The Privilege of the Pritzkers

[Octafish]

An Interview with Tim Anderson on Obama's Commerce Nominee, Penny Pritzker, the Sub-Prime Queen

The Privilege of the Pritzkers

by DENNIS BERNSTEIN
CounterPunch, May 3-5, 2013

EXCERPT...

TA: $38 billion. One publication listed eight casinos, another listed 13, with each license worth a half a million dollars. There is another $5-7 billion in casinos. When you own 13 casinos for 5-7 billion, you are a player in the casino business. That’s just the hotels and casinos. There are many other companies they own such as the second largest chewing tobacco company, which they sold for 3.5 billion dollars. They actually owned the second and third largest chewing tobacco company, but have since off-loaded those for billions of dollars. Many of their assets are not what society considers clean assets, but hey don’t care. As far as money goes, they want it. When it comes to casinos or chewing tobacco companies, they don’t care. Their wealth is almost incalculable, because according to Forbes magazine, they are the only family in America to have off shore tax-free trusts because they were grandfathered in. Their off shore trust can ship money back to their family tax-free. It was grandfathered in because their grandfather got it through Congress – he was smart to see the future and got it done. Congress closed the loophole and grandfathered him in. Forbesmagazine wrote about the Pritzker’s off shore trust, they emphasized that there are over 1000 separate trusts. Many families have two or three different savings accounts to keep track of what money belongs to who, but when you have over 1000 different trusts to handle the family estate it’s very hard to comprehend how much wealth there is and how many businesses they control. A few years ago, Penny sold TransUnion, the largest credit reporting agency in America, but there’s a question about whether she sold it to herself by selling it to various hedge funds which her family has a large interest in. Until she sold it, you could say that Penny Pritzker had more files on every citizen in America than the CIA and FBI combined, because everybody has a credit score and credit report. Penny Pritzker had the credit scores and report on every single citizen in America.

SNIP...

TA: She had TransUnion while she had Superior Bank, so she controlled the credit scores of everybody who was getting a subprime loan. You pay a higher interest on your subprime loan based on your credit score. Whether or not it was ever brokered between the credit bureau and the bank, we don’t know, but we know the same people control both entities.

SNIP...

TA: Superior Bank was acquired back in 1989 as part of the original savings and loan giveaway by M, D and E Wall. As I wrote a in a paper for an economic conference in Denver, Superior Bank was sold to the Pritzkers for 42.5 million dollars. They changed the name from Lion Savings and Loan to Superior Bank after they acquired it. Lion Savings and Loan was sold to the Pritzkers just to put up money for the capital. But as government reports show, they only put up a million dollars cash and pledged their assets as the difference, the capital. That’s not supposed to be done, but they are privileged people so they get privileged deals. After they acquired this for $1 million they also got $640 million in tax credits.

SNIP...

TA: The tax credits were designed so they could use it in any entity they wanted. They didn’t have to use it on what they bought. It could be sold on the open market for value, the credits could be used to file back taxes or warehouse them for future taxes. So for a million dollars, they got 640 million dollars for agreeing to take over Superior Bank, which they then looted for years then gave it back to the government with an enormous loss to the uninsured depositors and the whole subprime industry.

CONTINUED...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/05/03/the-privilege-of-the-pritzkers/

PS: I don't have anything against rich people, per se. I'd just like to see the offices and powers of the government go toward helping somebody other than the rich. For a change.

[bahrbearian]

1. OK, I give up now, its not Changing , I have no more Hope.

[Octafish]

2. Not to argue, but the change that is coming is going to help the ownership class.

Here's a hint:

A Note to Penny Pritzker

Clyde Prestowitz
Financial Times Blog
Feb. 11, 2013

Dear Ms. Pritzker,

EXCERPT..

The secretary of commerce has the authority to initiate investigations of key industries with regard to the impact of their loss of competitiveness on national security; the authority to initiate anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigations; the authority, under circumstances of the temporary provision of relief from import competition, to direct corporations and industries to restructure for revitalization; the authority constantly to analyze the competitiveness of industries and to recommend improvement actions; the authority to convene industry leaders and to give then anti-trust immunity if they work together on certain prescribed projects to improve the entire industry. Additionally, the secretary oversees an entire corps of commercial diplomats who staff U.S. embassies and promote U.S. exports while gathering information on foreign industries, economies, and technologies. For someone who knows how to use them, these authorities can be the levers by which the secretary of commerce can rise to a position of great power. Here's why.

