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The Obama Watch
Who Owns Whom?
Charles Gasparino explores the unholy alliance between Barack Obama and Wall Street.
Bestselling investigative reporter Charles Gasparino’s latest tome Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street commences not with a scene from the much-ballyhooed first one hundred days of the new Administration, but at a hush-hush 2007 pow-wow at Johnny’s Half Shell in Washington, D.C. between then-Senator Barack Obama and executives from Wall Street’s top firms — Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns — which went so swimmingly the only warm fuzzy it lacked was the ghost of Humphrey Bogart intoning, “Barry, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”
From there the Fox Business Network senior correspondent and Daily Beast columnist lays out in gobstopping detail just how well both sides have since profited from this extended dalliance, combining fiery outsider indignation with hard-won insider knowledge, narrative prowess, and a true knack for the telling anecdote — disgraced Bear Stearns hedge fund manager Warren Spector spending his days knocking on Florida doors as a volunteer Obama campaign worker and nights bedded down at luxury hotels while his preferred candidate ceaselessly derides Republicans as the party of Wall Street is but one among many doozies.
Bought and Paid For is, in short, required reading for anyone interested in the obscured behind the scenes machinations of the economic maelstrom we currently find ourselves mired in. Gasparino was recently kind enough to speak with TAS about his book.
TAS: What compelled you to write Bought and Paid For?
Charles Gasparino: The notion of Big Government and Big Wall Street colluding to do bad things is something I’ve covered for a long time. I’ve always been interested in the conflicts between public policy and finance. What I’ve seen over the years is this seemingly bizarre anomaly of how Wall Street, which is allegedly the epicenter of capitalism, in reality thrived on something that is very anti-capitalist, which is Big Government. Crony capitalism. And these guys aren’t doing it just to make money on fees selling government bonds to finance the deficit or government programs. The people at the top have political beliefs that are strongly aligned with progressivism.
TAS: Reading your book I was surprised to learn how kindred a spirit the big players of Big Finance saw in Barack Obama, particularly at first. They weren’t supporting him simply as a pragmatic, strategic move. David Axelrod joked about Obama having a “man crush” on JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and you write financial executives saw the future president as “a guy who could have easily worked at a big Wall Street law firm if he hadn’t gone into community organizing first.”
Gasparino: I think a lot of the country was projecting something onto Obama they wanted to see but maybe wasn’t there. Here was one of the most far left politicians I have ever seen — based on his record, based on his associations, everything. People forget Reverend Wright, aside from his racially charged language, taught liberation theology, which basically says the Bible is infused with Marxism. That’s his spiritual mentor. And all these Wall Street guys were lining up to support him.
TAS: Why?
Gasparino: Well, first, McCain couldn’t stand them. It was oil and water. He screamed at Hank Paulson any chance he got. He’d spent five years in a prisoner-of-war camp, crashed a couple planes — not exactly the type of guy who’s gonna kiss a banker’s ass. McCain was foreign to them and his campaign doubled down on that foreign-ness by picking Sarah Palin. When they looked at Obama they saw a guy who went to their schools, who shared their manners, who didn’t break their chops. Obama was just so personally charming that something like Reverend Wright or Bill Ayers didn’t have any effect. They believed at heart Obama was a moderate who understood them. And it panned out. If you look at one line of work that’s done very well under Obama it isn’t construction, it isn’t small business or entrepreneurship. It’s all the big banks that started making a ton of money the minute they got bailed out, and all those bailout mechanisms Bush put in place have been carried over and doubled down on under Obama.
TAS: Do you think the difference between the media caricature of Wall Street as a militant free-market bastion and its limousine liberal reality will ever be cleared up in the general public’s mind?
Gasparino: I think it already has been. That’s why the President started attacking Wall Street like a minute after Scott Brown won Teddy Kennedy’s seat. The public has definitely started to put it all together. I’m not a member of the Tea Party by any stretch of the imagination, but I will say one of the good things about that movement is that they understand this inside game, they don’t like it, and they want it to end. They understand how corrupting it is for the entire system when Big Business can exploit the growth of Big Government. They instinctively know there is huge hypocrisy in Obama calling these guys fat cats when Wall Street is just exploiting what he presented them to exploit. Now, Wall Street shouldn’t be commended for that, but let’s be honest about it: this was a partnership…. This country is in desperate, desperate straits because government has skewed the incentives. The free market, which has been demonized, wouldn’t have given these guys a bonus. It would have destroyed all of their businesses.
TAS: Could there be Big Government on the scale we’ve recently seen it without the complicity of Big Finance and Wall Street?
Gasparino: They feed off each other. If there were no bailout, I guess you could say there’d be no opportunity to make money off the bailout. But what we can say is you need someone to underwrite Obamacare. Wall Street is there to do that. BlackRock managed all the toxic assets of Bear Stearns. When they do cap-and-trade, they’ll be creating a new commodity to be traded on some exchange somewhere. The Fed, urged on by the White House, went in and bought $1.3 trillion mortgage backed securities, artificially propping up the market with taxpayer money. All the Wall Street firms that bought for pennies on the dollar are benefiting from the appreciation of a market that is only appreciating because of taxpayer money. Forget financial reform. The banks have made a killing since the bailout. And the average American? They’re stuck with the wonderful stimulus package that gave us 9.6 percent unemployment.
