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Scuba

(53,475 posts)
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 10:57 AM Aug 2013

Larry Summers: “We should not oppose offshoring"

http://billmoyers.com/category/what-matters-today/

“We should not oppose offshoring or outsourcing,” proclaimed a well-known economist at the 2011 World Business Process Outsourcing/Information Technology Outsourcing (BPO/ITO) Forum. Hundreds of corporate executives sat in on this economist’s lecture, including representatives from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, Deustche Bank, Pfizer, Coca Cola and other major businesses. The economist went on to proclaim that critics of outsourcing were like “Luddites who took axes to machinery early in England’s industrial revolution.”

This economist was not a Heritage Foundation scholar or Ayn Rand Institute fellow. The speaker that June was none other than Lawrence Summers, who had just finished up his role as director of the White House National Economic Council, where he was President Obama’s top economic adviser.

While working for the anti-corruption blog Republic Report last year, I reached out to conference organizer Kartik Kilachand to ask him about the speaking fee Summers was given and why his full remarks were never posted to the website (only a snippet was published). Kilachand replied that this was “confidential information” because the conference had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Summers that concealed both his full remarks and speaking fee. I also made a query to Julie Shample, Summers’s assistant at Harvard. “I wouldn’t have any information about this, you may want to check with the forum,” replied Shample.

This practice of giving private paid speeches to big corporations was nothing new for Summers. Before joining the Obama administration, he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees from financial institutions that the White House was involved in bailing out and then shielding from more intense regulation. For Summers, the speech at the outsourcing conference was simply a relapse.



