Month: October 2011

The Goldman Sachs Mafia Gets Revenge
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)

Here’s some apparently good news:

Rajat K. Gupta, the highest-ranking corporate executive to become embroiled in a push by the government to root out insider trading, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of leaking confidential information while serving as a director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Procter & Gamble Co.

In a six-count indictment, federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged that Mr. Gupta, the former head of global consulting firm McKinsey & Co., leaked details about the companies’ financial condition and an investment by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. to former hedge-fund titan Raj Rajaratnam. The Galleon Group founder was sentenced earlier this month to serve 11 years in prison for insider trading.

So a former Goldman Sachs director has gone to jail for insider trading. Great!

Or is it really such good news? The case against Gupta is closely related to the government’s successful case against Raj Rajaratnam, leading to the longest-ever setence handed down for inside trading. Gupta has been arrested mostly for secretly and immediately handing over to Mr. Rajaratnam details of Berkshire Hathaway investments in Goldman Sachs after attending a private Goldman board meeting.

Gupta’s name played prominently at the criminal trial earlier this year of Rajaratnam, who was convicted after prosecutors used a trove of wiretaps on which he could be heard coaxing a crew of corporate tipsters into giving him an illegal edge on blockbuster trades.

Jurors heard testimony that at an Oct. 23, 2008, Goldman board meeting, members were told that the investment bank was facing a quarterly loss for the first time since it had gone public in 1999.

Prosecutors produced phone records showing Gupta called Rajaratnam 23 seconds after the meeting ended, causing Rajaratnam to sell his entire position in Goldman the next morning and save millions of dollars.

Rajaratnam also earned close to $1 million when Gupta told him that Goldman had received an offer from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway to invest $5 billion in the banking giant, prosecutors said.

In one tape played at trial, Rajaratnam could be heard grilling Gupta about whether the Goldman Sachs board had discussed acquiring a commercial bank or an insurance company.

So Mr. Gupta betrayed private Goldman Sachs info to his good friend Mr. Rajaratnam, causing Mr. Rajaratnam to withdraw millions of dollars from Goldman. For this, Mr. Rajaratnam will go to jail for a very long time, and Mr. Gupta will likely join him.

But when Goldman Sachs institutionally and systemically fleeces and betrays its own customers, it gets a petty fine and no one goes to jail.

Moral of the story? Betray Goldman Sachs to your friend, spend a decade in pinstripes. Help Goldman fleece their investors and crash the economy? No problem. The Mafia has nothing on these guys, and they apparently own the Justice Department as well.

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Quote ‘o the Day — Joseph Stiglitz

by digby

“The only way we’re going to make it through, restore economic growth, is by stimulating the economy,” Stiglitz said today at a conference in Toronto. “The austerity that is going on in Europe, America and so forth is effectively a suicide pact for our economies.”

And a good day to you too!

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John Galt clutches his pearls

by digby

One of my favorite right wing quirks is their ability to shape-shift from Rambo to Aunt Pittypat in the blink of an eye. It’s so boldly inconsistent that each shift inevitably knocks the lefties off their feet as they try to wrap their minds around the sheer scale of the hypocrisy. Here’s Congressman Paul Ryan, Randian champion of individualism and Galtish superiority, suddenly worrying himself into a tizzy about dividing the American people. (Apparently the “parasites”, “looters” and “moochers” might get the wrong idea …)

In a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Ryan said Obama’s method of rallying public support for his $447 billion jobs package was “sowing social unrest and class resentment” and could be “just as damaging as his misguided policies.”

“Instead of working together where we agree, the president has opted for divisive rhetoric and the broken politics of the past,” Ryan said. “He is going from town to town, impugning the motives of Republicans, setting up straw men and scapegoats, and engaging in intellectually lazy arguments, as he tries to build support for punitive tax hikes on job creators.”

Ryan accused Obama of using “class-based rhetoric” in his re-election campaign. Obama’s tactics, he said, make “America weaker, not stronger.”

“Instead of appealing to the hope and optimism that were the hallmarks of his first campaign, he has launched his second campaign by preying on the emotions of fear, envy, and resentment,” Ryan said.

