Follow the money

[BT]

OpenSecrets.org helpfully charts donations from those associated with the insolvent Lehman firm:

    In the current Congress, 271 lawmakers have collected nearly $3 million since 1989, with 72 percent going to Democrats. Democratic presidential candidates and senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama top the list of all-time recipients for the company, collecting $410,000 and $395,600 respectively. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of both the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, hauled in $181,450, while Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate banking committee, has collected $165,800.

Lehman associates gave only $117,500 to Sen. John McCain, even though he has been in Congress far longer than either Obama or Clinton ? as the Obama campaign has been only too eager to remind us.

Lehman?s bankruptcy comes on the heels of the federal government takeover of government-sponsored mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose associates were also big givers to Obama and Clinton.

Barack Obama has extensive ties to the subprime mortgage industry, starting with his National Finance Chairwoman, Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.  As I previously noted at Protein Wisdom:

    Pritzker was an owner and board member of Superior Bank of Chicago, which went bust in 2001 with over $1 billion in deposits.  Timothy Anderson ? who obsessively pursued the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) over his role in the failure of Clyde Federal Savings & Loan  ? has been quoted as saying that ?Superior?s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.?

Coincidentally, Obama?s policy proposals have also been pretty subprime mortgage-friendly, perhaps influenced by advisers like Austan Goolsbee (Economic Man of Mystery).

The establishment media that sought every opportunity to tie the failure of Enron and its executives to George W. Bush has generally failed to note that Barack Obama is neck deep in money from issuers of subprime loans, even as he crusades against predatory mortgage lenders.  Maybe they will get to it when their investigators return from scouring the frozen tundra in Alaska for gossip about Sarah Palin?s family.  But I would not bet any more money on it than I would invest with Lehman Bros.


http://patterico.com/2008/09/15/obama-friendly-lehman-bros-to-file-chapter-11-bankruptcy/

[fatman]

Do candidates know who their money comes from, or is it bundled as a contribution?  I don't find this surprising, here comes another bailout down the pike.

I wish they'd give me "only" $117,500.

[Amianthus]

Do candidates know who their money comes from, or is it bundled as a contribution?

As I pointed out to Mikey a few weeks ago, even "bundled" contributions must have the associated paperwork to indicate how much was from each donor.

[fatman]

Thanks Ami, I missed that.  Is it a big deal (in your opinion) for the candidate to know which corporations his/her money came from?

[Amianthus]

Thanks Ami, I missed that.  Is it a big deal (in your opinion) for the candidate to know which corporations his/her money came from?

I don't think most candidates really care, but they have to file the paperwork with the FEC, who does care. There are limits for donations, and the FEC makes sure that no one goes over those limits.

[hnumpah]

Q: Is it a big deal (in your opinion) for the candidate to know which corporations his/her money came from?

A: I don't think most candidates really care...

True, they generally don't, unless one of the donors gets caught doing something shady. Then many candidates return the contributions or donate them to charity to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

[Michael Tee]

Let's suppose I live in a country where politics is in the hands of two partys, one party predominantly composed of rich white males and one party for everyone else, the blacks, the urban poor, the rural poor, the gays and lesbians, the immigrants, the migrant workers, the unionized labour, the non-unionized stoop labour.

  One party for the landlords, one for the tenants; one for the institutional lenders, one for the borrowers.

Now suppose I were the evil scheming duplicitous head of a major Wall Street brokerage house, looking to buy friends in the national legislature.  WHO am I gonna bribe?  The representatives of the rich and powerful, the party of the Fat Cats?  They're ALREADY on my side.  The guys I need to pay off are the ones who claim to be on the side of the working class against the bosses, the tenants against the landlords, the borrowers against the lenders.

Bribery lesson no. 1 - - spend your bribes on guys who have promised themselves to your opponents, not on guys who are already in your socieoeconomic class and already on your side by logic and necessity.

OF COURSE, the ultra-rich will bribe more Democrats than Republicans.

[Knutey]

OpenSecrets.org helpfully charts donations from those associated with the insolvent Lehman firm:

    In the current Congress, 271 lawmakers have collected nearly $3 million since 1989, with 72 percent going to Democrats. Democratic presidential candidates and senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama top the list of all-time recipients for the company, collecting $410,000 and $395,600 respectively. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., a member of both the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, hauled in $181,450, while Sen. Chris Dodd, chair of the Senate banking committee, has collected $165,800.

Lehman associates gave only $117,500 to Sen. John McCain, even though he has been in Congress far longer than either Obama or Clinton ? as the Obama campaign has been only too eager to remind us.

Lehman?s bankruptcy comes on the heels of the federal government takeover of government-sponsored mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, whose associates were also big givers to Obama and Clinton.

