When Paul O'Neill resigned as US Treasury Secretary and followed that decision up with his book, "The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill" written by Ron Suskind which basically stated Bush's economic policies were irresponsible; no one paid attention. As a side note, Paul O'Neill met his wife and graduated from a high school in Alaska.
He was replaced by John Snow, who left under speculation of ethical impropriety regarding his brokers purchased $10 million of debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Then comes along Paulson and somehow he was supposed to be "God's Gift to the USA" in that the CEO of Goldman-Sachs would be atuned to issues of fiscal responsibility and make all legislative changes since the demise of Glass-Steagall work for America. In the course of his Cabinet presence he managed to manipulate the status of Goldman-Sachs, placing it as the world's advisor to attained wealth. He stated that the bailing out of AIG was due to the fact so many Americans would be disaffected by its failure. Oh.
Goldman Sachs had up to $20 bln AIG risk-NY Times (Paulson protected GS with $85 B taxpayer bailout)
Source: Reuters
NEW YORK, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) had as much as $20 billion at risk had the insurer American International Group Inc (AIG.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) collapsed, the New York Times said on Sunday.
Goldman was AIG's largest trading partner, the newspaper said, citing six people close to the insurer. A collapse of AIG threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman, the newspaper said, citing several of the people.
The Wall Street bank told the newspaper that it was never imperiled by AIG's troubles. Spokesman Lucas van Praag also disputed the $20 billion figure, saying it did not account for collateral and hedges that Goldman employed to reduce risk.
The AIG bailout came after the New York-based insurer saw losses spiral on credit default swaps, which are insurance contracts whose value is tied to underlying securities such as mortgages and corporate debt.
I could go on and on about how Paulson abused his power to benefit Goldman-Sachs, but, that is a given.
What is more incredible is that Bush vetoed The 2008 Farm Bill which, of course, was overridden by the House and Senate.
Within the Farm Bill was a provision introduced by Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) that was originally introduced as Senate Bill S.2058 by later attached to the Farm Bill of 2008. That provision was specifically designed to 'close the loophole' that allowed the exploitation by Enron. THAT exploitation was engineered by lobbiests working with McCain's current economic advisor Phil Gramm. The Democrats have been trying to 'head this mess' off for some time now, but, was continually obstructed from doing so by the Republican ideologists through the powers of the Executive Branch.
The point is that within 'the troubled waters' that now beset the USA is a core group of incompetents. Leading the list is Phil Gramm, the ideologist from Texas, that opposed the long lived Glass-Steagall Act replacing it with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 2000; a Republican dreamscape of deregulation that allowed the markets to "work as they should." The Glass-Steagall Act was a well established 'wall' that was passed during The Great Depression to separate investment risk from average Bank depositors.
While Wall Street types will debate that the demise of Glass-Steagall was not the reason for the fiscal collapse of the USA Economy, the fact that Gramm is at the center of all these measures and they all play an intricate part in the current economic departure from insuring National Security of the USA; is more than noteworthy.
John McCain stated, the director of the SEC should be fired, when the truth actually was that Phil Gramm should be exposed for his incompetency and willingness to 'play ball' with lobbiests interested in exploitation of this country while furthering 'a Republican ideology' that Bush characterized 'in its failure' as 'a Wall Street drunk.'
To risk more Republican influence within the fiscal well being of the USA, is to risk the security of the nation.
Cost of Iraq War and Nation Building (click here)
The Day when changing a consonant from 'm' to 'b' insued the defeat of National Security of the USA.
...Bush's request for $87 billion to underwrite the costs of his war on terror formally arrived on Capitol Hill yesterday (click here), but it has been a source of pain and embarrassment for the administration for nearly two weeks. Perhaps that's why officials at the White House and the Pentagon spent 12 months stonewalling and sidestepping questions about how much the war in Iraq will cost.
Ever since former White House budget chief Lawrence Lindsey slipped up a year ago and admitted that an invasion and occupation of Iraq could cost between $100 billion and $200 billion, the administration has been playing hide-and-seek with the numbers. Budget figures have trickled out from various administration offices, but most have been heavily qualified, broad, or contradictory. And, until this month, they never came from the president himself....
