A Sign That Obama Will Repeat Economic Mistakes by Robert Scheer

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/12/07-3


Sallie Krawcheck. (AP/Mark Lennihan)

Please don’t tell me that these reports in the business press touting Sallie Krawcheck as a front-runner for chairman of the SEC or even a possible candidate to be the next Treasury secretary are true. Who is she? Oh, just another former Citigroup CFO, and therefore a prime participant in the great banking hustle that has savaged the world’s economy. Krawcheck was paid $11 million in 2005 while her bank contributed to the toxic mortgage crisis that would cost millions their jobs and homes.

Not that you would know that sordid history from reading the recent glowing references to Krawcheck in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg News that stress her pioneering role as a leading female banker—a working mother no less—but manage to avoid her role in a bank that led the way in destroying the lives of so many women, men and their children. Nor did her financial finagling end with Citigroup, as Krawcheck added a troubling stint in the leadership at Merrill Lynch and Bank of America to her résumé.

A woman who would be an excellent choice as the most experienced as well as principled candidate to head the SEC or Treasury is Sheila Bair, former head of the FDIC, who labored to protect consumers rather than undermine them. Indeed, her outstanding book “Bull by the Horns,” chronicling her fight in the last two administrations to hold the banksters accountable, should be required reading for the president and those who are advising him on selecting his new economic team.

The SEC is supposed to supervise the banks rather than abet them in their chicanery. And although the Treasury Department has been a captive of Wall Street lobbyists for most of the modern era, one would expect something better from the second coming of Barack Obama. Those are key appointments in determining whether the president can turn around the still-moribund economy by channeling the spirit of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Or will he continue to plod along on the course set by George W. Bush, bailing out the banks while ignoring beleaguered homeowners and the many other victims of this banking-engineered crisis?

[Kolesar]

1. "the second coming of Barack Obama"

that's when I quit reading this rant

[babylonsister]

2. This guy is NEVER happy. So his choice

might not have been considered; he's going to have to deal with that.

[ProSense]

5. Well, there is that, and there is this

Statement by President Obama on the Departure of SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro

Today, the President issued the following statement on the announcement by Mary Schapiro, the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, that she will be leaving her post. The President also announced that he intends to designate Elisse Walter, a current Commissioner, as Chair upon Ms. Schapiro’s departure next month.

President Obama said, "I want to express my deep gratitude to Mary Schapiro for her steadfast leadership at the Securities and Exchange Commission. When Mary agreed to serve nearly four years ago, she was fully aware of the difficulties facing the SEC and our economy as a whole. But she accepted the challenge, and today, the SEC is stronger and our financial system is safer and better able to serve the American people – thanks in large part to Mary's hard work.

"I am also pleased to designate Elisse Walter as SEC Chairman after Mary's departure. I'm confident that Elisse's years of experience will serve her well in her new position, and I'm grateful she has agreed to help lead the agency."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/11/26/statement-president-obama-departure-sec-chairman-mary-schapiro

[babylonsister]

6. Hahaha!

So, much ado about nada? Color me shocked!

And just as an aside, I went to high school with Mary Shapiro; I guess she spent her years more wisely than I did.

[woo me with science]

3. Government of, by, and for the one percent.

Here we go again.

[KoKo]

4. For those of us who read the financial news...Sallie Krawcheck would not be a wise choice.

Let's hope Obama feels so also.