by Deb Cupples | According to Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund paid White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers $5+ million last year and $2+ million fees for speeches, some paid by Wall Street firms that ended up getting TARP funds.
How nice it is to see one of Mr. Murdoch's media outlets "following the money," as Deep Throat advised Woodward and Bernstein to do. Private money flowing to government officials does tend to be at the roots of political corruption.
Oddly, I don't remember Mr. Murdoch's WSJ (or his Fox network, for that matter) being particularly concerned about President Bush's appointment of Henry Paulson as Treasury Secretary in 2006, though Mr. Paulson had been a Wall Street CEO for about eight years.
More importantly, I don't remember Mr. Murdoch's media outlets expressing great concern about Mr. Paulson's strong Wall Street ties (and strong potential conflicts of interest) last fall, when Mr. Paulson was hard-selling Congress and us taxpayers on the idea of sending $700 billion in taxpayer funds to the same executives who'd driven their companies and our nation's economy into a ditch.
In October, while Mr. Paulson was still Treasury Secretary, his old firm (Goldman Sachs) got about $10 billion in TARP funds. I'm not sure whether Mr. Murdoch's media outlets expressed any great concern about that, either.
Back to the present: certainly, Mr. Summers deserves scrutiny from here on out. Unfortunately for our political system, it's far from rare for Presidents to appoint people to high positions who've had lucrative tenures in the private sector.
And it's far from rare for ex-federal officials (Summers was Treasury Secretary under Clinton) to ride the expensive-speech circuit or join (or start) lucrative private firms.
Memeorandum has commentary.
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* Wall Street Execs Got Billions While Driving Economy Toward Cliff
* Executives Skate out of Economic Disaster with Millions
*
That doesn't make it right. Mr Summers should return his "bonus"...
Posted by: Anonymous | April 04, 2009 at 01:41 PM
I don't know what you're saying: nowhere in the post do I say that it's "right."
In fact, I say that he deserves scrutiny from here on out. As for the "bonus," I'm unclear about what you're referring to.
Posted by: Deb | April 05, 2009 at 01:51 AM
I would hope that a Treasury Sec of the United States would have some financial experience, like being a Wall Street CEO. That is hardly an indictment.
A university president, however, and political man who receives 7 million dollars from organizations that later got a huge government bailout does seem like it is "deserving of a little scrutiny," as you say.
Posted by: Alexandra Cannon | April 07, 2009 at 11:28 PM
HI Alexandra,
I didn't say that he deserves "a little scrutiny." I said this:
"...certainly, Mr. Summers deserves scrutiny from here on out. "
I think there's a difference.
Posted by: Deb | April 07, 2009 at 11:43 PM
I actually didn't mean to misquote you, but it doesn't really change the point.
The point is that you were trying to say that Bush's Treas Sect was not scrutinized even though he commited what you seem to think is the awful offense of being CEO for a wall street firm. As if that compares to taking money from groups that, months later, got a sweetheart bailout deal from him (as you admit looks shady and deserves scrutiny). Obviously, it is not at all the same.
Posted by: alexandra | April 08, 2009 at 06:09 PM
Alexandra,
No, I did not say that Paulson committed an "awful offense" by having been a CEO. That's something that came from you (or someone else).
What bothered me about Paulson is that he was the chief cheerleader for the $700 BILLION bailout -- which benefited his former company and a bunch of his old friends and corporate allies in other companies.
I'm surprised that your eyebrows haven't raised over that one -- given that they've raised over Summers (as have mine).
Posted by: Deb | April 09, 2009 at 01:03 AM
Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions, notably in the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia) that encompasses land along with anything permanently affixed to the land, such as buildings, specifically property that is fixed in location. Real estate law is the body of regulations and legal codes which pertain to such matters under a particular jurisdiction. Real estate is often considered synonymous with real property (also sometimes called realty), in contrast with personal property (also sometimes called chattel or personalty under chattel law or personal property law).
Jennifer Luis
Posted by: realestate | June 17, 2009 at 10:41 AM