Anyone who thinks that Hillary will stand up to Wall Street

[rateyes]

is deluded. The Clintons did not get rich through public service. They got rich off of Wall Street. Hillary and Bill got rich making speeches to the tune of a quarter of a million a pop! Chelsea got rich as a hedge fund manager. Chelsea's husband Marc Mezvinsky got rich as a hedge fund manager at Goldman Sachs. Chelsea's father-in-law, a disgraced former U.S. Representative was a dirty Wall-Street player who went to jail after bilking millions from investors in a Ponzi scheme.

No one bites the hand that feeds them. It doesn't happen. And for anyone who believes the line that Hillary told Goldman Sachs, or any other corporation that has allowed her the lifestyle she enjoys, to "cut it out," I hear that she owns a bridge in Brooklyn she wants to sell you.

Do we really need to see the transcripts to know what is in them? Who do you think she blamed in those speeches for the economic meltdown? The predators of Wall Street, or the prey on Main Street?

[Unicorn]

1. I agree with that.

I don't understand how anyone could see her super pacs and not understand she is beholden to the donors.

[artyteacher]

2. didnt the clintons raise taxes on their rich doners in the 90s....

And didn't Elizabeth Warren praise Hillary's wall street plan?

[Scuba]

3. Hillary could have the very best plan, but we know damned well she'd never implement it.

[JaneyVee]

5. Raised taxes on the rich and appointed 2 most liberal justices.

[beedle]

12. Raised taxes on, and then apologized to, the rich

Speaking at a fund raiser in 1995, President Clinton said: ”Probably there are people in this room still mad at me at that budget because you think I raised your taxes too much. It might surprise you to know that I think I raised them too much, too.”

And of course he blamed everyone else for forcing him to do so.

Triangulation, the art of doing what's in your own interest and pretending you had no choice, "they made me do out".

[JaneyVee]

4. Bernie voted to deregulate Wall Street. Not Hillary.

[rateyes]

7. Bill signed the repeal of Glass-Steagall.

[JaneyVee]

8. It was veto proof, and Bill isnt running.

[Ferd Berfel]

25. So what.

He put his name on it. If he was actually against it he could have just let it go.
This is what the DLC, Third Way wanted just as much as the Reich Wing.

[think]

27. You are repeating that whopper of half lie by Hillary aye?

The Most Disingenuous Attack on Bernie Yet

Wednesday, 20 January 2016 00:00
By The Daily Take Team, The Thom Hartmann Program | Op-Ed

If you watched Sunday's Democratic debate, you learned something interesting about Bernie Sanders: he voted for the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, something Hillary Clinton was all too eager to point out when the two of them got to talking about Wall Street reform.

~Snip~

But here's the thing: Hillary Clinton isn't telling a true story about Bernie Sanders and his vote for the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, or CFMA.

~Snip~

The CFMA had been shoved into an omnibus spending bill at the last minute as part of a deal between Republicans and President Bill Clinton, and because this was a time when, you know, Congress actually did its job, Sanders bit the bullet and voted for the whole package - CFMA included - to keep the government open.

Only four members of Congress ended up opposing the final spending bill that included the CFMA, and one of them was Ron Paul, who opposed pretty much every spending bill. But that's just of the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how dishonest Clinton was being when she called Bernie out for voting for the CFMA.

~Snip~

During his time at the Treasury, Gensler had pushed hard for Wall Street deregulation and even helped write the CFMA, something now-Senator Bernie Sanders found unacceptable. And so Bernie moved to block Gensler's nomination. Sanders explained his actions during an appearance on Democracy Now.

~Snip~

So what's Gary Gensler - the guy who promoted the CFMA - up to today? Oh, you know, nothing big. He's just the chief financial officer of the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Yep, that's right, the CFO of the Hillary Clinton Campaign!


Read more:
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/34497-the-most-disingenuous-attack-on-bernie-yet

[azmom]

46. OMG. He's her CFO now, and yet attacked Bernie. Wow. Has she no

Sense of decency?

[think]

49. I'm still astonished. But I guess that's how she rolls...

[reformist2]

6. She would slap them on the wrist. And then hire dozens of people from Goldman Sachs.

[Marrah_G]

9. She will stand with, not stand up to

Best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

She is Pro War and Pro Wall St. At least she is not Trump though.

