Obama's Economic Advisers: International Socialists, Union Thugs, NBC Execs, Soros Scholars, Subprime Lenders, Amnesty Shills, and Campaign Cronies
http://floydreports.com/obama%E2%80%99s-economic-advisers-international-socialists-union-thugs-nbc-execs-soros-scholars-subprime-lenders-amnesty-shills-and-campaign-cronies/
*
HAS OBAMA PUNKED US?
“ The larger fear is that Obama
might be just another corporatist, punking voters much as the Republicans do
when they claim to be all for the common guy.” NEW YORK TIMES
Well, the banksters he works for don’t think so! They caused a global depression, the life savings of millions of Americans, and Obama and his harem of LA RAZA DEMS have handed them half the economy as thanks. Now they’re staging a new show to convince they’re protecting our borders from the Mexican drug cartel, even while they’re working up an underhanded way of handing “free” healthcare for illegals so that even more hop our borders and keep wages depressed for the LA RAZA DEMS’ paymasters.
The drugsters got hardons watching Obama perform for criminal bankers, and they want theirs too, and OBAMA has promised it!
Obama’s LA RAZA dems have been promised that while Obama continues to lie about the people, he’s come up with some interesting new angles to put 38 million Mexican flag waving illegals into our jobs to depress wages even more.
Yes, we’re punked! Obama is nothing but a calculated red-carpet addicted actor bent on extending the golden age of CORPORATE RAPE AND PILLAGE under BUSH, HILLARY, BILLARY, BUSH.
Unemployment? Foreclosures? Mexican crime waves? Hey, don’t talk like a socialist commie! There’s good money in socialism for corporate criminals, war and war profiteer, like DIANNE FEINSTEIN, and they know OBAMA will protect and put out good bonuses. ARE WE PUNKED BY THE GREATEST CON JOB EVER?
August
9, 2009
Op-Ed
Columnist
Is Obama Punking Us?
“AUGUST is a challenging time to be president,” said Andrew Card,
the former Bush White House chief of staff, as he offered unsolicited advice to his successors in a
television interview last week. “I think you have to expect the unexpected.”
He should know. Thursday was the
eighth anniversary of “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,” the President’s
Daily Brief that his boss ignored while on vacation in Crawford. Aug. 29 marks
the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s strike on the Louisiana coast,
which his boss also ignored while on vacation in Crawford.
So do have a blast in Martha’s
Vineyard, President Obama.
Even as we wait for some unexpected
disaster to strike, Beltway omens for the current White House are grim. Obama’s
poll numbers are approaching free fall, we are
told. If he fails on health care, he’s toast. Indeed, many of the bloviators
who spot a fatal swoon in the Obama presidency are the same doomsayers who in
August 2008 were predicting his Election Day defeat because he couldn’t “close
the deal” and clear the 50 percent mark in matchups with John McCain.
Here are two not very daring
predictions: Obama will get some kind of health care reform done come fall. His
poll numbers will not crater any time soon.
Yet there is real reason for
longer-term worry in the form of a persistent, anecdotal drift toward
disillusionment among some of the president’s supporters. And not merely those
on the left. This concern was perhaps best articulated by an Obama voter, a
real estate agent in Virginia, featured on the front page of The
Washington Post last week. “Nothing’s changed for the common guy,” she said.
“I feel like I’ve been punked.” She cited in particular the billions of dollars
in bailouts given to banks that still “act like they’re broke.”
But this mood isn’t just about the
banks, Public Enemy No. 1. What the Great Recession has crystallized is a
larger syndrome that Obama tapped into during the campaign. It’s the sinking
sensation that the American game is rigged — that, as the president typically
put it a month after his inauguration, the system is in hock to “the
interests of powerful lobbyists or the wealthiest few” who have “run Washington
far too long.” He promised to smite them.
No president can do that alone, let
alone in six months. To make Obama’s goal more quixotic, the ailment that he
diagnosed is far bigger than Washington and often beyond politics’ domain. What
disturbs Americans of all ideological persuasions is the fear that almost
everything, not just government, is fixed or manipulated by some powerful
hidden hand, from commercial transactions as trivial as the sales of prime
concert tickets to cultural forces as pervasive as the news media.
