Summers’ compensation intensifies reform doubt
The weekend revelation National Economic Council chief Lawrence Summers received almost $5.2 million in salary and other compensation last year from hedge fund DE Shaw and Co, and hundreds of thousands more in speaking fees from other banks, has dealt another blow to the administration’s fast-waning credibility on financial reform.
Summers and protege Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner have already attracted criticism for a strategy many commentators believe is unduly favorable to Wall Street.
For all the talk of beefed up supervision and stringent capital requirements in future, financial assistance to the banking system has come with few conditions. Anxious not to offend powerful Wall Street interests, Treasury staff have consistently pushed back against attempts to impose compensation restrictions or other penalties on recipients of public funds.
It all stands in marked contrast to the tough line being taken with General Motors and Chrysler. Bank chiefs were invited to discuss the industry’s future at the White House; GM CEO Richard Wagoner was summarily dismissed.
Wall Street’s special treatment is justified by citing the industry’s pivotal credit-creating role. But there is a widespread suspicion financial interests have captured the government agencies, legislators and senior officials meant to regulate them. It is the type of rent-seeking behavior common in emerging markets and associated in the past with militant industrial unions and President Dwight Eisenhower’s military-industrial complex.
In a thoughtful article in the latest edition of The Atlantic magazine, former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson argues U.S. policy has been controlled for the past two decades by a “financial oligarchy” which exercises influence through campaign contributions and the regular exchange of top personnel between Wall Street firms and the White House, Treasury and other institutions meant to regulate them. It promotes an identity of views between the regulators and the regulated.
The disclosure of Summers’ earnings simply fuels that impression, and the administration’s decision to publish the disclosure forms on a Friday afternoon shows awareness of the embarrassing appearance of business as usual for an administration that came to power promising “change we can believe in.”
Maizie, you are correct. What the Fed does is a responsibility the U.S. Constitution requires the congress to fulfill. That power was given away in 1913. The Congress is good about giving away their powers; War Powers Act, FISA, Patriot Act, Homeland Security Act….
The fact of the matter is Executive Branch administrations are all beholding to some large corporate interests. This particular administration appears to be in the pocket of Wall Street and High Finance. Summers, Geitner and Emmanuel should all be replaced. They are to closely tied to Wall Street.
A private entity of powerful bankers and bureaucrats controls the money with no government oversight. The definition of a Fascist State is a form of government generally, though not always, headed by a dictator who serves the interests of large industries. I think the U.S. banking system qualifies as a large industry.