Now I know why Geithner and his buddies allow Liz Warren to keep talking out loud about what has happened in the financial world, and what is still happening.
The progressive left loves her, and I must admit, she does have some financial common sense stances that I agree with.
In the following video from NRN, she speaks of a loophole put in the bankruptcy law passed in 2005 that was left wide open when Dodd and Frank wrote the next chapter in “financial regulation” that works the system to protect the insiders and screws the taxpayer.
Here’s a very interesting backstory on Geithner vs. Warren when it comes to the person to head up the new Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection and how the progressives that support Liz Warren would consider her being passed over as yet another betrayal.
Though Treasury has tried to downplay the Warren drama, this is an important moment for Obama. Progressive reformers are already defining a potential rejection of Warren as a White House betrayal. Simon Johnson, the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, writes,
This can now go only one of two ways.
1. Elizabeth Warren gets the job. Bridges are mended and the White House regains some political capital. Secretary Geithner is weakened slightly but he’ll recover.
2. Someone else gets the job, despite Treasury’s claims that Elizabeth Warren was not blocked. The deception in this scenario would be nauseating — and completely blatant. “Everyone was considered on their merits” and “the best candidate won” will convince who exactly?
He adds, “Failing to appoint Elizabeth Warren would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. It will go down in the history books as a turning point — downwards — for this administration.”
If Obama dumps Warren, the White House will justifiably enrage reformers and progressives — that is, part of its base. If Obama nominates Warren, the White House will have a major fight with banks and GOPers. “That may be a fight worth having,” a Treasury Department official says, “but that’s up to the White House to decide.” It’s a mighty big decision.
Edward Liddy, the finance industry executive brought out of retirement by the US government to run the nationalised insurer AIG, is to quit as soon as a replacement can be found, foregoing the chance of being paid for his work.
After eight months at the centre of political rows and public opprobrium over the spiralling cost of the AIG bail-out, Mr Liddy said last night he wanted to go back into retirement.
His departure leaves the Obama administration with the headache of filling one of the toughest jobs in the government-controlled sector of the finance industry, or more accurately, two of the toughest jobs, since Mr Liddy recommended that AIG split the roles of chairman and chief executive.
BlackRock Inc. co-founder Ralph L. Schlosstein is expected to take over as chief executive of Evercore Partners Inc. from Roger C. Altman, who will remain as executive chairman but give up daily management of the firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
The planned changes, which have yet to be approved by Evercore’s board, are designed to expand the firm’s asset-management unit and other areas outside its core advisory practice. The firm has made a number of investments in that area, including the recent acquisition of a Bank of America Corp. unit that manages employee benefit plans.
Mr. Schlosstein is a veteran asset manager, having co-founded BlackRock with Laurence D. Fink back in 1988. Messrs. Altman and Schlosstein have been close for most of their careers. Both worked at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and served in the administration of President Jimmy Carter.
Mr. Altman, who started his career at Lehman Brothers in the 1970s, is one of the few remaining Wall Street bankers who helped transform the practice of mergers and acquisitions from a backwater into a highly sophisticated and profitable business.
In 1996, he started Evercore, using his political and banking connections to build one of Wall Street’s more successful boutique investment banks. The firm derives most of its revenue from advising clients on deals and corporate restructurings. In addition to its asset-management arm, Evercore also operates a small private-equity business, an area where it has stumbled.
Evercore has weathered the financial crisis largely unscathed, and its stock has risen nearly 20% over the past year. The firm ranked 10th among Wall Street firms by the total dollar volume of the transactions it advised on in the first quarter, according to Thomson Reuters.
In 1988, Mr. Schlosstein left Lehman, where he headed the firm’s mortgage-backed-bond group, and co-founded BlackRock with Laurence D. Fink. BlackRock, where Mr. Schlosstein served as president until last year, manages more than $1 trillion in investment assets. The firm has recently drawn attention for its role helping the government design programs for managing banks’ distressed assets.
Go here for more on Blackrock and their interesting business practices.
NEW YORK (AP) — Xerox Corp. said Thursday that Chief Executive Anne Mulcahy will retire July 1, to be succeeded by Ursula Burns, the printer and copier maker’s president. She will make Xerox the largest U.S. company to be headed by a black woman.
The move has been in the works since Burns, 50, became heir apparent and company president in April 2007.
No company in the Fortune 500 has ever had a black woman as CEO, according to Daniel Kile, a spokesman for the magazine.
Burns, who joined Xerox in 1980, takes the top job in a period of renewed stress on the company, as the recession crimps spending on printer equipment and supplies. Xerox said late last year it would cut 3,000 jobs to reduce costs, and the company’s first-quarter revenue fell 18 percent.
