Wall Street is responsible for TPP, and the point man for it came from Citigroup.

[Elwood P Dowd]

The USTR office that wrote TPP is infested with corporate lawyers and lobbyists. In this case, its former Citigroup executive Michael Froman who worked for Robert Rubin that's in charge. He was given a 4 million dollar bonus to take the job at USTR. TPP is all about making money and giving more power to Wall Street and their corporate business partners.

Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government and It Doesn't Want Anyone to Know

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120967/wall-street-pays-bankers-work-government-and-wants-it-secret

Citigroup is one of three Wall Street banks attempting to keep hidden their practice of paying executives multimillion-dollar awards for entering government service. In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the last month, Citi, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seek exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all executives eligible for these financial rewards, and the specific dollar amounts at stake. Critics argue these “golden parachutes” ensure more financial insiders in policy positions and favorable treatment toward Wall Street. 

<snip>

Other banks’ policies are subtler. Banks often defer certain types of compensation in order to retain talent. When an executive terminates employment, unvested stock options and other forms of deferred compensation are usually forfeited. But several companies let executives’ equity options continue to vest if they leave for a government position, or allow them to keep retention bonuses that would otherwise be returned to the firm. A 2004 tax law banned accelerated payments but made an exemption for employees who leave for government service. Critics wonder whether the gifts are intended to fill the government with friendly faces who will act in their former employer’s interests. 

“It fuels the revolving door between banks and the government,” said Michael Smallberg, an investigator for the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), whose 2013 report detailed these types of compensation agreements. The average executive branch salary is substantially less than these millions in awards, so the bonuses effectively supplement the lower pay, raising questions about who the government officials actually work for.

Citigroup is a serial user of these practices, if only because so many of its alumni serve in government. Jack Lew, Weiss’ boss at Treasury, had $250,000 to $500,000 in restricted stock vested after he left an executive position at the bank, part of a $1.1 million golden parachute revealed during the confirmation process. Stanley Fischer, currently the vice chair of the Federal Reserve, had a similar clause in his Citigroup employment contract. U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman received over $4 million in multiple exit payments from Citigroup when he left for the Obama Administration.

<snip>

[Autumn]

1. How obscene.

[Elwood P Dowd]

2. I imagine when TPP passes and then certain people leave their government jobs in 2017

they will be set for life. And we will be left with another great big pile of poop.

[Autumn]

3. I'm damn sure you are correct.

Hell of a thing here.

[Hoyt]

4. In government, those involved in healthcare usually have healthcare experience, same for education,

military, banking, economics, etc.

Froman is a Democrat, with extensive government experience. With Citi, he was involved in emerging markets. He has experience in International law, trade, and has worked with key world government officials.

Who would you propose for USTR, some guy who barely got out of high school, is afraid of foreigners, is an America first type, thinks drinking domestic beer supports American workers, etc.

[The Roux Comes First]

5. Absolute Crap

I vaguely recall that there was a lot of somewhat analogous corruption and interbreeding between "lawmakers" and the predators/err-business-leaders back in the early '30's. If my memory is correct, FDR's appointee to the SEC, at that time an actual functioning entity, William O. Douglas (from Yakima!) enjoyed considerable success at making businesses actually behave as if they were operating in the democracy most of us here believe in.

We have to include a far more vigorous role for the few government business-regulating entities, consistent with the way the operated in the '30's, as a big part of Bernie's program. Or HRC's, if it comes to that.

[SoapBox]

6. All I know is this is how I feel about this trade pact crap...

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz:

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz:

BI: What about the current president? How do you think he’s fared with the economy?

JS: I think that there have been moments when he said the right thing, like when he said he was going to devote the last three years of his terms to create a more equal society

. Unfortunately, he didn’t execute. And if I look over the eight years, he’s done one thing that was very important — that was ObamaCare extending access to healthcare. Not as much as he wanted and not as much as most progressives wanted but he did.

I think the way he structured the recovery — the bailouts, for instance — led to a recovery where 91 percent of the gains went to the top 1 percent. That’s a failure.

The trade agreement that he is pushing now will create more inequality. What worries me is that — I don’t want to say that he is the architect — he’s actively been pushing policies that I think are pro-inequality.



Read more: http://uk.businessinsider.com/nobel-laureate-joseph-stiglitz-2015-4?r=US#ixzz3dM4UDcBH


http://www.democraticunderground.com/128014520

[Hoyt]

8. Stiglitz worked for the World Bank.

[Elwood P Dowd]

9. Might as well just call it the Citigroup TPP from now on.

"U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman received over $4 million in multiple exit payments from Citigroup when he left for the Obama Administration."

How much will he and the others receive when they go back to Wall Street?

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup has a long criminal rap sheet

On May 20, five of the biggest banks in the world pleaded guilty to charges of interest rate manipulation and agreed to pay $2.8 billion in fines for the felonies they committed. Two of the banks, J.P. Morgan Chase and Citigroup, are U.S.-based. Each has a long rap sheet of recent settlements for their corporate misdeeds, and each has paid large fines and settlements -- nearly $35 billion in the case of JP Morgan Chase. But otherwise, these businesses go on with no reduction of rights or privileges and with no decision makers being sent to prison.

A criminal double standard: individuals go to jail for illegal acts, but corporations get probation and business as usual.

In the United States, when individuals are convicted of felonies, they lose many rights and are often jailed. Forty-eight states ban felons from voting while they are in prison, and 11 states may ban felons from voting for the rest of their lives, depending on the nature of their crimes. Convicted felons also have a hard time getting jobs, particularly in occupations requiring high levels of trust - like banking.

Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) regulations explicitly bar banks the agency insures from hiring or associating with "any person who has been convicted of any criminal offense involving dishonesty or breach of trust or money laundering, or has agreed to enter a pre-trial diversion or similar program in connection with a prosecution for such offense."

So, if you commit fraud by writing a bad check and get convicted, a bank can't hire you, but if you are a bank and have committed fraud on a massive scale, the FDIC will continue to insure your deposits.

While some bank lawyers were sitting across the table from Justice Department attorneys hashing out the details of last month's plea deal and settlements, other bank employees and contractors were busy lobbying the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the U.S. Department of Labor for waivers to allow them continued access to special perks and privileges. Even after their organizations were found to have deliberately manipulated financial rules, they argued for expedited review of corporate stock offerings and the ability to continue to manage pension funds.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katherine-mcfate/time-for-three-strikes-an_b_7596946.html

[Scuba]

11. Obama's final betrayal.

[raouldukelives]

12. I am shocked!

All I hear in my head is Cenk Uygurs voice. "Of course, of course!".

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. I forgot this one.....

Wall Street investment banker Stefan Selig was paid 9 million by Bank of America to join the USTR team pushing for TPP. His official title is Under Secretary for International Trade.

There is some insane money behind this monster. We the people don't stand a chance. The crooks will spend whatever they have to spend to get it passed.