Robert Rubin........Con Artist

Robert Scheer | August 11, 2010
This story originally appeared at Truthdig [1].

The corruptions of journalism were on full display when CNN’s Fareed Zakaria turned to Robert Rubin this past Sunday for advice on how to fix the financial crisis that he, as much as anyone, caused. I was trapped on a treadmill in front of an overhead television and unable to turn the thing off in time to avoid this assault on my mental and physical health.

As a result I was forced to hear Rubin, Bill Clinton’s treasury secretary, insist that he always favored regulating toxic derivatives and is therefore not at all responsible for the ensuing economic meltdown. He was responding to the sole critical question from the CNN host, who quoted a question by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman: “Did all the senior members of the [Obama] economics team have to be protégés of Robert Rubin, the apostle of financial deregulation?” Unfortunately, Zakaria just rolled over when his guest simply lied in response:

“First of all, I am not the apostle of financial deregulation. Quite the contrary. On derivatives…I developed a deep concern about the systemic problem that was created. When I was back at Goldman Sachs, it was a concern I had…a concern I had when I was in government. And in fact, when I wrote my book in 2003, I was so concerned about it that I actually included that discussion in there.”

Zakaria ended the show recommending it as his book of the week: “He wrote a great memoir that covered his two distinguished careers, both…on Wall Street and in Washington.… It was written with Jacob Weisberg, a great writer, the editor of Slate, and the two men weave a compelling tale that has many lessons for today.”

To be charitable, I will assume that Zakaria has not actually read that book, which omits any discussion of the radical deregulation legislation that Rubin ushered through Congress and got the president to sign. Bill Clinton is on record stating that he got bad advice from Rubin and his handpicked successor, Lawrence Summers, on derivatives regulation: “On derivatives, yeah, I think they were wrong and I think I was wrong to take it,” Clinton told ABC News last April 10.

Rubin and Summers were responsible for forcing Brooksley Born out of the Clinton administration because as chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission she had the temerity to suggest regulating the mortgage-backed securities that eventually proved to be so toxic. Instead, Rubin and Summers pushed the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which Clinton signed into law in his last month in office, categorically exempting those suspect derivatives from any government regulation.

By then, Rubin had moved on to a $15-million-a-year job at Citigroup, which became a prime exploiter of the subprime housing market. As a result of its massive involvement with toxic securities, Citigroup, with Rubin in a leading role until early 2009, had to be bailed out by the federal government with a $45 billion direct investment and a guaranteed Fed protection for $306 billion in potentially toxic assets.

Citigroup, a merger of the old Citibank and Travelers insurance company, was made legal only by the Financial Services Modernization Act, which Rubin backed while treasury secretary. Then, in one of the most egregious conflicts of interest in US history, he went to work for the new bank, which took advantage of the changes in the law to buy up the infamous subprime lenders, beginning with Associates First Capital. The Economist magazine wrote of that purchase that “it extends Citi’s already huge credit card operation to a lucrative new niche (price insensitive, if default prone, borrowers)” and questioned whether investors would see Citi’s bold new venture “as something smart, such as ‘evolved credit extension,’ or something seamy such as loan-sharking.”

Rubin was a major proponent of the firm’s seamy expansion into the mortgages that proved to be toxic, and by 2007 Citigroup was the second-largest subprime servicer, after the only slightly more infamous Countrywide. As the New York Times pointed out on November 22, 2008, after a decade of flattering portraits of the man, finally acknowledging Rubin’s role in Citi’s disgrace: “The bank’s downfall was years in the making and involved many in its hierarchy, particularly [CEO Charles O.] Prince and Robert E. Rubin, an influential director and senior adviser.”

There is much more, and I haven’t even touched on Rubin’s shameful role in Enron’s shenanigans. Enough said, though, to question not only Zakaria’s journalism but, far more important, Barack Obama’s leadership in first turning to Rubin as a key campaign adviser and then putting his disciples in charge of the U.S. economy.

Robert Scheer is the author of The Great American Stickup: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street [2](Nation Books).

My taxes at work..................

:34 a.m. Thursday, August 12, 2010

East Point housing officials begain accepting Section 8 applications 90 minutes early Wednesday morning after crowds of people showed up to turn in the forms.

A day after a crowd of 30,000 mobbed a shopping center to pick up the forms, a small crowd of less than a dozen people began lining up around 5 a.m. The group was dispersed by East Point police about an hour later. But shortly after 7 a.m., officials allowed people to line up on the sidewalk adjacent to the building. There were about 50 people in line at 7:30, when officials brought out boxes and began to accept the applications. That process had been scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Authorities had blocked off the parking lots at the East Point Housing Authority offices on Norman Berry Drive and were encouraging applicants to return their forms by mail, but that didn't stop people from queuing up outside the doors at 5 a.m.