TAS: The last chapter of your book sums up this collusion between Big Finance and Big Government, sarcastically, as “Money Well Spent.” Does the failure of recent government intervention — diehard, never-could-be-convinced-otherwise defenders notwithstanding — signal that we’re on the verge of this sort of alliance no longer being money well spent?
Gasparino: Look, I think crony capitalism hurts the system. It basically allows a few privileged, wealthy, connected people to do well exploiting the spoils of government that the rest of us can’t. It’s getting worse, it ain’t getting better. The small business lobby is not as strong as the fat cat lobby in Washington. The bailouts of the last 30 years are how Wall Street got used to taking so much risk, and the latest bailouts? The government thought by creating a market of mortgage-backed securities somehow that whole shadow banking system that allowed the banks to make those loans in the first place would come back, but it never did because banks think logically about this: “Why should we be extending loans when we can just make money off this one program?”
Unintended consequences. That’s the problem when government gets involved in this stuff. When will banks start making loans again? Well, you need the mortgage market to deflate. It’ll only deflate when we have more pain. Now, there was no easy answer. But if you let natural forces take control in the financial crisis…firms go under, they stop lending, prices of securities drop dramatically, lots of losses. A tremendous amount of pain. And then the ones that survive pick up the pieces. But look what happens when you bail them out. They limp along for two years. Instead of the immediate pain you have a dead man walking. That’s what we have right now. The bailouts just postpone the inevitable.
About the Author
Shawn Macomber is a contributing editor to The American Spectator.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (74) | Leave a comment
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drudge ette obama| 11.19.10 @ 6:16AM
Follow the Blackrock trail - I started to a couple of years ago. It leads to all the same and usual suspects (another Bogart movie reference).
Start with its leaders.
Alan Brooks| 11.19.10 @ 5:02PM
So running Mitt Romney in '12 is the GOP solution??
Since the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, you have become self-flagellating, self-abnegating hairshirts.
You enjoy indirectly lacerating yourselves.
Deborah D | 11.19.10 @ 5:33PM
You are one spooky dude. Your thinking is off the charts bizarre.
Alan Brooks| 11.19.10 @ 7:49PM
But you ARE gluttons for punishment: old doofuses such as Dole, McCain.
The son of Reagan's failed veep.
What a roll you are on.
Alan Brooks| 11.19.10 @ 7:58PM
... all the Kemps, Goldwaters, WFBs in America (a few sometimes guest at AS) and you can't convince at least one of them to run for POTUS?
... you are going to continue to run mediocrities and silly old dorks such as Dole?
Don't ask us to vote for them, spit in our faces instead- saves time.
Tim*| 11.19.10 @ 10:32PM
Do They Take Ya In A Van From The State Institute For The Criminally Insane To Vote Or Do They Let Ya Absentee Vote?
RCV| 11.20.10 @ 6:03PM
Can't someone at your school teach you proper use of capitalization? I realize that the content of your posts is beyond repair, but you could at least make it easier for people to read your drivel.
Quartermaster| 11.20.10 @ 6:58PM
If you were as well educated as you like to think you are, such things wouldn't bother you. But, then, you are just a moonbat poseur anyway.
Tim*| 11.21.10 @ 9:43AM
Can't You Get A Life Obama LawBoy RCV,Instead Of Obsessively Craving & Seeking A Little Negative Attention.
Apparently, Negative Attention Beats No Attention For You Or Your Pseudo-intellectual Bloviations.
Daniel| 11.20.10 @ 7:03PM
ALAN WTF are you talking about.....As a socialist commy pinko fag you should be supporting Bari and his use of the rightwing capitalist wall street gods republicans also oppressing the American people.....Thats what you think and believe and therefore that is the truth.....I dont get it ....Bari would never go againstnt the regular people because he cares about the regular people as he has said and shown by his greatness,,,LOL,,,LOLBTW Who gave Bari the most money in 2008 to elect him......HMMMMMMM....do you want me to give you the website that shows the contributions.......LOL
Alan Brooks| 11.20.10 @ 8:51PM
So then tell us:
if the GOP as a whole can think for itself, why does it need the Tea Party?
Tim*| 11.21.10 @ 9:50AM
Look what thinkin' fot themselves got The Democrats in the Midterms.
Alan Brooks| 11.21.10 @ 12:51PM
And that is supposed to be encouraging?
"we're a bit less squishy than the Other Guy.
Vote for us."
Tim*| 11.21.10 @ 2:11PM
What's Encouraging Is That You ObamBoys Got "Squished" In The Midterm Elections, Brooks .
Go Feed The Squirrels In The Park.
Alan Brooks| 11.21.10 @ 6:49PM
What will getting Mitt Romney elected in 2012 do besides boosting tourism in Salt Lake City?
