Colin Buchanan trashing lib dem conservative coalition on RT
Posted by smeddum on May 17, 2010
Posted in Afghanistan, Battle for Europe, Financial crisis, Iran, Multipolar world, New Cold War, Uncategorized | Tagged: antiwar interview, Russia today | Leave a Comment »
Doc who harms no one is punished, but docs who killed can practice.
Posted by seumasach on May 17, 2010
Heidi Stevenson
12th May, 2010
In typical hubristic fashion, the UK’s General Medical Council (GMC) has stripped Dr. Sarah Myhill of many of the functions required to care for her patients, while allowing doctors who have killed patients with sloppiness, lies, and egregious errors to continue in practice. She harmed no one, and no such accusation was made. Not a single patient has complained.
Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Tagged: Support Dr Sarah Myhill | Leave a Comment »
Russ Feingold: Defending the top one percent from the bottom 99
Posted by seumasach on May 16, 2010
Stephen Gowans
15th May, 2010
US Senator Russ Feingold is displeased. The legislation he helped draft in 2001 to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy as punishment for the country’s land reform program, which redistributed the land of 4,000 settlers to 300,000 landless indigenous families, has been exposed for what it is: a major instrument in a program of economic warfare designed to restore the property of expropriated farmers and drive the land reform program’s champions, Zanu-PF, from government. Feingold is counterpunching with new legislation which he hopes will prove less of a liability to US propaganda, which has misdirected blame for Zimbabwe’s economic meltdown to Zanu-PF policies. At the same time, the new legislation aims to strengthen the West’s agent on the ground, the Movement for Democratic Change.
By Stephen Gowans
New US legislation introduced by US Senator Russ Feingold to update a 2001 bill that has been used to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy is aimed at supporting members of Zimbabwe’s coalition government who support US goals of restoring the property rights of settlers, while pressuring land reform champions to step down from government posts.
The current legislation, ZDERA, the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act, was passed into law in 2001 as an instrument to be employed in the program of ousting the Zanu-PF government. Zanu-PF, a merger of forces that had played the leading role in the country’s liberation from settler minority rule, provoked Western reaction when it rejected harsh conditions imposed by the IMF in the late 1990s and then introduced a fast-track land reform program. The land reform program expropriated settler farms without compensation, redistributing land to indigenous Zimbabweans. The beneficiaries of the program were over 300,000 previously landless families who were resettled on land previously owned by 4,000 farmers, mostly of British origin.
ZDERA, which blocked Zimbabwe’s access to loans, credits and debt relief from international financial institutions, plunged the country into an economic abyss. To bleed Zanu-PF of popular support, the United States, Britain, the European Union and other Western governments launched a propaganda offensive, blaming the ZDERA-induced economic meltdown on Zanu-PF mismanagement. At the same time, they backed the formation of a new opposition party, the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change), which brought together the settler community, trade unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The MDC and its NGO partners have received generous assistance from Western governments and foundations, and have championed an agenda congruent with overseas investor rights and the interests of the settler community.
US Senator Russ Feingold has introduced new legislation to update a 2001 bill he co-wrote that has been used to cripple Zimbabwe’s economy. Feingold and others have tried to blame the effects of the 2001 bill, known as ZDERA, on Zanu-PF mismanagement.
Since the MDC’s formation in 2000 a virtual low-level civil war has convulsed the country, with the MDC, its civil society allies, and its Western backers seeking to oust Zanu-PF from power through electoral and extra-electoral means. Elections held in 2008 produced a parliament divided roughly evenly between Zanu-PF and the MDC (the MDC having fractured, by this point, into two factions.) Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the largest MDC faction, won the first round of voting in the presidential election, but failed to obtain a majority, forcing a runoff. Alleging that Zanu-PF partisans were using violence to intimidate his supporters, Tsvangirai withdrew from the ensuing runoff, effectively conceding the presidency to Robert Mugabe, the Zanu-PF candidate. This left the country divided, with neither party able to convincingly command the support of a majority. To avoid paralysis, the parties agreed to the formation of a coalition government. Mugabe would serve as president and Tsvangirai as prime minister.
