Wall Street Uses the Third Way to Lead Its Assault on Social Security

[ProfessionalLeftist]

. . .

Let me attempt again to make the basic facts clear. Third Way is not a “liberal think tank.” It does not take “a centrist approach.” It is not run by “fellow progressives.” It is not concerned with “protecting entitlements.” It is not even a “think tank.” Third Way is a creature of Wall Street. It’s version of “protecting” the safety net was made infamous during the Tet offensive in Viet Nam when the American officer explained that “it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.”

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http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12778-wall-street-uses-the-third-way-to-lead-its-assault-on-social-security

[hootinholler]

1. The turd way is what teh DLC morphed into n/t

[Egalitarian Thug]

2. Board of Directors follows

From their web site;

· John L. Vogelstein
Mr. Vogelstein is the Chairman of New Providence Asset Management, LLC and Senior Advisor to Warburg Pincus, LLC. [He co-managed that huge private equity firm.]

· Bernard L. Schwartz
Mr. Schwartz is Chairman and CEO of BLS Investments, LLC.

· David Heller
Mr. Heller … was … the Global Head of Equity Trading for Goldman Sachs.

· Georgette Bennett
Dr. Bennett—an award-winning sociologist, criminologist, and journalist…. [Yeah criminologists!]

· William D. Budinger
William D. “Bill” Budinger is the founder of Rodel, Inc., where he served for 33 years as its chairman and CEO. [Rodel manufactured semi-conductors.]

· David A. Coulter
Mr. Coulter serves as Managing Director and Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus, focusing on the firm’s financial services practice.

Mr. Coulter retired in September 2005 as vice chairman of J.P. Morgan & Chase Co. He previously served as Executive Chairman of its investment bank, asset and wealth management, and private equity business.

· Jonathan Cowan
Prior to co-founding Third Way, Mr. Cowan founded and ran Americans for Gun Safety…. In 1992, he co-founded Lead…or Leave, which became the nation’s leading Generation X advocacy group. [He lobbied to protect “second amendment rights” to bear arms and led a Pete Peterson inspired group urging “Gen X” members to unravel the safety net.]

· Lewis Cullman
Mr. Cullman was the Founder and President of Cullman Ventures, Inc., a diversified corporation that included the At-A-Glance group, which manufactures and markets diaries….

· William M. Daley
William Daley served as President Obama’s Chief of Staff from January 2011 until January 2012.

Prior to his Chief of Staff role, he was Vice Chairman … of … JPMorgan Chase, from 2004 until 2011.

As Special Counsel to President Clinton in 1993, Daley coordinated the successful campaign to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

He was co-chair of the US Chamber of Commerce Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness. [This is code for deregulation of finance.]

· John Dyson
Mr. Dyson is Chairman of Millbrook Capital Management, Inc. (MCM), a private investment firm.

· Robert Dyson
Mr. Dyson … is Chairman and CEO of the Dyson-Kissner-Moran Corp., a privately owned, diversified investment holding company….

· Andrew Feldstein
Andrew Feldstein is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of BlueMountain Capital Management….

Prior to co-founding BlueMountain in 2003, Mr. Feldstein spent over a decade at JPMorgan where he was a Managing Director and served as Head of Structured Credit; Head of High Yield Sales, Trading and Research; and Head of Global Credit Portfolio. [“High yield” is a euphemism for junk bonds.]

· Brian Frank
Mr. Frank is a Director and Portfolio Manager at MSD Capital, L.P., the private investment firm founded by Michael Dell.

· Michael B. Goldberg
Mr. Goldberg joined Kelso & Company in 1991 as a Partner and Managing Director. [Private equity.]

· Peter A. Joseph
Mr. Joseph has been in the private equity investment business for over twenty years….

· Derek Kaufman
Derek Kaufman is Head of Global Fixed Income at Citadel LLC. He is a member of Citadel’s Portfolio Committee.

Prior to joining Citadel in 2008, Mr. Kaufman was a Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase….

· Derek Kirkland
Mr. Kirkland is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Global Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley’s Financial Institutions Group in Investment Banking.

· Ronald A. Klain
Ronald A. “Ron” Klain is President of Case Holdings, and General Counsel of Revolution LLC. [Case is an investment fund for the holdings of AOL’s founder.]

· Thurgood Marshall, Jr.
Mr. Marshall is a partner at Bingham McCutchen LLP, and a Principal of Bingham Consulting Group. Mr. Marshall counsels and devises strategies for advancing clients’ interests before Congress, the executive branch and independent regulatory agencies. [He is a lobbyist for a firm best known for representing financial firms.]

· Susan McCue
Ms. McCue is President of Message-Global, LLC, a strategic communications and public affairs firm she founded in January 2008 to advance progressive campaigns, activism and issue advocacy in the U.S. and globally.

· Herbert Miller
Mr. Miller, former CEO and Chairman of The Mills Corporation, one of America’s most innovative and successful mall developers and managers, founded Western Development Corporation (WDC) in 1967 and serves as its Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and Principal Stockholder.

· Michael Novogratz
Mr. Novogratz has been President and Director of Fortress Investment Group LLC….. Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Novogratz spent 11 years at Goldman Sachs….

