"History teaches us that an outlay of so much money in such a short period of time will inevitably attract those seeking to profit criminally," the Hill quotes Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, saying.
It will also attract lobbyists, the members of Congress they enlist in their causes, special interests and others seeking to profit legally from the funds.
Via Instapundit.
Continue readingAIG bundled for Dodd
Jennifer Haberkorn reports in the Washington Times:
The message in the Nov. 17, 2006, e-mail from Joseph Cassano, AIG Financial Products chief executive, was unmistakable: Mr. Dodd was "next in line" to be chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, which oversees the insurance industry, and he would "have the opportunity to set the committee's agenda on issues critical to the financial services industry."Given his seniority in the Senate, he will also play a key role in the Democratic Majority's leadership," Mr. Cassano wrote in the message, obtained by The Washington Times.
Mr. Dodd ...
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Must everything be earmarked?
Columnist George Will argues that the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 -- the bailout bill that set up TARP, is unconstitutional because it delegates legislative power to the executive branch:
Congress did not in any meaningful sense make a law. Rather, it made executive branch officials into legislators. Congress said to the executive branch, in effect: "Here is $700 billion. You say you will use some of it to buy up banks' 'troubled assets.' But if you prefer to do anything else with the money -- even, say, subsidize automobile companies -- well, whatever."FreedomWorks, a Washington-based libertarian advocacy organization, argues that ...
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Following Dirty Money
I like the concept behind what appears to be a new Washington Examiner feature called "Dirty Money" (you can see the latest installment here; I can't seem to find a page where previous installments are archived). I'm not a hundred percent certain though of their methodology of determining why certain contributions are dirty--if it's merely a company or organization that had employees or members who've committed crimes (embezzlement is one listed), that doesn't necessarily seem to taint the organization's donations. I think a little more context is needed to determine whether the employees were ...
Continue readingFinancial Firm Campaign Giving
To follow up on the previous post, the New York Times put together a useful chart to show the campaign... View Article
Continue readingWho Can Hedge Funds Lean On?
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced a new regulatory model for the financial system that includes regulating hedge funds for the... View Article
Continue readingSpecter ramps up the fundraising
In the whirlwind of fundraising parties this month"as of today we've collected 428 invitations for this month and counting"Sen. Arlen Specter stands above his peers, with a dozen parties scheduled in March and more beyond.
Read more at Party Time.
I'm sure stories like these have nothing to do with his number
Continue readingGive a dollar to a pol, get $18,195 back
Glenn Reynolds asks whether employees in the financial industry, always a big donor to political campaigns, will contribute to other candidates or curtail their giving. He cites the AIG bonus flap, and Congress' reaction to it (including the outrage of members and the House passing a bill that would tax 90 percent of those bonuses away) as evidence of the fickleness of Congressional favor. Reynolds writes,
In light of this behavior, Wall Street--if it survives long enough--will likely conclude that subsidizing these pols was a bad idea.If so, maybe it's time to shut off the funding. Politicians are ...
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Dodd’s family business?
Kevin Rennie notes another connection of Sen. Christopher Dodd to the financial industry, at one remove from AIG:
it turns out that Senator Dodd's wife has also benefited from past connections to AIG as well.From 2001-2004, Jackie Clegg Dodd served as an "outside" director of IPC Holdings, Ltd., a Bermuda-based company controlled by AIG.
There are many other connections, obviously.
Continue readingEvery Fundraiser in One Day
Sunlight’s Nancy Watzman posted this over at Party Time last week, but it’s worth posting here. American News Project’s Harry... View Article
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