As Democrats have pointed out, the
angry hecklers disrupting town-hall meetings convened by members of Congress
are not always ordinary citizens engaging in spontaneous grass-roots protests
or even G.O.P. operatives, but proxies for corporate
lobbyists. One group facilitating the
screamers is FreedomWorks, which is run by the former Congressman Dick
Armey, now
a lobbyist at the DLA Piper law firm. Medicines Company, a global
pharmaceutical business, has paid DLA Piper more than $6 million in
lobbying fees in the five years Armey has worked there.
But the Democratic members of
Congress those hecklers assailed can hardly claim the moral high ground. Their
ties to health care interests are merely more discreet and insidious. As
Congressional Quarterly reported last week, industry
groups contributed almost $1.8 million in the first six months of 2009 alone to
the 18 House members of both parties supervising health care reform, Nancy
Pelosi and Steny Hoyer among them.
Then there are the 52 conservative
Blue Dog Democrats, who have balked at the public option for health insurance.
Their cash intake from insurers and drug companies outpaces their Democratic
peers by an average of 25 percent, according to The Post. And let’s
not forget the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, which has raked in nearly $500,000
from a single doctor-owned hospital in McAllen, Tex. — the very one
that Obama has cited as a symbol of runaway medical costs ever since it was profiled
in The New Yorker this spring.
In this maze of powerful moneyed
interests, it’s not clear who any American in either party should or could root
for. The bipartisan nature of the beast can be encapsulated by the remarkable
progress of Billy Tauzin, the former Louisiana congressman. Tauzin was a founding member of the Blue
Dog Democrats in 1994. A year later, he bolted to the Republicans. Now he is
chief of PhRMA, the biggest pharmaceutical trade group. In the 2008 campaign,
Obama ran a television ad pillorying Tauzin for his role in preventing Medicare
from negotiating for lower drug prices. Last week The Los Angeles Times reported — and The New York Times confirmed — that
Tauzin, an active player in White House health care negotiations, had secured a
behind-closed-doors flip-flop, enlisting the administration to push for
continued protection of drug prices. Now we know why the president has ducked
his campaign pledge to broadcast such negotiations on C-Span.
The making of legislative sausage is
never pretty. The White House has to give to get. But the cynicism being
whipped up among voters is justified. Unlike Hillary Clinton, whose chief
presidential campaign strategist unapologetically did double duty as a
high-powered corporate flack, Obama promised change we could actually believe
in.
His first questionable post-victory
step was to assemble an old boys’ club of Robert Rubin protégés and
Goldman-Citi alumni as the White House economic team, including a Treasury
secretary, Timothy Geithner, who failed in his watchdog role at the New York
Fed as Wall Street’s latest bubble first inflated and then burst. The questions about
Geithner’s role in adjudicating the subsequent bailouts aren’t going away, and
neither is the angry public sense that the fix is still in. We just learned
that nine of those bailed-out banks — which in total received $175 billion of
taxpayers’ money, but as yet have repaid only $50 billion — are awarding a total of
$32.6 billion in bonuses for 2009.
It’s in this context that Obama
can’t afford a defeat on health care. A bill will pass in a Democrat-controlled
Congress. What matters is what’s in it. The final result will be a CAT scan of
those powerful Washington interests he campaigned against, revealing which have
been removed from the body politic (or at least reduced) and which continue to
metastasize. The Wall Street regulatory reform package Obama pushes through, or
doesn’t, may render even more of a verdict on his success in changing the
system he sought the White House to reform.
The best political news for the
president remains the Republicans. It’s a measure of how out of touch G.O.P.
leaders like Mitch McConnell and John Boehner are that they keep trying to
scare voters by calling Obama a socialist. They have it backward. The larger fear is that Obama might be
just another corporatist, punking voters much as the Republicans do when they
claim to be all for the common guy. If anything, the most unexpected — and
challenging — event that could rock the White House this August would be if the
opposition actually woke up.
*
The Mexican occupation of 38 million
illegals depress wages $200 - $300 billion per year for Americans. These same
Americans are forced to pay the staggering welfare costs of the occupation as
well. Welfare paid to illegals in Mexican occupied Los Angeles, is nearly $40
MILLION PER MONTH. In Los Angeles, 47% of those employed are ILLEGALS.
US corporations squeezing more
output from workers and paying lower wages
By Patrick O’Connor
12 August 2009
12 August 2009
US
Labor Department data released yesterday showed productivity up 6.4 percent in
the second quarter, the largest gain since 2003 and higher than economists’
forecasts of 5.5 percent. Over the same period, workers’ compensation fell
sharply.