Alan Brooks| 11.21.10 @ 7:13PM
... besides, you will be vetoed by the Senate.
Tim*| 11.21.10 @ 9:37PM
We Shall See How Dem Senators Vote.
"For the first time in two cycles, Democrats will have more seats up for grabs than the Republicans, and the party could see its shrunken majority erased altogether.
Several of the senators up for reelection came in on the 2006 Democratic wave, when the party picked up six GOP seats and won control of the chamber.
[]
Sens. Bob Casey Jr. (D-Pa.), Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Jim Webb (D-Va.) defeated GOP incumbents that year but will have to win reelection in 2012.
And two senators who won special elections Tuesday, Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), will face voters again in two years."
Tim*| 11.21.10 @ 9:40PM
Watch & Learn, Who The Republican President Will Be, ObamaBoy.
Alan Brooks| 11.21.10 @ 10:30PM
Who? you mean WHAT.
WHAT will the Republican president be?
a Bushclone.
Tom Berner| 11.24.10 @ 8:50AM
Alan is exactly right. The GOP can't be Democrat Lite and expect the public to go along with them. They fail on two accounts.
First, Reagan and Nixon aside, since 1928, they have consistently nominated candidates who are incapable of communicating to the average person. Wilkie was a good communicator, but he was a me too candidate and Goldwater spoke well, but managed to express himself in ways that the media were able to misinterpret.
Second, the GOP is not nearly as ruthless as the Dems. Scooter Libby was convicted of obstructing justice inan investigation that began after the prosecutor had determined that there was no justice to obstruct because no crime had been committed. By contrast, the GOP never did anything about Bill Clinton's sale of military secrets to China for personal gain. The GOP - even Nixon - has always brought a tennis racket to its gunfights with the Democrats, something the Democrats never make the mistake of doing.
beebop| 11.25.10 @ 6:49AM
First, Reagan and Nixon aside, since 1928, they have consistently nominated candidates who are incapable of communicating to the average person.
Damn you're funny!
And the dems elected who? Bill WCKIIHP (who can't keep it in his pants) Jimmah (cannot really do justice to the ineptitudes of this one) and Barry ISMSTY (I'm so much smarter than you)
You think that Gore the bore and Kerry windsurfer were significant candidates? Please.
I won't be voting for Romney, or Sarah, or Newt. There are plenty of other good conservative voices for whom I could vote and if any of them want to put Romney in his/her cabinet, I'm all of it. The other two? Not so much.
Melvin| 11.19.10 @ 6:49AM
I know I'm preaching to the choir here, and this type of private/political partnership has been going on for most of this County's existence, but Wall Street/Banking industry has no place in Washington D.C. when it comes to tax payers being they're personal piggy banks when financial schemes go South.
The revolving door of Wall Streeters/Banking moguls must be shut down.
This financial tailspin that this Country is in is not from a natural unforeseen fiancée disaster. It was caused by men and women in a high stakes gambling scheme, and the roulette table was this Country.
As I write this, lobbyists are utilizing high pressure tactics to water down the audit of the Fed even more than they have. One rule that they want to make go away is the "The Volcker Rule (also known as the "Volcker Plan") is a proposal by American economist and former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to restrict United States banks from making certain kinds of speculative investments if they are not on behalf of their customers.[1] [2] Volcker has argued that such speculative activity played a key role in the financial crisis of 2007–2010." Wikipedia
This backs up that Wall Street and the banks are making risky financial schemes at the tax payers expense.
Bottom line the Fed Reserve needs to be for starters audited with no preconditions set. Jail time along with hefty fines for anyone within the Fed or associated with it that destroys any financial data.
Banks are way too large and need to be broken up the way Ma Bell was to stop a financial hemorrhagic if one of them should fail.
The single most largest weakness of a politician is, "Money," the banking industry and Wall Street can wave a "C" Note under a politicians nose and he or she will create or influence any legislation that washes rules away of allows easier access to tax payers wallets.
Lastly, Congressmen and Senators and their relatives need to divest any financial interest in any bank, lending institution or Wall Street Firm that they may have that could influence voting.
Chris Dodd and others with their sweet heart loan deals from Country Wide Mortgage, "Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has abruptly walked away from her responsibilities with the Senate Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee after a report linked her votes to the financial well-being of her husband's companies, which received billions of dollars worth of military construction contracts she approved." WND
People this is what is killing us by a thousand paper cuts by politicians. Currently there is no or little oversight, or accountability because the prevailing attitude of politicians is, "Do you know who I am."
Daniel| 11.20.10 @ 7:11PM
Agree 100% Melvin too mant cunts making mistakes and having their mortages paid for by taxpayers.......let their names be held public.....They are not smarter than you and me they just suck cock better........time to be real.....dont care about niceties and "Class"....they will and want to preserve their selfish life after destrying other peoples lives ..........Fuck them....let them suffer...
Stanoman| 11.24.10 @ 10:36AM
Daniel, this isn't the dem underground. Clean up your language or shut up - what a low life.
