Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again

via CommonDreams:



Published on Saturday, May 1, 2010 by The Huffington Post
Stop Robert Rubin Before He Kills Again

by Dan Froomkin


Robert Rubin is poisoning Washington again.

The former Treasury Secretary who presided over the nearly-fatal deregulation of the financial industry -- then made $126 million nearly killing Citigroup -- had been keeping an appropriately low profile in the nation's capital ever since everything he wrought went pear-shaped.

But now he's back, and once again trying to influence public policy.

On Friday he made his third major (and apology-free) Washington appearance in two weeks, delivering opening remarks at a conference that his pet think tank, the Hamilton Project, co-sponsored with the liberal Center for American Progress.

But the last thing Washington needs right now is another infusion of Rubinomics -- by which I mean the combination of deregulatory zeal, deficit obsession, free tradeism and general coziness with fat-cat Wall Street bankers that Rubin epitomizes. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/05/01-4

All HAIL the Giant Invisible Hand!
The Giant Invisible Hand will save us all!
The Giant Invisible Hand demands that we sacrifice the American Working Class!
Must not make the Giant Invisible Hand angry!
All HAIL the Giant Invisible Hand!
.
.
And people say the Democrats are Anti-Religion.


There is NO "Invisible Hand of the Free Market".
There is NO "Free Market".
They (Rich Corporate Owners) made that shit up and sold it to a gullible America,
just like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

I find it hard to believe that "Democrats" are STILL selling that bullshit,
and some people are still buying it.

"Free Trade" is NOT Free.
The price is (was) America's Working Class.

:shrug:

He has been that way for years here on DU.

So long, supply-side sucker!

who are you, robert rubin?

keep him away.

What a stinking trio of pirates to infest our government.

Stephen Friedman, Henry Paulson, there are so many of them, going back and forth from one administration to another.

But, if things keep going the way they are, it is possible that a few of them, Geithner, Friedman and Paulson eg, may be going down. The current Special Investigator, Neil Barofsky has them all in his sights. This may be why Rubin is back.

Friedman, former Treasury Secretary under Bush, made a killing by buying Goldman stocks right about the time, but before it was publicly known, that Treasury, under Geithner, bailed out AIG by paying them 100% on the dollar, when normally such a bailout would have only been around 40-60% on the dollar. How did Friedman know to buy Goldman stocks at that point? Barofsky wants to know. dGeithner doesn't want to release the information about the negotiations that led to the deal with AIG or the names of any of the Bankers who benefited from it.

Barofsky isn't happy about that. Nor is Elizabeth Warren. They want full disclosure and Barofsky, when aske if he will be indicting Geithner eg, did not comment one way or the other.

Goldman is under fire and there are calls now for a return to Glass Steagal and Rubin cannot be thrilled about that.

It was he and Greenspan who drove Brooksley Born out of her job back in the 'nineties when she tried to warn the country about what was happening.

All of them have profited from deregulation. I hope their long, disastrous hold over this country's economy is coming to an end. I hope Barofsky is not impeded in his investigation as he seems to be determined to shine a light on what they've all been up to.

dipped in crude oil