For the MDC’s Western backers, the outcome was neither as good as desired, nor as bad as it could have been. MDC members were part of the cabinet, and therefore could affect policy, but Zanu-PF controlled the police and military, and therefore was in a position to block any attempted roll back of the party’s land reform program, as well as its (newly introduced) economic indigenization agenda. And it was precisely land reform and economic indigenization (a policy mandating majority ownership of the country’s enterprises by indigenous Zimbabweans) that Western governments bristled against.
Another minus from Washington and London’s point of view was the coalition government requirement that all members call for the lifting of sanctions. The official Western position, mimicked by the MDC, was that there were no sanctions, only targeted “restrictive measures” that exempted the population at large and punished a few key members of Zanu-PF. By denying the existence of sanctions, the West could blame Mugabe for the country’s economic turmoil, thereby providing Zimbabweans with a reason to turf Zanu-PF from government.
However, the West’s story wasn’t believable. ZDERA, with its obvious punitive implications for Zimbabwe’s economic welfare, could be pointed to as evidence of Washington’s hostility to Zimbabwe’s agenda of investing its liberation struggle with substantive content. (Zimbabweans want more than their own flag. They want control of their land and resources, too.) The ZDERA bill was readily available for all to see, in black and white, tangible evidence of the sanctions regime the United States denied existed. Requiring the MDC to climb aboard the anti-sanctions bandwagon, which already included the South African Development Community and the African Union, made the task of crippling Zimbabwe’s economy and blaming it on Mugabe all the more difficult.
Zimbabweans want more than their own flag. They want control of their land and resources, too.
All of this has given rise to the need to discard the discredited ZDERA, to remove an obvious target that critics of US foreign policy have been able to point to, to mobilize opposition to US economic warfare against Zimbabwe. The success of these critics has rankled Feingold, who whines that the attacks on ZDERA are nothing more than ”Mugabe’s propaganda” which allow Zanu-PF “to win local regional support.”
At the same time, the United States wants to step up assistance to the MDC, which, while part of the coalition government, is not in a strong enough position to roll back Zanu-PF’s land reforms. With the MDC now controlling some levers of government, the United States has the option of directing advice, material assistance and loans and credit to MDC-controlled ministries, freezing out ministries under Zanu-PF control.
Out of these requirements has come the Zimbabwe Transition to Democracy and Economic Recovery Act. The aim is to do exactly what ZDERA (which Feingold had had a hand in drafting) aims to do: strengthen the MDC and weaken Zanu-PF, in order to clear the way for the MDC to come to power to carry out the US agenda of restoring property rights.
It is no accident that Feingold’s new bill, and the statement accompanying its introduction, dwell on Zanu-PF’s “continued disrespect…for property rights,” a reference to the expropriation of settler farms and their redistribution to landless indigenous Zimbabweans. It’s no accident because that’s precisely what the new act, and ZDERA as well, is intended to overturn: the negation of private property rights to serve public policy goals, in this case, redress of an historical iniquity and recovery of indigenous sovereignty.
As the world’s hegemonic power, the United States has taken on the role of policing the globe to keep it safe for investors, bankers, bondholders and transnational corporations. In keeping with the domination of the US state by corporate executives, corporate lawyers, and investment bankers (i.e., people who own and control productive property), US foreign policy aims to keep the world open to foreign investment and trade and its riches in the hands of those who are already wealthy. This means, among other things, upholding private ownership claims to productive property, and defining as intolerable, even criminal, any violation of this principle. Expropriation of productive property, including of settler farms, especially where it is done without compensation, is a clear violation, (though the original expropriation of indigenous farmland at the point of a gun by European settlers merits no indemnification, apology, or corrective action by the global hegemon. Since Britain and the United States refused to assist in the redress of the original colonial expropriation — indeed, did all they could to hinder it — Zimbabweans took it upon themselves to remedy the wrong themselves. The United States polices the world on behalf of the property rights of those who are wealthy, not the dispossessed the wealthy robbed.)
US policy, then, brooks no abridgment of the right of individuals who currently hold productive property to continue to enjoy that property, and acts to vouchsafe their property against its being brought under public control, as socialist or communist governments may do, or being transferred to local business people (including landless families), as economic nationalist governments may do. The violation of the principle of private property by the 99 percent of the world that has none, has always been sufficient to arouse the hostility of the US government, which has always acted on behalf the remaining one percent. Feingold’s new bill is a continuation of this tradition.