The future power, welfare, and security of the United States do not depend primarily upon its military, diplomatic, and financial capabilities. Rather, they depend mainly on its productive capacities and its ability to compete in the global economy. America's main challenge is not how to deal with al Qaeda or North Korea or the People's Liberation Army (PLA). It's how to compete with the Chinese, South Korean, Singaporean, Japanese, Indian, and EU economies. America is not losing influence around the world or suffering stagnation of household income at home because it doesn't have enough weapons or soldiers or diplomats or Wall Street investment banks. Its influence and general welfare are waning because it increasingly doesn't produce competitively. Just look at the high technology fields in which Americans pride themselves on being leaders. Yet the United States has a more than $100 billion trade deficit in high technology. Reversing that trend is what being secretary of commerce is all about, or should be.

SNIP...

I've been looking over your resume. I don't have to tell you that it's very impressive. But I do have to tell you that it's mostly a hindrance and irrelevant to what you have to do to make Commerce into a front line agency and to become a great secretary of commerce and public servant. Sorry, but it's totally an establishment background, and it's the establishment that's our problem.

For nearly the past seventy years, our establishment has embraced policies that emphasize geo-politics while subordinating national economic competitiveness. In particular, it has adopted a doctrine of unilateral free trade globalization that has been totally rejected by our main competitors like South Korea, China, Taiwan, Germany, and France. Our establishment believes the argument that while companies may compete economically, countries do not. Their establishments consider that notion to be total nonsense, pointing out that the Soviets did not lose the Cold War for lack of soldiers, tanks, or missiles. Rather, the cause was lack of competitiveness.


CONTINUED...

http://prestowitz.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/02/11/a_note_to_penny_pritzker

As for those who need to become more competitive: Tough Luck.

[warrant46]

59. `

[byeya]

3. To me, being that rich should disqualify anyone from serving in a cabinent level job

in a Democratic administration.

Gambling money. Sheesh.

[Octafish]

4. Goes with the Win-Win Bankster Forgiveness Feature now standard on all political models.

From 2008:

"One of the things that is interesting about reading conspiracy theory is that much of what folks think is conspiracy is really many people acting in concert to make or protect their money." - Catherine Austin Fitts

A big shot in Poppy's crew, Fitts got fed up with the corruption at the highest levels of government, business and finance. She's doing all she can to document corruption on Wall Street and Washington and helping those who give a damn do something about it. Her Narcodollars for Beginners deserves a Pulitzer.

Integrity is an alien concept to the plutocrat.

[KoKo]

10. Maybe...but, did you read Penny's Background? You might want to rethink this...

before popping off that anyone who thinks this appointment isn't CRONYISM is not a GOOD DEM!

[rhett o rick]

38. Please restate this for the slow people (me) nm

[whistler162]

16. Flunked history did you!

What is it with every half baked anti-Obama article that comes along that sucks people into poutrages?

You are being conned!

[Octafish]

19. Ms. Pritzker Benefited Big Time from the Bankster Bailout.

From Greg Palast:

Billionaire Bankster Penny Pritzker
Breaks into Obama's Cabinet

Thursday, May 2, 2013
By Greg Palast

EXCERPT...

Pritzker's net worth is listed in Forbes as $1.8 billion, which is one hell of a heavy magic wand in the world of politics. Her wand would have been heavier, and her net worth higher, except that in 2001, the federal government fined her and her family $460 million for the predatory, deceitful, racist tactics and practices of Superior, the bank-and-loan-shark operation she ran on the South Side of Chicago.

Superior was the first of the deregulated go-go banks to go bust - at the time, the costliest failure ever. US taxpayers lost nearly half a billion dollars. Superior's depositors lost millions and poor folk in Sen. Obama's South Side district lost their homes.

Penny did not like paying $460 million. No, not one bit. What she needed was someone to give her Hope and Change. She hoped someone would change the banking regulators and the Commerce Department so she could get away with this crap.