Yeah, 'cause what's more American than sending our jobs to third-world shitholes where workers can be exploited with impunity? And this is the guy a twice-elected "Democratic" President endorses. Are we sure that Mitt Romney is not really the President?
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Larry Summers: “We should not oppose offshoring" (Original Post) Scuba Aug 2013 OP
Our next Fed tool. Safetykitten Aug 2013 #1
I can see why he doesn't want that full text of that speech coming out el_bryanto Aug 2013 #2
No kidding. Luddites. I'd rather be a 'Luddite' than a lying, incompetent, matthews Aug 2013 #93
Meet the new boss... progressoid Aug 2013 #3
It's all over except for the dinner parties, oh and the "he meant to do that!" Safetykitten Aug 2013 #6
At what point to we stop blaming "the advisers" and start on the guy who hires them? n/t lumberjack_jeff Aug 2013 #4
How dare you ?? russspeakeasy Aug 2013 #12
Should have a long time ago! FiveGoodMen Aug 2013 #16
When a repuke gets elected. n/t hughee99 Aug 2013 #36
it's an exception for Obama Skittles Aug 2013 #72
He must applaud the off shoring of the VFX industry abelenkpe Aug 2013 #5
Yes, he considers that progress, apparently. closeupready Aug 2013 #63
Larry Summers Is The Establishment. This is their policy, and their style of speaking for money leveymg Aug 2013 #7
The Elite Talk in Code. Take Poppy he'pin' get Neil off the hook for Silverado... Octafish Aug 2013 #25
They write like they talk. All hale fellows well met except the money moments, when they come right leveymg Aug 2013 #28
''Intervention'' is the code word McCain used for Dallas. Octafish Aug 2013 #77
"Heckuva job Larry" mick063 Aug 2013 #8
This man should not be allowed within 2000 feet of any government Autumn Aug 2013 #9
Or a location with a collection of more than 5 people at a time. And those 5 matthews Aug 2013 #94
This is The Onion... whttevrr Aug 2013 #10
No, it just smells like that. n/t jtuck004 Aug 2013 #20
If only. n/t AngryOldDem Aug 2013 #27
You realize that Krugman & Reich both supported offshoring> the problem as they point out KittyWampus Aug 2013 #11
No, I have not heard elsewhere that Krugman and Reich supported offshoring, and the link you ... Scuba Aug 2013 #13
I'd like to see those citations or links, also. Thnx. leveymg Aug 2013 #31
Yikes! Here is one from Reich BumRushDaShow Aug 2013 #70
Try www.bot.wishingcanmakeitso.com Divernan Aug 2013 #85
Regardless of who supports offshoring no one addresses the question of what well paying jobs snagglepuss Aug 2013 #15
Hmmmm...... ForgoTheConsequence Aug 2013 #58
Yes, Reich helped Clinton sell NAFTA to a reluctant Congress. closeupready Aug 2013 #66
If you dont support Summers for Fed, then what's your point? nm rhett o rick Aug 2013 #78
Supporting Obama burnodo Aug 2013 #90
In 2011? moondust Aug 2013 #14
Reagan ctsnowman Aug 2013 #17
And so we should oppose you having ANY role in government! on point Aug 2013 #18
Fuck You, Larry !!! WillyT Aug 2013 #19
+1000000 forestpath Aug 2013 #40
Indeed! truebrit71 Aug 2013 #44
I agree. And the sooner this worker-hating misogynist is off our shores, the better. n/t jtuck004 Aug 2013 #21
His last name is missing a c. N/t alp227 Aug 2013 #22
That took me a second, but is right on the money. Scuba Aug 2013 #23
Larry Summers, friend of the working woman. Octafish Aug 2013 #24
“Luddites who took axes to machinery early in England’s industrial revolution.” AngryOldDem Aug 2013 #26
uh-oh, who's that in the corner? why, it's E.P. Thompson's "Making of the English Working Class" MisterP Aug 2013 #57
We should, however, oppose Summers KamaAina Aug 2013 #29
Fuck this guy! NutmegYankee Aug 2013 #30
If Obama only knew, surely he would do something. Why aren't his aides telling him? AnotherMcIntosh Aug 2013 #32
What makes you think that President Obama opposes offshoring? (nt) Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #35
What makes you think this post Aerows Aug 2013 #43
Sorry, my sarcasm meter appears to be deteriorating in my old age (nt) Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #48
I don't blame you for asking Aerows Aug 2013 #69
Exactly!! paleotn Aug 2013 #96
I have to assume, unlike the previous reply Aerows Aug 2013 #42
It should be obvious, but it is puzzling that it is not. AnotherMcIntosh Aug 2013 #46
More along the line of Poe's Law Aerows Aug 2013 #49
I see what you did there. I approve. n/t lumberjack_jeff Aug 2013 #45
Please help those of us that are sarcasm impaired. Use the sarcasm sign and help me rhett o rick Aug 2013 #79
Noted. But, of course, the sarcasm sign may take out some of the sting. Wann dem Führer wuste! AnotherMcIntosh Aug 2013 #80
Yes I understand that it's my problem. But I carry a major chip on my shoulder since Obama rhett o rick Aug 2013 #82
Just go ahead and appoint the ghost of Milton Friedman IDemo Aug 2013 #33
What action has President Obama taken against offshoring, in the 5 years of his presidency? Nye Bevan Aug 2013 #34
Hipointdem: Larry summers is a major wanker. HiPointDem Aug 2013 #37
When the Revolution comes Larry pitbullgirl1965 Aug 2013 #38
I encourage you to edit your post. Advocating violence is never acceptable. Scuba Aug 2013 #39
Advocating violence is never acceptable even when it is justifiable.....nt Enthusiast Aug 2013 #87
Larry Summers Aerows Aug 2013 #41
Has everyone read the leaked Citigroup "Plutonomy" memos? The third has a bit on globalisation being Fire Walk With Me Aug 2013 #47
i am in favor of out sourcing Sommers nadinbrzezinski Aug 2013 #50
Heckuva job, Larry! YoungDemCA Aug 2013 #51
Can I be the Fed. chairman. I know one thing more than this guy does. nt Deep13 Aug 2013 #52
Not much context in this hit job tritsofme Aug 2013 #53
HOw many support tax breaks for offshoring? Scuba Aug 2013 #54
no one responding in this thread ... JoePhilly Aug 2013 #60
Did you find the part where he advocates ending tax breaks for companies that offshore? Scuba Aug 2013 #64
I'm waiting for the justification Aerows Aug 2013 #68
If you are actually *trying* to clean up Larry Summers Aerows Aug 2013 #67
LOL Skittles Aug 2013 #88
I followed it. Chef Eric Aug 2013 #91
I am so sick of elites telling the people what they say is confidential. liberal_at_heart Aug 2013 #55
With people like Summers, we don't need Republicans AndyA Aug 2013 #56
The tax code should be changed so corporations who outsource think Aug 2013 #59
Workers in this country should be able to form unions without fear of persecution & death TexasTowelie Aug 2013 #84
+1000 - eom dreamnightwind Aug 2013 #89
Third Way Democrats agree. Meanwhile, the unemployed closeupready Aug 2013 #61
Mr. President, Larry Summers isnt the answer to our problems DJ13 Aug 2013 #62
with friends like this.... n/t warrprayer Aug 2013 #65
DISGUSTING Skittles Aug 2013 #71
I would not oppose offshoring - of Larry Summers kenny blankenship Aug 2013 #73
We need to offshore Summers and the rest of the Rubinites. n/t duffyduff Aug 2013 #74
Watch this asshole get the Fed chairmanship. God damn it. nt Nay Aug 2013 #75
Obama has a lot of post-presidential income riding on appointing Summers Divernan Aug 2013 #86
That's the Obama administration... dedicated to creating jobs... OVERSEAS. MotherPetrie Aug 2013 #76
The Obama's guy. 99Forever Aug 2013 #81
This ^^^ will keep on going as long as Amonester Aug 2013 #83
Summers has been a problem for years blackspade Aug 2013 #92
Obama...Romney....Bush II.....Clinton..... paleotn Aug 2013 #95
+1 Scuba Aug 2013 #97

