Conflicts of Interest with the Bailout?

[The Lantern]

It is common knowledge that the bailout money is going toward buying up bad mortgages and helping out investment bankers on Wall Street. What I would like to know is which Congressmen own stocks, bonds, and mutual funds predicated on the success of the banking industry. I am just guessing, but I would imagine that there would be quite a few conflicts of interest. How many Congressmen would personally benefit from a rise in stock prices? How many Congressmen would personally benefit from erasing bad debt of a company's books? How many Congressmen own stock either personally or in 401Ks or spousal holding companies? Is there an public research that we can do on a Congressman's business holdings to make a case for conflict of interest and have that Congressman charged for voting for the bailout? Would this be an ethics violation or am I missing something? Thanks.

[The Good Doctor]

Um, it is moreso Henry Paulson that has a conflict of interest as well as the financial industry. Read these articles and then get upset.

Just read the articles. Trust me. This whole thing was a setup to bail out foreign banks because our dollar is worthless and we owe too much debt. It's sad. But Paulson should be hung and beaten publicly for what he did to the American people. And Paulson is set to profit from his holdings in China. Same with Goldman Sachs. This is an outrage!

Paulson’s Bailout Plan, Goldman Sachs, and China

http://www.jbs.org/index.php/jbs-news-feed/3250


China banks told to halt lending to US banks-SCMP

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSPEK16693720080925


BlackRock, Pimco Seek to Run $700 Billion U.S. Pool

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a_wOctz.T3HE&refer=home

"The Treasury will choose five to 10 investment firms to help it acquire troubled securities from financial companies, officials said today. In the past few weeks, the department asked executives at firms including BlackRock, Pimco and Legg Mason for guidance on asset that may be purchased, prices and how auctions might be run, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private."

You've got to be kidding me. This is a joke. Now we are going to trust Wall Street with the bailout plan and decide pricing on these assets? They say in the article they are going to work on conflict of interest regulations. Somehow this comes out smelling like big pile of shit.

More on this here:

Paulson Recruits Asset Managers as Rescue Moves Ahead

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aPP4plUw7LgM&refer=home

"Already, BlackRock Inc., Pacific Investment Management Co. and Legg Mason Inc. are seeking to become money managers for the program, people familiar with the matter said. The three firms have been informally advising the Treasury as it negotiated the bailout package with Congress, the people said."

Yeah let's let the lobbyists run the thing. My God, this is an outrage!

[Theocrat]

I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I retrieved the following information from OpenSecrets.org about our Congress, as it relates to contributors and recipients in securities and investments:

Securities & Investment: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates and Parties (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2008&ind=F07)
Securities & Investment: Top Recipients (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2008&ind=F07)

More detailed information can be found on those links. I hope this helps.

[The Good Doctor]

While I think you are missing the boat some here, (see post I just made) it is morseso who got the most donations from the financial companies. IE Making sure they will get their donations again if they are to be re-elected. And the most important thing is to get a list of people that are getting re-elected this year that got big donations from Wall Street. There you will see your conflict of interest.

Lou Dobbs said last night that those voting Aye in the House got 40k donations from the financial sector, the Senate got 140k. I actually think the numbers are higher.

The more I read about this the more and more it disgusts me. I told a friend I was shocked by this bill. He said shocked? More like aren't you offended. I said yes that is moreso the word I was looking for.

Great thread by the way. We need to call the bastards out. Then throw the bastards out.


It is common knowledge that the bailout money is going toward buying up bad mortgages and helping out investment bankers on Wall Street. What I would like to know is which Congressmen own stocks, bonds, and mutual funds predicated on the success of the banking industry. I am just guessing, but I would imagine that there would be quite a few conflicts of interest. How many Congressmen would personally benefit from a rise in stock prices? How many Congressmen would personally benefit from erasing bad debt of a company's books? How many Congressmen own stock either personally or in 401Ks or spousal holding companies? Is there an public research that we can do on a Congressman's business holdings to make a case for conflict of interest and have that Congressman charged for voting for the bailout? Would this be an ethics violation or am I missing something? Thanks.

[The Good Doctor]

Thank you so much! Ron Paulers are so smart and resourceful! I love coming to this board. I could read it all day. When I got home from work last night spent about four hours getting caught up on the articles and you tubes! We are a feisty bunch! :D


I'm not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I retrieved the following information from OpenSecrets.org about our Congress, as it relates to contributors and recipients in securities and investments:

Securities & Investment: Top Contributors to Federal Candidates and Parties (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/contrib.php?cycle=2008&ind=F07)
Securities & Investment: Top Recipients (http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?cycle=2008&ind=F07)

More detailed information can be found on those links. I hope this helps.

[surf]

Pacific Investment Management Co.
Bill Gross is a giant douche

[The Lantern]

While I think you are missing the boat some here, (see post I just made) it is morseso who got the most donations from the financial companies. IE Making sure they will get their donations again if they are to be re-elected. And the most important thing is to get a list of people that are getting re-elected this year that got big donations from Wall Street. There you will see your conflict of interest.

Great thread by the way. We need to call the bastards out. Then throw the bastards out.

I was trying to determine if any Congressman had any individual conflicts of interest. For example. Here is a link to Dave Weldon's financial disclosure report from Florida. It shows he has a direct investment in mortgage backed securities. Since he will personally benefit from a bailout, isn't that a conflict of interest?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2005/w000267.pdf

Take a look at Mel Martinez. He has a lot of stock positions in Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley will benefit from the bailout. As a result Martinez' will directly benefit through his investments in the firm. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2005/m001162.pdf


Here is the link where you can look up any Congressman. See if your Congressman had a conflict.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/disclosure-reports/2005/

Anyway, am I off base here or this a legitimate way to bring Congressmen to justice?