Mulcahy, 56, will continue to chair the Xerox board.
Okay – please explain to me the odds of what you have just read. Three big name chiefs announcing “retirement” on the same day? I wonder how many more I will find in the next few days, and on whose orders they are leaving/moving around?
I will keep you posted as to what I uncover down the rabbit hole.
Author’s Update: I originally posted the following item on 12/22/08 and what followed was The Fed series which you can find at the top of this blog; it has it’s own page. The reason for bumping up this post is that this particular article has now gotten more hits than any other including the “Socialism” series; which I find rather odd and incredibly interesting. Also of note are two blogs that are hitting this post; Let’s Take The High Road and djd58. These two blogs are protected and all the hits come from the same 4 IP addresses. I have been watching both and the hits number in the 1000s. Also, I have stated that I will let you know when interesting visitors show up. BEHOLD, my most interesting visitor today, Davis, Polk & Wardell, probably one of the most influential law firms in the world. Two days ago the U.S. Treasury was on. Are we full of it kids, or are they getting nervous? The Republicans better find their cajones and stop that $900 Billion (really 1.2 Trillion) Stimulus Bill.
From Davis, Polk & Wardell’s site:
Lead counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the U.S. Department of the Treasury on a series of unprecedented financing transactions for AIG, including (i) the Fed’s $85 billion credit facility and related equity ownership rights; (ii) the Fed’s subsequent participation in up to $37.8 billion of securities lending transactions; (iii) the issuance of $40 billion of newly issued perpetual preferred shares to Treasury; (iv) the creation of two entities capitalized with up to $52.5 billion in senior financing from the Fed to address issues arising out of AIG’s U.S. securities lending program and credit default swaps obligations.
Lead counsel to Citi on its realignment into two businesses, Citicorp and Citi Holdings.
Lead counsel to Citi on its proposed joint venture with Morgan Stanley that will combine Morgan Stanley’s Global Wealth Management Group and Citi’s Smith Barney retail brokerage units in the U.S., U.K. and Australia into a new entity, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
Lead counsel to Citi on its agreement with agencies of the U.S. government pursuant to which the U.S. government has provided a package of guarantees on $306 billion of assets, liquidity access and capital, including a $20 billion investment in Citi’s preferred stock under TARP and a $7 billion investment in preferred stock in connection with the above guarantees.
Lead counsel to Citi on its proposed $56 billion rescue of Wachovia, which was the first FDIC-assisted “open bank” transaction to invoke the “systemic risk” exception to the “least cost resolution” principle.
Counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the U.S. Treasury’s $250 billion bank capital purchase program.
Counsel to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on the creation of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), through which the New York Fed will extend up to $200 billion in non-recourse loans to certain holders of newly issued AAA-rated asset-backed securities collateralized by student loans, consumer loans and small-business loans.
Lead counsel to the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) on a proposed increase in its equity capital, the U.S. government’s conservatorship and financial assistance package, as well as the Department of Justice and SEC investigations.
Counsel to Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) on U.S. bank regulatory and other issues relating to HMG’s plan to provide financial support to the U.K. banking system.
Lead counsel to Citi as the organizer of a multi-bank financing on a potential pre-bankruptcy acquisition of Lehman by Barclays. The firm is also advising several major financial institutions on credit exposure issues relating to Lehman.
I guess a warm welcome is in order for such a prestigious and connected New York law firm, yes?
If you want to get into what they think about the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, go here, and if you want to learn about how this law firm is tied into everything, check out their Wiki; make sure to take the time to scroll down and look at their alumni, for example, Kirsten Gillibrand – U.S. Senator (D-NY).
Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to why they are visiting on The Monster? I’m open….
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Good Evening All,
I wanted to leave a note for y’all to let you know that I had an email sent to me a day ago and what started out as simple research for one article has overturned a can of worms, or snakes as the case may be, and I will not be posting anything for a few days as I research and sift through all the material and connections that are rising to the surface. I would like to let it be known though, that if half of what I have found is true, Obama is the least of our worries, and if you are a person of prayer, now might be a good time to start again or continue, and that comment coming from a recovering Catholic says quite a bit.
Also, I left a note in my sidebar about converting your currency to silver or gold bullion. I put that note up before I really started the research and that note holds more true now than ever. Might be a good idea to do it before The One Ascends.
I am foreseeing another series of articles like the “Socialism” series and will let you know when the first is close to being posted.
Thank you for your patience and please take some time to wander around the site and read some articles that you may have missed.
Many Mahalos and Safe Journeys,
Diamond Tiger
(Shtuey – better make that a case of beer and some whiskey….)