Pritzker introduced Obama, the neophyte state senator, to the Ladies Who Lunch (that's really what they call themselves) on Chicago's Gold Coast. Obama got lunch, gold and better - an introduction to Robert Rubin. Rubin is a former Secretary of the Treasury, former chairman of Goldman Sachs and former co-chairman of Citibank. Even atheists recognized Rubin as the Supreme Deity of Wall Street.

SNIP...

Geithner and Summers were the gents who, under Treasury Secretary Rubin, designed the deregulation of banking. In effect, they had decriminalized the kind of financial flim-flammery that brought the planet to its knees while bringing Rubin, Pritzker and the banksters loads of lucre.

CONTINUED...

http://www.gregpalast.com/billionaire-bankster-breaks-into-obamas-cabinet/

Remember the housing crisis all "those" people were getting tossed out of their homes in 2008?

That was her.

[rhett o rick]

39. If you are trying to make an argument you certainly forgot any kind of honest discussion with links.

Just sayin.

[byeya]

5. Just a remembrance of a thing past: Carlucci was a high level official for Bush1 and he went

right into the Carlisle Group a big international, political pull, hedge fund type of organization that's enriched the Bushes and their cohorts.
Is this right? Am I remembering correctly, hope so.
Fits into what you've posted if true.

[Octafish]

7. A great guy. Helped advance the cause of democracy in the Congo.

If one defines democracy as capitalism, as in Capitalism's Invisible Army.

To them, War is Sell.

One of the more important messages on the subject I've written:

Know your BFEE: They kill good soldiers like Col. Ted Westhusing for profit.

Not that many main stream media these days to pick up on such notices, however:

Editor & Publisher Sold (to Boating Magazine Co.), Resumes Operations (Greg Mitchell Let Go)

Carlucci recently was interested in finding investors for an opportunity in floating castles.

We used to write about the Carlyle Group a lot on DU. Thank you for remembering, byeya!

[byeya]

8. You're welcome. I think Carlyle is mixed up in a myriad of unsavory activities with

people of questionable ethical and moral standards. War is Sell(lol) (lol through my tears)

[KoKo]

24. Check out "Blackstone" fave Obama Supporter and Cerebus....(Hounds that Guard Gates to Hell)

Venture Capitalists..working for their investors (not our puny 401-K money) and to Promote their Agenda with the Government...for "Their High Net Worth Investors)

It's their right to do that...but, we don't have the money for the "proper counter or PUSH BACK" and that's why it's UNFAIR for what we call our Democratic Capitalism. Or...what WE THINK our Democratic Capitalism is which differs from what it is in PRACTICE....unfortunately.

[byeya]

37. Thanks!

[byeya]

6. CounterPunch & Carlucci

In the past few months there has been a rash of media reports on the Carlyle Group, a private equity investment group with billions of dollars of assets in the defense industry and a roster of directors and consultants which includes not only well-known Reagan and Bush appointees but also international figures like John Major, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain, and Fidel Ramos, the former President of the Philippines.

The Chairman of the Carlyle Group, Frank Carlucci, was not only a former Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration, but a Deputy Director of the CIA during the Carter Administration. In fact, Carlucci’s career in Washington provides some insight into the intersection between foreign and domestic policy in the Cold War years. Moreover, Carlucci’s particular trajectory through the government and into private industry reveals much about the meaning and influence of the military-industrial complex in the past and continuing policies of the United States at home and abroad.

[Octafish]

18. Note how despots and their countries are just loved by the BFEE?

In Vietnam, Diem.

In the Philippines, Marcos.

In Nicaragua, Somoza.

In Iran, the Shah.

In Iraq, Saddam.

In Panama, Noriega.

In Chile, Pinochet.

In Egypt, Mubarak.

"Money trumps peace." -- George W Bush, selected pretzeldent.

[KoKo]

25. +! A link would be nice, too for further reading. Thanks!

[byeya]

36. I just used the Google.I think if you write in "counterpunch carlyle" you will get the article that

was published in the CounterPunch newsletter, begun by the late Alex Cockburn. Wish I could provide a link but I lack even the most rudimentary computer skills.

[RobertEarl]

9. Thanks again, Octafish

Last edited Sat May 4, 2013, 09:00 PM - Edit history (1)

This may not be part of a conspiracy to some fragile thinkers we have around here, but can they deny the collusion?