Zombie Reagan| 11.21.10 @ 2:38AM
TLDR
R Martin| 11.19.10 @ 7:11AM
The cozy relationship between Wall Street and politicians is not much different than the cozy relationship between politicians and other powerful interest groups, unions for example. Wall Street has been singled-out for special criticism, because it's easy to stoke populist ire against those who make a lot of money. Envy can be very ugly.
Anything Charles Gasparino says or writes should be taken with a large dose of salt. He is a shameless self promoter who is driven largely by self interest. Which, curiously, is what he criticizes the banks for.
Carl| 11.19.10 @ 8:25AM
R Martin, it sure reads that someone hit a nerve with you, he did not say that those other powerful interest groups were not guilty also, his book is about wall street, not unions and others. I do not begrudge anyone making money, becoming wealthy, and having a great time doing it. I do have a problem with them doing it on my dime and destroying America along the way. So mr. wall streeter enjoy your revenues while they last, tis a shame you have no moral compass to keep you from being another varmint.
Chalkdust| 11.19.10 @ 3:42PM
R Martin...I also take the words of someone who makes spurious and libelous comments about people without backing it up, with grain of salt as it were.
Alice Moore| 11.20.10 @ 10:39PM
Many people make the mistake of thinking a private corporate entity is conservative. Maybe the founders of a large corporate entity were pro free enterprise and conservative.
They want to have their smaller competitors squashed like a bug. Ask yourselves, how would Steve Jobs and Bill Gates view younger versions of themselves in today's marketplace, The big businesses want their positions consolidated. The Democrat Party and the RINO wing of the Republican party is willing to do just that for their mother's milk of reelection funds.
Curly Smith| 11.19.10 @ 7:55AM
What Gasparino calls "crony capitalism" is really fascism. It's state control of a privately owned enterprise. It's a win-win for the politician as it gives them the ability to reward friends and to blame "capitalism" when their control inevitably leads to failure. What we should do is quit talking about "capitalism" and focus on "free markets". In a free market the customer or consumer has the power, good ideas are rewarded and bad ideas are punished. In fascism consumers are punished as unworkable products (the Chevy Volt) and services (ObamaCare) are pursued. Besides, when most of us talk about the merits of capitalism we really mean free markets.
Quartermaster| 11.20.10 @ 7:01PM
The "system" we have now is exactly the way things were under Uncle Adolph. Krupp, Thyssen, and a host of others were glad to serve the state, as dictated, as long as they could make a good profit.
Zombie Reagan| 11.21.10 @ 2:42AM
He was your uncle? I would like to make your acquaintance.
RDN in Houston| 11.21.10 @ 3:17PM
Curly Smith wrote:
"It's a win-win for the politician as it gives them the ability to reward friends and to blame "capitalism" when their control inevitably leads to failure."
This smelly swamp could be easily drained by balancing the budget and sharply reducing Federal borrowing. At the same time, privatization of the mortgage market needs to occur...privatizing Freddie and Fannie.
Louis Jenkins| 11.19.10 @ 8:20AM
I don't know a lot about high finance, and never will. But it is odd that while America is down and out our District of Criminals have gained over (some say) 16% wealth in 2 years. Meanwhile people are foreclosed, have to work two part time jobs to make ends meet, or are all washed up. The employment rate is 9.6%, higher though if you take into account the underemployed. The banks will continue not to loan, and wall street will continue with profits. There is something rotten in Denmark, particularly when the taxpayer, and pie in the sky accounting, is picking up the tab.
Clinton Lovell| 11.19.10 @ 8:26AM
This kind of liberalism will only continue until we put an end to fractional-reserve banking once and for all. A new system has to be brought to the market that makes deposit-multiplication, fiat currency expansion and the taxation method of fiscal appropriations unconstitutional. Indeed, the new system must merge the central banking functions with a new credit allocation system and fiscal appropriations system that revolutionizes the capital markets and puts an end to the banking industry's government-enforced monopoly forever.
There is only one proposal on the table that can do all of this and retire our national debt without us being the servants of the banking industry forever. That system is known as the "Consumption Banking System" and you can learn about it by reading the FREE white paper on it at: http://www.capitalismbookstore.....System.pdf
Tim*| 11.19.10 @ 8:54AM
"As JPMorgan Chase's Chairman, President & CEO, Dimon oversaw the transfer of $25 billion from the US Treasury Department to JPMorgan Chase on October 28, 2008 via the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). This was the fifth largest amount transferred under Section A of TARP to help troubled assets related to residential mortgages.
JPMorgan Chase advertised in February 2009 that they would be using their capital base monetary strength to acquire new businesses, primarily due to the funds provided by TARP and in direct violation of TARP’s main intent; to help troubled assets related to residential mortgages and all obligations as spelled out in TARP."
