Hank Paulson’s inside jobs

[Riot]

Um, yeah: this is exactly why OWS exists. Holy crap.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmo...s-inside-jobs/

[dellinger63]

I wish the author would have done some further legwork and cited actual trades Goldman was involved in shorting Fannie and or Freddie after June of 2008 when they were fed this info. It's a short window to cover as they left the 'investment' banking business in late Sept of that same year. That or document meetings between Paulson and Goldman traders Swenson and Birnbaum prior to the spring of 2007 when they crushed the market short-selling crap mortgages to the tune of $4 billion.


Found these Paulson statements odd to say the least....

In April 2007 delivered an upbeat assessment of the economy, saying growth was healthy and the housing market was nearing a turnaround. "All the signs I look at" show "the housing market is at or near the bottom," Paulson said in a speech to a business group in New York. The U.S. economy is "very healthy" and "robust," Paulson said.

In August 2007, Secretary Paulson explained that U.S. subprime mortgage fallout remained largely contained due to the strongest global economy in decades.

In May 2008, The Wall Street Journal wrote that Paulson said U.S. financial markets are emerging from the credit crunch that many economists believe has pushed the country to the brink of recession. "I do believe that the worst is likely to be behind us," Paulson told the newspaper in an interview.

On July 20, 2008, after the failure of Indymac Bank, Paulson reassured the public by saying, “it's a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation.”

On August 10, 2008, Secretary Paulson told NBC’s Meet the Press that he had no plans to inject any capital into Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. On September 7, 2008, both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac went into conservatorship.

The OWS crowd needs to wake up and instead of focusing on further taxing the 1%, focus on reducing the government's involvement in anything but governing. The idea of something being too big to fail is ludicrous and a set up for a ripoff.

Goldman got $10 billion in TARP money, paid it all back plus 20% interest in under a year. The CBO estimates total liabilities for Fannie/Freddie at $238 billion with the Federal Reserve in for $47 billion and the Treasury Department in for $85 billion. To keep it liquid.

While what Paulson did regarding releasing info to Goldman is criminal, what he did with Fannie/Freddie is $238 billion dollars.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

I wish the author would have done some further legwork and cited actual trades Goldman was involved in shorting Fannie and or Freddie after June of 2008 when they were fed this info. It's a short window to cover as they left the 'investment' banking business in late Sept of that same year. That or document meetings between Paulson and Goldman traders Swenson and Birnbaum prior to the spring of 2007 when they crushed the market short-selling crap mortgages to the tune of $4 billion.


Found these Paulson statements odd to say the least....



The OWS crowd needs to wake up and instead of focusing on further taxing the 1%, focus on reducing the government's involvement in anything but governing. The idea of something being too big to fail is ludicrous and a set up for a ripoff.

Goldman got $10 billion in TARP money, paid it all back plus 20% interest in under a year. The CBO estimates total liabilities for Fannie/Freddie at $238 billion with the Federal Reserve in for $47 billion and the Treasury Department in for $85 billion. To keep it liquid.

While what Paulson did regarding releasing info to Goldman is criminal, what he did with Fannie/Freddie is $238 billion dollars.

Give me a ****ing break where is the author going to get this information? Also if I had the Info that Goldman gets and 10 Billion I'd Pay them 50% interest.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Riot

Um, yeah: this is exactly why OWS exists. Holy crap.

http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmo...s-inside-jobs/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9f-6jygRJk

[Riot]

The OWS crowd needs to wake up and instead of focusing on further taxing the 1%, focus on reducing the government's involvement in anything but governing. The idea of something being too big to fail is ludicrous and a set up for a ripoff.

They've been focused on that since the beginning. You don't really have a clue what OWS is about, do you?

Jon Stewart explains well what happened here in his usual manner (apologies to Professor Butterscotch): http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-epi...011-bob-costas

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

They've been focused on that since the beginning. You don't really have a clue what OWS is about, do you?

While I've seen a plethora of signs that say 'tax the rich' etc etc. I don't recall a single one with 'cut fannie and freddie' or any other wasteful government program including Obamacare.

Must be hard for people who cheered virtually every stimulus/bailout dime Obama put forth on some crazy notion he was 'righting' Bush's 'wrongs' to deal with it right now.