“This has the potential to be just as damaging as his misguided policies. Sowing social unrest and class resentment makes America weaker, not stronger. Pitting one group against another only distracts us from the true sources of inequity in this country – corporate welfare that enriches the powerful, and empty promises that betray the powerless.

Oh mah stahs Miss Mellie! Bring me the smellin’ salts befoah ah faint dead away!

It must be so hard for the conservatives who have been nothing but polite and kind and compassionate over these couple of years to see this outrageous show of uncivilized behavior by the president. Why it makes them just want to break down and cry.

Divisive rhetoric is simply unAmerican:

“It drives the liberals crazy”

U.S. Capitol Police reported 12 arrests outside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on charges ranging from unlawful entry to disorderly conduct. Pelosi, a California Democrat, had been a focal point for many of the protesters, including one who wore a mask depicting Pelosi holding handfuls of bloody fetuses.

Minnesota protesters made stops at the offices of Bachmann, and Minnesota Democrats Tim Walz and Keith Ellison. Walz was unavailable but Ellison met with them briefly.

Dozens of top GOP House leaders showed up on the Capitol steps to greet the crowd. But it was Bachmann, boosted by her status as a frequent conservative talk radio and television guest, who clearly was the main draw.

Now, as far as I’m concerned the Republicans had every right to their protests, no matter how crude and rude, even if they were led by elected officials. This is America. What’s amusing is that the Republicans have absolutely no self-awareness (or, more likely, simply don’t give a damn about appearing rational anymore) and think that they are the only ones who are allowed to express their grievances.

And Lord help the poor Democrat who even timidly attempts to speak to those grievances — he or she is instantly attacked for “dividing the American people,” (unlike that congressman who giggled and smirked about “driving the liberals crazy.”) It’s an extremely successful gambit that’s deployed over and over again because liberals and establishment types invariably take the bait. For reasons best left to sociologists and psychologists, the mere hint from a right winger that a liberal might be divisive makes them run for cover.

For more on the phenomenon, here’s a handy primer.

Update: It must be noted that Ryan is demonizing “corporate welfare.” That’s very cute. But I certainly hope that nobody gets the idea that he has any intention of putting the squeeze on the “jaaaahb creators.” Whatever temporary cuts in corporate “tax expenditures” they come up with will come out of the safety net. He’s paid very well to made sure of it.

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No camels

by digby

By now you’ve read from David and elsewhere what happened in Oakland last night. The fact that the President was just across the bay at a posh fundraiser pretty much frames the story perfectly, I think.

I “watched” it all unfold on twitter last night, in real time. With pictures.

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No Excuse
by David Atkins (“thereisnospoon”)

The Oakland police department used tear gas, smoke bombs, and, according to some reports, rubber bullets to clear out protesters last night (the Oakland police department denies using rubber bullets, but wouldn’t confirm or deny the use of rubber bullets by “other agencies.”) There are conflicting reports all over the place, with some reports claiming flash bang grenades were used by police. The police have responded that they did not use flash bang grenades, and that the explosions were M-80s used by protesters. There are also reports of paint, eggs and bottles being thrown by protesters.

It will be a little while before the full story is known about exactly what happened in Oakland. The consensus does seem to be that there was some bad behavior by a few protesters, but that most of the other Occupiers were trying to stop the few miscreants from giving the police an excuse to crack down. In any case, even if the police are telling the truth about protester provocation, there is no excuse for their insane overreaction, which looked more like a scene from a totalitarian 3rd world country than like the United States:

Paint, eggs and glass bottles tossed by a few morons at police in riot gear do not justify this sort of response against an entire crowd of mostly peaceful protesters. This was shameful behavior on the part of the Oakland PD, and there needs to be accountability for it.

On a brighter note, scenes like this will only increase the power of the Occupy movement nationwide. Joshua Holland has a great piece on Alternet about the victory that the movement has already achieved:

Occupy Wall Street has already achieved a stunning victory – a victory that is easy to overlook, but impossible to overstate. In just one month, the protesters have shifted the national dialogue from a relentless focus on the deficit to a discussion of the real issues facing Main Street: the lack of jobs — and especially jobs with decent benefits — spiraling inequality, cash-strapped American families’ debt-loads, and the pernicious influence of money in politics that led us to this point.

