off went the Cons of Wall Street !!! Give me Big Government over Big Business, any day. What else is big enough, to hold off the ravenous wolves of capitalism !!? Certainly not, the wolves themselves. They never saw a dollar that shouldn't be theirs and at the moment, that seems to be the case, here in America !! They have all the money and now they need more of our money, to return our money back to us !! Only a Republican administration, or two, could foul things up, so badly !! Thanks, ex-President Bush, were ever you are !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

Speaking of the Masters of the Universe.
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http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-rahm-emanuel-profit-26-mar26,0,5682373.story
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This is BO's chief of staff? Sad, but true. All pay, no work. Ol' Deadfish got an easy gov't gig while Freddie was performing accounting shananigans.

For all those Lefties whining about deregulation and the faults of capitalism, all you have to do is think about the rampant corruption and waste that takes place in government. Look at the state of Illinois, Crooked County, Chicago and the federal government. Look at the whopping tax increases being proposed in Illinois and the fact that Obama more than likely will be signing a budget that DOES NOT include his middle class tax cut for 95 percent of all Americans. Sure, there are and have been a few bad apples in Corporate America, but it's nothing compared to the corruption and theft of American taxpayers on a regular basis by those in government.

Excuse me, isn't this the guy that said the mistake he made on HIS taxes was because he couldn't figure out Turbo Tax? He wants to make new rules and he couldn't even follow directions!

"Wow. If this doesn't send shudders down your spine, you're not American, or maybe you just don't have a spine."

I hope you realize the difference between the way the media discusses policy, and the policy itself.

“Wow. If this doesn't send shudders down your spine, you're not American, or maybe you just don't have a spine.”
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Posted by: Vast Right Wing Conspirator | March 26, 2009 9:32 AM
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Yes, you’re right. It’s one step closer to a command economy. We should all remember that tyranny most often comes in baby steps, rather than in leaps and bounds.

John D:THE TOP 100 CORPORATE CRIMINALS OF THE 1990's

1) F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $500 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 21(1), May 24, 1999

2) Daiwa Bank Ltd.
Type of Crime: Financial
Criminal Fine: $340 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 9(3), March 4, 1996

3) BASF Aktiengesellschaft
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $225 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 21(1), May 24, 1999

4) SGL Carbon Aktiengesellschaft (SGL AG)
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $135 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 19(4), May 10, 1999

5) Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $125 million
5 Corporate Crime Reporter 11(3), March 18, 1991

6) UCAR International, Inc.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $110 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 15(6), April 13, 1998

7) Archer Daniels Midland
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $100 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 40(1), October 21, 1996

8)(tie) Banker's Trust
Type of Crime: Financial
Criminal Fine: $60 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 11(1), March 15, 1999

8)(tie) Sears Bankruptcy Recovery Management Services
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $60 million
13 Corporate Crime Reporter 7(1), February 15, 1999

10) Haarman & Reimer Corp.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal fine: $50 million
11 Corporate Crime Reporter 5(4), February 3, 1997

11) Louisiana-Pacific Corporation
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $37 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 23(1), June 8, 1998

12) Hoechst AG
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $36 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 19(6), May 10, 1999

13) Damon Clinical Laboratories, Inc.
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $35.2 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 39(6), October 14, 1996

14) C.R. Bard Inc.
Type of Crime: Food and drug
Criminal Fine: $30.9 million
7 Corporate Crime Reporter 41(1), October 25, 1993

15) Genentech Inc.
Type of Crime: Food and drug
Criminal Fine: $30 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 16(3), April 19, 1999

16) Nippon Gohsei
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $21 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 29(3), July 19, 1999

17)(tie) Pfizer Inc.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $20 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 30(1), July 26, 1999

17)(tie) Summitville Consolidated Mining Co. Inc.
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $20 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 20(3) May 20, 1996

19)(tie) Lucas Western Inc.
Type of Crime: False Statements
Criminal Fine: $18.5 million
9 Corporate Crime Reporter 4(6), January 30, 1995

