Robert Scheer: Geithner and Goldman, Thick as Thieves

What was Timothy Geithner thinking back in 2008 when, as president of the New York Fed, he decided to give Goldman Sachs a $30 billion interest-free loan as part of an $80 billion secret float to favored banks? The sordid details of that program were finally made public this week in response to a court-ordered Freedom of Information Act release, thanks to a Bloomberg News lawsuit. Sorry, my bad: It wasn't an interest-free loan; make that .01 percent that Goldman paid to borrow taxpayer money when ordinary folks who missed a few credit card payments in order to finance their mortgages were being slapped with interest rates of more than 25 percent.

One wonders if Barack Obama was fully aware of Geithner's deceitful performance at the New York Fed when he appointed him treasury secretary in the incoming administration. The president was probably ignorant of this particular giveaway, as were key members of Congress. "I wasn't aware of this program until now," Barney Frank, D-Mass., who at the time chaired the House Financial Services Committee, admitted in referring to Geithner's "single-tranche open-market operations" program. And there was no language in the Dodd-Frank law supposedly reining in the banks that compelled the Fed to reveal the existence of this program.

It was merely one small part of that reckless policy of throwing mad money at the banks while ignoring the plight of homeowners whom the banks had swindled, a plan pursued by both the Bush and the Obama administrations that set the stage for the current slide into a double-dip recession. On Tuesday it was reported that home values have continued an eight-month decline back to their lowest point since the recession began. With housing in deep trouble there can be no rebound of consumer confidence or job creation, and the first-quarter growth rate was an anemic 1.8 percent even as Wall Street profits and bonuses flourished. Wages are stagnant, unemployment claims have recently risen and, as The Wall Street Journal headlined on Tuesday, "Economists Downgrade Prospects for Growth." That same edition of the Journal reported that 44.6 million Americans now survive on food stamps, an 11 percent increase in that misery index over the past year, while Geithner's friends at Goldman are doing quite well.

Actually, Goldman wasn't even a bank and was therefore ineligible for those massive government handouts until Geithner helped gain approval for the instant conversion of Goldman from an investment house to a commercial bank. Goldman was granted that status, and with it access to the Fed's lending, soon after the privilege had been denied to the fellow investment bank Lehman Brothers (the $30 billion mentioned above was in addition to the $43.5 billion Goldman borrowed from other Fed programs). Although Lehman was allowed to go belly up, Geithner engineered the massive bailout of AIG, a move that turned out to be a cover for passing money to AIG's clients, including the aforementioned Goldman Sachs. The man's intentions were clear, even if all the secret details were not, when Obama picked him to be his point man in salvaging an economy that Geithner had done much to wreck.

Geithner's priorities were all too obvious from his days in the Clinton administration's Treasury Department when he worked first under former Goldman honcho Robert Rubin and then Lawrence Summers, who took six-figure speaking fees from Goldman and other banks while he was an adviser to candidate Obama. It was the recommendation of Rubin and Summers that landed Geithner the job as president of the New York Fed, where he faithfully followed the policy lead of Goldman-CEO-turned-Treasury-Secretary Henry Paulson.

It was back then and is now accurate to speak, as a New York Times headline once put it, of U.S. politics dominated by "The Guys From 'Government Sachs' "--but on an international scale. From the crisis in Greece, where Goldman manufactured toxic tax-based derivatives with abandon, to its betting against the success of the mortgage-based derivatives that Goldman designed and sold to others, the company was nothing short of a massive wrecking ball in the international economy.

Oh yes, what did Goldman do with that taxpayer money it borrowed back in 2008? It needed the money to cover the lousy bets of its Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities trading unit, which had lost $320 million. Typical of the Goldman dealings in that arena was the $1.3 billion solicited from Col. Moammar Gadhafi's Libya sovereign wealth fund, which according to a report in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal lost 98 percent of its value and almost cost some Goldman executives doing business in Tripoli their lives.

But they survived, as the guys from Goldman always do. With the general "no banker left behind" program pursued by Geithner under both George W. Bush and Obama, the theory was that saving the banks would save the country. The first part worked out brilliantly, but the second act never occurred.