The ends of the collusion are to rake in ever more money for their friends and family. I've known a few rich people and have overheard them discussing the ways they are working together to grab all they can.

Most of us are well aware that rich people get rich not by sharing the bounty but rather by hoarding all the bounty they can. Government has become one of their flagships on their treasonous cruise to happy land. Happy land being where they are kings of the world in their eyes. Same as it ever was, eh?

[Octafish]

13. I've been wondering if there's a conspiracy arrayed against me.

When one poster says he reads everything I write, in response to another poster.

And another poster tells me to draw my own conclusions after I notice a bunch of good DUers are no longer around after arguing a relatively minor point regarding the specifics of the assassination of President Kennedy, it makes me wonder.

It is the same as it ever was. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the warmongers divide and conquer.

[RobertEarl]

17. Not a conspiracy but collusion

They aren't smart enough to conspire, all they can do is collude.

There are some that say DU and some DUers are not that influential. They are either liars or deluded. And you, Sir, are a fount of truth on DU and very influential.

The attack on you takes place on many fronts and from many angles. It is a "Kill the messenger" attack. Yet you just keep going and going!

Know, Sir, there are many who appreciate your messages of facts, history and the cause.

[dflprincess]

23. I second what RobertEarl said

and would like to be counted as one of those who appreciate Octafish's posts.

[KoKo]

27. nah...it's just the times we are living in "right" now.

It will pass.

[KoKo]

11. If I had to Caption this Photo...it would be..."The Kiss of Privilege" and if Bush did it

we'd be crawling all over his butt for this. It's what Dems used to do in OUTRAGE...but, this gets a PASS?

[Octafish]

12. Ever noticed how different people treat you based on appearances, especially wealth?

If I'm wearing a suit, doors get held open for me.

If I'm wearing jeans and a hoody, people let it slam in my face.

Now, the Democratic leadership is dressing up nice, in expectations of a great future.

The rest of us in the Party, to mis-paraphrase Speaker Rayburn, are expected to go along to get along.

[KoKo]

15. I dressed myself up to look like "Fit In for Corporate American Female" when I protested agains

Last edited Sun May 5, 2013, 12:02 PM - Edit history (1)

the Iraq Invasion in my state! I knew the Media would be looking for "Dirty F**ing Hippie Types like the Cable Company Documentaries Portray Us!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. When's the ring kissing ceremony and who's going to kiss whose ring?

[rhett o rick]

28. Power goes with wealth. Not hard to figure out who is the royalty. nm

[Octafish]

32. Didn't we tell the royals to take a hike in 1776?

Historian Michael Parenti says that the nation's founders primarily did the bidding of the Ownership Class.

[rhett o rick]

40. The Elite class has always run the country as they run everything down to the Parent Teachers Associ

Association. Are you familiar with Elite Theory? The best we can hope for is a sympathetic ruling Elite. If there is an alternative, plez let me know.

[forestpath]

20. The fact that an anti-worker filthy rich person like her supports a DEMOCRAT really says a whole

lot more about that Democrat than it does about her.

[Marr]

21. Indeed. /nt

[dflprincess]

22. Bingo!

An excellant and very sad point.

[KoKo]

26. From what I've read the Pritzger Brother and Sister think they fit better with Dems

than Repugs...even though their history isn't the kind of Dem Person I'd want to associate with. But, then I don't have the money to "run in their crowd." Neither did Obama...but he caught their attention...and they made him from what I've read. Most of the reports about their association were ignored in our Dem fervor to get rid of Bush at all costs. And, to make sure we never had another one serving as President who would be like him.

It's what it is.

[rhett o rick]

29. It also says a lot about those that support that Democrat. They may

recognize that she is member of the ruling Elite but they hope she will treat them nice because she has chosen to be a "Democrat".

Wealth can be made, but in the last 20 years the Elite have learned that with Congressional help, wealth can be stolen much easier. And of course wealth = power.

It's about time for the next bank bail out. 2015?

[Octafish]

33. We've got Democratic senators who have liberal records, except when it comes to defense spending.

Which helps explain the creepy way the wars just keep on keeping on and on, even when the enemy we created this giant national security complex to defend us from is no more.

