10 Most Corrupt US Capitalists
I left Vegas on Friday, but before I split, I took one final lap around the Skybridge Alternative Investment conference to say goodbye to a few people.
On the way out, I interrupt a tall old codger making time with Sandra, who works as Roubini’s Research Strategies Director. She is quite fetching, and since I was late, I bulled in, barking “Pardon the interruption.” I hurriedly air kiss her goodbye (European style, MWA! on each cheek), all the while thinking about my flight to San Diego. She introduces me to Lurch, but I’m only half listening, and I shake the old guy’s hand before bolting for my flight.
In the cab from the Bellagio to the airport, it dawns on me just what Sandra said: “Barry, this is Robert Rubin.” No bullshit, that’s who it was. He looked terrible; Clinton who just had quadruple bypass, looked much better.
Then again, Slick Willie’s biggest crime was sexual, not economic in nature. Whatever rationales Rubin’s conscious mind may have made about his role in the collapse, his subconscious knows better. And while no one else seems to be doing this, his subconscious is in the process of kicking his own ass. He seems to be slowly dying inside, at the behest of his own brain’s sense of guilt.
Regardless, I was reminded of that when I came across this list of the “corrupt corporate capitalists who leveraged their connections in government for their own personal profit . . . Today we know these opportunists as deregulatory hacks hellbent on making a profit at any cost.”
And look at this! Number 1 (with a bullet), turns out to be the former Treasury Secretary of State, whom I barely acknowledged while I was rudely interrupting his rap to a young hottie so I could say good bye to her:
America’s Ten Most Corrupt Capitalists
1. Robert Rubin
2. Alan Greenspan
3. Larry Summers
4. Phil and Wendy Gramm
5. Jamie Dimon
6. Stephen Friedman
7. Robert Steel
8. Henry Paulson
9. Warren Buffett
10. Goldman Sachs:
-Joshua Bolton, chief of staff for George W. Bush, was a Goldman man
-Current New York Fed President William Dudley is a Goldman man
-Current Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has been a responsible regulator under Obama, but he was a deregulatory hawk during the Clinton years, and worked at Goldman for nearly two decades before that.
-A top aide to Timothy Geithner, Gene Sperling, is a Goldman man
-Current Treasury Undersecretary Robert Hormats is a Goldman man
-Current Treasury Chief of Staff Mark Patterson is a former Goldman lobbyist
-Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt is now a Goldman adviser
-Neel Kashkari, Henry Paulson’s deputy on TARP, was a Goldman man
-COO of the SEC Enforcement Division Adam Storch is a Goldman man
-Former Sen. John Corzine, D-N.J., was Goldman’s CEO before Henry Paulson
-Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., was a Goldman Vice President before he ran for Congress
-Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., now lobbies for Goldman
>
Source:
America’s Ten Most Corrupt Capitalists
Zach Carter
AlterNet May 13, 2010
http://www.alternet.org/story/146819/
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May 25th, 2010 at 8:50 am
He was secretary of treasury no ?
~~~
BR: Doh! I’ll fix above . . .
May 25th, 2010 at 9:01 am
Barry, I bet you he was going to ask Sandra for a cuddle.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/iris-mack/bob-rubin-just-wants-to-b_b_557621.html
May 25th, 2010 at 9:03 am
garo beat me to it. apparently, rubin and clinton had some mutual interests.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:05 am
I wonder who would be on the list from 100 years ago – it would be interesting to compare today’s list to the guys in the history books.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:08 am
How many gibbets will we need?
May 25th, 2010 at 9:18 am
To be fair, there isn’t anyone on that list who is currently a capitalist. They’re oligarchs, political power-brokers, and rent-seekers. Buffet (whom I greatly admire) was once a great capitalist, but now is reduced to being another rent-seeker.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:26 am
Pardon my interruption – what is a rent-seeker?
May 25th, 2010 at 9:29 am
‘Slick Willie’ …….. SUCH VEGAS TALK.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:40 am
>> I left Vegas on Friday
No. You didn’t.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:42 am
I was surprised to see no mention of the various ex-politicos that shill for the Carlyle Group, though upon closer inspection it turns out that Levitt also works for them, in addition to being a Goldman adviser.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:42 am
-Neel Kashkari, Henry Paulson’s deputy on TARP, was a Goldman man
He was on CNBC the other day. He nows works for PIMCO. Shocking, I know.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:51 am
I was going to say, until beatstreet ‘beat’ me to it: These guys are ‘capitalists’ like the Bush’s, Dodds,Franks, Obama’s and Grahams of the world are ‘statesmen’. Self serving assholes.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:59 am
@ Ken B
From Wiki …
In economics, rent seeking occurs when an individual, organization or firm seeks to earn income by capturing economic rent through manipulation or exploitation of the economic or political environment, rather than by earning profits through economic transactions and the production of added wealth.
May 25th, 2010 at 9:59 am
Goes back to the first question to ask in finance, “Where are all the customer’s yachts?”