Trebuchet| 11.19.10 @ 8:54AM
Here's a scenario for you:
1975 Jimmy Carter after a suggestion by the Federal Reserve, passes the Community Redevelopment Act, which makes it illegal to deny minorities a loan for just about any reason. The banks whimper publically but see this as an opportunity since the Gov. (which will become Fannie and Freddie) will guarantee the loans. 1982 the Garn-St. Germain, a Bi-Partisan Bill passed which allowed merging of Commercial and Investment Banks and allowed the use of Adjustable Rate Mortgages (the brain-child of Herb and Marion Sandler of World Savings). 1991 Penny Pritzker, a Lib Dem, of Superior Bank comes up with the Mortgage Backed Security to sell portfolio's of Sub Prime loans from her Bank.
1995 JP Morgan comes up with the Credit Default Swap as a Hedge against any loss they may incur from the purchase of the Sub Prime tier of CDO's.
2000, ACORN goes after Ameriquest and Ameriquest makes a big Donation and teams with ACORN to sell their 100% no Down no Doc loans. Paul Sarbanes tells the then CEO of Ameriquest Kirk Lang in front of the Senate Banking Committee "you guys do it right".
2003, Roland Arnall of Ameriquest, after years as a liberal Democrat, changes parties and backs Arnold S. for Gov. over Gray Dufuss and becomes a supporter of President Bush. Arnall becomes a Neo-Con and finances a private intelligence gathering community headed up by Michael Ledeen of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies’. The Left headed by George Soro’s unsheathes the long knives.
2005, Eliot Spitzer a Democratic Presidential hopeful goes after Ameriquest.
2005, John Paulson the head of Paulson & Co. Hedge Fund has a lunch meeting with Soros and they begin buying CDS's against Ameriquest CDO's and shorting the ABX( an index of 20 Mortgage Bonds). George Soros nephew is the largest investor in Paulson’s fund. Paulson and Goldman Sachs set up the Abacus Fund loaded with companies that are buyers of Ameriquest CDO’s. As an aside, Soros warns his close associates Herb and Marion Sandler, the owners of World Savings the originators of the Adjustable Rate Mortgage, to sell out which they did just before the crash making a cool 21 Billion dollars.
As more CDS's are bought, automatic triggers for drops in ratings from Moody’s, Fitch, MBIC etc, are triggered.
2006, Ameriquest can't sell CDO's because the ratings are dropping. The Hedge Fund Sharks smell blood and circle, buying every CDS they can get and begin buying them against the other Sub Prime CDO's from other Investment Banks and Lenders and anyone who bought Sub Prime CDO's.
2007 New Century and Ameriquest are bled to death (Citigroup led by a Lib Dem, Robert Rubin, picked up the pieces of both) and fold. Paulson makes 14 Billion, Soros makes 13 Billion. The Hedge Fund Managers go into full feeding frenzy and buy CDS against anything that lends money and then begin using Naked Shorts to make sure the ratings drop on the Investment Banks making their CDS explode in value. Also, the companies issuing the Mortgage Bonds can’t find enough crappy loans to issue bonds on to create the other side of the CDS trade so the start writing phony Bonds backed by nothing.
2008 Bear Stearns is nearly driven into the dirt by the Hedge Funds and the game is exposed.
2008 The FED steps in and backs Wall Street making CDS held by Hedge Funds worth pennies on the dollar and the redemptions begin as wealthy Sovereign Funds and Pension Funds put sell orders in to get their money before the Hedge Funds go belly up. Hedge Funds sell everything in sight to cover the redemptions, almost crashing the stock market and commodities. Almost 50% of Hedge Funds are gone now.
Soros has purposefully crashed the Mortgage Market, the Housing Market and the US Economy with two outcomes in mind. 1) Cut off funding for the Conservatives (Real Estate, Home Builders and Mortgage Industries are big contributors to Republicans) and 2) Crash the Economy and insure his candidate Barrack Obama is elected President.
Melvin| 11.19.10 @ 9:12AM
Trebuchet,in what your saying, is something that could have conceivably happened. My question is, isn't this a little drastic and expensive from a Soros point of view?
During the election in the back of my mind, I kept wondering where in the hell is Obama getting on the cash for campaigning? Money was never an option for Obama. Soros did cross my mind, but I also kept thinking that Brining a whole Country to its knees financially to get one guy elected would be a tad drastic. Smashing a fly with a 200lb anvil.
It just seems that there are easier ways to get your guy elected than what you have described above.
I wouldn't say it isn't plausible let alone conceivable, it just seems a bit much. But then again I have been wrong before, and I might be wrong in this case.
Sam Vaughn| 11.19.10 @ 10:02AM
The question to ask is who profits from imploding the US economy and then reinflating it? It's generational theft on a massive scale and subjugation of the population, think of airport scanners. We're constantly being nudged to accept greater loss of freedom in exchange for security. The markets are no longer free....
Gordon | 11.20.10 @ 7:33PM
GM an Obama Co.
An IPO not offered to the public?
What a kick in the teeth. Thanks Obama.
Now I know why China told you to pack sand.