el_bryanto

(11,804 posts)
2. I can see why he doesn't want that full text of that speech coming out
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 11:00 AM
Aug 2013

Although it might soothe wallstreet I suppose.

Bryant

 

matthews

(497 posts)
93. No kidding. Luddites. I'd rather be a 'Luddite' than a lying, incompetent,
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 10:29 AM
Aug 2013

money-grubbing opportunist that turns everything he touches to shit.

abelenkpe

(9,933 posts)
5. He must applaud the off shoring of the VFX industry
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 11:06 AM
Aug 2013

Nice to know Summers is ok with hundreds of my former co workers being out of work and unable to find new jobs in the country.

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
7. Larry Summers Is The Establishment. This is their policy, and their style of speaking for money
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 11:19 AM
Aug 2013

to each other in secret. The only way their thinking would change will be if CEOs were outsourced and Cabinet Members Offshored, and the 1% were also subject to poverty, hunger and homelessness in the event of layoff.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
25. The Elite Talk in Code. Take Poppy he'pin' get Neil off the hook for Silverado...
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 01:36 PM
Aug 2013
How the Elite Talk in Code

WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2009
Economic Policy Journal

It has long been a contention of mine that the super elite talk in a kind of code that keeps them out of trouble. They know full well among each other what needs to be done in certain tight situations, but you will never hear any of them speak it. They sort of ride above the fray and think to themselves that they are not manipulating anything, when, in fact, they are attempting to manipulate the entire world!

The recent comments attributed to David Rubenstein at Carlyle Group suggest that he has not yet, and may never, master elite code talk. He may be close to them, but as long as he does not fully understand code talk, he is a tool and nothing more.

SNIP...

Ashley is a Yale University grad, and member of the secret society Skull and Bones along with Bush. Here's the letter:

The Honorable Thomas Ludlow Ashley
Association of Bank Holding Companies
Washington, D.C. 20005

Dear Lud,

Thank you for your good memo December 8th.

I would appreciate any help you can give Neil. He tells me he never had any insider dealings. He got off the Board early--long before I was elected President. The Denver paper apparently ran a very nice editorial about him on that. He is an outside director, and thus I guess has liability, but I can't believe his name would appear in the paper if it was Jones not Bush. In any event, I know that the guy is totally honest. I saw him in Denver and I think he is worried about the publicity and the "shame". I tell him not to worry about that but any advice you can give as this matter unfolds would be greatly appreciated by me. If it turns out there has been some marginal call, or he has done something wrong, needless to say there will be no intervention from his dad. But, I'm quite confident this is not true...

Warm regards,

George


Notice how smooth. No talk about getting Ashley anything for taking care of the matter. The nice touch about if Neil "has done something wrong", but the clear finish, he didn't.