[jack_krass]

10. She will, with her fingers crossed behind her back,

And a wink and a nod

Anyone with half a brain knows that if somebody gives you 150 million for a few speeches, that a debt is created on which payment is expected.

[smiley]

11. Those who support Hillary...

could care less and will simply call you sexist for criticizing her at all.

[rateyes]

13. That is what happens when they can't attack the message.

They go after the messenger. It's ok. I am a big boy.

[Squinch]

14. Please point to one vote or action in which Hillary supported "Wall Street" over everyone else.

Concrete action that she has taken. Not a weird and weasely right wing talking point, not a complaint about Bill. Something that you can point to that Hillary has done.

[rateyes]

15. 10/01/2008

Wall Street Bailout

[Squinch]

21. Seriously? You are blaming Hillary for TARP? And anyway, you don't think TARP

benefitted everyone with a pension or a retirement savings plan?

[rateyes]

17. And, let's not forget her rhetoric about closing tax loopholes and curbing CEO pay in 2006,

but not supporting legislation in the Senate in 2007 that would have done just that.

[Squinch]

22. I'm not familiar with this. Could you give more detail?

[LadyHawkAZ]

18. 2001 bankruptcy "reform"

[Squinch]

20. You mean the one she ultimately came out against:

In the end, however, Clinton was against the bankruptcy bill at the moment it really counted — final passage in Congress. (In all, 26 Democrats opposed the bill and 18 supported it, along with all 55 Republicans.)

So for all the money the financial interests contributed to Clinton’s campaign, she did not give them the support they desired. At the same time, however, the vote was so lopsided that Clinton’s support was not needed.

In light of subsequent events, Warren’s comments from 2004 at this point appear out of date. We would be curious to know if Warren’s experience as senator has changed her perspective on Clinton’s actions in 2001.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2016/02/09/elizabeth-warrens-critique-of-hillary-clintons-2001-bankruptcy-vote/

[LadyHawkAZ]

24. The one she was against then for then against once it could pass without her vote?

Yup. That's the one.

[Squinch]

26. It was the opposite. She was prepared to vote for it to get amendments that benefitted

women passed. But it died in that form. When it was resurrected, it did not have those amendments and she planned to vote against it but the vote was on the date her husband had open heart surgery.

So what action did she take in all that that benefitted banks?

[Octafish]

28. UBS

UBS is a Swiss bank that is enjoying better days, thanks to the US taxpayer and a number of key US political leaders, including Hillary Clinton, who as Secretary of State helped UBS—and then UBS funneled millions to the Clintons.

Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions to the Clintons

The Wall Street Journal’s eyebrow-raising story of how the presidential candidate and her husband accepted cash from UBS without any regard for the appearance of impropriety that it created.

by CONOR FRIEDERSDORF, The Atlantic, JUL 31, 2015

The Swiss bank UBS is one of the biggest, most powerful financial institutions in the world. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton intervened to help it out with the IRS. And after that, the Swiss bank paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for speaking gigs. The Wall Street Journal reported all that and more Thursday in an article that highlights huge conflicts of interest that the Clintons have created in the recent past.

The piece begins by detailing how Clinton helped the global bank.

“A few weeks after Hillary Clinton was sworn in as secretary of state in early 2009, she was summoned to Geneva by her Swiss counterpart to discuss an urgent matter. The Internal Revenue Service was suing UBS AG to get the identities of Americans with secret accounts,” the newspaper reports. “If the case proceeded, Switzerland’s largest bank would face an impossible choice: Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court. Within months, Mrs. Clinton announced a tentative legal settlement—an unusual intervention by the top U.S. diplomat. UBS ultimately turned over information on 4,450 accounts, a fraction of the 52,000 sought by the IRS.”

Then reporters James V. Grimaldi and Rebecca Ballhaus lay out how UBS helped the Clintons. “Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according to the foundation and the bank,” they report. “The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House.”

The article adds that “there is no evidence of any link between Mrs. Clinton’s involvement in the case and the bank’s donations to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, or its hiring of Mr. Clinton.” Maybe it’s all a mere coincidence, and when UBS agreed to pay Bill Clinton $1.5 million the relevant decision-maker wasn’t even aware of the vast sum his wife may have saved the bank or the power that she will potentially wield after the 2016 presidential election.

