What a sad ending for a 30 year career as Senator. But, somehow, I don't think Senator Dodd will have much trouble finding 'greener fields as a 'lobbyist, consultant, or whatever new revolving door between government and Corporate Wall Street/Banking' interests have waiting for him.
After all, in the 'end' Dodd was a 'good soldier' for the Wizards of the Universe so it is not surprising that one of his final 'falling on this sword' will be what is going on now: Senator Chris Dodd, Chair of the Senate Banking Committee, is thinking about abandoning the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency.
But of course the CFPA is at the very heart and soul of the reform plan that would have created an independent agency to not only police banks but would haved cracked down on continuing fraud like the current practice of shark loan usury by credit card companies that are now at a disgraceful level and imposing new bank fees to gouge consumers.
I had a feeling that based on Dodd's implication in the AIG Bonus scandal (that has now turned in the AIG cover up through Treasurer Geithner and his posse) that as Dodd was 'leaving the building' we could expect one more knife through the back of the American Taxpayers:
And more importantly that Obama, Geithner and Summers all knew about the AIG retention bonuses long before February 28th as postulated by TIME above, and certainly before March 10th, as Geithner testified to Congress under oath earlier this week. The news archives quoted by both authors demonstrate conclusively that President Obama, Geithner and Summers were aware in mid-Februrary of the upcoming AIG bonuses, and that they wanted to make sure those payouts were not threatened by Dodd's ammendment.
This is not surprising, as Geithner was the architect, along with Paulson, Bernanke and possibly Lloyd Blankfein, of the original AIG bailout, and so the claim that Geithner was unaware of the pending bonus payments would seem disingenuous on it's face. When the evidence from the February archives is added, disingenuous quickly morphs into lies.
Further adding to Obama's difficulties, this afternoon Senator Dodd himself confirmed to Wolf Blitzer of CNN that he modified his ammendment to the stimulus bill in order to protect previously agreed upon compensation contracts (read AIG bonus payments) only after repeated requests of un-named Treasury officials.
http://dailybail.com/...
According to Dodd, he is now stating that the CFPA must require bi-partisan report, and that Richard Shelby is expected to apparently come up with 'his own' idea of a new CFPA plan, which by the way he is presently calling the orginial CFPA legislation 'a nanny state'.....
Dropping the bid for a standalone consumer-protection agency would strip out a central plank of the White House's proposal and could infuriate liberals and consumer groups who have championed the idea. It could also breathe life into an effort to get a compromise on new financial regulations, assuming liberal Democrats don't break ranks. Republicans led by Sen. Richard Shelby, minority leader on the Banking Committee, oppose the agency. Shelby scorns it as part of the nanny state. And the banking lobby is spending big bucks opposing it.
White House and Treasury Department officials have so far remained committed to creating a standalone agency. "There needs to be a new agency with new powers for whom this will be a primary mission," said White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers.
Alternatives to the agency include a new division within the Treasury that would draft consumer rules, and a consumer-protection division run by a new federal bank regulator. The head of this division could be appointed by the White House, giving it more autonomy, people familiar with the matter said.
http://online.wsj.com/...
So Shelby is calling the CFPA a 'nanny state' while the Banking industry is paying him bookoo bucks to hold off on any decent regulation whatsoever on one hand, and on the other hand we've got Timothy Geithner (FOAMING AT THE MOUTH) and the Treasury Department that are 'busy drafting their own consumer rules that will have a consumer protection division run by a new federal bank regular.
Wow....well, Timmy, excuse me if I say that I don't trust you as far as I can spit after the AIG cover up, and your other endless list of failures to date in the past while you worked for the NY Federal Reserve and other smarmy organizations.....you may think that our memories are short, but I can assure you, mine is not:
- What happened to NY FED’s billions that went to his pal former Kissinger Associate Paul Bremer in Iraq under the control of the "Coalition Provisional Authority." that was kept in the NY FED Bank but recorded on books of Iraqi Central Bank. According to a report by Christian Aid in the UK, over $4 billion is missing. Money accounted for lined the pockets of Halliburton.
- What happened to the $4 Billion transferred in 2003-2004 once it left the NY FED ?
- How the US sent $12 Billion in cash to Iraq that vanished.
- Staggering FED’s Biggest transfer of cash in history laid bare by US congressional committees.
At end of Iraq war vast sums of money were made available to the US-led provisional authorities, headed by Paul Bremer, to spend on rebuilding the country and in eight months $8.8 Billion of it had disappeared (Ed Harriman reports).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
http://www.globalpolicy.org/...
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/...