The US Office of Thrift Supervision investigated Silverado's failure and determined that Bush had engaged in numerous "breaches of his fiduciary duties involving multiple conflicts of interest." But Neil was not indicted on criminal charges, a civil action was brought against him and the other Silverado directors. It was eventually settled out of court, with Bush paying $50,000 as part of the settlement.

CONTINUED...

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2009/07/how-elite-talk-in-code.html

leveymg

(36,418 posts)
28. They write like they talk. All hale fellows well met except the money moments, when they come right
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 01:49 PM
Aug 2013

to the point. If Neil "has done something wrong, needless to say there will be no intervention from his dad." Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
77. ''Intervention'' is the code word McCain used for Dallas.
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 06:51 PM
Aug 2013


These three DUers noticed:

Hootinholler:

Anyone else notice McCane referred to the Kennedy assasination as an intervention?


chimpsrsmarter

From the debate-McCain" before the intervention of the tragedy at Dallas."


stubtoe

The "intervention" at Dallas?


President Kennedy was not killed by an intervention.
It appears he was killed by an act of the state --
or people in authority --
acting together.
And that is what is so hard for people to believe.
Perhaps less so today.
Thanks to Snowden.
 

matthews

(497 posts)
94. Or a location with a collection of more than 5 people at a time. And those 5
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 10:34 AM
Aug 2013

should be his 'keepers'.

That would increase the safety/security factor of the rest of us exponentially.

 

KittyWampus

(55,894 posts)
11. You realize that Krugman & Reich both supported offshoring> the problem as they point out
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 11:54 AM
Aug 2013

is the lack of new job creation.

And rather than argue about the fact I posted in the subject line, here's a link to an old DU thread I just googled:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021104300

And don't take this post to indicate I support Summers for Fed.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
13. No, I have not heard elsewhere that Krugman and Reich supported offshoring, and the link you ...
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 12:01 PM
Aug 2013

... provided does not back up that claim.

Certainly lack of job creation is a problem, but hardly THE problem. Sending our jobs overseas is a problem too.

Can you provide any citations for the claim regarding Krugman and Reich having supported offshoring?

BumRushDaShow

(128,527 posts)
70. Yikes! Here is one from Reich
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:14 PM
Aug 2013
http://prospect.org/article/high-tech-jobs-are-going-abroad-thats-okay

High-Tech Jobs Are Going Abroad! But That's Okay

Robert Reich

Washington Post, November 2, 2003


<snip>

So why don't I believe the outsourcing of high-tech work is something to lose
sleep over?

First, the number of high-tech jobs outsourced abroad still accounts for a tiny
proportion of America's 10-million-strong IT workforce. When the U.S. economy
fully bounces back from recession (as it almost surely will within the next 18
months), a large portion of high-tech jobs that were lost after 2000 will come
back in some form.

<snip>

And just as with laid-off manufacturing workers, we need to ensure that high-
tech workers are adaptive and flexible. They should be able to move quickly and
get the retraining they need. Pensions and health insurance should be more
portable across jobs. High-tech workers who want to polish their skills or gain
new ones should have access to tax credits that make it easy for them to go
back to college for a time.

But it makes no sense for us to try to protect or preserve high-tech jobs in
America or block efforts by American companies to outsource
. Our economic
future is wedded to technological change, and most of the jobs of the future
are still ours to invent.


For some reason, this subject got me hunting around and apparently he and Laura Tyson had an academic debate back in the early '90s and he has some papers that were published in the Harvard Business Review from 1990 entitled "Who is US?" and one from 1991 - Who is THEM?" (haven't found any full transcripts of these yet)... both attempting to describe the morphing of the multinational corporation and national identity...

Alot of it (IMHO) seems to be a bit rambling but it apparently took him time to get to what you see today as "Robert Reich the anti-outsourcer". At least early on, he seemed to embrace shipping out the "grunt work" (my words) and having the U.S. be the "innovators" (with the assumption that the U.S. IT industry wasn't going anywhere, which proved to be wrong) - and basically, this is what Apple did to the point where none of their stuff was made in the U.S. and they embarrassingly have stamped on their devicies "Designed by Apple in California, Assembled in China".

snagglepuss

(12,704 posts)
15. Regardless of who supports offshoring no one addresses the question of what well paying jobs
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 12:21 PM
Aug 2013

can be created here that wont be offshored?