· Andrew Parmentier
Mr. Parmentier is a Founding and Managing Partner of Height Analytics. He and fellow Managing Partner John Akridge formed the company in January 2009. He has worked in the financial services industry since 1997….

· Kirk Radke
Recognized internationally as one of the top private equity attorneys during his 28 year career at Kirkland & Ellis….

Among professional activities, Mr. Radke is Co-Chair & Organizer of the International Bar Association Private Equity Symposium, Founder of the Private Equity General Counsel Network, Founder of Legal Series and Co-Founder of the Private Equity Law Firm Roundtable.

· Howard Rossman
Dr. Rossman is a President and Founder of Mesirow Advanced Strategies, Inc. and a Vice Chairman of its parent, Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc. He is responsible for all aspects of fund management, including manager due diligence, strategy analysis and asset allocation.

· Tim Sweeney
Mr. Sweeney has been President and CEO of the Denver-based Gill Foundation since October 2007. For more than 30 years, he has worked to advance equality for all people regardless of sexual orientation or gender expression.

· Ted Trimpa
Mr. Trimpa is a partner with the international law firm, Hogan Lovells LLP.

· Barbara Manfrey Vogelstein
She has over 24 years of experience in venture capital and specialized equity investing. [S]he was a Partner of Warburg Pincus, one of the world’s largest private equity firms.

· Joseph Zimlich
Mr. Zimlich is the Chief Executive Officer of Bohemian Companies, a group of family-owned real estate and private equity holdings.

[nashville_brook]

3. more on the Third Way board...

Twenty of the twenty-nine trustees come from finance (counting the lawyer whose specialty is representing private equity firms). Their most common background is Mitt Romney’s – private equity – and hedge funds. The nine non-finance members include:
A Pete Peterson acolyte who previously created supposedly centrist front groups for gun rights and an effort to enlist “Gen X” in Wall Street’s assault on the safety net
A developer of giant malls
A semi-conductor manufacturer
A manufacturer of diaries
A criminologist/journalist
A PR specialist
A gay rights activist
A lobbyist at a firm best known for representing finance
A lawyer

On finance issues, Third Way is Wall Street. It is run by Wall Street for Wall Street. It is liberal only on social issues such as gay rights – and Wall Street created Third Way to focus on finance.

[Egalitarian Thug]

5. And surprise, surprise Chelsea is a hedge fund manager. n/t

[nashville_brook]

8. +1

[hay rick]

17. Ron Klain was also Biden and Gore's Chief of Staff.

Together with Obama's former Chief of Staff, Bill Daley- Third Way enjoys a whole lot of access to the administration.

And let's not ignore their honorary co-chairs: Representatives Clyburn (SC), Dingell (MI), Kind (WI), Crowley (NY), Schwartz (PA), and Polis (CO) and Senators Carper (DE), Coons (DE), McCaskill (MO), Udall (CO), Shaheen (NH), and Hagan (NC). That's some serious clout in the House and Senate.

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. Gore Vidal was, and remains, absolutely correct. I think that if we don't change that, and soon,

we are going to be some very sorry/sad people and most of us will have no real idea whose fault it was.

[reformist2]

4. Wall Street wants SS money so it can siphon off billions of $$$ in management fees.

[adigal]

6. Bingo! I swear to Christ, and I rarely curse, if they screw with soc sec

And Obama lets them (and I am not saying he will, just IF) I will lead the impeachment hearings for lying to Americans. I will also,run third,party for,congress myself. i don't think obama will, but he does get me nervous.

[rhett o rick]

7. They take much more than just management fees. They invest in competition

with those whose money they are supposed to be managing. So when the managed fund does badly, they profit.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. .

[Zorra]

10. Thanks. Fantastic article! This is exactly what we keep trying to hammer home to DUers.

The Third Way is not our friend.

And they are pushing their bad dope here at DU

[TheKentuckian]

11. All the crap is Turd Way be it Third Way, Blue Dogs, New Dems, No Labels, DLC

Just different names for the same old bullshit with fairly interchangeable names in a silly ass game of three card monty to push traditional Republican ideology as folks catch on to each incarnation.

Whatever the name, it is the Republican crooks trying to assimilate and limit the ideological spectrum.

[hay rick]

18. Limit the ideological spectrum.

They want to turn elections into a choice between right-wing and farther right-wing...also known as win/win for them.

One example: the debate on top marginal income tax rates is now between a slight increase back to 39.6% or further cuts. You never hear the administration or the mainstream media refer to the 91% top marginal rates during the high-growth 50's and 60's.

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. I'm kicking this again in the hopes that somebody notices that this is important.

We're being played for the rubes that we apparently are.

You are dooming your children, wake the fuck up.

[woo me with science]

13. Yup. A planned, malignant infiltration

by the corporate one percent.

Down to discussion boards on the internet.


Reject Third Way propaganda, especially now: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021791044

[woo me with science]

14. K&R

Reject Third Way Propaganda, especially now
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021791044

[YoungDemCA]

15. A thinly veiled stalking horse for the most vile right-wing policies....

nt

[woo me with science]

16. Kick. This is important. nt

[ProudProgressiveNow]

20. K&R nt

[hay rick]

21. K&R

For the night crew.