SNIP...

As McClatchy noted last month in a more broadly focused article that also mentions UBS, “Ten of the world’s biggest financial institutions––including UBS, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs––have hired Bill Clinton numerous times since 2004 to speak for fees totaling more than $6.4 million. Hillary Clinton also has accepted speaking fees from at least one bank. And along with an 11th bank, the French giant BNP Paribas, the financial goliaths also donated as much as $24.9 million to the Clinton Foundation––the family’s global charity set up to tackle causes from the AIDS epidemic in Africa to climate change.”

CONTINUED...

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/hillary-helps-a-bankand-then-it-pays-bill-15-million-in-speaking-fees/400067/

About UBS Wealth Management

It's Buy Partisan

After his exit from the US Senate, Phil Gramm found a job at Swiss bank UBS as vice chairman. He later brought on former President Bill Clinton. What a coincidence, they are the two key figures in repealing Glass-Steagal. Since the New Deal it was the financial regulation that protected the US taxpayer from the Wall Street casino. Oh well, what's a $16 trillion bailout among friends?



It's a Buy-Partisan Who's Who:

President William J. Clinton
President George W. Bush Heh heh heh.
Robert J. McCann
James Carville
John V. Miller
Paula D. Polito
Anthony Roth
Mike Ryan
John Savercool

SOURCE: http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

One of my attorney chums doesn't like to see his name on any committees, event letterhead or political campaign literature. These folks, it seems to me, are past caring.

Some of why DUers and ALL voters should care about Phil Gramm.



Thank goodness for DU.

[Squinch]

34. The upshot of this case, and Hillary's intervention, was that the Swiss bank secrecy laws have been

ruined, which makes it much more difficult for the US 1% to dodge taxes by hiding money offshore in Swiss accounts. 4000 Swiss bank accounts of US citizens were opened to the IRS. That has NEVER been achieved before, ever, since Swiss banks began.

Isn't that something that you want? I know that you guys want this when Sanders promises it.
Did you not realize that this is the way it is done?

As far as the $600,000 from UBS employees to the Clinton Foundation, two things:

First about the Clinton Foundation:

American Institute of Philanthropy, says that 89 percent of the foundation's money goes toward its charitable mission and gave the foundation an A rating for 2013.[1]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_Foundation

Second about the $600,000 in UBS donations to the Clinton Foundation: they were to fund a joint project between UBS and the Clinton Foundation to fund small businesses and create jobs in poor communities. UBS also floated a loan of $32 million for the project. You forgot to object to that.

The William J. Clinton Foundation and UBS Wealth Management Americas (UBS WMA) today announced the launch of the CEO-UBS Small Business Advisory Program, a philanthropic partnership aimed at providing small business owners in underserved communities with the knowledge and skills necessary to support business expansion and job growth. The partnership will see the Foundation’s Clinton Economic Opportunity Initiative (CEO) and UBS WMA conducting a series of financial advisory mentorship programs. Each participating small business owner will receive tailored pro bono advice from a dedicated UBS Financial Advisor, as well as access to UBS WMA’s client network of experienced business leaders and the firm’s intellectual capital.

https://www.clintonfoundation.org/main/news-and-media/press-releases-and-statements/press-release-clinton-foundation-and-ubs-wealth-management-americas-launch-ceo-u.html

Again, I know that you guys like the idea of supporting small businesses and creating jobs in poor communities when Sanders talks about it. Again, did you not know that this is the way you actually get that done?

[Octafish]

39. First things first. Restore justice. End offshoring. End fraud. Hold those who do accountable.

Not in secret. Not in Switzerland. Here, in the USA, and in the open, where their fellow citizens can see who is doing what, who is profiting from what, and who is working for whom and what. That is called Democracy.

Oh. It isn't a matter of "you guys" wanting this or "you guys" wanting that. It's a matter for us -- as in We the People. You see, Squinch, when governing is done in secret, with secret policies and secret agendas and secret beneficiaries, it's not Democracy.

[Squinch]

40. Your umbrage is asinine. What? She has to do the things you want done in the order you want

otherwise it doesn't count?

