Obama's OMB Pick Oversaw Citigroup Unit That Shorted Housing Market

[depakid]

President Barack Obama's choice to lead the White House budget office oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government's fraud case against Goldman Sachs.

Jacob Lew, named Tuesday as Obama's nominee to lead the Office of Management and Budget to replace departing OMB chief Peter Orszag, served as chief operating officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments in 2008. He has served as a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton since the administration came into office.

Though Lew is a longtime public servant who's spent nearly 30 years in various positions throughout government, it is his few years at Citi -- in particular the one year he spent at its then-$54 billion proprietary trading, hedge fund and private equity unit -- that's likely to raise the most eyebrows in the coming weeks as Lew faces a Senate confirmation hearing.

Especially his unit's investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse -- a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners.

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/14/jack-lew-obamas-omb-pick_n_645093.html

Hey, at least he got it right!

[msongs]

1. next thing u know there will be a bush republican secretary of defense....nt

[Moochy]

20. A Cabinet of Rivals!

:think: another bright republican idea from the 1860's!

[Renew Deal]

2. Why is Orszag leaving?

:shrug:

[ProSense]

5. Orzag is a

deficit hawk and his leaving could be a good thing. Lew is for fiscal responsibility, but he is a strong advocate of social spending.

[ProSense]

3. Obama's nominee is

also against cutting Social Security. In fact, he advocated protecting it in Congressional testimonies.

He also pushed to reinstate welfare benefits for legal immigrants. Who the hell knew that benefits were cut for legal immigrants?

Oh, and he is a staunch critic of the Bush tax cuts.

[depakid]

4. errr.. there hasn't been welfare in the United States since 1996

[Kahuna]

6. Really? Are you sure about that? Because while there were limits

put into place about how long recipients could receive welfare, I'm pretty sure that welfare is still available. You might want to check the facts on this.

[depakid]

8. I don't need to "check the facts" -because I was there when it happened

working with groups who predicted the problems that arose in the 00's due to Clinton "ending welfare as we knew it."

Unfortunately- as with many other things, media deregulation being the most telling, Americans have very short memories- and so think that whatever "the norm" is today is how it's always been.

btw: the limited benefits available today are called TANF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Assistance_for_Needy_Families

[VMI Dem]

9. Kagan was instrumental in shaping that "reform".

[depakid]

10. Yep

Among other things...

There's a pattern to discern with her over the years.

[ProSense]

11. "the limited benefits available today are called TANF"

It's welfare. Call it whatever you want to, it's still public assistance.

[Spazito]

14. Damn, you weren't supposed to catch that!

You see if the title of the program changes that means the program no longer exists even if it does!

It has become beyond bizarre here lately, lol.

[EFerrari]

23. The TANF program bears no resemblance to the welfare program

which is why it's called "welfare deform" by the people who had to try to live through it.

[phleshdef]

7. You've apparently never visited Southern WVa.

[Freddie Stubbs]

12. Ever hear of (TANF) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families?

[depakid]

15. There are doubtlessly some who would be rid even of those benefits

which aren't even close to the same as welfare.

Once again though it's a situation where Americans don't have a clue how things were- or how they're still done other nations.

[90-percent]

13. Or

Or the bureaucrats of MMS will be made up of government employees who had sex with oil company lobbyists during the Bush Administration.

[QC]

16. He just hired a WellPoint executive to run the new health care program. n/t

[ProSense]

17. He hired Liz Fowler to a division of HHS

Despite the Sirota/FDL spin, she is currently on Senate Finance Committee staff.


The effort to try to smear everyone appointed by the administration is getting old.

[depakid]

18. Not smearing when it's true- just facts

that don't look too good from an ethical perspective.

[avaistheone1]

21. True. And now Obama has appointed a jerk from Citibank who was betting against Americans in hopes

we would lose our homes.

I can't find any good news in this Obama appointment.

[depakid]

22. Ethics aside- he did get it right, which even a cynic would have to say is an improvement

over some of the others who have weighed down the administration.

[boppers]

24. Show me a good person. Just one. That's all I need.

I can tear them down in minutes with spin.

That's how the game works.

For example, Jesus Christ was disrespectful to his parents, and advocated ripping families apart.

I have the facts to back that up.


edit: tense typo

[NutmegYankee]

19. I was ranting back in 2006 that the market was going to collapse.

Good for him! It was obvious people - He just made his company money by making a smart bet.