Goldman Sachs Reaps $6B After $1M Contribution to Obama
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Goldman’s Home Run
By Joe Murray, The Bulletin
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
He campaigned on a promise to restore trust in the U.S. government by making it more transparent, but after a confidential report showing how taxpayer money to American International Group (AIG) landed in the back pocket of Goldman Sachs was leaked to the Wall Street Journal, many have questioned Barack Obama’s commitment to transparency.
With lawmakers now clamoring for names and the Federal Reserve balking at such disclosures, Capitol Hill is embedded in controversy surrounding the vitality of the AIG bailout. It started at $83 billion and has since swelled to $173 billion.
Last week, the members of the Senate Banking Committee demanded Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn name the derivative counterparties of the insurer, but he declined to do so, saying such a disclosure would make it difficult for AIG to operate.
“What we need is full transparency in government spending,” said Sandra Frabry, government affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform. “We can’t have transparency after the fact.”
Over the weekend, the Journal obtained a confidential memorandum detailing some of the parties to which AIG directed its bailout money. HSBC, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, Banco Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland, Morgan Stanley and other U.S. and European banks received taxpayer dollars taken from AIG’s bailout money.
But it was the $6 billion that landed in the back pockets of Goldman Sachs, a bank with close ties to Mr. Obama, which raised a number of ethical questions of how and why taxpayer dollars were covertly funneled to one of the president’s largest campaign backers.
According to OpenSecrets.com, those at Goldman Sachs were second only to the University of California in terms of being an Obama top donor. While the organization itself did not donate the money, such donations were made either through employees, owners, the immediate families of such members and/or through the organization’s PAC.
During the 2008 campaign, those at Goldman Sachs donated $955,473 to the Obama campaign. Morgan Stanley, though further down the list, still made the top 20 with a bundled donation of $485,823.
Mr. Obama has also dipped in the Goldman Sachs pool in making his presidential appointments. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s loyalty to Goldman Sachs has been an issue of contention and, upon assuming his post at the Treasury Department, he named Mark Patterson, a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist, as a top aide.
And as early as last December, reports Mr. Geithner favored Goldman Sachs surfaced when the New York Times Editorial Board questioned the motivation of then New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner’s decision to let Lehman Brothers fail. Then, two days later, he advocated for the bailout of AIG and its counterparties.
Add to the mix Mr. Geithner arranged a September meeting to discuss the AIG bailout, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was the only Wall Street leader at the meeting. At the time, Goldman Sachs was AIG’s largest trading partner, which raises more questions.
During the campaign, Mr. Obama had strong connections with Goldman Sachs, as he was invited to a private Goldman Sachs dinner in May 2007 when his candidacy was in its infancy. When it came time to name a vice presidential running mate, Mr. Obama turned to Goldman Sachs Board Member James Johnson. Mr. Johnson was forced to vacate the post under controversy.
While recognizing there was no evidence to support charges of corruption, Ms. Frabry stressed the Obama administration would “not be able to remove the cloud of corruption” without honoring its commitment to transparency. To date, she believes the administration has failed.
“You have to be up front with the American taxpayer on this,” Ms. Frabry said.
And while direct evidence of wrong doing or corruption has yet to be alleged, the AIG situation, as it presently stands, is poised to indict the Obama administration for failing to do the very thing Mr. Obama pledge to do — restore trust in government.
“It’s no secret that most Americans think the country is on the wrong track,” Mr. Obama told a New Hampshire crowd during the campaign.
“But the reason isn’t just failed policies. It’s a system in Washington that has failed the American people. A system that has not kept the most fundamental trust of American democracy: that our government is of the people, and that it must govern for all the people — not just the interests of the wealthy and well-connected.”
With the $6 billion money trail running from the Treasury Department to the Fed to AIG and ultimately Goldman Sachs, Mr. Obama will have a tall order to reassure the trust he claimed was lacking for the past eight years.
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/10/top_stories/doc49b61e46e935b133022700.txt
By Joe Murray, The Bulletin
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
He campaigned on a promise to restore trust in the U.S. government by making it more transparent, but after a confidential report showing how taxpayer money to American International Group (AIG) landed in the back pocket of Goldman Sachs was leaked to the Wall Street Journal, many have questioned Barack Obama’s commitment to transparency.