Barack Obama has extensive ties to the subprime mortgage industry, starting with his National Finance Chairwoman, Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.  As I previously noted at Protein Wisdom:

    Pritzker was an owner and board member of Superior Bank of Chicago, which went bust in 2001 with over $1 billion in deposits.  Timothy Anderson ? who obsessively pursued the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) over his role in the failure of Clyde Federal Savings & Loan  ? has been quoted as saying that ?Superior?s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.?

Coincidentally, Obama?s policy proposals have also been pretty subprime mortgage-friendly, perhaps influenced by advisers like Austan Goolsbee (Economic Man of Mystery).

The establishment media that sought every opportunity to tie the failure of Enron and its executives to George W. Bush has generally failed to note that Barack Obama is neck deep in money from issuers of subprime loans, even as he crusades against predatory mortgage lenders.  Maybe they will get to it when their investigators return from scouring the frozen tundra in Alaska for gossip about Sarah Palin?s family.  But I would not bet any more money on it than I would invest with Lehman Bros.


http://patterico.com/2008/09/15/obama-friendly-lehman-bros-to-file-chapter-11-bankruptcy/

LQQks like you guys only bailout the ones that give YOU the money- What bullshitters & hypocrits  you are!

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bear%2C_Stearns_%26_Co.%2C_Inc.

Political contributions

James E. Cayne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bear Stearns, is a Bush Pioneer having raised at least $100,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. [4]
Bear Stearns gave $127,500 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 25% to Democrats and 75% to Republicans. [5]
Other political campaign contributions:
P. Nicholas Hurtgen, Bush Pioneer, Texans for Public Justice, accessed August 2007.
Douglas R. Korn, Bush Pioneer, Texans for Public Justice, accessed August 2007.
Peter J. Murphy, Bush Pioneer, Texans for Public Justice, accessed August 2007.
Bear Stearns & Co., Inc Political Campaign Committee FKA Bear Stearns PCC], Candidate Contributions, Congress.org: 2003-2004 Campaign Cycle: Total contributions: $66,500; and 2005-2006 Campaign Cycle: Total contributions: $79,000.
Bear Stearns & Co Inc Political Campaign Committee FKA Bear Stearns PCC Political Action Committee, Campaign Contribution Details '04 Election Cycle, CampaignMoney.com.

[Michael Tee]

<<James E. Cayne, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Bear Stearns, is a Bush Pioneer having raised at least $100,000 for Bush in the 2004 presidential election. [4]
Bear Stearns gave $127,500 to federal candidates in the 2006 election through its political action committee - 25% to Democrats and 75% to Republicans. [5]>>

75-25.  Isn't that funny?  It's close to the ratio of Lehman contributions in reverse, approx. 70-30.  There must be some rulebook for Wall Street donors - - give to BOTH sides, cuz, who knows?  But keep it at about 70 or 75 to 30 or 25.

So Bush comes to the rescue of his campaign donors, all others can sink like a rock.  Why am I not surprised?

Obviously this entire financial disaster can be laid at the foot of the Bush administration, the two foreign wars, the failure to regulate, the failure to tax.  But McCain and Palin are running as fast as they can away from the Bush "legacy," and I don't see any real efforts by Obama to hang this one around their necks.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I think the deal with Bear Sterns was that they were first.
and then again, Bear does not sound Kosher, but Sterns and Lehman, well, they are not Presbyterians are they?

[BT]

Perhaps this is why Obama is slow to point fingers:

Barack Obama has extensive ties to the subprime mortgage industry, starting with his National Finance Chairwoman, Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.  As I previously noted at Protein Wisdom:

    Pritzker was an owner and board member of Superior Bank of Chicago, which went bust in 2001 with over $1 billion in deposits.  Timothy Anderson ? who obsessively pursued the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) over his role in the failure of Clyde Federal Savings & Loan  ? has been quoted as saying that ?Superior?s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.?

[Knutey]

Perhaps this is why Obama is slow to point fingers:

Barack Obama has extensive ties to the subprime mortgage industry, starting with his National Finance Chairwoman, Chicago billionaire Penny Pritzker.  As I previously noted at Protein Wisdom:

    Pritzker was an owner and board member of Superior Bank of Chicago, which went bust in 2001 with over $1 billion in deposits.  Timothy Anderson ? who obsessively pursued the late Rep. Henry Hyde (R-IL) over his role in the failure of Clyde Federal Savings & Loan  ? has been quoted as saying that ?Superior?s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.?

Whew- Had to reach deep & far back for that one, huh Booby?(as in booby baby- not titties)

[BT]

Whew- Had to reach deep & far back for that one, huh Booby?(as in booby baby- not titties)

Nah, just to the top of the thread.

It might be useful to look into the genesis of sub-prime loans and who urged them.