[Hotler]

30. Octafish, I've tried to be optimistic, but I just can't.

Every time I turn around it's just one more stab in the back to the little people from TPTB in this country. What hurts the most is the back stabbing from this president. His failure to even try and prosecute Bush/Cheney and crew for war crimes to his turning a blind eye on the Wall St. crooks. and then there is Bill Clinton not prosecuting poppy Bush for his fuck ups. I have no hope. I see no future.

[Octafish]

31. It IS crazy.

Remember what Gandhi said:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it -- always.

Gandhi, who we know how he and almost all peace makers ended, makes an excellent role model for us. The guy's nation had been colonized by the British Empire for centuries, and yet he stood up to them and just did the right thing -- no violence needed.

Ghandi's approach also was rooted firmly in the understanding that the dignity of a human being is tied to respect for the Divine. That knowledge brings an inner peace that no matter what the oppressor does, he cannot extinguish the Real One within each person.

That's not to say we just sit back and expect things to change. We can't. We must be pro-active and use the armamentarium we have, chiefly the Internet to spread information and organize politically. Pat Robertson is the one who helped bring Reagan for Bill Casey and the greedheads who today can afford to buy up as much of Washington as they want. The Liquor Officer Pat did so by first taking over the local school boards, then the city halls, then the state houses and then Washington -- all in one conservative claptrap coalition lifetime. We can do similar work, if people stand up in public and say why we need Liberal, Progressive, Democratic leadership.

PS: The scuttlebut is the warmonger neocons during Smirko's run were told they'd face a mutiny among the flag ranks were they to nuke Iran. I expect the same goes for anyone getting that crazy.

[LiberalAndProud]

34. It will be interesting to see if the familiar filibuster makes an appearance over this nomination.

I will be surprised if it does. Watching . . .

[Octafish]

35. Excellent Observation.

Some Cabinet nominees are afforded more buy-partisan support than others.



The interest in how few attended the Joint Economic Committee hearings on unemployment the other day shows clearly who has the bigger voice: Labor or the corporations and their owners.

Personally, I find it a disgrace when Democrats ignore their base to implement the policies of the Republians.

[panader0]

41. Rec'd

[Octafish]

42. Not one single bankster is in jail.

And now one of the biggest banksters of all will run Commerce.

Why Isn't Wall Street in Jail?

Financial crooks brought down the world's economy — but the feds are doing more to protect them than to prosecute them

By MATT TAIBBI
Rolling Stone
February 16, 2011 9:00 AM ET

EXCERPT...

The systematic lack of regulation has left even the country's top regulators frustrated. Lynn Turner, a former chief accountant for the SEC, laughs darkly at the idea that the criminal justice system is broken when it comes to Wall Street. "I think you've got a wrong assumption — that we even have a law-enforcement agency when it comes to Wall Street," he says.

In the hierarchy of the SEC, the chief accountant plays a major role in working to pursue misleading and phony financial disclosures. Turner held the post a decade ago, when one of the most significant cases was swallowed up by the SEC bureaucracy. In the late 1990s, the agency had an open-and-shut case against the Rite Aid drugstore chain, which was using diabolical accounting tricks to cook their books. But instead of moving swiftly to crack down on such scams, the SEC shoved the case into the "deal with it later" file. "The Philadelphia office literally did nothing with the case for a year," Turner recalls. "Very much like the New York office with Madoff." The Rite Aid case dragged on for years — and by the time it was finished, similar accounting fiascoes at Enron and WorldCom had exploded into a full-blown financial crisis. The same was true for another SEC case that presaged the Enron disaster. The agency knew that appliance-maker Sunbeam was using the same kind of accounting scams to systematically hide losses from its investors. But in the end, the SEC's punishment for Sunbeam's CEO, Al "Chainsaw" Dunlap — widely regarded as one of the biggest assholes in the history of American finance — was a fine of $500,000. Dunlap's net worth at the time was an estimated $100 million. The SEC also barred Dunlap from ever running a public company again — forcing him to retire with a mere $99.5 million. Dunlap passed the time collecting royalties from his self-congratulatory memoir. Its title: Mean Business.

SNIP...

