How Much More Will Obama's Supporters Tolerate?

I guess we can watch and wait and find out, because there is surely more coming. JC

Glenn Greenwald

Saturday April 4, 2009 08:35 EDT

Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government

White House officials yesterday released their personal financial disclosure forms, and included in the millions of dollars which top Obama economics adviser Larry Summers made from Wall Street in 2008 is this detail:

Lawrence H. Summers, one of President Obama's top economic advisers, collected roughly $5.2 million in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw over the past year and was paid more than $2.7 million in speaking fees by several troubled Wall Street firms and other organizations. . . .

Financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch paid Summers for speaking appearances in 2008. Fees ranged from $45,000 for a Nov. 12 Merrill Lynch appearance to $135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs, according to his disclosure form.

That's $135,000 paid by Goldman Sachs to Summers -- for a one-day visit. And the payment was made at a time -- in April, 2008 -- when everyone assumed that the next President would either be Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton and that Larry Summers would therefore become exactly what he now is: the most influential financial official in the U.S. Government (and the $45,000 Merrill Lynch payment came 8 days after Obama's election). Goldman would not be able to make a one-day $135,000 payment to Summers now that he is Obama's top economics adviser, but doing so a few months beforehand was obviously something about which neither parties felt any compunction. It's basically an advanced bribe. And it's paying off in spades. And none of it seemed to bother Obama in the slightest when he first strongly considered naming Summers as Treasury Secretary and then named him his top economics adviser instead (thereby avoiding the need for Senate confirmation), knowing that Summers would exert great influence in determining who benefited from the government's response to the financial crisis.

Cont.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/04/summers/index.html?source=newsletter

© Janet Crain

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And We Never Hear About These Kind of Associations From the MSM

W.H. team discloses TARP firm ties

By KENNETH P. VOGEL | 4/3/09 10:49 PM EDT

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Those are among the associations detailed in personal financial disclosure statements released Friday. Photo: AP

Lawrence Summers, a top economic adviser to President Barack Obama, pulled in more than $2.7 million in speaking fees paid by firms at the heart of the financial crisis, including Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch, Bank of America Corp. and the now-defunct Lehman Brothers.

He pulled in another $5.2 million last year from D.E. Shaw, a hedge fund for which he served as managing director from October 2006 until joining the administration.

Thomas E. Donilon, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, was paid $3.9 million last year by the power law firm O’Melveny & Myers to represent clients, including two firms that received federal bailout funds: Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. He also disclosed that he’s a member of the Trilateral Commission and sits on the steering committee of the supersecret Bilderberg group. Both groups are favorite targets of conspiracy theorists.

And White House Counsel Greg Craig last year earned $1.7 million in private practice representing an exiled Bolivian president, a Panamanian lawmaker wanted by the U.S. government for allegedly murdering a U.S. soldier and a tech billionaire accused of securities fraud and various sensational drug and sex crimes.

Those are among the associations detailed in personal financial disclosure statements released Friday night by the White House. The income reported on the forms mostly covers 2008 and in some cases the beginning of 2009.

Cont.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/20889.html

© Janet Crain

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Obama presents new cabinet

Published: Monday 01 December 2008 18:45 UTC

Last updated: Monday 01 December 2008 18:45 UTC

US president elect Barack Obama has announced who will be nominated for the key positions in the new government. Most of the nominations had been leaked beforehand. Mr Obama's former rival for the Democratic nomination Hillary Clinton will become secretary of state, the Republican Robert Gates will stay on as defense secretary. Former Marine Corps general James Jones has been nominated as national security advisor.

Eric Holder is the intended new Attorney General and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano has been nominated head of the Department of Homeland Security, which was created in the wake of 9/11. New York Central Bank President Timothy Geithner has been chosen to become secretary of the treasury.

Noteworthy is that Mr Obama has appointed many ministers and advisors who also played a role in former president Bill Clinton's cabinet. Former secretary of the treasury Lawrence Summers will lead the National Economic Council, Susan Rice, former deputy secretary of state, will become the new US ambassador to the United Nations.

www.radionetherlands.nl

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