The
Bureau of Labor Statistics explained that productivity—which measures hourly
output per employee—increased “due to hours worked declining faster than
output.”
In
other words, big business is using the rise in unemployment to extract greater
output from employed workers through speedup and other forms of intensified
exploitation.
Nonfarm
productivity rose 6.4 percent as a result of output declining by 1.7 percent
and total hours worked plummeting 7.6 percent.
Data
also showed that real hourly employee compensation fell by 1.1 percent in the
second quarter, or by 2.2 percent on an annualized basis. The combined impact
of declining wages and rising productivity brought unit labor costs down by a
huge 5.8 percent in the three months from April to June.
In
manufacturing, quarterly productivity rose 5.3 percent, a result of output
falling by 9.9 percent and hours by 14.4 percent. In the durable manufacturing
sub-category, the output and hours decline was even greater—16.5 percent and
19.6 percent respectively.
The
recent productivity boost, unlike that seen in previous periods, has involved
no developments in productive technique. Mark Vitner of Wells Fargo Bank told
Dow Jones Newswire that the second quarter gain “is almost entirely the result
of cost-cutting, not improved ways of producing goods and providing services.”
Several
commentators frankly admitted that the productivity boost was the product of
intensified pressure on the working class. In a comment for Dow Jones’ MarketWatch,
Tom Bernis wrote: “Anybody lucky enough to hang onto his or her job in this
recession is working flat out to keep it. That’s one take on the latest US
productivity numbers...
“The
severity of the recession has pushed the hours worked to levels not seen since
the mid-1990s, even as units of output have risen nearly 40 percent. So, with
the economy essentially in ‘idle,’ it takes far fewer workers to keep things
moving than nearly a decade-and-a-half ago. That’s good news for profits, but
not so good for the unemployed.”
Ian
Shepherdson, chief domestic economist for High Frequency Economics, added:
“These are spectacular numbers and help explain why so many recently reporting
companies have beaten earnings estimates.”
Bloomberg News highlighted
DuPont, the third-biggest US chemical company, which last month announced a
better-than-anticipated $417 million second quarter profit. This was achieved
after outlining a strategy to cut fixed costs by $1 billion, partly by laying
off 2,500 permanent workers and 10,000 contractors. “Our aggressive actions to
improve productivity and reduce costs across the company are paying off,” Chief
Executive Officer Ellen Kullman declared.
According
to Time magazine’s Justin Fox, a recent report by the Goldman Sachs
portfolio strategy team compared current corporate profits with previous
periods. In an extraordinary finding, the researchers concluded that if
financial companies, auto producers and utilities are excluded, corporations in
the S&P 500 index had higher profit margins during the worst of the current
crisis than they did during any point of the mid-1980s economic boom.
This
conclusion points to the class character of the Obama administration and the
social interests being served by its policies.
The
economic policies advanced by successive Democratic and Republican
administrations over the last three decades produced significant productivity
increases at the same time that average real wages stagnated or declined. This
led to an unprecedented shift in national income distribution, away from wages
towards corporate profits, massively increasing social inequality.
These
tendencies are accelerating, with the Obama administration, on behalf of the
major corporations and banks, advancing a sweeping economic restructuring
agenda aimed at permanently driving down workers’ wages and conditions. Every
aspect of the administration’s agenda—from the bailout of the banks, to mass
layoffs and wage and benefit concessions in the auto industry, to sweeping cuts
in health care for workers and retirees—is directed towards protecting the
ruling elite’s wealth at the expense of the majority of the population.
Obama
sent a clear signal to big business with the restructuring of the auto
industry. The federally supervised bankruptcy of General Motors and Chrysler
involved the destruction of large sections of each company’s productive
capacity, the elimination of tens of thousands of jobs, and the imposition of
wages and conditions equivalent to those last experienced in the industry in
the 1930s. This set the stage for an economy-wide corporate offensive against
jobs, wages, and conditions, the initial results of which are reflected in the
latest productivity and labor cost data.
*
ARE AMAZED AT HOW UTTERLY BRAZEN THESE CORPORATE OWNED
POLITICIANS ARE?
GET THIS BOOK!
Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats,
Crooks, and Cronies
by Michelle Malkin
Editorial Reviews
In her shocking new book, Malkin digs deep into the records
of President Obama's staff, revealing corrupt dealings, questionable pasts, and
abuses of power throughout his administration.
From the Inside Flap
The era of hope and change is dead....and it only took six
months in office to kill it.