 

closeupready

(29,503 posts)
66. Yes, Reich helped Clinton sell NAFTA to a reluctant Congress.
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:01 PM
Aug 2013

He has never retracted his support for that, and in supporting it, he effectively supported offshoring and outsourcing even if he refused to do so explicitly.

moondust

(19,963 posts)
14. In 2011?
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 12:12 PM
Aug 2013

After roughly 30 years of it he's still clueless?

Of course HE personally had no use for those millions of jobs lost to desperate, unprotected, slave labor elsewhere--except, no doubt, to personally profit from the practice as an investor.

AngryOldDem

(14,061 posts)
26. “Luddites who took axes to machinery early in England’s industrial revolution.”
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 01:42 PM
Aug 2013

I can't begin to express how much that sentence outrages me.

The difference between then and now, Mr. Summers, is that people had a chance to reinvent themselves and find new jobs in the new economy. Yes, the anger was there, mainly because people were being forced into something new. Eventually, though, they adapted and thrived.

These days, you get tossed to the curb, which is exactly what these powermongers want. The American worker is nothing more than flotsam and jetsam. The worker who still has the skills and the will to work, if given the chance.

MisterP

(23,730 posts)
57. uh-oh, who's that in the corner? why, it's E.P. Thompson's "Making of the English Working Class"
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:52 PM
Aug 2013

the first to honestly investigate the Luddites rather than treat them as a punchline--oh, and what's that he found? that the Luddites--and, even better the Swingites--were violently opposed to the notion of starving the weavers of Britain so that the British elite could starve the weavers of Bengal

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
43. What makes you think this post
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:28 PM
Aug 2013

is anything other than sarcasm (despite the lack of a sarcasm tag).

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
69. I don't blame you for asking
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:10 PM
Aug 2013

There has already been enough idiocy in this thread that makes my head hang. Not for myself, but that the people posting it think someone could be convinced by such ludicrous arguments about a person with such a horrible track record as Larry Summers. I wouldn't trust him to manage a bake sale without misappropriating funds.

 

AnotherMcIntosh

(11,064 posts)
46. It should be obvious, but it is puzzling that it is not.
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:38 PM
Aug 2013

It is a Godwinism. "Wann dem Führer wuste!"

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
79. Please help those of us that are sarcasm impaired. Use the sarcasm sign and help me
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 07:44 PM
Aug 2013

from making a fool of myself.............. again.

 

rhett o rick

(55,981 posts)
82. Yes I understand that it's my problem. But I carry a major chip on my shoulder since Obama
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 08:44 PM
Aug 2013

betrayed me. Now that you've said that, I withdraw my comment. It's my responsibility and I will try to be vigilant. Keep doing what you are doing.

IDemo

(16,926 posts)
33. Just go ahead and appoint the ghost of Milton Friedman
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:03 PM
Aug 2013

His spirit will be in the driver's seat regardless of who Obama selects.

Nye Bevan

(25,406 posts)
34. What action has President Obama taken against offshoring, in the 5 years of his presidency?
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:05 PM
Aug 2013

What makes anyone think that President Obama opposes offshoring?

So why would anyone be surprised if his appointees do not oppose offshoring?

pitbullgirl1965

(564 posts)
38. When the Revolution comes Larry
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:15 PM
Aug 2013

You will be in the top twenty in line for the guillotine ok? And the revolution will not be outsourced either!

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
41. Larry Summers
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:18 PM
Aug 2013

"We should not oppose Larry Summers or advocate anything that fails to benefit Larry Summers or the benefactors of Larry Summers. Most importantly, we should focus on how Larry Summers, and his business partners and those he makes campaign donations toward, can potentially benefit from Larry Summers ideas."