Posted in Zimbabwe | Leave a Comment »
George Osborne braced for first defeat as EU presses ahead with regulating hedge funds
Posted by seumasach on May 16, 2010
The new coalition of overgrown public school boys don’t really understand the implications of what they are doing and hopefully will start to unravel fast. Having said that, these urgently required curbs on financial terrorism operating out of the City of London won’t be on the statutes until 2012. Still, Europe is beginning to get its act together and reacting to British hostility. The Brits, of course, have still got their friendship with the US and lots of dangerous toys to threaten the world with. Can we continue to force feed the rest of the world on pounds and dollars or will we finally be forced to admit to our utter bankruptcy and seek the help we need to get out of the complete mess we’ve created.
16th May, 2010
George Osborne is braced to accept a first humiliating defeat for thecoalition government at the hands of the EU this week when European finance ministers wave through new rules to control hedge funds in spite of UK opposition and dire warnings from the City of London.
Posted in Battle for Europe | Leave a Comment »
Mobile phones not responsible for disappearance of bees: senior engineer
Posted by seumasach on May 15, 2010
So Chinese scientists are cretins too!
Here we find some very dubious premises: if something hasn’t been proved you don’t investigate it: what matters is who you think should be blamed: if the radiation level isn’t high enough to heat the bee, it can’t be high enough to disturb its navigation system: it can’t be mobile phones because it might be something else.
In sum, whatever it is, it isn’t mobile phones.
If our future is in the hands of scientists like this, it is bleak indeed!
Click here for the evidence that EM radiation is responsible for the disappearance of the bees.
15th May, 2010
NINGBO, Zhejiang, May 15, 2010 (Xinhua via COMTEX) — A senior Chinese engineer said Saturday that no scientific evidence has proved that radiation from mobile phones had caused abrupt disappearance of bees since last Autumn.
“I don’t think handsets radiation should be blamed for the decrease of bees,” said Wu Hequan, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, at a forum on information and communication technologies in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Expo.
Some scientists are putting forward the theory that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees’ navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives, according to a British newspaper The Independent.
Wu, also an expert in broadband information network, said radiation from mobile phones posed no verifiable threat to bees’ survival as the amount of radiation from a mobile phone base station was not even stronger than that from a microwave oven.
He pointed to rapid urbanization, decreasing plants and worsening ecological environment as a possible answer to the disappearance which started in the United States last Autumn and then spread to Europe.
Posted in Colony Collapse Disorder | Tagged: disappearing bees | Leave a Comment »
Tension rises in UK -EU relationship over euro bailout and hedge fund regulation
Posted by seumasach on May 15, 2010
The European Union, led by France and Germany, have refused to wait to bring in new controversial regulations on Hedge Funds which would in effect close the market to international funds.
This is exactly what is required and hopefully British objections will be overruled.
14th May, 2010
The relationship between UK and the rest of the European Union has always been bit trickly and in the past few days it has become downright difficult.
Posted in Battle for Europe | Leave a Comment »
Mobile phone masts are dangerous – the controversy continues
Posted by seumasach on May 15, 2010
13th May, 2010
Accra, May 13, GNA – The controversy about the dangers associated with mobile phone mast is taking very interesting dimensions with the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication (GIFEC) embarking on a campaign to present mobile phone masts as not being dangerous to human health.
Posted in Ecological and Public Health Crisis | Tagged: EM radiation health hazard | Leave a Comment »
Russia opens a new pipeline of diplomacy
Posted by seumasach on May 14, 2010
M.K.Bhadrakumar
15th May, 2010
Russian diplomacy has been on a roll in recent months, the revival of ties with Ukraine being the most dramatic manifestation. But a string of successes, major and minor, sung and unsung, has been notched up below that high point – in Poland, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Norway and Syria.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: Russian diplomacy, Turkish diplomacy | Leave a Comment »
Turkish air defense system deployed to “defend Syria, Iran against Israel raids”
Posted by seumasach on May 14, 2010
13th May, 2010
High-ranking sources in the Israeli Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure with Turkey over deploying anti-aircraft batteries along the Syrian border in the Iskenderun district.