To borrow the loosely defined terms that define the Occupy movement, these ordinary citizens have shifted the conversation away from what the “1 percent” — the corporate right and its dedicated media, network of think-tanks and PR shops — want to talk about and, notably, paid good money to get us to talk about.

Indeed. And the conversation is only getting louder all across the country. In my backyard, yesterday the normally fairly conservative Ventura County Star printed my letter to the editor countering this atrocious column by Deroy Murdock accusing the President of declaring “class war” against the wealthy. It’s a tiny victory, but just one point among millions to indicate how the conversation is changing in America and around the world.

There is a clarion call rising against income inequality in this country, and the more the police crack down on the Occupy protesters, the louder it will become.

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Ephemeral Headline

By tristero

You won’t see headlines like this one for much longer: Will Extremists Hijack Occupy Wall Sreet? What was so striking about it was the acknowledgment by a major player in the MSM that Occupy Wall St is not an extremist movement.

But that’s so four hours ago. Here’s the new reality and the headlines going forward will read – yep, you guessed it! – “Extremists Hijack Occupy Wall Street.” That’s because once the tear gas falls, the media will inevitably characterize the victims of Establishment violence as extremists, despite the fact they are not. (See Riots, Chicago, 1968.)

And so it goes.

(And oh, how dearly I want to be proven wrong about my cynicism.)

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PS: Thanks, everyone for the kind comments below. Obviously, the hearing issues I’ve been dealing with are taking up a lot of time that could be more fruitfully spent bashing Republican tomfoolery and extremism. I also have new music to write – I just premiered a piece for a consort of viols and am working on very cool new things. I will try to post when I can.

Over before it began

by digby

That didn’t take long. Following up on my post from this morning, I see they’ve already capitulated:

Republicans just won a round of jousting over President Obama’s jobs bill.

President Obama supports passage of House GOP legislation that would eliminate a tax compliance rule affecting big government contractors and pay for it by limiting Medicaid eligibility, the White House announced Tuesday.

You can read about the legislation — contained in two separate bills — here. Republicans crafted the legislation by pairing two conservative measures the White House proposed as part of their jobs and deficit reduction proposals. That in effect boxed Democrats in, despite its questionable implications for economic growth, and a pay-for that scales back Medicaid, instead of increasing taxes on wealthy Americans.

The administration announced its support in terse statements of official policy, which makes it more likely that Democrats will back it in the Senate. That would give the GOP cover to claim they’re working productively and seeking common ground to pass elements of President Obama’s jobs bill.

What, at this point, is the rationale of the Democratic Party? We’ll kill terrorists twice as hard and only slash the safety net half as much? We’ll pass the Republican agenda so they don’t have to?

So here’s what’s happened so far. The President put forth a jobs bill, which didn’t make it through the congress, as expected. This jobs bill was highly touted as containing “ideas” that Republicans had proposed in the past and therefore, it should have “something for everyone.” Needless to say, the GOP wasn’t interested in any one from column A and one from column B negotiating. After the defeat of the big jobs package, the Democrats announced they were going to propose popular pieces of the bill and force the Republicans to prove once and for all that they don’t care about the plight of the average American as they join together in Scrooglike conformity.

Unfortunately, the Republicans decided not to play (surprise!) and are instead proposing their own combinations of the most toxic conservative elements of the President’s bill and the President is apparently signing on, thus signing into law a terrible GOP policy while simultaneously giving them a “bipartisan” win.

I’m not sure what the President hopes to gain by proposing and then signing deeply unpopular GOP legislation, but that appears to be the plan.

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Uncommitted
by David Atkins

In case you thought the Left had some enthusiasm problems with President Obama, this is worth thinking about as well:

With the nation’s first nominating contests just two months away, a large majority of Republican primary voters have yet to make up their minds about the candidate they would like to see as their party’s nominee for president in 2012.

About eight in 10 Republican primary voters say it is still too early to tell whom they will support, and just four in 10 say they have been paying a lot of attention to the 2012 presidential campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Herman Cain, the former restaurant executive, is riding a wave of support among Republican primary voters that has placed him in a statistical dead heat with rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, in a race that has been characterized by momentum swings among the candidates.