YOU GUYS yell all the livelong day about offshore tax havens. She busts up an offshore tax haven, and you have a snit. No one has ever been able to do that before, but it's not good enough for you. Sanders would NEVER be able to do that, and you can't even see it. All those things you SAY you want? THIS IS HOW YOU DO THEM!!!

When an offshore tax haven is in Switzerland, you kinda need to go to Switzerland to open it up. And as for it being secret, would you like a text before they go after the next offshore tax haven? Should they start a thread in DU that says, "Hey Octafish, we're going after the Bermudan offshore accounts, give a thumbs up if you approve?"

Your whole post is ridiculous.

And here's the thing. There are more of "we the people" (I thought only crappy militias talked like that till I met Sanders supporters) who back Hillary than there are of "we the people" who back Sanders. THAT is called Democracy.

[Octafish]

44. Who's asinine?

You, who wrote this:

YOU GUYS yell all the livelong day about offshore tax havens. She busts up an offshore tax haven, and you have a snit. No one has ever been able to do that before, but it's not good enough for you. Sanders would NEVER be able to do that, and you can't even see it. All those things you SAY you want? THIS IS HOW YOU DO THEM!!!

When an offshore tax haven is in Switzerland, you kinda need to go to Switzerland to open it up. And as for it being secret, would you like a text before they go after the next offshore tax haven? Should they start a thread in DU that says, "Hey Octafish, we're going after the Bermudan offshore accounts, give a thumbs up if you approve?"

Your whole post is ridiculous.

And here's the thing. There are more of "we the people" (I thought only crappy militias talked like that till I met Sanders supporters) who back Hillary than there are of "we the people" who back Sanders. THAT is called Democracy.

Or me, who wrote this in Feb. 28, 2008:

Know your BFEE: They Looted Your Nation’s S&Ls for Power and Profit

Then, after the Bankstershitstorm in September 21, 2008, I wrote how those who looted the banks should put it back:

Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

What's weird is how, rather than the jail cell he so richly deserved, Phil Gramm ended up as Vice Chairman of UBS -- the Swiss Bank that received about $59 Billion with a Billion in TARP funds -- from where Gramm hired Bill Clinton, who signed into law the repeal of Glass Steagall. Since then, they've also brought in George W Bush to specialize in Wealth Management:

http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

Seeing how you prefer to tell the world how stupid I am for pointing that out on DU, I see you can't really argue my point: The facts regarding UBS show that Bill and Hillary Clinton were paid millions by UBS, a Swiss bank that profited from official actions by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

[azmom]

47. Great job Octafish!

There is no defending the indefensible no matter how hard they try.

[Octafish]

48. Thanks, azmom! I was gonna mention UBS was to name 52,000 tax cheats until Hillary stepped in.

Before the Swiss bank could name more than 6,500, Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State intervened.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jul/30/hillary-clinton-ubs-tax-evasion-settlement-foundation

That possibly was legal. Definitely immoral. And likely unconstitutional, but hey! The people who benefit in secret make the laws in secret. Certainly won't hear them discussed on tee vee, and thus never even considered in the minds of many. What I find disgusting are the people who know about this and do nothing.

[hobbit709]

16. Still believes in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

[Orsino]

19. She's kind of made of Wall Street.

That's not to say that she couldn't lead some sort of progressive change if we finally give her the power, but history says she can only be dragged unwillingly in such directions.

Lobby hard, y'all.

[hollowdweller]

23. If she wins I'm willing to give her a chance.

I'm not voting for her in the primaries, no way. Precisely because she is such a hawk and and insider and is so beholden to wealthy interests for her income.

I don't care about the emails really, but the whole Clinton Foundation thing seems more like a way to keep their friends and family in cash when they are out of power vs an actual humanitarian thing.

However I'm totally willing to vote for her in the general election and just give her a chance to see where she comes down. For the wealthy or for the people.

I've read her positions and here speeches and if she actually made good on any of it I'd be really happy with her as president.

If she does not make good on it or gets us into more wars with her hawkishness then no re election. I mean the country is pretty much pissed off about getting screwed by the wealthy now so if she does not deliver a candidate like Bernie would be able to primary her.

My main concern though is that Trump if he wins will pivot and become more reasonable. He's posing as less of a hawk than Hillary.
He will point to the fact that Clinton really did nothing as SOS and contrast that with Kerry.