The Turkish daily Hurriyet meanwhile, quoted a military source as saying that “this move aims at repelling a US or Israeli attack against Iran or Syria.”
Posted in Iran | Tagged: Turkish diplomacy | 1 Comment »
UK names foreign secretary, sets up American-style NSC
Posted by seumasach on May 13, 2010
Clegg offers change, but change a la Obama.(Plus ca change…..) He represents an update of atlanticist thinking which has fallen behind on this side of the Atlantic since the election in the US of the greener, hipper, pseudo-charismatic conman, Barak Obama of Goldman
Laura Rozen
12th May, 2010
After naming William Hague as the UK’s new foreign secretary, Britain’s new prime minister David Cameron set up the UK’s first American-style National Security Council, whose first priority would be coordinating UK policy to Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The new NSC was to hold its first meeting Wednesday, including Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Hague, and other ministers.
“The council will discuss the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and review the terrorist threat to the UK,” the prime minister’s office said, according to the AFP.
“It is our most urgent priority here in my work to make sure we have a grip on what is going on in Afghanistan,” Hague told Sky News.
“And I know that will consume a lot of our time and energy and effort,” he continued. “We have been fighting some political battles here but they are in a real battle out there.”
Hague served as Tory leader from 1997 to 2001, and as Secretary of State for Wales in the UK’s last conservative government of John Major.
“The advent of the kind of international co-operation at least discussed at recent summits of the G20, and of a new United States administration with a multilateral approach to foreign policy that provides other nations with a fresh opportunity to respond positively, both give some cause for optimism in international relations,” Hague said in a speech last year to the International Institute for Strategic Studies about what a Conservative UK foreign policy would look like.
“It is not unreasonable at least to hope for advances in the Middle East Peace Process, for success in a new approach in Afghanistan, for a better era in U.S.-Russia relations and for a more constructive response to the international community from the leadership of Iran, or a more determined effort by the international community to overcome Iranian intransigence,” he continued. “While the prospect of any of these hopes coming to fruition survives it is vital for America’s allies to work hard to bring that about for the good of all.”
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Hague last October when he visited Washington in his capacity as the Shadow Foreign Secretary, the State Department said Wednesday.
“The @Foreign Office have uploaded a selection of photos from my first day in the office,” hetweeted today
Posted in Afghanistan | Tagged: End of empire | Leave a Comment »
The golden Goldies:an updated list of Goldman Sachs ties to the Obama Government including Elena Kagan
Posted by seumasach on May 13, 2010
This essay shows the pervasive influence of Goldman Sachs and its units (like the Goldman-Robert Rubin-funded Hamilton Project embedded in the Brookings Institution) in the Obama government. These names are in addition to those compiled on an older such list and published here at FDL. In the future, I will combine the names here and those on the earlier article but I urge readers to look at the earlier list too (links below). Combined, this is the largest and most comprehensive list of such ties yet published.
For readability and clarity, I have NOT included many of the details and links that are found in the earlier article so as to make this one less repetitive and easier to read. So, if you want more documentation, please look at my earlier diary here at Firedoglake called “A List of Goldman Sachs People in the Obama Government: Names Attached To The Giant Squid’s Tentacles” published on April 27, 2010.
Note too that I have intentionally used the words, “Obama government” rather than “Obama administration” because some of these connections are not technically within his administration. These would include ambassadorial appointments and Supreme Court appointments (like that anticipated for Elena Kagan). This also includes lobbyists like Dick Gephardt who has multiple connections/input to Obama and to Goldman Sachs and the Hamilton Project.
