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Who is Henry Paulson?
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Tom Eley
WSWS
October 12, 2008
The plan to rescue the US financial industry arrogates virtually unlimited money and power over the financial affairs of the state to the office of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson is a figure with a long history of intimate connections to the political and financial elite.
In 1970, fresh from the Masters program of the Harvard Business School, Paulson entered the Nixon administration, working first as staff assistant to the assistant secretary of defense. In 1972-73, Paulson worked as office assistant to John Erlichman, assistant to the president for domestic affairs. Erlichman was one of the key figures involved in organizing President Richard Nixon’s notorious “plumbers” unit that carried out illegal covert operations against the president’s political opponents, including espionage, blackmail, and revenge. Ehlichman resigned in 1973, and in 1975 he was convicted of obstruction of justice, perjury, and conspiracy, and was imprisoned for 18 months.
Utilizing his connections, Paulson went to work for Goldman Sachs in 1974. In a 2007 feature, the British newspaper the Guardian wrote, “Not only was he well connected enough to get the job [in the Nixon White House], but well connected enough to resign in the thick of the Watergate scandal without ever getting caught up in the fallout. He went straight to Goldman back home in Illinois.”
Paulson rose through the ranks of Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner in 1982, co-head of investment banking in 1990, chief operating officer in 1994. In 1998 he forced out his co-chairman Jon Corzine “in what amounted to a coup,” according to New York Times economics correspondent Floyd Norris, and took over the post of CEO.
Goldman Sachs is perhaps the single best-connected Wall Street firm. Its executives routinely go in and out of top government posts. Corzine went on to become US senator from New Jersey and is now the state’s governor. Corzine’s predecessor, Stephen Friedman, served in the Bush administration as assistant to the president for economic policy and as chairman of the National Economic Council (NEC). Friedman’s predecessor as Goldman Sachs CEO, Robert Rubin, served as chairman of the NEC and later treasury secretary under Bill Clinton.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Agence France Press, in a 2006 article on Paulson’s appointment, “Has Goldman Sachs Taken Over the Bush Administration?” noted that, in addition to Paulson, “[t]he president’s chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Jeffery Reuben, are Goldman alumni.”
“But the flow goes both ways,” the article continued, “Goldman recently hired Robert Zoellick, who stepped down as the US deputy secretary of state, and Faryar Shirzad, who worked as one of Bush’s national security advisors.”
Prior to being selected as treasury secretary, Paulson was a major individual campaign contributor to Republican candidates, giving over $336,000 of his own money between 1998 and 2006.
Since taking office, Paulson has overseen the destruction of three of Goldman Sachs’ rivals. In March, Paulson helped arrange the fire sale of Bear Stearns to JPMorgan Chase. Then, a little more than a week ago, he allowed Lehman Brothers to collapse, while simultaneously organizing the absorption of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. This left only Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley as major investment banks, both of which were converted on Sunday into bank holding companies, a move that effectively ended the existence of the investment bank as a distinct economic form.
In the months leading up to his proposed $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Paulson had already used his office to dole out hundreds of billions of dollars. After his July 2008 proposal for $70 billion to resolve the insolvency of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed, Paulson organized the government takeover of the two mortgage-lending giants for an immediate $200 billion price tag, while making the government potentially liable for hundreds of billions more in bad debt. He then organized a federal purchase of an 80 percent stake in the giant insurer American International Group (AIG) at a cost of $85 billion.
These bailouts have been designed to prevent a chain reaction collapse of the world economy, but more importantly they aimed to insulate and even reward the wealthy shareholders, like Paulson, primarily responsible for the financial collapse.
Paulson bears a considerable amount of personal responsibility for the crisis.
Paulson, according to a celebratory 2006 BusinessWeek article entitled “Mr. Risk Goes to Washington,” was “one of the key architects of a more daring Wall Street, where securities firms are taking greater and greater chances in their pursuit of profits.” Under Paulson’s watch, that meant “taking on more debt: $100 billion in long-term debt in 2005, compared with about $20 billion in 1999. It means placing big bets on all sorts of exotic derivatives and other securities.”
According to the International Herald Tribune, Paulson “was one of the first Wall Street leaders to recognize how drastically investment banks could enhance their profitability by betting with their own capital instead of acting as mere intermediaries.” Paulson “stubbornly assert[ed] Goldman’s right to invest in, advise on and finance deals, regardless of potential conflicts.”
Paulson then handsomely benefited from the speculative boom. This wealth was based on financial manipulation and did nothing to create real value in the economy. On the contrary, the extraordinary enrichment of individuals like Paulson was the corollary to the dismantling of the real economy, the bankrupting of the government, and the impoverishment of masses the world over.
Paulson was compensated to the tune of $30 million in 2004 and took home $37 million in 2005. In his career at Goldman Sachs he built up a personal net worth of over $700 million, according to estimates.