The Revolving Door isn't just a footnote in financial law enforcement; over the past decade, more than a dozen high-ranking SEC officials have gone on to lucrative jobs at Wall Street banks or white-shoe law firms, where partnerships are worth millions. That makes SEC officials like Paul Berger and Linda Thomsen the equivalent of college basketball stars waiting for their first NBA contract. Are you really going to give up a shot at the Knicks or the Lakers just to find out whether a Wall Street big shot like John Mack was guilty of insider trading? "You take one of these jobs," says Turner, the former chief accountant for the SEC, "and you're fit for life."

Fit — and happy. The banter between the speakers at the New York conference says everything you need to know about the level of chumminess and mutual admiration that exists between these supposed adversaries of the justice system. At one point in the conference, Mary Jo White introduced Bharara, her old pal from the U.S. attorney's office.

"I want to first say how pleased I am to be here," Bharara responded. Then, addressing White, he added, "You've spawned all of us. It's almost 11 years ago to the day that Mary Jo White called me and asked me if I would become an assistant U.S. attorney. So thank you, Dr. Frankenstein."

Next, addressing the crowd of high-priced lawyers from Wall Street, Bharara made an interesting joke. "I also want to take a moment to applaud the entire staff of the SEC for the really amazing things they have done over the past year," he said. "They've done a real service to the country, to the financial community, and not to mention a lot of your law practices."

CONTINUED...

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/why-isnt-wall-street-in-jail-20110216

Must look good on the resume. Certainly explains why there's never a cop around when you need one. Remember Schneiderman?

[byeya]

43. And from the 0bama administration in the person of the Atty Genl, there ain't gonna be one

either. Too big. Too scary. Too rich.

George III was pretty big and scary and rich too.

[Octafish]

44. The Change We Believe In

Speech for Harlem Tenants Association, November 14, 2008

By Robert Fitch

EXCERPT...

If we examine more carefully the interests that Obama represents; if we look at his core financial supporters; as well as his inmost circle of advisors, we’ll see that they represent the primary activists in the demolition movement and the primary real estate beneficiaries of this transformation of public housing projects into condo’s and townhouses: the profitable creep of the Central Business District and elite residential neighborhoods southward; and the shifting of the pile of human misery about three miles further into the South Side and the south suburbs.

Obama’s political base comes primarily from Chicago FIRE—the finance, insurance and real estate industry. And the wealthiest families—the Pritzkers, the Crowns and the Levins. But it’s more than just Chicago FIRE. Also within Obama’s inner core of support are allies from the non-profit sector: the liberal foundations, the elite universities, the non-profit community developers and the real estate reverends who produce market rate housing with tax breaks from the city and who have been known to shout from the pulpit “give us this day our Daley, Richard Daley bread.”3

Aggregate them and what emerges is a constellation of interests around Obama that I call “Friendly FIRE.” Fire power disguised by the camouflage of community uplift; augmented by the authority of academia; greased by billions in foundation grants; and wired to conventional FIRE by the terms of the Community Reinvestment Act of 1995.

And yet friendly FIRE is just as deadly as the conventional FIRE that comes from bankers and developers that we’re used to ducking from. It’s the whole condominium of interests whose advancement depends on the elimination of poor blacks from the community and their replacement by white people and—at least temporarily—by the black middle class—who’ve gotten subprime mortgages—in a kind of redlining in reverse.

CONTINUED...

Posted the above in GD on Jan 12, 2012 and got zero responses.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002220066

Thanks for grokking what it's all about, byeya!

[byeya]

45. Zero responses!? It's a well documented incisive look into 0bama's slant on people and

things economic.
I had not seen this before and it's really kind of shocking. My wife and daughter worked hard canvassing for the president the first time he ran(we voted for him for a second term[sigh - but Romney?]) but I wan't that taken with him though hopeful.

Gentrification; and probably would include public funds for a stadium or two for some football or baseball team.

Thanks for the posts - very informative.

[sabrina 1]

46. Omg, this is hard to believe. I remember this woman and I am stunned that any Democrat would

allow someone like this to get anywhere near a position of power in this government.

I am going to go back and do some research on this person as I don't recall all the details, but surely there are people somewhere in this country far more suited to such a nomination than this.