Marissa White arrived at the Housing Authority office about 6:25 a.m. and walked up to the front door to wait to turn in her application.

Within minutes, an East Point police officer drove by and told White she could not wait outside the office.

“They want us to mail it in, but most folks aren’t going to mail theirs in, thinking they will get lost in the mail,” she said. “And they said first come, first served, so I’m going to be there first,” she said.

White said she lined up at Tri-Cities Plaza just after midnight Wednesday morning to get her application.

“It was so disorganized,” White said. She said authorities had set up barricades to keep the lines orderly, “but those folks knocked them down in 30 minutes.”

“It was crazy,” she said. “It was a sight to see.”

An estimated 30,000 people suffered through hours in the hot sun, angry flare-ups in the crowd, and lots of frustration and confusion for a chance to receive a government-subsidized apartment.

The massive event sometimes descended into a chaotic mob scene filled with anger and impatience. Some 62 people needed medical attention and 20 of them were transported to a hospital, authorities said. A baby went into a seizure in the heat and was stabilized at a hospital. People were removed on stretchers and when a throng of people who had been waiting hours in a line was told to move to another line, people started pushing, shoving and cursing, witnesses said.

Still, officials of East Point declared the day a success. Nobody was arrested and nobody was seriously injured, they said.

Freebies for the masses...........

The Obama administration is providing $3 billion to unemployed homeowners facing foreclosure in the nation's toughest job markets.

The Treasury Department says it will send $2 billion to 17 states that have unemployment rates higher than the national average for a year. They will use the money for programs to aid unemployed homeowners. Some of those states have already designed such programs.

Another $1 billion will go to a new program being run by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It will provide homeowners with emergency zero-interest rate loans of up to $50,000 for up to two years.

The administration was required to launch the programs by the financial regulatory bill signed by President Barack Obama last month.

My life of specificity.................

"There is some "hamburger seasoning" in the round corner bottom cabinet in the middle top shelf in a black tin can."

Common sense in short supply...........

The owner of the Phoenix Suns basketball team, Robert Sarver, opposes AZ's new immigration laws. Arizona's Governor, Jan Brewer, released the following statement in response to Sarver's criticism of the new law:

"What if the owners of the Suns discovered that hordes of people were sneaking into games without paying? What if they had a good idea who the gate-crashers are, but the ushers and security personnel were not allowed to ask these folks to produce their ticket stubs, thus non-paying attendees couldn't be ejected. Furthermore, what if Suns' ownership was expected to provide those who sneaked in with complimentary eats and drink? And what if, on those days when a gate-crasher became ill or injured, the Suns had to provide free medical care and shelter?"

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

America has gone canine....or is it K-9??

This morning I went to sign my Dogs up for welfare. At first the lady said, "Dogs are not eligible to draw welfare." So I explained to her that my Dogs are mixed in color, unemployed, lazy, can't speak English and have no frigging clue who their Daddys are. They expect me to feed them, provide them with housing and medical care, and feel guilty because they are dogs.

So she looked in her policy book to see what it takes to qualify.

My Dogs get their first checks Friday.

The robber dished out some justice to himself................

11:22 p.m. Sunday, August 8, 2010

An airport hotel clerk was wounded and another man was killed during a Sunday afternoon attempted robbery, Atlanta police said.

Police initially said the clerk pulled his own gun and shot and killed a would-be robber. But a review of surveillance video apparently changed investigators' conclusions.

The incident happened about 1 p.m. at the Travelodge Atlanta Airport.

Maj. Keith Meadows said Sunday afternoon that the clerk was shot in the abdomen and rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, where he was in stable condition.

A gunman "attempted to rob the establishment and during the course of that robbery, we believe the clerk pulled his handgun and at that point they exchanged gunfire," Meadows said at the time. "It seems the would-be robber was struck once in the head and killed on scene."

But late Sunday night, wsbtv.com reported that the robber may have killed himself. Citing unnamed investigators, the news website reported that only one gun was found at the scene and that investigators said the hotel surveillance video of the incident shows that when the robber pulled his gun back, he actually shot and killed himself.

Police did not release the name of the clerk, and the Fulton County Medical Examiner's Office said late Sunday that the dead man was still unidentified.

Police continue to look for a man they believe was the gunman's accomplice. He was seen speeding away from the Travelodge at 2788 Forrest Hills Drive, Meadows said.

Just call it what it is..........

Here is an apt analogy to describe the proposed Mosque at Ground Zero.

"It's radical Islam performing an endzone dance for a touchdown scored in 2001."