Never has an administration taken office with more inflated
expectations of turning Washington around. Never have a media-anointed American
Idol and his entourage fallen so fast and hard. In her latest investigative
tour de force, New York Times bestselling author Michelle Malkin delivers a
powerful, damning, and comprehensive indictment of the culture of corruption
that surrounds Team Obama's brazen tax evaders, Wall Street cronies, petty
crooks, slum lords, and business-as-usual influence peddlers. In Culture of
Corruption, Malkin reveals:
* Why nepotism beneficiaries First Lady Michelle Obama and
Vice President Joe Biden are Team Obama's biggest liberal hypocrites--bashing
the corporate world and influence-peddling industries from which they and their
relatives have benefited mightily
* What secrets the ethics-deficient members of Obama's
cabinet--including Hillary Clinton--are trying to hide
* Why the Obama White House has more power-hungry,
unaccountable "czars" than any other administration
* How Team Obama's first one hundred days of appointments
became a litany of embarrassments as would-be appointee after would-be
appointee was exposed as a tax cheat or had to withdraw for other reasons
* How Obama's old ACORN and union cronies have squandered
millions of taxpayer dollars and dues money to enrich themselves and expand
their power
* How Obama's Wall Street money men and corporate lobbyists
are ruining the economy and helping their friends In Culture of Corruption,
Michelle Malkin lays bare the Obama administration's seamy underside that the
liberal media would rather keep hidden.
Product Details
• Hardcover:
376 pages
• Publisher:
Regnery Publishing (July 27, 2009)
• Language:
English
• ISBN-10:
1596981091
• ISBN-13:
978-1596981096
JUDICIAL WATCH’S TEN MOST CORRUPT............................................
2007
Unfortunately the corruption of these politicians noted is
only a drop in the bucket of what they’re guilty of.
One common ground for all of them is they will all protect
and cover each other’s crimes.
1. SENATOR HILLARY CLINTON D-NY): In addition to her long
and sordid ethics record, Senator Hillary Clinton took a lot of heat in 2007 –
and rightly so – for blocking the release her official White House records.
Many suspect these records contain a treasure trove of information related to
her role in a number of serious Clinton-era scandals. Moreover, in March 2007,
Judicial Watch filed an ethics complaint against Senator Clinton for filing
false financial disclosure forms with the U.S. Senate (again). And Hillary’s
top campaign contributor, Norman Hsu, was exposed as a felon and a fugitive
from justice in 2007. Hsu pleaded guilty to one count of grand theft for
defrauding investors as part of a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme.
*
CLINTON IS A MAJOR LA RAZA SUPPORTER AND ADVANCED BUSH’S BIT
BY BIT AMNESTY ALONG WITH HER OWN CHAIN MIGRATION WHICH IS CALCULATED TO DOUBLE
THE 40 MILLION ILLEGALS ALREADY HERE.
CLINTON IS ALSO VERY MUCH IN BED WITH THE SAUDIS WHOM GAVE
10 MILLION TO BILL CLINTON’S LIBRARY. NO COMMENT ON THE FACT THE SAUDIS ARE
MAJOR FINANCIERS OF TERRORISM, INCLUDING BOMBERS IN IRAQ KILLING OUR PEOPLE, OR
THE SAUDI FUNDED WAHHABI SCHOOLS WHICH PROMOTE ULTRA-FASCIST MUSLIM IDEOLOGIES.
*
2. Rep. John Conyers (D-MI):
*
3. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID):
*
4. SENATOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): As a member of the
Senate Appropriations Committee's subcommittee on military construction,
Feinstein reviewed military construction government contracts, some of which
were ultimately awarded to URS Corporation and Perini, companies then owned by
Feinstein's husband, Richard Blum. While the Pentagon ultimately awards
military contracts, there is a reason for the review process. The Senate's
subcommittee on Military Construction's approval carries weight. Sen.
Feinstein, therefore, likely had influence over the decision making process.
Senator Feinstein also attempted to undermine ethics reform in 2007, arguing in
favor of a perk that allows members of Congress to book multiple airline
flights and then cancel them without financial penalty. Judicial Watch’s
investigation into this matter is ongoing.