After Paulson’s ascension to the treasury, his colleagues at Goldman Sachs carried on the bonanza. At the end of 2006, Paulson’s successor Lloyd Blankfein was handed over a $53.4 million year-end bonus, while 11 other Goldman Sachs executives raked in $150 million in year-end bonuses combined. That year, the top investment firms Goldman Sacks, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Bear Stearns handed out $36 billion in bonuses. At the end of 2007, the executives of the same firms, excepting Merrill, were handed another $30 billion.
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October 12th, 2008 at 11:51 am
SPLASH! Bill was aghast to realize that sound was his gold-plated pocket watch that had just landed in the outhouse. After pondering the matter for several minutes and being aware that the doo-doo was not more than two feet deep, he decided to plunge his body part into the fecal matter. At first Bill was totally grossed out and wanted to puke. To his amazement, as he continued plunging into the fecal matter, he felt a strange fascination with the process that drew him back to the fecal hole to plunge repeatedly.
As Bill continued the plunging escapades he felt a desire to draw others into his perverted lifestyle. His “plungee jumping” movement grew slowly and was, of course, viewed with disgust by virtually all non-plungers. The plungers, however, were possessed with a desire to continue their perverse behavior and crafted a plan to change the mindset of those who were not likewise fascinated with the idea of finding pleasure through a fecal-infested hole. Their plan was to saturate society with plungee jokes and in-your-face plungee-ism until it became accepted as normal to plunge into doo-doo.
Their plan apparently worked. The Supreme legal body of the land ruled that the Constitution trumped God’s word when police were duped into a set-up of two plungers and a false 911 call. This started a domino effect that resulted in the state of Massconfusion and a “conservative” governor forcing the state to grant marriage privileges for any two (or more?) people who mutually plunged. Other states followed suit and the state of Colonaho even went so far as to grant special outhouse privileges to plungers! Numerous states required that health benefits be extended to plungee partners, an especially important ruling to the plungers since they frequently found their plungee parts in one another’s mouths.
Soon the entire nation was plunged into the abyss. It was as if the creator was saying “you want to glorify plunging, I will ensure that you all plunge!” The integrity of the nation’s leaders plunged. The stock market plunged. The value of the currency plunged. The quality of education plunged. The view of the nation by the rest of the world plunged. In short, we glorified plunging into shit, and our world turned to shit!
October 12th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
CQLJ;
Well put!!
It’s all about….
Assumption:
The slayer of all governments.
What bottom feeders thrive on.
Cannot think outside the box.
A square heads creed.
When found in excessive use, usually results in self destruction (madness).
Has NEVER resulted in anything, but chaos.
Persons who excessively rely on assumptions almost always suffer from a lack of a sense of smell, whereas they may be found standing in shit up to their upper lip and not even remotely realize it.
October 12th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
He’s a professional PLUNDERER. Period.
According to Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction…need I say more?
October 12th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
While he was running Goldman he was also head of The Nature Conservancy. it should give us all a good idea about who is behind the so called “enviromental movement” in this country.
October 12th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I hope to have more to say on this soon.
For now….I get really, really worried when government officials whom I had not heard about before come suddenly out of the shadows in times of disorder or crisis.
October 12th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Paulson smells and even looks like a nazi. Have u seen the flags behind him when he is on camera?
eeeks
October 12th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
…Ah-bdi…be damn !!! Yes , who the fuck is Henry Paulson , and why Goldman Sucks , that is
the question !!!
October 12th, 2008 at 6:07 pm
I don’t believe in the whole reptilian thing but if anybody is one it would be Paulson. That guy is creepy. Reminds me of the guy on the old version of “Charley and the Chocolate Factory” that is always trying to steal Wonka’s secrets. Kinda looks like the stereo typical Nazi too.
October 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Paulson is the Darth Vader of Wall Street. He wants all the power and money and free reign to do what he wishes. The economic Jedi are the hundreds of economists who have condemned the $700 billion plus bank robbery now in progress. Geraldo Rivera, of all people, actually made a cogent suggestion on FOX News yesterday when he suggested that if every American were given a $1 million dollars the crisis could be largely solved and it would cost $350 million compared to rewarding thieves with $700 billion and more. Think about, then think about it more. You may not care for Rivera, but what he is saying makes sense. He also claims to have taken a major financial hit as a result of the decimation of the stock market. Something to ponder.
Will someone please research and verify the $800 million in Ameros paid by to China Development Bank (10.3.08) to work towards repayment of the $2.5 billions in US debt to China? If this is true, it is an open door to the introduction of the Amero and the rapid devaluation of the US dollar to nada land.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Hey Brad, If every American were given $1 million dollars, it would not cost 350million. Maybe if 350 Americans were given 1mill. each then your right. Maybe you meant something else.