 

Fire Walk With Me

(38,893 posts)
47. Has everyone read the leaked Citigroup "Plutonomy" memos? The third has a bit on globalisation being
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:38 PM
Aug 2013

a prime driver of Plutonomy and the rich getting ever richer:

http://our99angrypercent.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/download-citigroup-plutonomy-memos/

I say this because Summers currently consults for Citigroup. And was a Wall Street deregulator. And helped end Glass-Steagall.

He's a pure Plutonomy shill. And have been said earlier in this thread, shouldn't be allowed 2000 feet from any government position, ever.

Then again, most of Obama's "economic advisors" have been directly from Wall Street, so the Trend is zero surprise.

tritsofme

(17,371 posts)
53. Not much context in this hit job
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:46 PM
Aug 2013

I don't think there are any Obama administration officials, or economists in general that would support banning "offshoring"

JoePhilly

(27,787 posts)
60. no one responding in this thread ...
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:55 PM
Aug 2013

Followed the link in the article to a longer summary of his remarks.

He also mentioned the need for much more international regulation and an education policy to ensure the US stays ahead, and without those, outsourcing hurts our nation, but including any of that context might tamp down some outrage.

 

Scuba

(53,475 posts)
64. Did you find the part where he advocates ending tax breaks for companies that offshore?
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:00 PM
Aug 2013

That part I'd like to see.

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
68. I'm waiting for the justification
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:06 PM
Aug 2013

that oxygen isn't necessary for breath, since there is a mix of nitrogen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It stuns me the wrangling some folks will go through to justify bad policy as though everyone around them is an idiot.

 

Aerows

(39,961 posts)
67. If you are actually *trying* to clean up Larry Summers
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 03:03 PM
Aug 2013

and justify *Larry Summers*, then I'm really not sure what to say to you. I'd be trying to explain to someone why water isn't *really* wet, but is just somewhat ... damp. It's nearly a desiccant, obviously, in certain situations.

Chef Eric

(1,024 posts)
91. I followed it.
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 07:48 AM
Aug 2013

It says that he called for us to have education policies that "sustain the US as the world's primary engine of new science, technology and entrepreneurship."

I don't see what is notable about this. It's practically a cliche. Furthermore, I can't think of too many Americans who DON'T want us to have such education policies.

 

think

(11,641 posts)
59. The tax code should be changed so corporations who outsource
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:54 PM
Aug 2013

pay additional taxes since much of our military function is protecting the overseas assets of multinational corporations.

There should also be a code of ethics for standards and conditions to protect workers in those countries.

Workers in those countries should be able to form unions without fear of persecution & death.

But with Eric Holder at the helm of the DOJ fat chance. He'll help the companies that pay to hire mercenaries who murder union leaders like he did for Chiquita:

Lawyer for Chiquita in Colombia Death Squad Case May be Next U.S. Attorney General

Dan Kovalik

USW Counsel, Workers Uniting Colombia Committee
Posted: November 6, 2008 05:12 PM


Read Dan Kovalik's original post from 11/6/08, below:

In its recent report entitled, "Breaking the Grip? Obstacles to Justice for Paramilitary Mafias in Colombia," Human Rights Watch (HRW) had specific recommendations for the U.S. Department of Justice. Specifically, HRW recommended that, in order to assist with the process of ending the ties between the Colombian government and paramilitary death squads, the U.S. Department of Justice should, among other things, "[c]reate meaningful legal incentives for paramilitary leaders [a number of whom have already been extradited to the U.S.] to fully disclose information about atrocities and name all Colombian or foreign officials, business or individuals who may have facilitated their criminal activities," and "[c]ollaborate actively with the efforts of Colombian justice officials who are investigating paramilitary networks in Colombia by sharing relevant information possible and granting them access to paramilitary leaders in U.S. custody."

Do not expect these recommendations to be carried forward if Eric Holder decides to forgo his lucrative corporate law practice at Covington & Burling and accept the U.S. Attorney General position for which many believe he is the top contendor. Eric Holder would have a troubling conflict of interest in carrying out this work in light of his current work as defense lawyer for Chiquita Brands international in a case in which Colombian plaintiffs seek damages for the murders carried out by the AUC paramilitaries - a designated terrorist organization. Chiquita has already admitted in a criminal case that it paid the AUC around $1.7 million in a 7-year period and that it further provided the AUC with a cache of machine guns as well.