Simon Templar| 11.20.10 @ 3:14PM
Plausible let alone conceivable..your kidding right?! Jackwagon Soros has already done this to 4 other countries! Trebuchet is an amazingly informed fellow..this is exactly what happened..and the sooner conservatives start waking up and begin getting fully informed,,there me be a small chance of saving this republic. You really need to read...all of us do..and yes..including me as much as we can get our hands on. Yes, this is exactly how nations are taken over by the left..try reading some history of the Russian revolution or the fall and rise of the Third Reich..you find out very quickly just how complicated, devious, and plausible such scenarios are....It was not just about getting one guy elected but a much larger agenda in place.
RCV| 11.20.10 @ 6:07PM
I must have missed that in my readings and courses on the Russian Revolution. Even Orlando Figges omitted mention of it in his masterful "A People's Tragedy.". But then again, you folks often invent your own version of history.
Gordon| 11.21.10 @ 11:43AM
RCV name one socialist platform that was or is a success. I don't need to invent history, it is written and observed. Socialism brings misery to the masses and that is history. Why is it that every socialist or communist nation wants capitalism to fail? Want us as Americans to fail? Why do they want a one world government ? To make it fair for everyone? Please, they hate this country because everyone has a chance to succeed.
Martin Treptow| 11.21.10 @ 2:48PM
RCV, you are famous for dropping your little rhetorical stink-grenades, and then walking away without actually engaging in a debate.
Who "invents their own history"? The free peoples of the United States and other Western Democracies, or the USSR, Communist China, Castro's Cuba, Hitler, Pol Pot, North Korea, Chavez, etc.?
The pendulum is swinging, and the truth is fixin' to bust a whole bunch of people right in the ass.
Duck!
RCV| 11.22.10 @ 7:43PM
Of course communism has been an abject failure everywhere: it's mindless drivel economically, and pure totalitarianism politically. And those regimes have distorted history to try to justify the many crimes of Castro, Pol Por, Lenin, Chavez and the rest of those bolshevik dictators.
But we're not them. We are a self-governing republic, and a regulated free enterprise system, and one we can all be proud of instead of running around pretending we live in a gulag. You guys are delusional. And to try to paint President Obama with that brush is garbage. Period.
Daniel| 11.20.10 @ 7:31PM
Melvin ...Sir I can go buy a 25$ visa card at 7/11 and then go online and pledge that 25$ to bari ....It is that easy....that was the scam and that is why bari and the dems didnt accept taxpayer funds......and why the press says that bari raised so much cash by the "grass roots" total scam.......I have raised 2.000 millio dollars that way......LOL.....Just kidding but that is the scam go to 7/11 and buy a prepaid visa card and then go online and pay to bari....LOL
Carner York| 11.19.10 @ 11:58AM
I can't say I understand all of what you posted but I have long suspected that Soros played a major role in the stock market meltdown of 08. Thanks for posting this!
Charles Smith| 11.19.10 @ 1:03PM
I remind all that in one place only I read that what happened was that some 500 billion (or was it million?) had been withdrawn from the financial markets in two hours, and that if it had continued into the afternoon, the entire US financial structure would have collapsed. That sounds exactly like Soros' method. I only wish someone would investigate and report on THAT.
Purple Lips| 11.19.10 @ 1:30PM
A lot of supposition. One thing in your narrative that doesn't ring true. Paulson's massive shortsell bought him $3 billion not $13 billion. And he wagered nearly $700 million of his own cash (not an unsubstantial sum, even by Wall St standards). Goldman underwrote the shortsell, but continued to bet long (and lost $90 million against the Abucus Fund). In order for the short to work the timing had to be right. Two months ether way and Paulson loses. These short sells are nothing more than high stakes poker. Paulson won, but all short sellers win when an option or the market tanks. The question is, what did Paulson know that others did not? It's not quite as a conspiracy. Certain Hedge Fund managers figured that all was not right with Enron in 2000. Thier short sell was an early warning to investors. Usually the first indication something isn't kosher is a short sell. Of course, Soros shorted the Pound Sterling and made a mint. He was so successfull that Scotland Yards seriously considered issuing a warrant for his arrest. But, by and large short sells are not successfull. Timing and correct are everything.
Trebuchet| 11.19.10 @ 9:03PM
Paulsons' company made 13 million and George Soro's nephew was one of it's biggest investors. Paulson was the front man for this deal. And as Lolyd Blankfein, GSs' Cheif Exec. wrote in an e-mail, "We made more than we lost". Again I ask, how did the Sandlers, two of Soro's cohorts in all kinds of left wing schemes know to get out of World Savings, just before the hammer dropped? The best way to win at a con is to make sure you are the one running it.
Nunya| 11.19.10 @ 4:19PM
Excellent summary of the series of events, even though some of the numbers might be suspect. Regardless, it makes one wonder what other "hidden" schemes are in the works to bankrupt all of us.