May 25th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Did you ever notice how much Phil Gramm and Larry Summers look like turtles? They really do, look at their pictures. I do not think they are human. They are some type of human-like turtle species.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:15 am
You forgot Cramer. He has cost more people more money from his “Cramer as Bozo” show and appearances on CNBC.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:23 am
I dunno, dss. Hasn’t Cramer made you money???
May 25th, 2010 at 10:31 am
You have this tagged as a bad call Barry. I think it is a beautiful thing when one of these so-called celebrity jackasses is ignored or not fawned over like they are used to.
I heard that Howard Stern one time was manning the red carpet at some star-studded event and was asking the passersby, “Who are you and what made you famous?” to the now shocked and offended celebrities. Exactly the treatment they deserve once in a while.
Thanks for including WB with all the other more obvious criminals. He’s just a big insurance/finance guy, and few realize that he’s no better than the others.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:33 am
BR–thanks for sharing this story. I hope Rubin rots in hell!
May 25th, 2010 at 10:47 am
jiks, no.2 is mr. Economy, Alan Greenspan….and no.10 is mr. Value, Warren Buffet…..chills through my spine
May 25th, 2010 at 10:53 am
I’ve ranted about #9 for years and all I get are strange looks from the loving masses. Thanks Barry for making things right for a minute or two.
May 25th, 2010 at 10:53 am
Mr Cheney deserves a spot. The Iraqi foray was made on questionable intelligence and unquestionable conflict of interest. And makes him the champion of one of the most expensive misadventures of all time.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:03 am
The sound of two wings of one nomenklatura flapping.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Don’t forget, Corzine did such a great job running Goldman & NJ that he is now head honcho at MF Global.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:23 am
AndrewShaw, I’m recovering from worshipping at the altar of Buffett. But, “no better”?
For the moment, forget the past 2 years. Was his advice any good years ago? Did he at least tell the truth about financial WMD? Has he done well by his shareholders? (Compare his biz with Rubin’s Citibank.) Did he lever up his enterprise like the turds on Wall Street?
I’m not saying he doesn’t belong on “a” list. But, the top 10? “No better”? Shouldn’t we rank about 10% of everyone on Wall Street ahead of him on the list?
May 25th, 2010 at 11:25 am
BR: Wow, that’s a zinger of a list. I’d add Ben Bernanke on the list for hammering the nails in the coffin with the same ol’ same ol’ policies. A PhD from the best schools and still following the same stupid Keynesian policies….%#$#$*&
The Tea-Partiers may not be the most eloquent bunch of people, and I’d never adopt the far-right’s social platform, but they “get it.” Everybody gets it except for the corrupt capitalists who continue to run amok with a supreme sense of entitlement.
Great to run into you in the halls at SALT by the way.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:38 am
What’s a rent-seeker?
These days, it seems that it’s anyone who is underwater on their mortgage. Rent from the state… rent from tenants… a place to rent instead…. the opportunities seem endless! ;-)
May 25th, 2010 at 11:44 am
wunsacon: of course I was getting a little ahead of myself from the excitement of seeing the oracle on the list.
You are correct, unless it can be shown that WB is also a Goldman alum.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:47 am
Nicely written, Barry; ya painted a good picture.
A
May 25th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Um, you forgot Lloyd Blankfein.
May 25th, 2010 at 11:54 am
I think both Greenie and Phil Gramm rank higher than Rubin.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
“Whatever rationales Rubin’s conscious mind may have made about his role in the collapse, his subconscious knows better. And while no one else seems to be doing this, his subconscious is in the process of kicking his own ass. He seems to be slowly dying inside, at the behest of his own brain’s sense of guilt.”
P’shaw … the powerful never, EVER utilize the 20-20 nature of hindsight to finger themselves in the problems they have created, at any level of the subconscious. In the few rare cases where this has occurred (and I cannot think of ANY at present), it is only after their power has been stripped away, and they have been forced by circumstance to walk in the shoes of those they previously steamrollered into oblivion.
My guess is that whatever is making Rubin look so ill (and from the recent photos and videos I’ve seen, he appears to be at Death’s Doorstep) is physical and biological, rather than anything connected to a mythical conscience. I just hope his estate is loaded with Citi stock and Greek bonds.
May 25th, 2010 at 12:30 pm
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=Goldman+Sachs+Trilateral+Commission+Council+on+Foreign+Relations
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gibbet
“In the department of economy, an act, a habit, an institution, a law, gives birth not only to an effect, but to a series of effects. Of these effects, the first only is immediate; it manifests itself simultaneously with its cause – it is seen. The others unfold in succession – they are not seen: it is well for us, if they are foreseen. Between a good and a bad economist this constitutes the whole difference – the one takes account of the visible effect; the other takes account both of the effects which are seen, and also of those which it is necessary to foresee. Now this difference is enormous, for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favourable, the ultimate consequences are fatal, and the converse. Hence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good, which will be followed by a great evil to come, while the true economist pursues a great good to come, – at the risk of a small present evil.