In a similar vein, I use a broader definition than just Goldman Sachs (GS) because GS has funded, along with its ex-leader Robert Rubin, a right-leaning think tank called the Hamilton Project and embedded it within the Brookings Institution. Some of its activities thus also spill over into Brookings Institution projects which doubtlessly was one of the clever reasons Rubin and GS did this, along with providing their essentially neo-con/neo-liberal think tank with camouflage. This has worked beautifully for GS and Rubin as most writers–even critical ones like Matt Taibbi–seem unaware of the important doings of the Hamilton Project. The Hamilton Project has 32 people sitting on its Advisory Council and many have ties to Goldman Sachs, Rubin and the Obama government. Of the first four Directors of the Hamilton Project, three work in the Obama administration. Meanwhile, the most recent Director of the Hamilton Project came from academia and from a position as economic adviser to the Obama administration to Hamilton in the sort of “revolving door” that Washington is famous for.
The Hamilton Project (named after Alexander Hamilton whose most famous dictum was “The People are a Great Beast”) is essentially pushing for cuts in entitlements (like social security), outsourcing American jobs, and for more NAFTA-type agreements. This is essentially the game plan for the Obama administration, not surprising since Barack Obama was the inaugural speaker at the Hamilton Project (and Joe Biden spoke there just weeks ago).
II. Additional Names of Goldies serving with Obama.
Enough background information, let’s reveal the Goldies with connections/jobs within the Obama government (or with “revolving door” status). For your convenience, I’ve listed the new names to the list separately and in the first section, led off by Elena Kagan because the buzz is that she is Obama’s pick to the Supreme Court.
NEW GOLDIES REVEALED (with respect to prior article):
KAGAN, ELENA.
Kagan was appointed by Obama to serve as the Solicitor General. The Solicitor General, often called the 10th Supreme Court Justice, is the person who argues the U.S. government side of cases before the court. Buzz has it that she is also Obama’s next pick to the Supreme Court, perhaps as early as this Monday.
At any rate, she’s already in the Obama government as Solicitor General. She also has ties to Goldman Sachs. From 2005 to 2008, according to USA Today and other sources, Kagan served as a member of the Research Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs Global Markets Institute. Matt Kelley of USA Today wrote in his article, “Possible Supreme Court Pick Had Ties to Goldman Sachs” that Kagan received $10,000 from Goldman Sachs for her services in 2008, per federal disclosure forms. But since she was doing the same thing in 2005, 2006, and 2006, it would appear that she pulled in $40,000 from Goldman Sachs for what appears to be sitting in on one day sessions looking at big issues affecting the global economy. $40,000 grand for so little time is a nice gig if you can get it (and she likely got expenses too) for so little time. It’s not a huge amount but it is enough to affect a player’s mind.
Here are some questions that Senators on the Judiciary Committee might want to ask of Kagan:
1) Can you produce all the paperwork/receipts related to your ties to Goldman Sachs?
2) Did you report the GS payments as income on your income tax returns (lots of people in the Obama administration (like Timothy Geithner) or wanting to be (like Tom Daschle) seem to have trouble filling out proper IRS forms.
3) Will you recuse yourself in any cases brought before you at the Supreme Court (if confirmed) that have any connection, no matter how remote, to Goldman Sachs or its entities?
4) As Solicitor General of the United States, have you handled (defined largely) any cases relating to Goldman Sachs or its entities?
Have you given advice on any such cases?
5) Have you had any dealings with The Hamilton Project? This includes speeches given there, conferences attended, papers published etc.
BERKOWITZ, HOWARD P.
Here is a murky connection (but an important one) between Obama and Goldman Sachs. Berkowitz serves as the Chairman, Board of Directors of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINAP). It is an important Washington think tank that gives input to Obama. It was established by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in 1985, according to Wikipedia. People affiliated with WINAP are a virtual Who’s Who of foreign policy including Henry Kissinger, Warren Christopher, Lawrence Eagleburger, and Richard Perle.
Berkowitz also is Managing Director of BlackRock and sits on the Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs funded Hamilton Project.
BlackRock is a global investmentment management firm with over $3.35 trillion under management. There is a virtual revolving door of hiring and acquisitions between BlackRock and Goldman Sachs as reported here.
DUDLEY, WILLIAM C.
Dudley, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York web site:
became the 10th president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on January 27, 2009. In that capacity, he serves as the vice chairman and a permanent member of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the group responsible for formulating the nation’s monetary policy.