With lawmakers now clamoring for names and the Federal Reserve balking at such disclosures, Capitol Hill is embedded in controversy surrounding the vitality of the AIG bailout. It started at $83 billion and has since swelled to $173 billion.
Last week, the members of the Senate Banking Committee demanded Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn name the derivative counterparties of the insurer, but he declined to do so, saying such a disclosure would make it difficult for AIG to operate.
“What we need is full transparency in government spending,” said Sandra Frabry, government affairs manager for Americans for Tax Reform. “We can’t have transparency after the fact.”
Over the weekend, the Journal obtained a confidential memorandum detailing some of the parties to which AIG directed its bailout money. HSBC, Wachovia, Merrill Lynch, Banco Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland, Morgan Stanley and other U.S. and European banks received taxpayer dollars taken from AIG’s bailout money.
But it was the $6 billion that landed in the back pockets of Goldman Sachs, a bank with close ties to Mr. Obama, which raised a number of ethical questions of how and why taxpayer dollars were covertly funneled to one of the president’s largest campaign backers.
According to OpenSecrets.com, those at Goldman Sachs were second only to the University of California in terms of being an Obama top donor. While the organization itself did not donate the money, such donations were made either through employees, owners, the immediate families of such members and/or through the organization’s PAC.
During the 2008 campaign, those at Goldman Sachs donated $955,473 to the Obama campaign. Morgan Stanley, though further down the list, still made the top 20 with a bundled donation of $485,823.
Mr. Obama has also dipped in the Goldman Sachs pool in making his presidential appointments. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s loyalty to Goldman Sachs has been an issue of contention and, upon assuming his post at the Treasury Department, he named Mark Patterson, a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist, as a top aide.
And as early as last December, reports Mr. Geithner favored Goldman Sachs surfaced when the New York Times Editorial Board questioned the motivation of then New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner’s decision to let Lehman Brothers fail. Then, two days later, he advocated for the bailout of AIG and its counterparties.
Add to the mix Mr. Geithner arranged a September meeting to discuss the AIG bailout, and Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was the only Wall Street leader at the meeting. At the time, Goldman Sachs was AIG’s largest trading partner, which raises more questions.
During the campaign, Mr. Obama had strong connections with Goldman Sachs, as he was invited to a private Goldman Sachs dinner in May 2007 when his candidacy was in its infancy. When it came time to name a vice presidential running mate, Mr. Obama turned to Goldman Sachs Board Member James Johnson. Mr. Johnson was forced to vacate the post under controversy.
While recognizing there was no evidence to support charges of corruption, Ms. Frabry stressed the Obama administration would “not be able to remove the cloud of corruption” without honoring its commitment to transparency. To date, she believes the administration has failed.
“You have to be up front with the American taxpayer on this,” Ms. Frabry said.
And while direct evidence of wrong doing or corruption has yet to be alleged, the AIG situation, as it presently stands, is poised to indict the Obama administration for failing to do the very thing Mr. Obama pledge to do — restore trust in government.
“It’s no secret that most Americans think the country is on the wrong track,” Mr. Obama told a New Hampshire crowd during the campaign.
“But the reason isn’t just failed policies. It’s a system in Washington that has failed the American people. A system that has not kept the most fundamental trust of American democracy: that our government is of the people, and that it must govern for all the people — not just the interests of the wealthy and well-connected.”
With the $6 billion money trail running from the Treasury Department to the Fed to AIG and ultimately Goldman Sachs, Mr. Obama will have a tall order to reassure the trust he claimed was lacking for the past eight years.
Joe Murray can be reached at jmurray@thebulletin.us
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2009/03/10/top_stories/doc49b61e46e935b133022700.txt
Comments
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Donate $900,000+ get back 6 billion. That was the plan? As much as I wanted to see a man with Nubian blood in him become president, I knew there would be some ? 'd up ? happenin.
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They also donated a similar amount to McCain. Trust me Obama took less from the banks and financial firms than all the presidents the last 20 years.
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getchamoneyrigh wrote: »They also donated a similar amount to McCain. Trust me Obama took less from the banks and financial firms than all the presidents the last 20 years.
Thats my point. The big banks got the whole government in their pocket. -
:cool:They gotta get paid.
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stack that cheese...
LOL