YOU SAW FEINSTEIN, AND HER PIMP-HUSBAND, RICHARD C
BLUM, AT OBAMA’S INAUGURAL. BLUM KEEPS
DEM POLS MOUTH CLOSED TIGHT ON FEINSTEIN’S SELF-SERVING CORRUPTION, PIMPED BY
BLUM, BY HANDING OUT MONEY LEFT AND RIGHT. BLUM HAS PAID LEGAL BRIBES TO – BOXER – KERRY – KENNEDY – CLINTON
– OBAMA – AND THE OTHER WAR WHORE, JOE LIEBERMAN.
DIANNE FEINSTEIN IS THE PAID ADVOCATE FOR RED CHINA IN
CONGRESS.
FEINSTEIN TRADED TWO (BOXER’S) NO IMPEACHMENT PROMISES TO
GEORGE W. BUSH FOR HER PIMP’S ACCESS TO THE CARLYLE BIG BUSH SAUDI OIL WAR
PROFITEERING CLUB. WITH HER FIRST WAR PROFITS CHECK FEINSTEIN WENT OUT AND
PURCHASED A $17 MILLION DOLLAR MANSION IN SAN FRANCISCO. FEINSTEIN RANKS AS ONE
OF THE MOST CORRUPT POLITICIANS IN AMERICAN HISTORY WHICH MADE HER ATTRACTION
TO BOTH BUSH AND OBAMA OBVIOUS.
FEINSTEIN HAS LONG BEEN ENDORSED BY THE FASCIST MEXICAN
SUPREMACIST POLITICAL PARTY OF LA RAZA, AND TIRELESSLY WORKS FOR NO AMNESTY, NO
WALL, NO ID FOR ILLEGALS TO VOTE, NO ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS PROHIBITING THE
EMPLOYMENT OF ILLEGALS, AND NO E-VERIFY.
FEINSTEIN HAS LONG ILLEGALLY EXPLOITED “CHEAP” LABOR
ILLEGALS AT HER SAN FRANCISCO HOTEL.
*
5. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R-NY):
*
6. Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR
*
7. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby: Libby, former Chief of Staff to
Vice President Dick
*
8. SENATOR BARACK OBAMA (D-IL): A “Dishonorable Mention”
last year, Senator Obama moves onto the “ten most wanted” list in 2007. In
2006, it was discovered that Obama was involved in a suspicious real estate
deal with an indicted political fund raiser, Antoin “Tony” Rezko. In 2007, more
reports surfaced of deeper and suspicious business and political connections It
was reported that just two months after he joined the Senate, Obama purchased
$50,000 worth of stock in speculative companies whose major investors were his
biggest campaign contributors. One of the companies was a biotech concern that
benefitted from legislation Obama pushed just two weeks after the senator
purchased $5,000 of the company’s shares. Obama was also nabbed conducting
campaign business in his Senate office, a violation of federal law.
FEW HAVE TAKEN MORE MONEY FROM WALL STREET BANKSTERS THAN
OBAMA, AND FEW HAVE DONE MORE FOR THEM TO PROTECT THEM FROM PROSECUTION, AND
CONTINUE THE TRANSFER OF THIS ONCE GREAT NATION’S ECONOMY OVER TO THE CORPORATE
CLASS WHICH OWNS HIM.
OBAMA IS A MAJOR HISPANDERER AND HAS PROMISED WALL STREET
AMNESTY FOR 38 MILLION ILLEGALS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED AND PROFIT MARGINS
SWOLLEN. NO WORD FROM OBAMA ON MEXICAN GANGS MURDERING BLACKS IN COLD BLOOD IN
LOS ANGELES. DO SEARCH LOS ANGELES TIMES.
*
9. REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who
promised a new era of ethics enforcement in the House of Representatives, snuck
a $25 million gift to her husband, Paul Pelosi, in a $15 billion Water
Resources Development Act recently passed by Congress. The pet project involved
renovating ports in Speaker Pelosi's home base of San Francisco. Pelosi just
happens to own apartment buildings near the areas targeted for improvement, and
will almost certainly experience a significant boost in property value as a
result of Pelosi's earmark. Earlier in the year, Pelosi found herself in hot
water for demanding access to a luxury Air Force jet to ferry the Speaker and
her entourage back and forth from San Francisco non-stop, in unprecedented
request which was wisely rejected by the Pentagon. And under Pelosi’s
leadership, the House ethics process remains essentially shut down – which
protects members in both parties from accountability.