Mr. Dudley was a partner and managing director at Goldman, Sachs & Company and was the firm’s chief U.S. economist for a decade. Earlier in his career at Goldman Sachs, he had a variety of roles including a stint when he was responsible for the firm’s foreign exchange forecasts. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs in 1986, he was a vice president at the former Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. Mr. Dudley was an economist at the Federal Reserve Board from 1981 to 1983.
Dudley seems to have Geithner’s old job, passed from one Goldie to the next.
EFFRON, BLAIR W.
Effron is a money man. As a bundler for the 2008 Obama campaign, he raised more than $100,000. According to this web site he also was a “Mega Donor” to Obama in 2008, giving more than $28,500 though committees supporting Obama. His wife is also a major contributor, giving tens of thousands of dollars.
Effron is a founding partner of Centerview Partners LLC. Their web site indicates he has executed over $400 billion in transactions.
Effron is also on the Advisory Council of the Goldman Sachs/Robert Rubin funded Hamilton Project.
FROMAN, Michael.
Froman (born August 20, 1962) is deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs, a position to be held jointly at the National Security Council and the National Economic Council. His responsibilities will include serving as the White House liaison to the G7, G8 and G20 summits of economic powers.[
He’s on my prior list but his name was misspelled there (as Frohman). Froman’s days with Obama go back to Harvard Law School. Froman appears to be the original link between Robert Rubin/Goldman Sachs and Obama.
From Wikipedia:
>Froman received a bachelor’s degree in Public and International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University in 1985, a doctorate in International Relations from Oxford University and a law degree from Harvard Law School where he was a classmate of Barack Obama[2][3], and also an associate of Obama’s on the Harvard Law Review.[4]
…
After Harvard, Froman had lost touch with Barack Obama until Froman heard of Obama’s Senate run. Froman volunteered at that point to help, began raising funds for the candidate, and introduced the candidate to Robert Rubin, whom Froman had followed from the Treasury Department to Citigroup [Froman served as Rubin’s Chief of Staff] after the Clinton administration.[4] Before moving to the Obama administration, Froman most recently was a managing director of Citigroup’s Citi Alternative Investments Institutional Clients Group, where he was head of infrastructure and sustainable development [5]. He also served on 12-member advisory board of the Obama campaign’s transition team.[1]
this source provides new information indicating Frohman, who was Mr. Goldman Sach’s former Chief of Staff, as an “informal adviser” to Obama. They spell his name as Froman, Michael.
FUDGE, ANNE.
Obama just appointed Fudge to his budget deficit reduction committee (whose real goal, like that of the Hamilton Project, is to cut entitlements). Fudge has been the public relations craftsman for some of America’s largest corporations. She sits, according to the Washington Post, as a Trustee of the Brookings Institution within which the Hamilton Project is embedded.
GEPHARDT, RICHARD (aka “DICK”) A.
Gephardt is one of the movers and shakers in the Democratic party and served as the Democratic Majority Leader of the House from 1989 to 1995. While he doesn’t have an “official position” in the Obama administration his name was floated as a possible VP to Obama in 2008. Like so many ex-politicians, Gephardt has set up a consulting firm that has its fingers in just about every pie in the Obama government. Gephardt, for instance, advised the Obama administration, according to the New York Times, that universal health coverage could not pass in 2009 and urged Obama to “defer that goal.”That’s what the people Gephardt takes money from wanted and that’s also what Obama did.
Here’s more from The New York Times:
One old friend links Mr. Gephardt’s assessment to his lucrative new career as a lobbyist. “He’s advising a lot of big corporations,” said Tom Buffenbarger, president of the machinists’ union.
Wikipedia says that:
Dick Gephardt started Gephardt Group in January 2005 and is currently its President and CEO. Gephardt Group is a multi-disciplined consulting firm focused on helping clients improve Labor Relations, develop Political and Public Policy Strategies and enhance Business Results by gaining access to new markets or partners.[15]
According to Wikipedia:
is also an active consultant for Goldman Sachs.
Gephardt also sits on the Advisory Council of the Hamilton Project funded by Robert Rubin and Goldman Sachs.
MURPHY, PHILLIP.