Obama, in fact, simply stepped it up with loans and stimulus money that unlike Goldman's TARP was never going or expected to be paid back even in part.

Unlike E.F. Hutton, when Obama speaks failure gets rewarded and success gets taxed or even better it just gets put on the books. The books of the guys who are financing Fannie and Freddie But no worries they (the books) are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States of America. That's where the us comes in

Oh and these same books also have and are sent ALL of the social security money. Oddly that's on the books as well, over a trillion dollars. It would be great if the Treasury and Fed followed Goldman's lead and voluntarily left the 'investment' banking side of the banking biz.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by jms62

Give me a ****ing break where is the author going to get this information? Also if I had the Info that Goldman gets and 10 Billion I'd Pay them 50% interest.

You do realize all trades leave a paper or e-trail. Not sure how difficult it would be to access the paper but know it can be done. I believe some sort of actual trade or monetary benefit would have to be found to make it criminal. With the possible cast of characters involved and over $200 billion on the table further investigation certainly seems worthy.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

You do realize all trades leave a paper or e-trail. Not sure how difficult it would be to access the paper but know it can be done. I believe some sort of actual trade or monetary benefit would have to be found to make it criminal. With the possible cast of characters involved and over $200 billion on the table further investigation certainly seems worthy.

you do realize that information would not in a million years be available to the author of the article but why let facts get in the way of your rants.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by jms62

you do realize that information would not in a million years be available to the author of the article but why let facts get in the way of your rants.

and don't let a criminal prosecution get in the way of a good story. I'm not blaming the author for anything, it was of Pulitzer quality, just hoping he or someone else, even Holder maybe, would follow-up on what could make Maddoff look like a lil baby.

Newt and Rahm both got paid off by Fannie/Freddie, if that’s not a clue of where this could lead? Goldman made pennies while $200 billion plus was possibly stolen from us, as in U.S. taxpayers including pillaging our SS funds.

Fannie and Freddie has a bi-partisan stink on it like nothing else I can recall. Let's get to the bottom of why our treasury and fed would take over and invest in a couple of companies the Treasury Sec of the US stated to the public (his investors) that he wasn't going to invest anymore in, less than a month previous. This 'contract’ should be challenged in court on the grounds of fraud. One bad deal we can right. How jaded of me to think the settlement/judgment would be huge but put on the 'books'.

Kind of like getting a $200 judgment from an ex who owes you 9K and finding out he/she owes you $9,200 but you still need to fork over a 1/3 of what you made this year come April and that will put towards your retirement and things like Fannie and Freddie. Makes those shrimp conveyer belt tests seem like such a deal.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

While I've seen a plethora of signs that say 'tax the rich' etc etc. I don't recall a single one with 'cut fannie and freddie' or any other wasteful government program including Obamacare.

They've been there regarding the Fed. Just because you don't pay attention doesn't mean they are not way ahead of you.

Must be hard for people who cheered virtually every stimulus/bailout dime Obama put forth on some crazy notion he was 'righting' Bush's 'wrongs' to deal with it right now.

Why? What we are talking about has nothing at all to do with TARP (which has mostly been paid back) other than the lying. It is about Treasury and the Fed withholding information and lying to two Congresses, Bush and Obama.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

Why? What we are talking about has nothing at all to do with TARP (which has mostly been paid back) other than the lying. It is about Treasury and the Fed withholding information and lying to two Congresses, Bush and Obama.

I'm not talking about TARP money and I concede he definitely lied during his testimony to congress. What I'm talking about is those lies may have been used in the takeover of Fannie/Freddie. Since Paulson obviously gave contrary info to what he was making public to friends I'm fairly sure his group of friends includes politicians maybe even a President or two. I find it much more likely more than a few politicians knew the truth and either didn't act or were complicit in the fall and takeover of F&F.

TARP has been paid back in full and still has money coming in. F&F cost $200 billion plus and still has plenty of money going out. Fannie and Freddie employed both Rahm Emanuel and Newt Gingrich plus many others and gave their top five executives over $6 million each in bonuses following a banner year of losing money last year.

F&F to the Gov. (Congress, President, Treasury and Fed) is like Streets and Sanitation for Chicago. It needs to be returned to the private world despite the likelihood it will get eaten up. Set them free.