Summers Received Hundreds Of Thousands In Speaking Fees From TARP Recipients

[leftchick]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/03/summers-received-hundreds_n_183058.html



Barack Obama's chief economic adviser, Larry Summers, received hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaking fees last year from firms that have direct financial interests before the government or are intimately involved in the White House's bank relief programs.

The White House released late Friday the personal financial disclosure forms of many high-ranking administration officials. The document provided for Summers, who serves as one of the president's closest confidants, underscores just how close some of these officials are to the industry over which they now have oversight.

Among the firms that paid Summers large amounts in speaking fees include J.P. Morgan Chase. That bank offered the former Harvard president and Treasury Secretary $67,500 for a February 1, 2008 engagement. It has received $25 billion in government bailout funds.

Citigroup, which has received $50 billion in taxpayer help, paid Summers $45,000 for a speech in March 2008 and another $54,000 for a speech that May.

Goldman Sachs, which has received $10 million in bailout funds, paid Summers $135,000 for a speech on April 16, 2008 and another $67,500 for a speech on June 18, 2008.

Summers also received about $5.2 million over the past year in salary from the major hedge fund D.E. Shaw.

The speech payments will undoubtedly raise questions as to the impartiality of the economic advice Summers is providing to the president. Already viewed as too favorably disposed to Wall Street interests, the lavish payments for speeches will provide further fodder for those who think the administration has been forgiving in their approach to the banking industry.

In a prepared statement, spokesman Ben LaBolt said that, "From the first days of the administration, we have bolstered accountability over banks and reformed the TARP process so that taxpayers can see how their money is being spent, the influence of lobbyists is curbed, executive compensation is reined in, and firms are required to show how they will preserve or expand lending using government funds. Dr. Summers has been at the forefront of this administration's work to shore up our nation's financial system and to put in place a regulatory framework that will strengthen the financial system and its oversight - all in an effort to help the families across America who have paid a very steep price for risky decisions made by Wall Street executives."
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Below is a list of the notable speeches given by Summers last year, the amount he was paid, and the date of the address. Further down is a PDF of Summers' Personal Financial Disclosure form, released on late Friday afternoon. Tell us what you see.

Skagen Funds, $60,300, (1/9/2008)


Skagen Funds, $60,300, (1/10/2008)

Skagen Funds, $59,400, (1/11/2008)

JP Morgan, $67,500, (2/1/2008)

Itinera Institute, $62,876 (1/8/2008)

Citigroup, $45,000 (3/3/2008)

Goldman Sachs Co., $135,000, (4/16/2008)

Associon de Bancos de Mexico, $90,000, (4/3/2008)

Lehman Brothers, $67,500, (4/17/2008)

State Street Corporation, $45,000, (4/18/2008)

Siguler Guff & Company, $67,500, (5/7/2008)

Hudson Institute, $10,000, (05/28/2008)

Citigroup, $54,000, (5/30/2008)

Investec Bank, $157,500, (6/13/2008)

Goldman Sachs, $67,500, (6/18/2008)

Lehman Brothers, $67,500, (7/30/2008)

Tata Consultance Services, $67,500, (9/21/2008)

State Street Corporation, $112,500, (10/2/2008)

McKinsey and Company, $135,000, (10/19/2008)

Charles River Ventures LLC, $67,500, (11/112008)

Pricewaterhouse Coopers, $67,500 (9/9/2008)

American Chamber of Commerce In Argentina, $135,000 (10/7/2008)

American Express, $67,500 (5/7/2008)

[chimpymustgo]

1. This is disgusting. I posted yesterday WaPo's write up. Thanks for including the details.

But get ready for the bots to say "who cares?"

This is such a sickening, rapacious con-game. No wonder the "lack of transparency" in the bail-outs. We'd probably DIE if we knew the extent of the greed and theivery.

[leftchick]

2. people are literally dying

my very good friend, a socialist type nun who still wears a habit, gave me some statistics the other day regarding the economy, job loss and deaths. It is on my other computer otherwise I would be posting it. It really is shocking.

