HRC and Gary Gensler

[amborin]

For years on end, many wondered how it is possible that Gary Gensler allowed Wall Street firms to manipulate, rig, and otherwise abuse the US commodity market which he, as head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2009 until 2014, was supposed to regulate.

Some, such as this website, suggested that what Gensler was doing was simply protecting his former colleagues from civil or criminal investigation and prosecution. After all Gensler is far better known for not only having worked at Goldman Sachs for 18 years most recently as co-head of finance, prior to joining the CFTC, but for becoming the youngest ever Goldman partner, at the tender age of 30.

Certainly, being the wealthiest member of the original Obama administration did not hurt: in 2009 the Wasingtonian reported his net assets as being between $15,533,000 and $61,745,000. We take the higher number. To be sure, he had been paid well at Goldman and now had a duty to his former employer: to keep Goldman (or any other Wall Street bank) off the hook of any regulatory investigation.

Overnight, this speculation was confirmed, and further explained why Gensler handled his former Wall Street colleagues with silk gloves: according to Bloomberg, "Hillary Clinton is planning to name Gary Gensler... as the chief financial officer of her campaign, according to a Democrat familiar with the decision." And as hard as we try when reading the Bloomberg assertion that Gensler was "a strong advocate for strict Wall Street rules", we can't help but burst in laughter.

The humorous spin continues:

For Clinton, who has been fighting her left flank’s concern that she is too cozy with Wall Street, Gensler is a notable hire. He became known as someone with sharp elbows —even during his negotiations within the Obama administration—in his push for tighter regulation.

Actually, the only thing he became known for is avoiding any notable charges against any banks that involved more than a wrist slap, and certainly against Goldman: the same Goldman which alongside JPMorgan tried and almost succeeded to corner the physical aluminum (and countless other markets) and become a commodity cartel, a charge Wall Street's banks are currently fighting in court.

But what is most amusing is how he fits in with the faux populism exhibited by Hillary. As Bloomberg notes "during her first visit to Iowa as a newly minted presidential candidate on April 14, Clinton struck a populist tone, saying "there’s something wrong when hedge fund managers pay less in taxes than nurses or the truckers I saw on I-80," a reference to her two-day roadtrip to the state from New York. "I think it’s fair to say that if you look across the country, the deck is stacked in favor of those already at the top," the former secretary of state told a roundtable at Kirkwood Community College."

It got so bad a member of the Hillary SuperPAC almost caused the entire staff of CNBC to burst out in laughter when she said that "Hillary is certainly making it clear that she is running as a champion for everyday Americans. People who are looking how to get by, get ahead, stay ahead."

snip
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-04-17/hillary-clinton-grooming-former-goldman-banker-become-americas-next-treasury-secretary

[Dragonfli]

1. K&R