In fact, it is the same in the science of health, arts, and in that of morals. It often happens, that the sweeter the first fruit of a habit is, the more bitter are the consequences. Take, for example, debauchery, idleness, prodigality. When, therefore, a man absorbed in the effect which is seen has not yet learned to discern those which are not seen, he gives way to fatal habits, not only by inclination, but by calculation.
This explains the fatally grievous condition of mankind. Ignorance surrounds its cradle: then its actions are determined by their first consequences, the only ones which, in its first stage, it can see. It is only in the long run that it learns to take account of the others. It has to learn this lesson from two very different masters – experience and foresight. Experience teaches effectually, but brutally. It makes us acquainted with all the effects of an action, by causing us to feel them; and we cannot fail to finish by knowing that fire burns, if we have burned ourselves. For this rough teacher, I should like, if possible, to substitute a more gentle one. I mean Foresight. For this purpose I shall examine the consequences of certain economical phenomena, by placing in opposition to each other those which are seen, and those which are not seen….”
http://bastiat.org/en/twisatwins.html
Bastiat, helpful in so many ways..if that cat was sold via Infomercials, we’d really have a, metaphysical, knife with which to cut through the B*******..
May 25th, 2010 at 12:44 pm
The Goldman graph—Degrees of Separation and connections with Goldman. BR posted such a graph a year ago but I can’t find it. Can someone here please point me to it.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
Stan O’Neal – the great destroyer of capitalism at Merrill Lynch.
If you modify the list to destruction of capitalism, then you have to include Bernanke and Obama and the greatest destroyer of capitalism since Herbert Hoover – George W. Bush.
Great topic Barry. Is this a sign of a bottom when we get to let out our frustrations on this list of swine?
You asked us to search for the few of great virtue somewhere near the top. Have to admit the list of evil is much easier to make, and few would deny “The Mark” of anyone on this list.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Glad to see St Warren finally get the credit he deserves.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:52 pm
We all here worship at the church of feret out the wrongdoers
the nub of the crime for jim chanos and me
selling bad stuff, to a buy side buyer complicit in overvaluing,(IBGYBG) selling fake insurance,buying fake insurance, and putting the taxpayer on the hook and bailing out the bondholders. it is accounting based fraud, not capitalism.
taking 50 % of that fake asset structure as bonuses, severance etc, and leaving the empty bond creditor husks to be bailed out by taxpayers.
In my church doers worse than abetters, bailout worse than doing it.
Angelo Mozillo
Stan Oneal (per above) Charles Prince etc etc, meaning
all those that did it, themselves, then walked with huge bonuses and severance.
is it worse to be like golman and JPM and sell some bad stuff but know how to run your own company, or to sell worse stuff, bankrupt your own co, take huge bonuse and severance and saddle taxpayers with the 100% bailout of your bondholders?
Geithner, chief public architect of that.
everyone on the AIG swaps desk, Cassano in particular.
all the fund manager CEOs resellers to little investors the other half of IBGYBG. tellin us (you) “how could we have known?” ” dont worry we’ll make it back for you”
Dereg was bad but this not at root a govt caused calamity. Officials NOW covering up, in lower ring of public official hell for me as they KNOW the consequences of bubble blowing. Rep Paul Kanjorsky in a class by himself as corrupt, is he is not rich as a capitalist i’ll be amazed. Pushed through even more lax accounting in 09, Singlehandedly torpedoed the investigations committe probe of the rating agencies, playing a key role in gutting what little there was in recent reform.
so i have a prob with buffett, DImon and Steele ahead of any of these. Steele in particular. he worked hard to get better accounting before being railroaded by the Dark Side, the “fix the problem by lying even more about it” side.
May 25th, 2010 at 1:56 pm
How about a Diogenes list of honest, upstanding business leaders and politicians.
1) ???
May 25th, 2010 at 7:15 pm
You think Rubin wasn’t paying attention too and then realized after you left, “That pillsbury doughboy I just shook hands with was Barry Ritholtz!”?
May 25th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
Small Alternet error– Hormats is an Undersecretary at State not Treasury. He is a GSer.
http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/129529.htm
But then, so was a Mr. Randall Fort. Look at his jobs at State and GS. Now there’s a connection that will rile up the commentators at Alternet. Intelligence, Research, Global Security, Defense Contractors, Reagan, the Bushes, GOLDMAN SACHS. Ooh scary! My crazy conspiracy cup runneth over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_M._Fort
May 26th, 2010 at 6:26 am
Since you included The Oracle as Public Enemy #9, this from Forbes:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/31945014/Warren-Buffet-s-1982-letter-to-John-Dingell-warning-about-derivatives
1982 letter from St. Warren in which the Oracle foresees disaster with derivatives and warns the people not to let the devil into the temple.