19)(tie) Rockwell International Corporation
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $18.5 million
6 Corporate Crime Reporter 13(4), March 30, 1992

21) Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $18 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 30(4), July 26, 1999

22) Teledyne Industries Inc.
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $17.5 million
6 Corporate Crime Reporter 39(9), October 12, 1992

23) Northrop
Type of Crime: False statements
Criminal Fine: $17 million
4 Corporate Crime Reporter 9(1), March 5, 1990

24) Litton Applied Technology Division (ATD) and Litton Systems Canada (LSL)
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $16.5 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 27(1), July 5, 1999

25) Iroquois Pipeline Operating Company
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $15 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 22(1), June 3, 1996

26) Eastman Chemical Company
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $11 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 38(5), October 5, 1998

27) Copley Pharmaceutical, Inc.
Type of Crime: Food and drug
Criminal Fine: $10.65 million
11 Corporate Crime Reporter 22(1), June 2, 1997

28) Lonza AG
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $10.5 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 10(1), March 8, 1999

29) Kimberly Home Health Care Inc.
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $10.08 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 30(6), July 26, 1999

30)(tie) Ajinomoto Co. Inc.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $10 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 40(1), October 21, 1996

30)(tie) Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI)
Type of Crime: Financial
Criminal Fine: $10 million
4 Corporate Crime Reporter 3(1) January 22, 1990

30)(tie) Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd.
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $10 million
10 Corporate Crime Reporter 40(1), October 21, 1996

30)(tie) Warner-Lambert Company
Type of Crime: Food and drug
Criminal Fine: $10 million
9 Corporate Crime Reporter 46(1), December 4, 1995

34) General Electric
Type of Crime: Fraud
Criminal Fine: $9.5 million
6 Corporate Crime Reporter 30(7), July 27, 1992

35)(tie) Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.
Type of Crime: Environmental
Criminal Fine: $9 million
12 Corporate Crime Reporter 23(3), June 8, 1998

35)(tie) Showa Denko Carbon
Type of Crime: Antitrust
Criminal Fine: $9 million

I only pasted the top 35. Also notice the amounts.

Realist, where these people are concerned, there is no difference.

Weren't these Corporations such great contributors to the climate that led the Cons on Wall Street, to steal America blind !! Oh, it's Big Government that we must worry about, while Big Business put us in the poorhouse !! What a great example of the good American, the Crooks !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.

Pay more attention to what Geithner does than to what he says.

His actions so far have been to protect the Blankfeins and Paulsons on Wall St.

He wouldn't even admit that Goldman Sachs got bailout money directly, and also indirectly through AIG as a counterparty.

The President is too trusting, particularly of this guy.

If he has a fault (just speaking hypothetically) it is projection of his own personality onto others: he seems to assume his appointees have the same intellect (which in one or two cases may actually be true, but certainly not all); that they are open and of a generous nature and not pursuing their own secret agendas, etc. etc.

The President is brilliant and by nature generous, outgoing, friendly, charming, etc.

And I think he projects these qualities onto certain individuals he has selected--in this example, Geithner--where a more, er, jaded individual, say, a Richard Nixon, would view them in a different light.

So it will be interesting to see who will be fired first and why.

Bill R., what loony left wing site did you get that babble from? Anyway, those millions pale to the billions upon billions of dollars wasted via fraud, graft and just plain waste by all government entities. In Illinois, alone, billions of dollars are lost through fraud and corruption.

Don wrote: "Oh, it's Big Government that we must worry about, while Big Business put us in the poorhouse !! What a great example of the good American, the Crooks !!"


You seem to forget, good sir, that it is Big Business, not Big Government, that has turned America into the single greatest, most prosperous country the world has ever seen, and in a ridiculously short span of time relative to other developed nations.

You seem to forget, good sir, that it is Big Business, not Big Government, that gave you the prosperous standard of living that you and most other Americans take for granted, and that is the envy of most of the rest of the world.

