Category Archives: Treasury
Eric Holder’s Wars
Eric Holder’s Justice Department sued Standard and Poor’s for giving bad advice. That bad advice consisted of high ratings the company gave for mortgage backed securities leading to the 2008 meltdown.
Jack Lew, the president’s nominee for Treasury Secretary, worked for Citigroup’s subprime department during the time leading up to the 2008 meltdown. Lew was rewarded with a nearly million dollar bonus following Citigroup’s government bail-out.
In an effort to divert attention from Lew (okay I made that up), the White House released Justice Department documents justifying the killing U.S. citizens without judicial review. I didn’t make that up.
Immigration for Millionaires
While Congress debated how to keep out illegal immigrants, Phil Mickelson had the temerity to suggest he might immigrate the other way. The reason – his 60% total tax bill. In the ensuing uproar over his greedy desire to keep more of his money, he caved, and also apologized for having kept his opinions.
Treasury Fat Cat
A WSJ editorial says Treasury nominee Jack Lew, as chief operating officer of Citigroup’s Alternate Investments unit, oversaw investments designed to hide mortgage risk.
“The greatest irony is that given Mr. Lew’s crisis-era resumé, he bears a remarkable resemblance to the bankers who President Obama says created the financial crisis and deserve federal investigation. But apparently there’s an exception as long as your liberal intentions are noble and you’re a loyal Democrat. Then you can get rich at one of Wall Street’s biggest failures and end up running the entire financial system.”
Here’s a Washington Post business story about Lew’s time at Citigroup. And here’s a Forbes piece titled “Wall-Street-Bonus” Lew to replace Tax-Avoider” Geithner at Treasury