Obama appointed Murphy to serve as his Ambassador to Germany. In the 1990’s, Murphy, who worked for decades with Goldman Sachs, served as GS’s head of its German offices. From 1997-1999, Murphy served as President of Goldman Sachs, Asia (during the Asian economic crisis). In all, according to Wikipedia, Murphy spent 23 years at Goldman Sachs including as a Senior Director of the firm in 2003 before retiring from GS in 2006.
GRANOFF, MICHAEL D.
Granoff is a money man, and contributed lots of bucks as a “mega donor” to the Obama campaign. At least $28,500 according to Public Citizen.
Granoff is President, CEO and Founder of Pomona Capital, a venture capital group.
Granoff is also one of the 19 members of the Goldman Sachs-Robert Rubin funded Hamilton Project.
LIDDY, EDWARD MICHAEL.
Liddy was, until recently, the CEO of AIG which, during the Obama administration, was essentially taken over by the government. He served in high positions at Goldman Sachs including : Board Member (Chairman, 1990-94; Director, 2003-2008). He was picked to the Goldman board by none other than Hank Paulson, former head of Goldman Sachs who was Bush’s Treasury Secretary who with Obama’s Treasury Secretary (Geithner) fashioned TARP.
Liddy garnered national headlines in October 2008 for defending a controversial $440,000 AIG retreat for top-performing insurance salesmen at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California. The retreat, which was held shortly after the U.S. government rescued AIG from insolvency with $84 billion in loans, included $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 for the spa. In testimony before the U.S. House Oversight Committee, Liddy stated that such retreats “are standard practice in our industry.”[11] During the U.S. presidential debate on October 7, 2008, Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama mentioned the retreat and said, “The Treasury should demand that money back and those executives should be fired.”[12]
But that’s not what happened. Instead, Barack Obama as President kept Mr. Liddy on while AIG was essentially in receivership under the Obama administration.
How about this for a conflict of interest, again as reported by Wikipedia:
Liddy owns 27,129 shares in Goldman Sachs, at the time worth just over $3 million.[18] In April 2009 members of Congress called for Liddy to sell these shares, as they create a conflict of interest due to Goldman Sachs’ receipt of bailout money.[19] About two-thirds of Liddy’s holding is restricted and cannot be sold until May 31.[18]
Liddy announced on May 21, 2009 that he would resign as AIG Chairman and CEO when replacements were found, suggesting that the two roles be split.[20] Liddy was not paid for his time at AIG.[21] On August 3, 2009, Robert Benmosche was named President and CEO of AIG.[7]
NIEDERAUER, DUNCAN.
Niederauer is CEO of the New York Stock Exchange. While a private entity, it is heavily regulated by the government and has close government ties. Niederauer, for instance, is a frequent speaker at Federal Reserve events:
New York Stock Exchange Euronext CEO Duncan L. Niederauer delivered the keynote address today at the fourth annual global summit on financial literacy hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and Visa Inc.
He has an extensive Goldman Sachs background:
He joined NYSE Group following a 22-year career at Goldman Sachs. He served as a Managing Director of Goldman Sachs since 1997 and was responsible for U.S. cash equities operations, including Institutional and Member Firm Client Group sales and client services for … both the New York Stock Exchange and NYSE Arca. Mr. Niederauer was previously a Partner at The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (United States) (“GS”) where he held many positions.
PERRY, RICHARD.
Perry is an Obama supporter, adviser and fund raiser. He worked for Goldman Sachs and is on the Goldman Sachs’funded, Hamilton Project’s Advisory Council. He is also CEO of Perry Capital, a hedge fund. Perry owns the full floor penthouse at 1 Sutton Place in NYC and according to the Washington Examiner is one of 15 ” fat cat Wall St. Banker” friends of Obama. These are the same “fat cats” that Obama sometimes flails out at in the press to pretend he’s a populist!
SHAFRAN, STEVEN.
Shafran served as an advisor/aide to Timothy Geithner especially on TARP. All of the advisers on that appear in a very murky fashion. And Shafran, like a lot of other TARP advisers, has extensive ties to Goldman as a executive for years. He’s especially shadowy, however. Here’s a link about him fromCBS News.
THAIN, JOHN.
John Thain has served as an adviser to Timothy Geithner. Thain was President and Chief Operating Officer of Goldman Sachs from 1999 to 2003.