I mean one week we hear from Robert Gibbs that Timothy Geithner had nothing what so ever to do with the AIG deal, and next week we hear Timothy Geithner saying that 'paying top dollar for all those shitting pieces of worthless paper' to his 'posse pal' was absolutely the correct thing to do.
It is all so pathetic and the only thing that is transparent is the lying, cheating and continued 'payoffs to Wall Street and the Banks' to ensure above all, that the last people that will be protected from this group of criminals are the American people.
The Cris Dodd and Geithner AIG 'cover up' just gets worse day by day - running from the absolute unbelievable to what I call "WTF - You really think we are going to swallow that shit sandwich set of lies:
From Zero Hedge on Timmy Geither's Lie Pie:
Lie One:
He wasn't party to a decision to hide $62 billion dollar payouts to firms that became insolvent during his 5-year watch at the New York Fed?
Lie Two:
COUNT 2: He wasn't even a regulator!
In Geithner's own words during confirmation hearings in March:
"First of all, I've never been a regulator...I'm not a regulator."
According to the New York fed bank's website, that was your job!! And I quote from the Fed's website: "As part of our core mission, we supervise and regulate financial institutions in the Second District." That district of course is the epicenter for bailed out banks and billion dollar bonuses.
Lie Three:
Count 3: "The Christmas Eve Taxpayer Massacre."
As you were wrapping those last presents, Geithner's Treasury Department lifted the 400-billion dollar cap on taxpayer responsibility for potential losses for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The new cap? Unlimited taxpayer funds! Interesting timing... Christmas eve, Tim?
Still no word on recovering the hundreds of millions paid to the CEOs who created this mess.
Lie Four:
Remember those call logs when he first started... 80 contacts with Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and CitiGroup CEOs in just 7 months!
But Bank of America's CEO only got three calls. Apparently Bank of America is not one of Geithner's favorites, especially when you consider that there are still many unanswered questions about Tim Geithner's role in threatening to fire Bank of America management if they didn't go through with a deal to buy Merrill lynch.
Lie 5:
TARP Special Investigator Neil Barofsky's report says Geithner's New York Fed overpaid the big banks through AIG by billions of dollars.
Geithner says it had to be done. Maybe so, maybe not, but this takes us to our final point.
Since then, the Treasury Secretary has yet to really prove whose side he's on -- the Wall Street big wigs or the American taxpayer? Here's the litmus test: Mr. Geithner, show us the past ten years of AIG emails or step down so that we can get somebody who will. A crime has been committed against the American taxpayer and right now you are standing at the door of the crime scene refusing to let anyone in.
Show us you're not involved Mr. Geithner, prove the white house correct in defending you. All we are asking for is the transparency promised by the President you serve.
http://www.zerohedge.com/...
Senator Shelby, Senator Dodd, Timothy Geithner, Larry Summers, ....it's no longer about party affiliation or giving a damn about what happens to our nation in the long run, it's more about power, money and greed and they are all laying in the same lice ridden bed, little men that have short sighted schemes to above all protect the shadow elite and the new Oligarchy no matter what the cost.
But after 30 years as a Democratic Senator, I have to say that as he is leaving the Senate and his stewardship of the Banking Financial Services committee, I had hoped he at least had the 'class' to leave with a bit of dignity. I keep thinking of this video below now, whenever I think of him and this latest and final capitulation to the tearing the very heart out of the CFPA for the protection of Americans using Richard Shelby (of all people) as an excuse.
What a sad ending, what a despicable move, and by the way Senator Dodd, good luck on your cushy new job as a Lobbyist or whatever it is that got you to throw in that final degradation of selling your soul off to the highest bidder.
BTW, good news:
Federal Reserve earned $45 billion in 2009
Only it's not exactly what you think that means, believe me...check it out....(hat tip to xaxado). If I could just have that 'little magic trick' to just pull money out of my ass out of no where, life would be so 'Federally Reservery for Me'...I mean a really huge fucking bowl of cherries. Magic magic magic.....
http://www.chrismartenson.com/...
I hope you'll excuse me if I don't get my cheer leading uniform and pom poms out for President Obama's 'morning rant' against Wall Street and the Banks. That speech is indicative of not only too little too late, but all hat and no cattle. If President Obama was the least bit serious about financial reform he would first: clean his own administration out and fire his entire economic team, also known as 'the Bush wrecking crew' and second replace said team with a group of credible economists such as Elizabeth Warren, Simon Johnson, William K. Black, Neil Barofsky and Brooksley E. Born....every single one of these people have stood up against Wall Street and the Banks for what is undoubtedly the biggest cover up of controlled fraud our nation has ever experienced.
On the other hand, President Obama is all talk and no action...as the saying goes 'nice house, no body home.' Too bad, you could'a been a 'contender too.'
Thanks.