Zombie Reagan| 11.21.10 @ 2:45AM
TLDR FUCK OFF
ACyniC| 11.19.10 @ 10:51AM
The difference betwixt today's crony capitalism and any that may have occurred in the late 1800s is that previously the crony capitalists were not conspiring with the politicians to have the govt. impose on the citizenry a billion pages of rules, regulations, taxes, dikats, etc., so that the govt. could "control" the people. Today's crony capitalists are liberal progressives - socialists, neo-communists, whose IDEOLOGY is to impose upon the citizenry a stifling, bureacratic, smothering, socialist / neo-communist, near tyrannical form of govt., while gaining favors from the govt.
The crony capitalists of the past just wanted the govt. to provide them special dispensations to smother competition and enlarge their own business; they were not interested in having govt. become - as we have today - a tyrannical, socialist, bureaucratic nightmare that ignores and tramples over the individual rights of the citizenry.
The early progressives - esp. Woodrow Wilson held the constitution in contempt and welcomed his near dictatorial powers (due to WWI) to mobilize, to order, to command big business to due his bidding. Big business obliged because it made them money and, of course, out of patriotism to help the war effort.
Since that time, more or less, the democrats have been the party of crony capitalism and doling out favors to big business, because the campaign contributions they supply (i.e., bribery) allows the communist democrats to impose their perverted, sick tyranny on the citizenry.
Purple Lips| 11.19.10 @ 1:16PM
Who owns Whom?
Goldman owns America; Obama owns Goldman; and the CHICOMS own us all.
Tim*| 11.19.10 @ 1:41PM
Interesting.
November 15, 2010:
"At the same time, some of the early hedge fund gold pioneers were trimming their stakes. George Soros sold over half of one million shares of the gold ETF to finish the quarter with 4.7 million shares, while Eric Mindich reduced his Eton Park Capital's stake by 2 million shares to 4.6 million. John Paulson maintained a 31.5 million share holding of the ETF through the quarter.
Soros has said several times this year that gold is "the ultimate bubble."
"I called gold the ultimate bubble which means it may go higher," Soros explained in September at a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York. "But it's certainly not safe and it's not going to last forever."
Melvin| 11.19.10 @ 3:02PM
With what everyone has posted above then why is that SOB Soros still walking the earth? (figuratively) this isn't the first time that he has brought countries to their knees financially.
Of course these countries do much of Soro's dirty work on their own, but old Georgee sets em up like lambs to the slaughter.
aware| 11.19.10 @ 7:00PM
"They understand how corrupting it is for the entire system when Big Business can exploit the growth of Big Government."
If that's what "they"(and Mr. Charles Gasparino) understand, then they are beginning to understand. Half understand. When they know that Big Business and the State are actually partners, that one cannot exist without the other, and that's the way the game is played regardless of elections or who is president, well then you'll know "they" really understand something.
Here's how it is....the State passes "laws" that regulate a given industry which make start ups next to impossible without massive cash at inception, thereby eliminating real competition and allowing just a few or even one or two corporations to dominate.
And Big Business passes on price of the compliance to the "laws" to the consumer(hate that word), which is given to "the government" in the form of license fees, permits, fines, and such. As back door tax collectors they help fund the occupying horde of crooks we call government while also removing a fair chunk of wealth from private hands for the State's use. And in such a way that ignoramuses like Klugman can claim we have tax rates that are too low.
So the State is the enforcement arm while business operates the collection side of a vast criminal enterprise that convinces the very people it exploits that civilization itself would cease to exist without their wise over-lordship. And they are mostly successful at convincing too! It's not usually as blatant as it is now, these are desperate times, but it has been this way for a long time now.
Or you could just forget about all this and go with the crowd believing in unicorns and rainbows while telling yourself that "We" are the government.
Dave Trapped In NYC| 11.19.10 @ 8:22PM
Destroy the Fed, it is worthless.
LibertyAtStake | 11.19.10 @ 9:52PM
Yes, Big Gov-Big Fin is an unholy marriage. It's most viciously destructive offspring, as a mater of fact, is Fannie & Freddie. I know from personal experience Wall Street has effective executive control over Fannie. I think it's probably because the Street-Meisters know it's best to keep the bad paper on the taxpayers' books.
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
LibertyAtStake | 11.19.10 @ 9:54PM
"Best" for the Street-Meisters, that is.
Perusha The Defender| 11.20.10 @ 12:09PM
The "BIG" movie (Wall Street, Government, Business, Labor, Entertainment, Education, etc) plays on.
With age comes wisdom, FOR SOME.
My old man, back in the fifties when I was about to leave high school, and was quite hot to trot, regularly rolled out quite a downer insight.
Remember how culturally important, and dominant in the news, movies were, especially the academy awards?
There for some time, I probably saw almost all of them, as they came out.
Old dad, he never went to them. He'd grown up, and when I, in my astonishment, couldn't believe he couldn't be as impressed and overwhelmed as I was, always had the undressing answer, which also applied to TV---
IT'S IN THE SCRIPT.
Just so wrt "Obama", and the entire "movie" of "HIS" life.
“As it is written, so shall it be”.
Also, know how some movies make fun of anchors on TV news, in that they are just of average intelligence, but good looking news READERS?
Well, hello teleprompter!