[byeya]

47. If your research proves fruitful, I hope you can share what you've learned with us.

[sabrina 1]

54. See Octafish's post #48, right after yours. He very nicely did the research for me. After you

read it it will explain why no action was taken against Wall St. criminals.

The whole thing is just sickening. It is ALL about money!!

[Octafish]

48. Obama’s Sub-Prime Conflict

Really explains why Banksters walk free, this from ConsortiumNews 2008:

Obama’s Sub-Prime Conflict

From the Archive: President Obama has nominated Hyatt Hotels heiress Penny Pritzker to be the next Commerce Secretary. Pritzker, also a major fundraiser for Obama’s two presidential campaigns, faced controversy because of her role in the sub-prime mortgage disaster, as Dennis J. Bernstein reported in 2008.

By Dennis J. Bernstein (Originally published Feb. 28, 2008)
ConsortiumNews May 2, 2013

EXCERPT...

Though Superior Bank collapsed years before the 2008 sub-prime turmoil that rocked the world’s financial markets – and pushed millions of homeowners toward foreclosure – some banking experts say the Pritzkers and Superior hold a special place in the history of the sub-prime fiasco.

“The [sub-prime] financial engineering that created the Wall Street meltdown was developed by the Pritzkers and Ernst and Young, working with Merrill Lynch to sell bonds securitized by sub-prime mortgages,” Timothy J. Anderson, a whistleblower on financial and bank fraud, told me in an interview.

“The sub-prime mortgages,” Anderson said, “were provided to Merrill Lynch, by a nationwide Pritzker origination system, using Superior as the cash cow, with many millions in FDIC insured deposits. Superior’s owners were to sub-prime lending, what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.”

In other words, if you traced the sub-prime crisis of 2008 back to its origins, you would come upon the role of the Pritzkers and Superior Bank of Chicago.

CONTINUED...

http://consortiumnews.com/2013/05/02/obamas-sub-prime-conflict/

Ms. Pritzker and her family are REALLY smart, though. Her brother was Hilary Clinton's finance chair in 2008.

Not much more than a peep, if that, was uttered about all these interesting coincidences by the sharp eyed lapdogs of the nation's press corpse.

[sabrina 1]

53. Thank you, I couldn't remember the details, but do remember the stories and yes, you are

correct, nothing came of it. No wonder Obama tried to convince people that 'no crimes were committed' after the collapse of the world economy caused by Wall St. Too many of his friends were guilty.

They sure do buy protection. Our government is beginning to look like a giant Mafia organization and maybe the reason no one stands up to them is because they would be destroyed if they did. So it will take so many doing it together, a real tipping point, before anything can be done to stop them.

That photo makes me ill. To think how I supported that man. They must laugh at all of us 'little people'.

Thanks Octafish, you are always so good at providing information.

[WillyT]

49. K & R !!!

[Octafish]

50. Clears the fog, re: the current and continuing catastrophe.

“Penny is one of our countries' most distinguished business leaders. She's got more than 25 years of management experience in industries, including real estate, finance, and hospitality. She's built companies from the ground up.” -- President Barack Obama

And now for a perspective from labor:

Obama nominates billionaire backer as commerce secretary

By Kristina Betinis
6 May 2013
wsws.org

EXCERPT...

Based in Chicago, Pritzker operates an international empire based on low-wage service work in Hyatt-operated hotels and nursing homes, along with several investment firms.

SNIP...

Already a member of Obama’s Jobs Council, Pritzker’s appointment gives the lie to Obama’s opening comment, made at the announcement of her nomination, that his “top priority as president is to grow the economy, create good middle-class jobs, make sure that the next generation prospers.”

Fifty-eight percent of the jobs created since the 2008 financial collapse have been in the low-paying service sector. Seventy-nine percent of jobs lost in the collapse were in the middle and higher earning positions.

In addition to chairing the failed Superior Bank, in which depositors—mostly from working class areas of Chicago—collectively lost millions in savings, Pritzker has also been at the forefront of efforts to “reform” public education in the city, creating opportunities for venture capitalist involvement in the privatization process. In 2011, she was appointed by Mayor Emanuel to the Chicago Board of Education.