[ellenfl]

3. who's he supposed to make speeches to, the pta?

he's an economist. he will be asked by financial groups to speak to them. has he not disclosed this? were his speeches about how to scam taxpayers? the issue is that he made money in his field? do you have a pre-emptive list of those groups that would be acceptable for him to speak to?

sheesh.

for the record, i don't like summers, but i think this is ridiculous and part of the continued effort by the corporate media to discredit obama and his team.

ellen fl

[chimpymustgo]

4. No. the millions he got paid by the corporations he's now throwing BILLIONS at is what's ridiculous.

And denial we are being ROBBED is what's ridiculous.

[ellenfl]

5. oh, i did not know that summers is the decider and that he

failed to disclose his fees from these companies. so they have him in their pockets because they hired him to make a speech?

i am not denying we are being robbed. i am objecting to the lemmings here nodding in agreement with the corporate media.

if summers has not disclosed his fees and if he has an ongoing relationship with the companies that asked him to speak to them, then we have a problem. is that the case? how come wapo never said anything about cheney's relationship to haliburton but have you guys blasting summers for being an independent contractor, not an employee, selling his knowledge?

you guys need to get a grip. please show me where summers had any bias just because he got paid to make a speech to these corporations.

a hit on summers for this is also a hit on obama.

ellen fl

[leftchick]

6. you have the lemmings part right

just not pointing out the ones following dear leader over an economic cliff. Of course he will have a parachute unlike you all.

[Babel_17]

9. It's just getting disclosed now

I don't disagree with your fundamental point about compensation. But I look at the details and I'm amazed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/03/AR2009040303732.html?hpid=topnews

"$135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs"

That's a heck of a visit. Though it appears to have been a wise investment. I say investment because it was widely believed Summers would soon be back in government.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/04/summers/

"the crusade led by Alan Greenspan, former Goldman CEO Robert Rubin (Geithner's mentor) and Larry Summers in the late 1990s to block the efforts of top regulators (especially Brooksley Born, head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission) to regulate the exact financial derivatives market that became the principal cause of the global financial crisis."

[Babel_17]

7. Glenn Greenwald goes after the encompassing, enabling, culture

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/04/04/summers/

[leftchick]

8. thank you for this

I heart Glenn....


Larry Summers, Tim Geithner and Wall Street's ownership of government

White House officials yesterday released their personal financial disclosure forms, and included in the millions of dollars which top Obama economics adviser Larry Summers made from Wall Street in 2008 is this detail:

Lawrence H. Summers, one of President Obama's top economic advisers, collected roughly $5.2 million in compensation from hedge fund D.E. Shaw over the past year and was paid more than $2.7 million in speaking fees by several troubled Wall Street firms and other organizations. . . .

Financial institutions including JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch paid Summers for speaking appearances in 2008. Fees ranged from $45,000 for a Nov. 12 Merrill Lynch appearance to $135,000 for an April 16 visit to Goldman Sachs, according to his disclosure form.

That's $135,000 paid by Goldman Sachs to Summers -- for a one-day visit. And the payment was made at a time -- in April, 2008 -- when everyone assumed that the next President would either be Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton and that Larry Summers would therefore become exactly what he now is: the most influential financial official in the U.S. Government (and the $45,000 Merrill Lynch payment came 8 days after Obama's election). Goldman would not be able to make a one-day $135,000 payment to Summers now that he is Obama's top economics adviser, but doing so a few months beforehand was obviously something about which neither parties felt any compunction. It's basically an advanced bribe. And it's paying off in spades. And none of it seemed to bother Obama in the slightest when he first strongly considered naming Summers as Treasury Secretary and then named him his top economics adviser instead (thereby avoiding the need for Senate confirmation), knowing that Summers would exert great influence in determining who benefited from the government's response to the financial crisis.

Last night, former Reagan-era S&L regulator and current University of Missouri Professor Bill Black was on Bill Moyers' Journal and detailed the magnitude of what he called the on-going massive fraud, the role Tim Geithner played in it before being promoted to Treasury Secretary (where he continues to abet it), and -- most amazingly of all -- the crusade led by Alan Greenspan, former Goldman CEO Robert Rubin (Geithner's mentor) and Larry Summers in the late 1990s to block the efforts of top regulators (especially Brooksley Born, head of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission) to regulate the exact financial derivatives market that became the principal cause of the global financial crisis. To get a sense for how deep and massive is the on-going fraud and the key role played in it by key Obama officials, I highly recommend watching that Black interview (it can be seen here and the transcript is here).