You seem to forget, good sir, that the car you drive, the house you live in, the electricity you use, the clothes on your back, the financing for your major purchases, the gas in your tank, the food you eat, the medicines you rely on when you're sick, and the computer you use to spout your mindless drivel in this forum were all made possible by Big Business, not Big Government.

Big Government produces nothing. It is a leech, an insatiable parasite that sucks and devours and destroys the fruits of the labor of free men and women. It grants a false cloak of legitimacy to what is nothing but base extortion, using the coercive power of the state to steal from one group and give to another so they will vote to perpetuate their little kickback arrangement.

The Framers foresaw this and despised it. It was repugnant to their thinking. They had just fought a revolution to be free of it. That is why we have a Second Amendment. That is why we have a Constitution of limited government and enumerated powers -- a concept that went out the window with FDR and has never been recovered. FDR did more to destroy this country and any other single American in history -- may he rot in hell -- and Obama is his equally despicable progeny.

So, good sir, as you or one of your other lib cohorts prepare to peck out your stunningly mindless and ill-informed rejoinder on your keyboard, remember to thank a capitalist for inventing it, manufacturing it, and marketing it.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner plans to propose a sweeping expansion of federal authority over the financial system, breaking from an era in which the government stood back from financial markets and allowed participants to decide how much risk to take in the pursuit of profit.

What does all this mean and have we come to the point where socialism is the answer to our problems as well as the worlds econonic situation.

The time has come for all good men to come to the aid of their counry.

VRWC is right. Down with Governement! Up with Business. Disolve the federal government entirely, and let the market rule the world. Regulation is evil and completely un-necessary. Anything Big Business wants to do is good. Anything Governmment does is purely and wholly evil.You can always trust big business. You can never trust an elected Government. We need Government of the CEO, by the CEO, for the CEO. Let's grab our guns and fight for Big Business. Plutocracy, not Democracy.! That's what the founders wanted. Look how often they mention and praised big business in the Constitution. Read Jefferson's many moving writings on the positive force in the world that big business was.

all together now!

I pledge Allegiance to Big Business, and to the profits for which they stand, one corporation, under Manon, with bonuses and golden parachutes for a lucky few.

"It is no limitation upon property rights or freedom of contract to require that when men receive from government the privilege of doing business under corporate form ... they shall do so under absolutely truthful representations ... Great corporations exist only because they were created and safeguarded by our institutions; and it is therefore our right and duty to see that they work in harmony with these institutions. "

Thodore Roosevelt 1901

"No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned. Every dollar received should represent a dollar's worth of service rendered – not gambling in stocks, but service rendered. The really big fortune, the swollen fortune, by the mere fact of its size acquires qualities which differentiate it in kind as well as in degree from what is possessed by men of relatively small means. Therefore, I believe in a graduated income tax on big fortunes, and in another tax which is far more easily collected and far more effective – a graduated inheritance tax on big fortunes, properly safeguarded against evasion and increasing rapidly in amount with the size of the estate."

Theodore Roosevelt

The men of wealth who today are trying to prevent the regulation and control of their business in the interest of the public by the proper government authorities will not succeed, in my judgment, in checking the progress of the movement. But if they did succeed they would find that they had sown the wind and would surely reap the whirlwind, for they would ultimately provoke the violent excesses which accompany a reform coming by convulsion instead of by steady and natural growth.

Theodore Roosevelt

The true friend of property, the true conservative, is he who insists that property shall be the servant and not the master of the commonwealth; who insists that the creature of man's making shall be the servant and not the master of the man who made it. The citizens of the United States must effectively control the mighty commercial forces which they have themselves called into being.

Theodore Roosevelt

The vast individual and corporate fortunes, the vast combinations of capital which have marked the development of our industrial system, create new conditions, and necessitate a change from the old attitude of the state and the nation toward property... More and more it is evident that the State and if necessary the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision and control as regards the great corporations which are its creatures.

Theodore Roosevelt