PELOSI HAS LONG HIRED ILLEGALS TO WORK HER 20 MILLION DOLLAR
NAPA WINERY. SHE HAS SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENTS IN SUNKIST WHICH HAS A POLICY
AGAINST PAYING LIVING WAGES OR HIRING LEGALS. SHE WORKS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS WITH THE OTHER
LA RAZA SUPPORTERS, FEINSTEIN, BOXER, ESHOO, LOFGREN, SANCHEZ, WAXMAN, KENNEDY,
HARMAN, BACA, HONDA, FONG, BECERRA AND
REID TO KEEP THE BORDERS OPEN. SHE HAS WORKED TIRELESSLY TO SABOTAGE THE WALL TO
PROTECT US FROM NARCO-MEX.
10. SENATOR HARRY REID (D-NV): Over the last few years, Reid
has been embroiled in a series of scandals that cast serious doubt on his
credibility as a self-professed champion of government ethics, and 2007 was no
different. According to The Los Angeles Times, over the last four years, Reid
has used his influence in Washington to help a developer, Havey Whittemore,
clear obstacles for a profitable real estate deal. As the project advanced, the
Times reported, “Reid received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign
contributions from Whittemore.” Whittemore also hired one of Reid’s sons (Leif)
as his personal lawyer and then promptly handed the junior Reid the
responsibility of negotiating the real estate deal with federal officials. Leif
Reid even called his father’s office to talk about how to obtain the proper EPA
permits, a clear conflict of interest.
ON BEHALF OF HIS BIG GAMBLING BRIBE-STERS, REID WORKS WITH
THE CALIFORNIA LA RAZA GIRLS FOR OPEN BORDERS, AMNESTY AND NO LAW ENFORCEMENT
AGAINST ILLEGALS. HIS STATE IS NOW 25% ILLEGAL, AND NEXT TO CALIFORNIA, HAS THE
HIGHEST RATES OF FORECLOSURES.
SENATOR BARBARA BOXER, CA. Although Boxer did not make the
TOP TEN CORRUPT in 2007, it’s probably
only because there wasn’t enough room. Boxer is as corrupt as they come. She
has used her elected office to collect a staggering fortune labeled “CONSULTANT
FEES”, which she then siphoned off to her son, lawyer DOUGLAS BOXER. Senator
Barbara Boxer voted NO to stop this form of corruption, and keeps herself on
the SENATE’S NO ETHICS COMMITTEE to sabotage any investigations into
FEINSTEIN’S massive corruption. Other politicians that collect special interest
bribes they refer to as “CONSULTANT FEES” are Kennedy and JOE BIDEN who has
collected big money from BIG BANKERS. This made the clown an obvious choice to
be VICE PRESIDENT for OBAMA pandering for more BANKSTERS BRIBES.
*
WHAT DID THE BANKSTERS KNOW ABOUT OUR ACTOR OBAMA THAT WE
DIDN’T KNOW?
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors
are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG
($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
BARACK OBAMA HAS COLLECTED NEARLY TWICE AS MUCH MONEY AS
JOHN McCAIN
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
July 1st 2008
Wall Street firms have chipped in more than $9 million to
Barack Obama. Zurga/Bloomberg
Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.
Although the Democratic presidential hopeful has vowed to raise capital gains and corporate taxes, financial industry bigs have contributed almost twice as much to Obama as to GOP rival John McCain, a Daily News analysis of campaign records shows.
"Wall Street wants change and wants a curtailment in spending. It wants someone who focuses on the domestic economy," said Jim Cramer, the boisterous host of CNBC's "Mad Money."
Cramer also does not discount nostalgia for the go-go 1990s, when Bill Clinton led the largest economic expansion in history.
"It wants a Clinton like in 1992, but not a Hillary Clinton," he said. "That's Barack Obama."
For both candidates, Wall Street's investment and banking sectors have become among their portliest cash cows, contributing $9.5 million to Obama and $5.3 million to McCain so far.
It's a haul that is already raising concerns that, as the nation's faltering economy has become issue No. 1, the two candidates may have a hard time playing tough on issues like market regulation or corporate-tax loopholes.
"No matter who wins in November, Wall Street will have a friend in the White House," said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics, which crunched the data for The News.
Wall Street's generosity toward Obama, in particular, would seem to run counter to its self-interests.
In addition to calling for corporate and capital gains tax hikes, Obama has proposed raising income taxes on those earning more than $250,000.
But Wall Street is often motivated by something more than money - winning.
"In general, these are professional
prognosticators," said Ritsch. "And they may be putting their money
on the person they predict will win, not the candidate they hope will
win."
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors
are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG
($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
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