Making his opposition to any government programs to create jobs, Obama went on to say, “(Pritzker) knows from experience that no government program alone can take the place of a great entrepreneur. She knows that what we can do is to give every business and every worker the best possible chance to succeed by making America a magnet for good jobs.”

CONTINUED...

http://wsws.org/en/articles/2013/05/06/cabi-m06.html

I seem to remember a time when government service wasn't meant to make the well-off well-offer.

[WillyT]

51. Don't Know If You Caught This Or Not...

DULink: http://sync.democraticunderground.com/10022788249

[byeya]

56. I retired from public service back when serving the public meant exactly that. And I voted for 0 2ce

I guess that makes me a grade A sap.

Interesting potusa fact: I read this this morning and if true, it's sad: Unemployment among African Americans is higher now then when Mr 0bama took office. 96% went for him the first time; 94% the 2nd. (I think it was on either Truthout or ThinkProgress)

[madrchsod]

52. this is`t news to anyone who follows chicago politics

she knew who's arm she could twist for campaign funds and now obama is rewarding her for her work.


there`s not a lot of difference at the top,,,both uber rich republicans and democrats think alike.

[Octafish]

55. Never have so few done so much to so many.

It's how Government of the People, by the People and for the People ended up as a wholly owned subsidiary of Crime Inc.

If Obama's For Real on the Sub-Prime Crisis, He'll Dump His Campaign Finance Chair

Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Political Analyst and Social Issues Commentator
Huffington Post, February 29, 2008 10:15 AM

EXCERPT...

Obama's home state, Illinois, ranked near the top of thee states in the percentage of sub-prime mortgages. Nearly 15 percent of home loans were sub-prime according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But that only tells part of the tale. According to the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago non-profit that studies housing issues, the sub-prime fall-out was far higher in the predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods of South and Southwest Chicago.

The predictable happened when many of those lost their homes. When the bank collapsed Pritzker and bank officials skipped away with their profits and reputations intact. Aside from the financial and personal misery sub prime lenders caused the thousands of distressed homeowners, sub-prime lending has been a major cause of the housing crisis in many areas, and has dealt a sledgehammer blow to the economy. Obama has said nothing about Pritzker, Superior Bank, or their dubious practices.

SNIP...

Other than Obama's quip about the greedy sub-prime lender CEO to San Antonio residents, a Google search found no Obama statement on Superior Bank, no detailed statement on the sub-prime crisis, or what he did as Illinois legislator to deal with the crisis helped along by his finance chair's bank. There was a length list of topics on Obama's official campaign website that detailed the candidate's position on everything from the environment to the Iraq war. Yet there's not one sub-topic on housing, or the sub prime crisis on his campaign website.

Obama has not publicly called for a moratorium on lending, or tough civil and criminal penalties for lenders that engage in deceptive lending practices, or called for an interest rate freeze. Former Democratic presidential contender John Edwards and Clinton called for a moratorium, and providing generous aid to strapped homebuyers face with foreclosure. Obama's rescue plan has been roundly criticized as tepid, cautious and not much better than what Bush has called for to deal with the crisis.

Obama blew off questions about Pritzker and the Superior Bank fiasco with the terse (through a spokesperson) quip that he'd crack down on fraudulent lenders. So again, the two ways he can prove that he means business is to dump Pritzker as his finance chair and then retool his campaign pledge to support a full moratorium on sub-prime lending, tighter regulatory oversight over lending practices, and debt relief for the thousands of homeowners that have already gotten the boot from their homes. Obama boosters will try to muddy the water by fingering Pritzker's brother, Jay Robert Pritzker, who heads up a campaign committee for Hillary Clinton. That's irrelevant. Jay Robert did not head up Superior Bank when it ran roughshod over homeowners in Illinois and nationally. He does not head up Clinton's campaign finance committee. The campaign committee he started is one of dozens of Clinton campaign committees that operate in many states.

CONTINUED...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/if-obamas-for-real-on-the_b_89159.html?

It used to be the media's job to keep track of government doing their job. Then, the crooks bought them, too. Now, it's up to us. So, we try.

[woo me with science]

57. K&R

[Norrin Radd]

58. kr

[think]

60. Thank you for posting. That article was truly upsetting & enlightening... /nt