Washington and Wall Street at work.
Dave Johnson at the Campaign for America's Future writes
Enough is Enougher—Another Citi Nominee. An excerpt:
Another Citigroup alumni has been nominated to a key high-level position in the Obama administration. This time it’s a lateral move: Marisa Lago, who has been serving in the Treasury Department as Assistant Secretary for International Markets and Development since 2010, is nominated for the position of deputy U.S. trade representative (USTR). Her duties at USTR will include trade relations with Africa and the Western Hemisphere, as well as labor and environment issues.
Ms. Lago was Global Head of Compliance for Citigroup’s corporate and investment bank from 2003 to 2008. She also headed the Office of International Affairs at the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1997 to 2001.
For better or worse, this nomination of yet another Citigroup alumna to an important position in our government comes at a time when the public has grown suspicious of Wall Street’s influence on our government.
In her November 19 op-ed, “Enough Is Enough: The President’s Latest Wall Street Nominee,” Senator Elizabeth Warren took on the nomination of yet another Citigroup alumni, Antonio Weiss, to a high position in the Treasury Department. She wrote, “[T]here’s the larger, more general issue of Wall Street executives dominating the Obama administration, as well as the Democratic Party’s, overall economic policy-making apparatus.”
In recent years, President Obama has repeatedly turned to nominees with close Wall Street ties for high-level economic positions. Jack Lew, who was a top Citigroup official, now serves as Treasury Secretary. The President’s choice for Treasury’s highest international position, Nathan Sheets, also comes from Citi. For the number two spot at the Federal Reserve, the President tapped Stanley Fischer, another former Citigroup executive. A Bank of America executive, Stefan Selig, was put in charge of international trade at the Commerce Department. The President’s two recent picks for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — including his choice for Chairman — are lawyers who have spent their careers representing big financial institutions.
There’s plenty of financial expertise in this country. People with banking experience haven’t all flocked to the biggest banks; community banks and regional banks, along with smaller trading houses and credit unions, have some very talented people. Nor must every government official come from the financial sector; executives from other business areas, lawyers who have practiced in a wide range of fields, academics, financial advisers, non-profit employees, think-tank researchers, and people with experience elsewhere in government have deep wells of knowledge — and perspectives that sometimes differ from those who run Wall Street banks.
The over-representation of Wall Street banks in senior government positions sends a bad message. It tells people that one — and only one — point of view will dominate economic policy-making. It tells people that whatever goes wrong in this economy, the Wall Street banks will be protected first. That’s yet another advantage that Wall Street just doesn’t need.
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In her Senate floor speech opposing the “Citibank Budget,” Warren summed up why this matters, saying, “Many Wall Street institutions have exerted extraordinary influence in Washington’s corridors of power, but Citigroup has risen above the others,” she said. “Its grip over economic policy-making in the executive branch is unprecedented.” […]
Brilliant people with expertise and a willingness to take time away from making money in order to serve the public is a good thing. It is something we want people to do. It is to be commended. It is good for the country and good for the souls of those willing to do this work.
However, right now there is a problem of our government at best appearing to be under the influence of big money interests like, but not limited to, Wall Street — and at worst actually being completely corrupted. There is the massive influence of the billionaires. There is the massive influence of the giant, multinational corporations. There is the massive influence of the oil and coal companies. There is the massive influence of military contractors. There is the influence of every other wealthy and powerful interest group with lots of money to spend on getting their way, on getting an edge over their competitors, on getting lucrative contracts, on getting tax breaks, on getting everything they can pocket before the country is bled dry.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2002—In defense of Sen. Murray:
Boy, stung from a real scandal, the GOP is now trying to manufacture one on the Democratic side.
So here's the deal:
Sen. Patty Murray intended to be provocative when she told a group of high school students terrorist leader Osama bin Laden is popular in poor countries because he helped pay for schools, roads and even day care centers.
"We haven't done that," Murray said. "How would they look at us today if we had been there helping them with some of that rather than just being the people who are going to bomb in Iraq and go to Afghanistan?"
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Got it? She said: the US would be more popular overseas if we built schools, rather than bomb. Osama builds schools (which he does). Therefore, Osama is more popular.
This is outrageous? So Drudge and all the jokers of the Mighty Wullitzer are making Murray out to be some kind of enemy sympathizer. Even better, they are asking her to resign. This even as known segregationists Lott and Ashcroft remain in public service.
Tweet of the Day
On
today's "encore performance" of the Kagro in the Morning show, it's the 12/17/13 episode! Another federal court hits NSA surveillance. All quiet on the nuclear front.
Greg Dworkin discusses this, notes The Crazy among MI Rs, reminds us that "Reducing the number of uninsured is a good thing, not a bad thing," and points us to Billy Baker's "Bus 19" success story. A critical read of Ezra's "Pick your problem: Unemployment or income inequality." Something different: the burgeoning Shia LeBeouf plagiarism scandal (or possible performance art piece). Why have Senate Rs stayed so quiet? And a RWNJ NH state legislator threatens "armed resistance," because of course he does.
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