[surf]

1 Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $600,500 yes
2 Shays, Christopher (R-CT) $362,720 yes
3 Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $329,850 yes
4 Paul, Ron (R-TX) $313,129 - F#CK NO
5 Allen, Tom (D-ME) $277,640 yes
6 Gillibrand, Kirsten E (D-NY) $269,050 NO
7 Udall, Mark (D-CO) $249,568 NO
8 Kirk, Mark (R-IL) $243,850 yes
9 Kanjorski, Paul E (D-PA) $241,849 yes
10 Bean, Melissa (D-IL) $207,100 yes
11 Bachus, Spencer (R-AL) $206,900 yes
12 Hoyer, Steny H (D-MD) $184,499 yes
13 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $176,800 yes
14 Frank, Barney (D-MA) $176,400 yes
15 Crowley, Joseph (D-NY) $171,550 yes
16 Klein, Ron (D-FL) $166,700 yes
17 Mahoney, Tim (D-FL) $166,040 yes
18 Murphy, Chris (D-CT) $164,290 yes
19 Murphy, Patrick J (D-PA) $154,750 yes
20 Maloney, Carolyn B (D-NY) $154,325 yes

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=F07&cycle=2008&recipdetail=H&mem=Y&sortorder=U

edit: anyone else intrigued that 15 of 20 are D?

[The Good Doctor]

Ok, I see now. My bad. Yes, let's add those clowns to the list of politicians that need to be called out and then thrown out.

This is legit. There should be a whole story written about the links we have all posted here. Whether or not it will make the mainstream media is a whole other thing.

Essentially what we have done here is tied links to the people that would have voted for this because of all of the conflicts of interest that are tied to this bailout bill.

Basically good for the politicians and Wall Street. Bad for American taxpayers. What they did is criminal. They fear mongered our 401k's, savings, and pensions to get votes even though the public was against the bailout. The politicians were scared for their own investments. The politicians were getting bribed by Wall Street. It was never a win win situation for Wall Street and the American people. It was always set to be a win lose situation.

The politicians that were bribed by pork to switch their vote should be run out of office as well. That is straight out bribery too at the expense of the American taxpayer.

I'm sure we could filter all this info down into a list of who had a conflict of interest, who were stakeholders set to profit and gain from this bailout. The list should contain a point by point as to why the individuals were set to gain. This along with links to the information should be sent to every newspaper and television station in the country.

Like I said the whole thing is criminal. America was sold out yesterday. This is a bailout of historic proportions. Foreign banks, Wall Street, and the politicians all benefited and the American taxpayer got the shaft.

At least you know Alex Jones would put some aspiring journalists article on his web site. Hell, you could probably get interviewed by him to on live radio.


I was trying to determine if any Congressman had any individual conflicts of interest. For example. Here is a link to Dave Weldon's financial disclosure report from Florida. It shows he has a direct investment in mortgage backed securities. Since he will personally benefit from a bailout, isn't that a conflict of interest?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2005/w000267.pdf

Take a look at Mel Martinez. He has a lot of stock positions in Morgan Stanley. Morgan Stanley will benefit from the bailout. As a result Martinez' will directly benefit through his investments in the firm. Isn't that a conflict of interest?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/congress/fin_dis/2005/m001162.pdf


Here is the link where you can look up any Congressman. See if your Congressman had a conflict.

http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/disclosure-reports/2005/

Anyway, am I off base here or this a legitimate way to bring Congressmen to justice?

[The Good Doctor]

Yes but that money was also from individuals that work at the companies. Remember when we donated it asked us where we worked? So, that number reflects Ron Paulers like you and me.

If it was from a CEO or the company itself then I would worry. But also, a lot of times you see companies donating to many candidates on both sides to cover their conflict of interest asses! Buying votes on both sides of the aisle!


1 Emanuel, Rahm (D-IL) $600,500 yes
2 Shays, Christopher (R-CT) $362,720 yes
3 Rangel, Charles B (D-NY) $329,850 yes
4 Paul, Ron (R-TX) $313,129 - F#CK NO
5 Allen, Tom (D-ME) $277,640 yes
6 Gillibrand, Kirsten E (D-NY) $269,050 NO
7 Udall, Mark (D-CO) $249,568 NO
8 Kirk, Mark (R-IL) $243,850 yes
9 Kanjorski, Paul E (D-PA) $241,849 yes
10 Bean, Melissa (D-IL) $207,100 yes
11 Bachus, Spencer (R-AL) $206,900 yes
12 Hoyer, Steny H (D-MD) $184,499 yes
13 Cantor, Eric (R-VA) $176,800 yes
14 Frank, Barney (D-MA) $176,400 yes
15 Crowley, Joseph (D-NY) $171,550 yes
16 Klein, Ron (D-FL) $166,700 yes
17 Mahoney, Tim (D-FL) $166,040 yes
18 Murphy, Chris (D-CT) $164,290 yes
19 Murphy, Patrick J (D-PA) $154,750 yes
20 Maloney, Carolyn B (D-NY) $154,325 yes

http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=F07&cycle=2008&recipdetail=H&mem=Y&sortorder=U

edit: anyone else intrigued that 15 of 20 are D?

[Josh_LA]

you're assuming they actually have investments in these failures, that's not necessary, they can have a very diversified and secure investment , or they can be threatened at gun point to bail out criminals.