 

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-scheer/geithner-and-goldman-thic_b_869524.html

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SHOCK! Justin Bieber to propose to Selena Gomez

Justin want Selena to promise to be his bride

Justin Bieber | Pictures | Photos | Gallery | Now Magazine

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez smooch at the Golden Globes

Justin Bieber has plans to ask Selena Gomez to marry him.

The teen heartthrob, 17, who's been holidaying in Hawaii with his girl, was so shocked by pal Sean Kingston's jet ski accident in Miami at the weekend, he's been thinking seriously about his future.

'Justin's really worried about Sean and has been saying life's too short to wait for the right moment or to not follow your heart because people think you're too young to know what you want,' an insider tells Now.

'He's not in any rush to head down the aisle but after such a fantastic time in Maui together its really cemented how he feels about Selena and is hoping she'll agree to say yes.

'It's her 19th birthday in July and he's planning to propose to her at a birthday party he's organising for her.'

Justin is relieved that Sean, 21, now seems to be on the road to recovery.

'alot of you are asking about @seankingston,' he Tweets, 'he is doing better but out of respect to his family I will wait for them to comment....'

SEE PICTURES Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez on holiday>> 

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Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony Trek Across Latin America on New Show

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Jennifer Lopez predicts her next project will be "the biggest thing that I've been involved with yet."

But just how can the American Idol judge top a career filled with top-selling albums, high-energy music videos, blockbuster movies, eye-popping fashion and media mogul business moves?

On her new show, ¡Q'Viva! The Chosen, Lopez, 41, will travel with husband Marc Anthony and tour-director-to-the-stars Jamie King to 21 countries across the Americas. They will be searching for the "world's most extraordinary talent," says Anthony, 41.

As for the show itself, it will be filmed in three languages and broadcast simultaneously on leading TV networks across the Western Hemisphere. The search for the talent begins in July.


Locals Lead to Talent

The Chosen, from Idol creator Simon Fuller, isn't holding auditions. Instead, Lopez, Anthony and King are "literally being guided by the [local] people," Anthony says, "leaving no stone unturned."

The trio will head to "places people wouldn't normally look, where all of this rich talent lives and wouldn't normally be discovered," says Lopez. These include clubs, bars, dance studios, underground dance halls and festivals in villages, towns and cities.

"This is less about competition and more about finding great talent, cultivating that talent, putting it on stage and giving it to the rest of the world," King says.

Embracing Heritage

For Lopez, it's also about embracing her Latin heritage. "With this show we hope for the first time to unite all of the Latin cultures and make something that makes everybody proud," she says. "This is like me being able to really, really go, 'I am Latina, and this is who we are! Isn't it fabulous? Isn't it amazing? Doesn't it bring tears to your eyes and make you want to dance and smile and jump and stay up all night?' "

The artists discovered by Lopez, Anthony and King during their trip ? as well as the ones selected from videos uploaded to YouTube and Facebook ? will travel to Hollywood, where they'll be mentored by the stars to create "the ultimate live show."

"It really is a show for the 21st century. It's unprecedented in that it's global and it's local," Lopez says. "We're going to do our best make the most amazing show that the world has ever seen." Vignette StoryServer 6.0 Tue May 31 22:33:31 2011

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Singer LeAnn Rimes Hits Back At ?Scary Skinny? Comments

leann rimesbikinishots2 Singer LeAnn Rimes Hits Back At Scary Skinny Comments

Newlywed LeAnn Rimes was flaunting her thin bikini body while on her honeymoon with hubby Eddie Cibrian, but several of her followers are worried about her weight loss.

Country singer LeAnn Rimes posted bikini photos taken on her honeymoon in Cabo San Lucus in a tiny blue Mikoh string bikini.

Rimes, 28, was enjoying her delayed honeymoon with her new hubby Eddie Cibrian, 37, after their wedding in April.

One of LeAnn?s Twitter followers commented about the singer?s ?scary skinny? body, saying she had ?a lot of bones showing through skin.?

Rimes didn?t take too well to the criticism, tweeting, ?Those are called abs, not bones, love.?

She added, ?This is my body and I can promise you I?m a healthy girl. I?m just lean. [Thanks] for your concern, but no need to be.?

