Category Archives: banking
Hastert Hush Money
I was wondering how it was possible that I was watching Donald Trump, the Republican “presumptive nominee” for president of the United States, giving a foreign policy speech yesterday afternoon.
Then news broke that former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert had been sentenced to fifteen months in prison and fined $250,000. He was guilty of structuring bank withdrawals to hide the fact that he was taking out millions in cash.
How is it possible that a former politician and high school wrestling coach was able to withdraw $3.5 million in cash? The former Speaker had parlayed his status as an elite Washington insider into a job as a high paid Washington lobbyist.
Hastert Hush Money
The cash was hush money Hastert paid to a former high school wrestler whom he had molested when he was his coach. The judge called him a “serial child molester.”
Here’s the story in the NY Times. Here’s a National Review story about Hastert’s rise from suburban Chicago high school teacher to Washington insider.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
IBD had an editorial and the WSJ had an op-ed on Ayatollah banking behavior. Zany authoritarians worth billions who aren’t Donald Trump – I thought it was worth a cartoon.
Now that the mullahs are getting their moola back, possibly 100 billion in frozen assets thanks to the Iran nuclear deal, they want to be able to move it through the U.S. banking system. That’s been a no-no in the past. Apparently it would make it easier to launder money for terrorism. On the other hand it could make it easier for U.S. intelligence to keep track of Iran’s money.
Ayatollah Banking Behavior
Anyway, last summer Adam Szubin of the Treasury Department told Congress, “Iran will not be able to open bank accounts with U.S. banks, nor will Iran be able to access the U.S. banking sector.” Now Treasury Secretary Jack Lew seems less committal saying the administration is trying “to make sure Iran gets relief.”
Since the Iran nuclear deal isn’t a signed treaty, Iran could walk away if it doesn’t get what it wants.
Democrat Establishment Melt Down
The Democrat establishment is worried about a Clinton campaign melt down.
Hillary says, “no worries.” She’s not the establishment. She’s “a woman running to be the first woman president.” Then, again, Bernie Sanders is a Jew running to be the first Jewish president.
The first woman lost New Hampshire to the first Jewish Democratic Socialist by 22 points.
Hillary wasn’t even the first woman to be Secretary of State. Madeleine Albright was.
Democrat Establishment
Albright says, “there’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help women.” Evidently, that’s where you’ll find millennial women these days. They’re voting like crazy for Sanders. That’s because “that’s where the boys are,” according to Gloria Steinem. Kathleen Parker says there’s a more likely explanation:
…young liberal women, like their male counterparts, are attracted to the cool old guy because he’s promising a dream in which the rich have less and the poor have more. Robin Hood is so awesome.
Maureen Dowd thinks Hillary “is establishment enough.” Her sense of entitlement is her problem:
She has long been driven by a fear of being “dead broke,” as she put it — and a conviction that she deserved the life and perks she would have had if she had gone into the private sector. That led her to do her suspiciously lucrative commodity trades while Bill was Arkansas attorney general and to make Wall Street speeches on the cusp of her 2016 campaign, even though she and Bill had already made more than $139 million between 2007 and 2014.
Dowd says “Hillary isn’t likable enough for the young women who were supposed to carry her forward as a Joan of Arc.” At least not compared to “chick magnet” Bernie Sanders.
Cruz Goldman Sachs Values
Hillary got $675,000 in speaking fees from Goldman Sachs. As any Clintonian would say, that’s old news. We expect it.
Ted Cruz failed to properly report a half million dollar loan from Goldman Sachs. The news here isn’t that he forgot to report the loan, it’s that the Wall Street bank lends him money. Not only that, his wife works there. At least she did until she took a recent leave of absence.
Goldman Sachs Values
Ted Cruz is a smart Princeton and Harvard guy. He’s undeniably conservative and has the courage of his convictions to stand up to the ethanol lobby in Iowa.
But neither a borrower or a lender be when you’re trashing New York values.
Hillary Fixes Wall Street
Hillary didn’t appreciate Bernie Sanders’ comments about her millions and millions in contributions from Wall Street. Bernie thinks big shot investment bankers expect a return on their investment in Hillary.
Hillary took offense. She said Bernie had questioned her integrity. Who doesn’t?
Hillary immediately threw down the gender card, claiming most of her contributions come from women. Then she played the 9/11 card. She reminded us that she was a Senator from New York. And that New York had suffered an attack by Islamic, well, terrorists on 9/11. And that the attack happened near Wall Street. All that money was for Wall Street repairs.
