Hillary Clinton’s Fake Tough Talk on Wall Street

[Cosmic Kitten]

“I went to Wall Street in December of 2007—before the big crash that we had,” Clinton said. “I basically said, ‘Cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors.’”

Lets not be fooled by Hillary's
Fake Tough Talk on Wall Street.

In dealing with Wall Street, Clinton faced the same challenge as any lawmaker representing New York, where the financial industry includes not only constituents but campaign donors. Wall Street executives were the largest donors to both her 2006 Senate re-election bid and her 2008 presidential campaign. Employees of just eight banking firms gave $2.67 million to those campaigns, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group.

<snip>

As a senator, Clinton also had a brush with the shadow-banking world that she now describes as a continuing threat to the financial system. When AIG, the giant insurance company and poster child for lightly regulated finance, began to implode in September 2008, Clinton reached out to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was involved in talks to rescue the firm with government funds. Her little-noticed overture came on behalf of some wealthy investors who stood to lose millions and had hired two longtime associates of the Clintons to represent them.

<snip>

A day before that speech, [Sept. 18, 2008] Clinton had quietly reached out to Paulson, Bush’s Treasury secretary, on behalf of some wealthy investors in AIG. The giant insurer had made bad bets on the mortgage market, couldn’t pay its debts, and faced imminent collapse. Shareholders were poised to lose billions if the company went bankrupt or was taken over by the government.

A review of Paulson’s calendars shows that he and Clinton talked on Sept. 17 and 20. In his book about the financial crisis, Paulson mentions just the first conversation, saying Clinton called on behalf of Mickey Kantor, a lawyer who represented a group interested in staving off AIG’s imminent collapse. The group’s investment banker, according to news accounts at the time, was Roger Altman. Kantor and Altman are longtime friends of Hillary Clinton and served as senior officials in her husband’s administration. Altman headed a secret energy task force for Clinton when she was in the Senate.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/13/hillary-clinton-s-fake-tough-talk-on-wall-street.html

CUT IT OUT!

Here is the video of Hillary
where Hillary scolds Wall Street

Link to a searchable transcription
of Hillary's December 5th, 2007
scolding of Wall Street.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=77081

[UglyGreed]

1. .

[Cosmic Kitten]

2. Cheers...gotta run!!!!

[Armstead]

4. LOL

[Fumesucker]

9. ...

[coyote]

3. One thing I learned in life is

that you do not bite the hand that feeds you. With that said, one look at who is lining Hillary's pockets says it all.

[ibegurpard]

5. And that's why Hillary

And the rest of the party hacks who insist we have to continue taking money from these parasites in order to compete will NEVER make any kind of changes to rebalance our economic system.

[Cosmic Kitten]

6. TRUE! Between the Casino Capitalism and War Hawking...

Hillary is far from what I would
consider a 'Real Democrat™'

[99Forever]

7. If I have learned nothing else in life...

... I have at least learned that taking a person's word who has a track record of being less than honest, is foolish.

[Cosmic Kitten]

12. Hillary flip-flops more than a fish out of water

[Segami]

8. Hillary's Tough Talk?....LOL!

“..I went to Wall Street in December of 2007—before the big crash that we had,” Clinton said. “I basically said, ‘Cut it out! Quit foreclosing on homes! Quit engaging in these kinds of speculative behaviors...’”

There now, her scolding should have scared Wall Street straight.........


But of course we should trust her......nothing but more Clinton smoke and mirrors.

Wall Street executives were the largest donors to both her 2006 Senate re-election bid and her 2008 presidential campaign. Employees of just eight banking firms gave $2.67 million to those campaigns, according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit research group.

Clinton in 2007 publicly decried a tax break for hedge-fund and private-equity executives—and continues to do so in her current campaign. But she didn’t sign on as a supporter of a Senate bill that would have curbed the break.

As a senator, Clinton also had a brush with the shadow-banking world that she now describes as a continuing threat to the financial system. When AIG, the giant insurance company and poster child for lightly regulated finance, began to implode in September 2008, Clinton reached out to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who was involved in talks to rescue the firm with government funds. Her little-noticed overture came on behalf of some wealthy investors who stood to lose millions and had hired two longtime associates of the Clintons to represent them.

[Cosmic Kitten]

10. Yep. perfect examples of her milquetoast *scolding*

Her actions on behalf of the 1%
paid off well...
she's no longer *dead broke*

[99th_Monkey]

11. Why her Wall St. connections have not been a bigger issue in debates is beyond me.

Her whole "cut it out" song & dance was laughable, yet it was widely regarded as
somewhat plausible .. so I'm glad it's getting more scrutiny with hindsight at least.

[Cosmic Kitten]

14. It's not a bigger issues because...

those running the debates
profit from her connections.

Someone has to pay for all that media.
They each play a roll in keeping
the pump primed and the money flowing.

Crony Capitalism is the why.

[99th_Monkey]

17. So far, both Bernie and O'M have treaded lightly on her Wall St. coziness

Perhaps they don't want to be smeared as "sexist" by laying it out in any more forceful way
than they have thus far.

btw - I do agree with your crony capitalism observations.

[Cosmic Kitten]

18. The allegations of bigotry and the smears against Bernie are pitiful

His detractors can't defend the indefensible
so they smear the opponent...
just like Carl Rove would

[Rose Siding]

19. Because the point is moot

Hillary Clinton: Wall Street Should Work for Main Street
The financial crisis showed how irresponsible behavior in the financial sector can devastate the lives of everyday Americans—costing nine million workers their jobs, driving five million families out of their homes, and wiping out more than $13 trillion in household wealth. Hillary Clinton believes that raising incomes for hard-working Americans is the defining economic challenge of our time. It requires not only strong growth and fair growth, but also long-term growth—growth that isn’t as vulnerable to crashes that hurt our families and set our country back. Today, Clinton is putting forward a plan to help ensure that middle class families never again have to bail out Wall Street.