Do you guys think LeAnn looks toned and fit or ?scary skinny??

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New Couple Alert: Hayden Panettiere and Mark Sanchez


Mark Sanchez has guided the New York Jets to back-to-back AFC Conference Championship Games. But questions remain about the quarterback's decision-making.

Both on and off the field, apparently.

Cameras captured Sanchez with Hayden Panettiere last week, as Rumor Fix reports they entered a hamburger restaurant together and left smiling.

Mark Sanchez PicHayden Panettiere, Short Hair

"They seemed very close and very happy," a witness says, although someone close to Panettiere claims the two are, you guessed it, "just friends."

Hayden Panettiere split with boxer Wladimir Klitschko earlier this month, while Sanchez has enjoyed his run as a bachelor in NYC. He's been linked with Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Lindsay McCormick, among others.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/05/new-couple-alert-hayden-panettiere-and-mark-sanchez/

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Dallas Club Patron Suing Andy Dick?For Rubbing His Junk On His Face! (Video)

dicktucker3 Dallas Club Patron Suing Andy Dick...For Rubbing His Junk On His Face! (Video)

Robert Tucker of Texas is suing naughty comedian Andy Dick over his performance at Trees club in Dallas in December.  Dick wandered into the crowd and proceeded to give the poor fan a peen massage on his face!  Check out the video!

Andy Dick?s drunken antics have gotten him in trouble yet again!

Robert Tucker has filed a lawsuit against Andy Dick after he degraded him and humiliated him as he performed as ?Daphne Aguilera? at Trees club in Dallas.

Tucker claimed that Andy ?pulled down his costume skirt with his right hand, exposing the fact the he was not wearing underwear beneath the skirt.? Robert then said Dick quickly rubbed his genitals on the side of his face.

Robert Tucker claims he suffered emotional distress and defamation as a result of the incident.

You can view Tucker?s lawsuit against Dick here.

The lawsuit also cites Dick?s January 2010 arrest on felony sexual abuse charges, after the comedian groped a bouncer and patron at a Huntington, West Virginia bar?as well as other incidents.

 

Here?s Andy Dick rubbing his disgusting peen on Robert Tucker?s face. The action begins around the 3:20 mark:

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CONCERTS: CHRIS BROWN, KERI HILSON, BIG SEAN & MORE AT 2011 MIAMI SPRINGFEST VIDEO

Chris Brown, Keri Hilson, Lloyd, Big Sean, Marsha Ambrosius performed over the weekend at the 2011 99Jamz Springfest at the Bicentennial Park in Miami, FL. Check out some pics from the music festival as well as some performance footage below … Continue

Source: http://concreteloop.com/2011/05/concerts-chris-brown-keri-hilson-big-sean-more-at-2011-miami-springfest-video

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TomKat! Courteney & David! Arnold & Maria! How Celeb Couples Spent Memorial Day Weekend

On Memorial Day weekend, celebs are just like us! They hit the beach and BBQs like any average American, but the company at their holiday bashes tends to be of the boldface variety. 

Producer Joel Moore's annual Malibu fete brought out the big names, including Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes with Suri in tow. But while one on-again, off-again couple put on a united front for the party, another opted to celebrate separately...

PHOTOS: Hollywood Party Pics

Courteney Cox and David Arquette made it a family affair, bringing daughter Coco along to the star-studded soiree, where Robert Downey Jr., Barbra Streisand, January Jones and Guy Ritchie were all in attendance.

Freshly split duo Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver did their own things this weekend.

The Governator was snapped taking his motorcycle for a solo spin in Malibu while Maria was all smiles during dinner with friends and some of her children Sunday night in the same town.

On another coast, our own Chelsea Handler celebrated her Hamptons magazine cover with beau Andre Balazs.

The hotelier escorted Chelsea to the party at the Southampton Social Club, but the couple seem to be staying undercover...for now. Although they arrived in the same SUV along with some of Chelsea's family members, they didn't pose for photos together.

Real Housewife Ramona Singer was enjoying the same party (and her cocktails, natch) with hubby Mario, while Kelly Bensimon came solo.

WATCH: Chelsea interviews Glee guy

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