October 12th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Heya Brad you need to learn to add and so does Geraldo if you gave 300 million people 1 dollar guess what that equals? Thats right 300 million. Now multiply that by a million. Stay off the flouride ok?
October 12th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
MUHAHAHA Rivera actually said $350 million. You are absolutely right Brad Reply. 350,000,000 x 1,000,000 = XXXXXXX. There are lots of far more equitable ways to get the $700 billion plus to people to get the economy back. The plans are very complex but very doable. That is how to use taxpayers money not to bailout out the Banksters from their black hole. I have an idea. Let’s put the NWO losers in the Large Hadron Collider and have them smash into each other, each moving at over 99.9999991% of the speed of light. The probable black hole of evil could be so dense they will finally descend to their demise!
The $700 billions plus just perpetuates the Rothschild principle of he who controls the money supply controls the nation. In this case, these megalomaniacs are going for the globe. They are on a crash course with their final vapid destiny.
October 13th, 2008 at 12:44 am
#11 40footowl: Ur another sarcastic semi-conscious twit. I made that post very quiclkly while I was on the phone and it was made in error and I readily admitted that. I never drink fluoride dude, but I think you might be prone to being off on your pH, tending to be a lot more acid than the alkaline. I am not the issue the state of the melting global financial and economic system is. Ur off topic =)
October 13th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Brad my fight isn’t against you. I just get sick of people posting crap that isn’t even close to right. You were only off by
299,999,700,000,000. This bailout is good because a lot of wealthy people have lost a lot of money and that might piss them off enough to do something even Geraldo maybe next time he wont be flipping off the people with their 911 truth signs and actually take the time to look into it. He made himself famous and rich by exposing corruption, will he come back to his roots, I dunno maybe. I wont hold my breath. Everyone needs to stop giving these crooks money period.
October 13th, 2008 at 6:16 am
Brad they are counting on people being off by 299,999,700,000,000. I just get sick of people posting crap thats so far off base its absurd.Everyone needs too stop giving these crooks money period. The only reason Geraldo is pissed is because he lost a lot of money exposing corruption made him rich in the first place maybe he will wake up but I doubt it. He wouldn’t want to look like a douche and admit he was wrong. I really hope these bankers piss off a lot more rich people it might be the only way we get things done. Where are they going to hide in the same cave with Osama? We need to gain control of the media again and string these asshole’s up they wont be able to hide, however we have a long way to go.
October 13th, 2008 at 6:18 am
Damn i thought they lost my post sorry about that :^)~
October 13th, 2008 at 7:10 am
40footowl: The totally amazing thing is that he ACTUALLY said it. I NEVER watch Fox News. Now you have given excellent reasons why no one ever should. Thanks for the reply. The whole thing had some humor. He was surrounded with other commentators who could have corrected it. Muaha.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:09 am
Anyway, back to Who is Henry Paulson? Did you see he and Bernanke and Cox when they escorted Bush out to the Press Conference on that first official day of the Troubles? Paulson, Bernanke and Bush looked like they were trying to keep from showing all the excitement they were feeling at the moment…I could see them pressing down on their facial muscles, trying to keep from full-on grinning. I thought I might see Bush lose control and do a jig at any moment.
And who is Rahm Emanuel? Where did he come from and why did he have that same look on his face on the day he, Pelosi and friends announced the Bailout Bill passage (he had to keep looking down to hide all the elation in his face). He has a degree in communications and an MBA in Business…he’s from Illinois, like Paulson.
I saw Paulson speak (yet again) to the press the other day…he has that false facade of humility going on…that demeanor that tries to say “I’m your humble servant trying to do the best I can for you, The People,” that really belies the thought, “The drudgery of placating you to maintain order is a necessary management strategy that will eventually, with patience, bring you all to the slaughterhouse in a calm and orderly manner. All things will be accomplished in their time and place.” What a vacant soul his eyes betray.
October 13th, 2008 at 8:14 am
We have to spread the word anyway possible & i’ve been hanging signs everywhere , this weekend i am hitting a huge highway in NJ very early in the AM ,,ABOUT 90-100 each way (i won’t say where on this site, but with signs with the message exposing these criminals & by the time they get them all down , about 4000 to 8000 cars will pass them one way or the other , this is what we all need to do in every state, than organize meetings at the ELKS clubs or American Legions , whereever , we have to do this NOW !!!!
1 County in NJ IS COVERED & so many are no imformed that is all people talk about & i have to tell u , it’s great to see everyone realizing what is happening & how much deception has been put into their brains all these years.
Keep fighting & keep copying DVD’s , i went through my burner , need a new one after about 11000 burns >>
Sgt John
November 10th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Look if any of you here have anymore info to give about something you saw maybe on another web site please I’d be happy if you could share the information on her so that we can research more not giving our enemy any space to invade while we are not looking in that direction in particular.sgt john please let us know where we canget a copy of this dvd.