TYSON, LAURA D’ANDREA.
An economic adviser to President Obama. Tyson is a Hamilton Project Advisory Council Member. The Hamilton Project as noted above was founded by Bob Rubin and Goldman Sachs and has close links to Obama personally.
III. COMBINED LIST OF GOLDIES TIED TO THE OBAMA GOVERNMENT.
This lists compiles the names above and those in the prior diary on this. For more detail on names not annotated in this diary, see the earlier diary linked here):
ALTMAN, ROGER.
BERKOWITZ, HOWARD P.
BIDEN, JOE.
BRAINARD, LAEL.
BUFFETT, WARREN.
CLINTON, HILLARY.
CRAIG, GREGORY. (revolving door)
DONILON, THOMAS.
DUDLEY, WILLIAM C.
EFFRON, BLAIR W.
ELMENDORF, DOUGLAS.
EMANUEL, RAHM.
FARRELL, DIANA.
FRIEDMAN, STEPHEN.
FROMAN, Michael.
FUDGE, ANNE.
FURMAN, JASON.
GALLOGLY, MARK.
GEITHNER, TIMOTHY.
GENSLER, GARY.
GEPHARDT, RICHARD (aka “DICK”) A.
GREENSTONE, MICHAEL (revolving door to Hamilton Project)
HAMILTON PROJECT, THE
HORMATS, ROBERT.
KAGAN, ELENA.
KASHKARI, NEEL.
KORNBLUH, KAREN.
LEW, JACOB (AKA “JACK”) J.
LIDDY, EDWARD MICHAEL.
LIPTON, DAVID A.
MINDICH, ERIC
MURPHY, PHILLIP.
NIEDERAUER, DUNCAN.
OBAMA, BARACK H.
ORSZAG, PETER.
PATTERSON, MARK.
PERRY, RICHARD.
RATTNER, STEVE.
REISCHAUER, ROBERT D.
RIVLIN, ALICE.
RUBIN, JAMES.
RUBIN, ROBERT.
SHAFRAN, STEVEN.
SPERLING, GENE.
STORCH, ADAM.
SUMMERS, LARRY.
THAIN, JOHN.
TYSON, LAURA D’ANDREA.
RECOMMENDED FURTHER READING:
1. Greg Gordon (McClatchy Newspapers), “Goldman’s White House Connections Raise Eyebrows” April 21, 2010.
2. Fflambeau, “With the Obama Administration Infested With Goldman Sachs People, How Real is the Obama/Democratic Attack on Big Banks” FDL Diary, April 21, 2010.
3. “More Investigations of Goldman Sachs, A Double-Edge Swords for Obama and Democrats”
4. Paul Street’s article showing that Obama held corporatist ideas long before elected and his indebtedness to the interests of big business.
5. Matthew Skomarovsky, “Obama Packs Debt Commission with Social Security Looters”, March 28, 2010 at Alternet.
6. Fflambeau, “A List of Goldman Sachs People in the Obama Administration: Names Attached to the Giant Squid’s Tentacles”
ESSENTIAL READING ON THE HAMILTON PROJECT AND ITS TIES TO THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION:
1. Kirk James Murphy, M.D. “The Hamilton Project: Same Corporatist Whine In New DLC Vessels.” THE seminal article on the Hamilton Project which also features a video clip of then Senator Barack Obama talking about “my friend, Bob [Rubin]” and espousing cuts in entitlements and the “need” for more free trade pacts like NAFTA.
2. Fflambeau, “Obama’s ‘Smoking Gun’: His Hamilton Project Speech Shows His Links to Goldman, Entitlement Cuts, Part 1.
3. Fflambeau, “Obama’s ‘Smoking Gun’: His Hamilton Project Speech Shows His Links to Goldman, Entitlement Cuts, Part 2“.
4. Another source for Obama’s Hamilton Project speech of April 2006. Contains video clip.
5. James Kirk Murphy, M.D., “Remember the Hamilton Project?” Dr. Murph’s latest look at the Hamilton Project.
6. David Sirota, “Wall Street Democrats Unveil Plan to Undermine Progressives”, April 5, 2006.
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