Afraid Trump will link Clinton to free trade, and also her support for gun control will be a potent combo to kill her in the rust belt.

A lot of talk has been made about how Bernie should stop hitting her, but honestly, I think he's been easy on her compared to the GOP and I think she has plenty of weaknesses they can exploit. Also the independent voters will never vote for her, some of the working class white dems will vote for Trump over Clinton due to the gun issue.

So I don't think her winning against the GOP is a done deal but I'm for sure going to try to help her if she wins the primary. Esp due to the Supreme Court.

[djean111]

31. Nah. She lies about everything. EVERYTHING.

I won't be supporting her at all. And anyone who thinks she would appoint anything but a corporate-type judge to SCOTUS is just delusional.

And - after a war? Too fucking late for the dead people. Sorry.
She would also find that even thought the GOP hates her, they would likely be more than happy to work with her on her favorite things - like war and fracking and the TPP and Third Way hacking at Social Security and other safety nets.

She can do a lot of damage to a lot of people in one term. NO support from me, ever.

[Squinch]

36. OK. So your mind is made up. So now you are irrelevant in conversations

about the General election.

The thing is that she is the candidate. (Yeah, I know I know, Sanders is going to get all the votes from now on. Only he isn't.) So all your reasons why we should not vote for Hillary in the primary no longer matter. You ran the race. You lost. That is over.

Because you have made it clear that you will not be participating in the next round, you are out of the contest. Your opinions are no longer relevant to the election.

[bjo59]

29. I don't think there are any Clinton supporters who

think she will "stand up to" Wall Street. Quite the opposite. It appears to be pretty clear that there are a whole lot of Democrats in this country who are perfectly happy with the US government bestowing its favors (our money) on banks and corporations, perfectly happy with corporate agents writing so many of the bills that get passed, perfectly happy with the growth of a militarized police in this country, perfectly happy with perpetual war, perfectly happy to see even more free trade agreements get ratified and even more decent jobs disappear. It's a hard pill to swallow, but it's pretty common that in countries that are in the midst of a long term, ongoing downward spiral, most of the population continues to support the status quo. I'm sure a Freudian psychoanalyst would have a field day explaining why that is. It's depressing.

[Hiraeth]

30. Who expects her to? No one. That is why some like her. They are fine with the status quo. eom

[oldandhappy]

32. yes, deluded

clinton is a right leaning centrist and she is friends with wall street or she would not be wealthy

[Skwmom]

33. It is NOT only Wall Street.

[Dem2]

35. The President doesn't give a crap what Wall St thinks

She's not that popular with Wall St. This is an exaggerated claim designed to rile people up. It's not working.

[uponit7771]

37. I'm more worried about stupid ass'd cops, Wall Street is not the "Deep South" boogyman and not...

... recognizing that is Sanders down fall.

His team totally ignored 2008 Clinton vs Obama

[Squinch]

38. As with most of his positions, Sanders has mischaracterized the source of the financial

problems we face as a nation. "Wall Street" itself is a meaningless phrase. If you want to hurt just about everyone in this country who has a debt or a retirement plan or a mortgage, you should go ahead and go after "wall street" and the "banksters." Sanders has rendered a street as the enemy. It makes the ignorant think they know who the enemy is, but keeps them from actually knowing.

The enemy is not "banks" and "Wall Street." The enemy is a very small coterie of abusive financial institutions that are easily identified and would be easily made pariahs if all the people at those rallies of his actually knew who they were.

My hope is that they all come to understand that the ONLY way to achieve the financial aims they SAY they want is to get down-ticket Democrats elected, and to then force a friendly Congress to move against those institutions.

[uponit7771]

41. +1, YES!!! Mostly investment banks ... and hedge funds and +1 on the down ticket dems...

... without them I don't know what he thought he was supposed to do...

I don't think Sanders is a details kinda guy

[Squinch]

43. Hedge funds are frickin' black boxes. The derivatives are alive and well again inside them.

THAT is what we have to get at.

[randome]

42. Well said.

It's the same when the 'C' word is used. From the tone it seems like it should be capitalized: "The Corruption", as if everything is defined by that one word and no one need worry about its meaning.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[Squinch]

45. I was told upthread that Hillary was bad because she hasn't ended injustice. Oy.