Indeed, Holder himself, using his influence as former deputy attorney general under the Clinton Administration, helped to negotiate Chiquita's sweeheart deal with the Justice Department in the criminal case against Chiquita. Under this deal, no Chiquita official received any jail time. Indeed, the identity of the key officials involved in the assistance to the paramilitaries were kept under seal and confidential. In the end, Chiquita was fined a mere $25 million which it has been allowed to pay over a 5-year period. This is incredible given the havoc wreaked by Chiquita's aid to these Colombian death squards....

Full article:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-kovalik/lawyer-for-chiquita-in-co_b_141919.html


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=405x9608

TexasTowelie

(111,980 posts)
84. Workers in this country should be able to form unions without fear of persecution & death
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 01:57 AM
Aug 2013

(from starvation and lack of shelter).

DJ13

(23,671 posts)
62. Mr. President, Larry Summers isnt the answer to our problems
Fri Aug 2, 2013, 02:57 PM
Aug 2013

He's an example of what caused our problems.

Divernan

(15,480 posts)
86. Obama has a lot of post-presidential income riding on appointing Summers
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 05:04 AM
Aug 2013

Last edited Sat Aug 3, 2013, 05:42 AM - Edit history (1)

Ya know - extremely lucrative corporate Board appointments, speaking gigs at posh meetings in exotic locations, corporate support for future Obama "foundations", etc.

Somehow I don't expect Obama to spend his post-presidential years like humanitarian, peace activist Jimmy Carter. I think his role model is wheelin', dealin' Bill Clinton.

Despite widespread opposition to Summers, Obama refuses to remove Summers from consideration, and now has put off the appointment until October - apparently hoping that opposition will have died down or there will be some other major crisis distracting the public and allowing him to be slipped through.

Amonester

(11,541 posts)
83. This ^^^ will keep on going as long as
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 12:04 AM
Aug 2013

Money will keep Ruling politics (and politicians).

No surprise there.

And since the day that Money will stop Ruling politics (and politicians) is nowhere to be foreseen...

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
92. Summers has been a problem for years
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 08:34 AM
Aug 2013

And he has no business in government, and much less as an economist.

What a tool.

paleotn

(17,884 posts)
95. Obama...Romney....Bush II.....Clinton.....
Sat Aug 3, 2013, 10:49 AM
Aug 2013

...from an economic perspective, I see barely a hairs width of difference between them and what differences that do exist are mainly window dressing. Why is there little appreciable difference between them on actual economic policy? Just follow the money.

After they've gutted the American industrial base for cheaper wages, reduced regulation, in the rush for greater corporate profits, they wonder why so many Americans now have little hope of improving their lot in life. Why 4 out of 5 are either in or within a paycheck or two of poverty. Why so many turn to crime, drug abuse; a whole litany of social problems in this country. To a great extent it's because the engine that built the greatest economy the world has ever seen, supported on the shoulders of a vast, vibrant middle class, has been dismantled and shipped off to every foreign shit hole imaginable.

The idea of getting a good, steady job out of high school or college is a pipe dream for many young Americans, maybe most at this point. Those days are long gone, due to supposed smart guys like Larry Summers, who loves him some unfettered, unrestrained outsourcing. Funny how they conveniently ignore the anti-thesis that is Germany and other industrialized nations that rightly believe that one way (supposedly "free&quot trade with mercantilists nations (China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, etc.) who have no intention of ever actually following the rules, is economic suicide.

But even when our trading "partners" follow the rules, NAFTA and Mexico for instance, things still don't always work out the way we planned. The flood of cheap, subsidized (Farm Bill) American corn has destroyed Mexican small farm agriculture. So where do former Mexican farmers and their progeny go? Many flood into the US of course, exacerbating our already troubling immigration mess. Or they could join a drug gang. Good money to be made at that, if you live long enough to enjoy it.

But all that's really beside the point. Summers doesn't give a rats rear end about the little people. The real focus of Summers and all those at the top of this post, whether consciously or unconsciously, is to maximize profits for corporate interests and the wealthy few. At least Rethugs like Romeny and Shrub are honest about it. I'll give them that.

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