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For his work at Citigroup, work that included betting on the housing collapse, Lew received a salary of $1.1 million. After Citigroup received its $45 billion taxpayer bailout, Lew — two weeks before joining the Obama administration — received another $900,000 from Citigroup as a bonus. This was revealed only in 2010; in 2009, when Lew first joined the administration as a State Department official, both he and the administration refused to say if he had received a post-bailout bonus from Citigroup (at the time, there was a huge political scandal over Wall Street executives receiving large bonuses despite needing taxpayer bailouts). There’s certainly nothing illegal about betting on a housing market collapse, but it’s quite symbolic that those who made millions of dollars from the crisis are now running government policy.

Lew (like so many key Obama officials) also participated in the orgy of Wall Street de-regulation that took place in the 1990s when he served as Clinton’s OMB head; after leaving Citigroup to join the Obama administration, he unsurprisingly said in response to questioning from Sen. Bernie Sanders that he does not believe deregulation contributed to the financial crisis. The New York Times today says that Lew “has built a reputation as a pragmatic liberal who believes Democrats must compromise with Republicans on long-term deficits in order to forestall draconian cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security.” The Washington Post‘s Ezra Klein was a bit more blunt: Lew “has emerged as one of the members of the Obama administration Republicans prefer working with.” Whatever else one might want to say, Lew, a fairly standard-issue Democrat with less of a “centrist” reputation than Daley, is a perfect fit for this administration.

So the first White House Chief of Staff, Emanuel, not only built a Democratic majority in the House by supporting corporatist Blue Dogs over progressive challengers, but himself got rich when he left the Clinton White House to join a Chicago investment bank and made “more than $18 million in just two-and-a-half years, turning many of his contacts in his substantial political Rolodex into paying clients”; thereafter, Emanuel worked hard in the House on behalf of the hedge fund industry and — unsurprisingly — “was the top recipient in the House of Representatives of campaign contributions from hedge funds, private equity firms and the wider securities and investment industry during the 2008 election cycle.” The second Chief of Staff was JP Morgan’s Daley. And now the third is Lew.

CAA Flagship wrote:Democratic Party Being Taken Over by Socialists?

Yes, but do we really have to discuss it. I'm too busy making working to pay taxes to help pay for freeloading Democrats who are entitled to receive my hard earned money for doing absolutely nothing. Oh, and I have to get drug tested, and successfully pass, in order to maintain my job. Something that is not necessary for the entitled crowd. And I have to acquire a minimum number of professional development credits in order to maintain my license and keep my job, so I can pay taxes to help pay for freeloading Democrats who are entitled to receive my hard earned money for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

CAA Flagship wrote:Democratic Party Being Taken Over by Socialists?

Yes, but do we really have to discuss it. I'm too busy making working to pay taxes to help pay for freeloading Democrats who are entitled to receive my hard earned money for doing absolutely nothing. Oh, and I have to get drug tested, and successfully pass, in order to maintain my job. Something that is not necessary for the entitled crowd. And I have to acquire a minimum number of professional development credits in order to maintain my license and keep my job, so I can pay taxes to help pay for freeloading Democrats who are entitled to receive my hard earned money for doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

kalm wrote:Did you check out Obama's latest chief of staff? The worst kind of socialist is the money grubbing pro banking, anti-regulation guy.

travelinman67 wrote:

kalm wrote:Did you check out Obama's latest chief of staff? The worst kind of socialist is the money grubbing pro banking, anti-regulation guy.

Socialist Elites




None for thee, and all for me.