Clinton’s plan starts with defending the comprehensive Wall Street reforms passed in the wake of the crisis—the Dodd-Frank Act. Then it takes important additional steps to curb risk in the financial industry, crack down on bad actors, and ensure that everyday investors and consumers are treated fairly. As she’s said, “We need to make sure there’s accountability on Wall Street so there can be prosperity on Main Street.”[ii]

Clinton’s plan would:

Defend Dodd-Frank against Republican attacks—so that we don’t go back to the days when Wall Street could write its own rules.
Tackle dangerous risks in the financial system—reducing both present and future threats to our financial and economic stability.
Hold both individuals and corporations accountable when they break the law or put the system at risk—protecting the integrity of our markets and upholding basic fairness.
Ensure that the financial sector serves the interests of investors and consumers, not just itself—so that everyday Americans can save and invest with confidence that they’re getting a fair shake.
Clinton understands that the strength of our markets depends on the strength of the rules that govern them. U.S. capital markets represent a national asset and offer a substantial international competitive advantage. With strong rules of the road, the financial sector can help make it possible for everyday Americans to meet their aspirations—helping young families buy a first home, allowing entrepreneurs to finance a new or expanding business, and supporting workers as they build wealth for retirement. A well-regulated financial system can facilitate the kind of responsible, long-term investment that drives broad-based economic growth.

Clinton’s plan would support this kind of investment. It builds on her record of proposing reforms that would discourage excessive risk-taking, increase fairness, enhance transparency and accountability, and curb the kinds of abuses that led to the financial crisis and the Great Recession.

As a Senator, Clinton called for:

Addressing abuses in the subprime mortgage market. Clinton called for immediate action to address abuses in the subprime mortgage market, and she laid out detailed and concrete proposals for how to do so—starting a year and a half before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.[iii]
Imposing stronger regulations on the “shadow banking” system. Clinton called on Congress to provide regulators with immediate authority to constrain the risky activities of the “shadow banks” like Lehman Brothers that played a leading role in causing the crisis.[iv]
Toughening regulation of risky derivatives. Clinton urged greater transparency in our complex and risky derivatives markets, an idea that Dodd-Frank eventually embraced.[v]
Cracking down on excessive executive compensation. Clinton proposed, among other things, giving shareholders an annual vote on executive compensation, strengthening clawback provisions for improperly awarded executive bonuses, and prohibiting conflicted payments to corporate compensation consultants.[vi]
Closing the carried interest loophole. Clinton called for closing the carried interest loophole, which provides a preferentially low tax rate for certain types of Wall Street income, noting that it was a “glaring inequality” that offends our values as a nation.[vii]
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/p/briefing/factsheets/2015/10/08/wall-street-work-for-main-street/

Her policies are covered far more fully at the link. (The footnotes in this small snip are messing with the formatting)

[99th_Monkey]

20. Hillary's "tough talk" re Wall St. is belied by her deep-pocket Wall St. donors

as well as the fact that -- Hillary not only represents the 1% -- the Clintons ARE well up into the 1%,
having amassed a fortune since Bill left office.

These two things make it difficult for many (myself included) to take her polished position papers, or
her "I told Wall St. to cut it out!" very seriously.

If she's elected President, I grant you that having her stated positions will be nominally useful in trying
to hold her accountable for following through on them, but -- as we've seen with Obama -- once elected
Presidents tend to backslide on much of their campaign rhetoric.

[Rose Siding]

21. That quote was in reference to this speech

-shorthand in the debate, right? Is that where it came from?

Context is important. She took it right to them. I don't see how anyone familiar with this speech can believe she could be co-opted. It's true she doesn't demonize them, but that's never a good idea when you'll need to work with someone. But you can see the outlines of her policies back in this 2007 speech-

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=77081

[99th_Monkey]

23. From Hillary's speech

If we cannot reach a voluntary agreement, I will consider legislation to address the problem. Mortgage servicers can work with borrowers to modify their mortgages. In the process, they can save families their homes, save investors from losses down the road, and help the economy.

But this is unchartered territory for them, and many are worried about opening themselves up to lawsuits from the investors who actually own the loans. I'm prepared to consider giving legal protection to servicers and others who administer these loans and who do the right thing by balancing the interests of homeowners, the investors, and our economy.

One can see how carefully she crafts her positions to provide just enough wiggle room to "evolve" later. First, she asks for Wall St.'s voluntary compliance to three suggestions; then she doesn't say "if they don't comply, then I WILL .. " .. she keeps herself 1-2 arms-lengths from a clear commitment, saying only "I will consider... " or that she's "prepared to consider.. "

This actually is a great example of what I'm talking about, with Hillary one never quite knows what they are getting, but not so with Sanders, which is one reason Bernie regularly gets the votes of an astonishing 21-25% of Vermont's GOP voters to support his re-elections. Voters are hungry for authenticity, clarity and are fed up with weasel-worded campaign rhetoric.

[Armstead]

13. "Cut it Out or We're Gonna Get Caught"

[Cosmic Kitten]

15. Bingo!

[Segami]

16. LOL!

DUzy!...............

Start printing the T-shirts!........

[AgingAmerican]

22. Did she yell it from the balcony?

Above the trading floor with a bullhorn?

Sure ya did Hillary, sure ya did.