The poll found Mr. Cain with the highest level of support, with 25 percent of Republican primary voters, and Mr. Romney with 21 percent. This difference is within the poll’s margin of sampling error.

Adding to the fluidity of the contest, about one in 10 Republican primary voters say they would like to see someone else nominated.

By this time in the 2007-2008 cycle, most Democrats were pretty thrilled with their choices, and a great many had made strong commitments to Clinton, Obama or Edwards. Even second-tier candidates like Kucinich received support due to passionate commitment, rather than tepid rejection of the frontrunners.

No matter who wins the GOP primary, Republicans are going to have an enthusiasm problem. That’s largely because there is no one alive in the modern GOP who:

1) has enough government experience to be credible, yet has no record of supporting anything that might be viewed as “liberal”;

2) has led a clean enough life with enough “personal integrity”;

3) is a white Protestant Christian conservative who doesn’t come across as nuts, or at least like your crazy hectoring uncle; and

4) has an affable enough disposition and short enough record of loony statements to be considered viable in a general election.

There is no such person. What most Democrats are looking for is basic competence and an eye for the common good. We are willing to mostly overlook race, gender, personal foibles and even difficult votes made in the past, because we understand that people are people, both life and governance are hard, and no one is perfect. We have an easier time of this.

The GOP purity train is such that they’re not going to be happy with anybody they pick. And that, at least, is a silver lining to their increasingly radical cloud.

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Quote o’ the Day

by digby

Another hippie weighs in:

“There is no reason why in a society which has reached the general level of wealth which ours has attained the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom. There are difficult questions about the precise standard which should thus be assured; there is particularly the important question whether those who thus rely on the community should indefinitely enjoy all the same liberties as the rest.

An incautious handling of these questions might well cause serious and perhaps even dangerous political problems; but there can be no doubt that some minimum of food, shelter, and clothing, sufficient to preserve health and the capacity to work, can be assured to everybody. Indeed, for a considerable part of the population of England this sort of security has long been achieved.

Nor is there any reason why the state should not assist the individuals in providing for those common hazards of life against which, because of their uncertainty, few individuals can make adequate provision. Where, as in the case of sickness and accident, neither the desire to avoid such calamities nor the efforts to overcome their consequences are as a rule weakened by the provision of assistance – where, in short, we deal with genuinely insurable risks – the case for the state’s helping to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance is very strong.”

More of that “tired socialism” that so repulses Richard Cohen?

Not exactly.

He later changed his mind, despite his benefactor and admirer Charles Koch begging to come to the US where he could collect Social Security and Medicare. (Seems he preferred the state sponsored medical care he received in Austria.)Still, his original instincts seem quite reasonable. Don’t tell Ron Paul.

h/t to JG
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Animal spirits

by digby

So, the intrepid Richard Cohen fearlessly went on an expedition to Occupy Wall Street to determine for himself whether or not the Occupiers are anti-Semitic. He found no evidence of it. But he did find “repugnant” tired socialism, tits, “flea-thoughts” and self-pity and self flagellation. He ultimately determined that it is “little more than a vast sleepover.” Indeed, it’s just plain icky. But then, even the right wing anti-semitic smears are the result of icky leftism:

The imputation of anti-Semitism, however, adds gravitas to this lighthearted event. The smear is in deadly earnest, a reminder that the devious tactics of the Old Left have been adopted by the New Right. (No accident, maybe, that the practitioners are the descendants of lefties.)

Let’s remind ourselves of what really stimulates old Richard:

The GOP convention was successful because it was part of the overall Republican campaign. It was a loathsome affair, suffused with lies and anger, but also beautiful to watch, like a nature show about some wild animal, amoral and intent only on survival.

Oh baby. No “flea-thoughts” there, just throbbing, pulsing, crude domination. That’s what real men do. No “devious” lefty smear campaigns, just beautiful violence, magnificent in its amorality.

What’s odd is the fact that Cohen is positioned as a liberal on the WaPo’s op-ed page. And, of course, the fact that he’s still employed after writing drivel like that. Go figure.

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