Tom in Michigan| 11.20.10 @ 4:16PM
Certainly one of the most risible aspects of all this is all the leftist drones who still believe the Democraps are still "the party of the little guy" and that they "help people."
Rather than waste a lot of time explaining the obvious; ask yourself this very simple question: where do you suppose über-rich progs like Pelosi and Kerry keep their money-under their mattresses?-in the holds of their $7 million yachts?
Of course not. Even they're not THAT stupid. They INVEST their money and, as any sage investment advisor can tell you, equities are a crucial part of any well-diversified portfolio.
Look. One of my financial advisors even told me, when I expressed just the tiniest modicum of concern over Pelosi's elevation to the Speakership and Obama's election, "Don't worry. The Democrats are better for the stock market than the Republicans. You'll be just fine." Indeed, thanks to his advice, I kept the appropriate portion of my investments on "Wall Street" (though I've also invested a bunch overseas as well) and, I've made a bundle since March 2009, recouping the little bit I lost in the fall of 2008 plus a whole lot more.
Also, why do you think they're after those "rich" who earn more than $250,000? It’s because the majority of them are small-business people who invest in their OWN businesses not the stock market and, that’s the only way the progs can get their hands on their money. As for the super-rich guys who support the Obamaviks one, Warren Buffett by his own admission paid a paltry 17.7% effective tax rate while his receptionist probably pays a rate of 25% or even more, if he's "spreading his own wealth around."
All you suckers though, keep thinking that the Democrats are looking out for you; making sure that you get your share of the wealth they intend to "spread around" when in reality, they're looking out for me and my investor buddies while all you get is their scraps and handouts.
Sarbo| 11.20.10 @ 8:16PM
This is a palbably one-sided view and therefor false and misguiding. Everybody knows that America is NOT a two-party system (barring the occassional Ross Perot or Ralph Nader, who represent no Party). America is a one-party state. That party is nominally, not publicly, called the Party of Wall Street. Its executives are called CEOs. But its shareholders and investors are Republicans and Democrats.
Why is nobody surprised? A country with 5% of the world's population consumes 25% of all resources AND controls 75% of everybody else's economic freedom is bound to be a one-party state. America is a Leviathan. Captains come and go but the shio of state must run on or else sink.
Goldman| 11.21.10 @ 10:46AM
Kudos. This is the first decent article I've seen from this site in a long time.
Larry| 11.21.10 @ 8:13PM
Who, Alan Brooks, is suggesting Mitt Romney in 2012? Not me. And Goldwater ran for President in 1964, but stupid liberals like yourself voted instead for the Boss Hogg of Texas Politics, LBJ, and his so-called "Great Society" which has helped create some of the massive debt we have these days. So don't come in here and troll around with that off-topic nonsense.
renold | 11.22.10 @ 2:47AM
I agree with above
It hard to believe it
William Tucker| 11.22.10 @ 10:53AM
Chuck Gasparino is a national treasure, the only reporter on Wall Street who sees the true collaboration that goes on between big business and big government.
independent109| 11.24.10 @ 9:14AM
The same thing appears to go on with the politicians, various networking clubs, the politicians and the global markets. Leaks from the June Bilderberg meeting indicated a plan to push the price of oil up by November. I believe that this kind of market manipulation goes on all the time: setup the bubble, sucker in the idiots, pop the bubble at the agreed upon time and take profits.
The same can be said of the politicians, the markets for climate control. It's about transferring wealth and power to the members of the political ideology.
ReConUSMC| 11.24.10 @ 11:23AM
Obama did a perfect modern day Machiavelli act . Of course that exact same (Act) teaching is found in Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radials and Cloward and Pivins ........ How to end Capitalism .
You grow Govt. beyond it's ability to function with unpaid blotted debts and entitlements .
" We are on our way " even a blind man can see that undeniable fact .
Obama says one thing strongly in Public for years and does the complete opposite in Private with the Fat Cat he rails against 24/7 for his entire adult life .
We were beyond amazed "But " We now know why Wall Street overwhelmingly supported Obama even though Obama campaigned strongly against 'Wall Street in Public ' .
What makes this Hypocrite of all Hypocrites (caught Obama story )far worse is while Citizens were losing Job's and a large part of their home values and retirement funds though no fought of their own .
The Fed. Govt. was growing the most ever and Greed filled Wall Street (The far lefts new best friend in private )caused to a large degree our Economy problems need we forget .
Obama made Wall Street Billions and
added 312, 000 new Employees to the Fed.Govt work force along with 16,500 New IRS.s agents ..... and he ain't done yet ?
Obama is the most dangerous man on Earth who sadly is our President . This article is a must pass around even to Liberals who honestly believe in truth and a smaller open Govt. that is restrictive by Nature . Not a vicious anti American secretive Monster on Steroids who is hell bent on killing our economy, managing our lives while destroying Capitalism and Traditional America .
glass shelving systems | 12.6.10 @ 4:19AM
What will getting Mitt Romney elected in 2012 do besides boosting tourism in Salt Lake City?