The Obama-Pelosi-Corzine Economic Wreckage Has a Human Face

Before Giving American Families the Enron Treatment at MF Global, Corzine Helped Dems Design A Losing Bet With A Failed Stimulus 

• Shock has led to outrage as the real human impact of Jon Corzine’s irresponsible apparent gambles is coming to light after his now-bankrupt company lost $1.2 billion in customer money, devastating farmers across rural America.
• Jon Corzine’s path of economic wreckage sadly extends beyond the farmers and families who invested with his firm. Corzine was the inspiration for the Democrats’ failed stimulus that made a bad economy worse.
• While Democrats have followed Jon Corzine’s economy-destroying prescriptions to the letter, they have also happily pocketed his campaign checks. Will Democrats return their scandal-tainted Corzine cash?

BACKGROUND 

Shock has led to outrage as the real human impact of Jon Corzine’s irresponsible apparent gambles is coming to light after his now-bankrupt company lost $1.2 billion in customer money, devastating farmers across rural America: 

“ANALYSIS: MF GLOBAL PROVES ENRON-ERA ACCOUNTING LIVES ON”: (Nanette Byrnes, “Analysis: MF Global Proves Enron-Era Accounting Lives On,” Reuters, 12/2/2011) 

“OFF-BALANCE SHEET ACCOUNTING METHODS THAT ENRON AND LEHMAN BROTHERS MADE FAMOUS… HAVE A MODERN DAY POSTER-CHILD: MF GLOBAL”: (Nanette Byrnes, “Analysis: MF Global Proves Enron-Era Accounting Lives On,” Reuters, 12/2/2011) 

AMOUNT OF MISSING MF GLOBAL CASH “COULD BE MORE THAN $1.2 BILLION”:(Michael J. de la Merced, “MF Global Trustee Says Shortfall Could Exceed $1.2 Billion,” The New York Times, 11/21/2011) 

REGULATORS SUSPECT CUSTOMER “MONEY IS NOT SIMPLY MISSING,” BUT “GONE”: (Ben Protess, “MF Global is Said to Have Used Customer Money Improperly,” The New York Times, 11/17/2011) 

“CORZINE REBUFFED INTERNAL WARNINGS ON RISKS”: “MF Global Holdings Ltd.’s executive in charge of controlling risks raised serious concerns several times last year to directors at the securities firm about the growing bet on European bonds by his boss, Jon S. Corzine, people familiar with the matter said.

“The board allowed the company’s exposure to troubled European sovereign debt to swell from about $1.5 billion in late 2010 to $6.3 billion shortly before MF Global tumbled into bankruptcy Oct. 31, these people said. The executive who challenged Mr. Corzine resigned in March.

“The disagreement shows that concerns about the big bet grew inside the company months before the trade rattled regulators, investors and customers. The executive, Michael Roseman, whose title was chief risk officer, also expressed concerns directly to Mr. Corzine in meetings of just the two men and with other people present, people familiar with the situation said.” (Aaron Luchetti and Julie Steinberg, “Corzine Rebuffed Internal Warnings on Risks,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/2011)

DEVASTATING HUMAN IMPACT CONTINUES TO GROW:

MF GLOBAL COLLAPSE “HITTING HARD ACROSS RURAL AMERICA” AS FARMERS “NERVOUSLY WAITING TO LEARN HOW MUCH MONEY THEY’VE LOST”: “The shock waves from the collapse of commodities trading firm MF Global Inc. are hitting hard across rural America, where farmers, ranchers and agricultural business owners are nervously waiting to learn how much money they’ve lost.”(Steve Karnowski, “Shock Waves from MF Global Collapse Felt on Farms,” Associated Press, 12/4/2011)

“MF GLOBAL COLLAPSE FELT IN FARM COUNTRY”: “The havoc wreaked by MF Global’s bankruptcy filing has been felt not just by Wall Street investors and traders, but also by wheat and corn growers, cattle ranchers and pig farmers. Dotting the Farm Belt, many who used the commodities market to protect against price swings are finding their money locked up and their hedges unwound due to the firm’s downfall.” (Jerry Dicolo, “MF Global Collapse Felt in Farm Country,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/2011)

FARMERS SEEK HELP AS MF GLOBAL BANKRUPTCY INDUCES SUFFERING: “Capitol Hill has been flooded by calls and letters from farmers, farm-industry groups and others demanding help, as well as answers on why MF Global’s demise upended a system that had quickly resolved most earlier brokerage failures. Legislators are pushing regulators and the firm’s leaders to fix the problem and explain who is responsible.” (Jerry Dicolo, “MF Global Collapse Felt in Farm Country,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/2011)

FROZEN FUNDS STOP GROWTH OF FARM: “Mr. Brenneman says about $400,000 of his cash remains frozen. While that hasn’t sunk his business, the situation has led him to shelve or scale back some construction projects, including a new equipment shop that he was planning for next year.” (Jerry Dicolo, “MF Global Collapse Felt in Farm Country,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/2011)

“SITUATION HAS DISRUPTED HOW FARMERS PLAN FOR A YEAR OF WORKING THEIR FIELDS”: (Jerry Dicolo, “MF Global Collapse Felt in Farm Country,” The Wall Street Journal, 12/6/2011)

Jon Corzine’s path of economic wreckage sadly extends beyond the farmers and families who invested with his firm. Corzine was the inspiration for the Democrats’ failed stimulus that made a bad economy worse:

VP JOE BIDEN: WE “LITERALLY PICKED UP THE PHONE AND CALLED JON CORZINE” ABOUT HOW TO DESIGN STIMULUS: “Ladies and gentleman; the president and I weren’t back there blaming Jon Corzine then. You know what we were doing? We were on the phone, calling Jon Corzine—literally. I literally picked up the phone and called Jon Corzine and said, ‘Jon, what do you think we should do?’ The reason why we called Jon is because we knew he knew about the economy, about world markets, about how we had to respond, unlike almost anyone we knew… We trusted his judgment. … The facts were, Jon, leading your legislature, was already moving, in New Jersey on an economic stimulus package before anybody else was. … Jon suggested, and laid out, and we talked a long time about what the elements of the recovery package nationally should be.” (Remarks from Joe Biden, YouTube, Accessed 11/14/2011)

“NOT A JOKE,” SAYS JOE: “LITERALLY THE FIRST GUY I CALLED WAS JON CORZINE” BECAUSE “HE’S THE SMARTEST GUY I KNOW IN TERMS OF THE ECONOMY”: “In the transition period before we were sworn in… beginning to plan how we would try to get this economy out of a ditch, literally the first guy I called was Jon Corzine. Not a joke, not a joke. ‘Cause first of all, he’s the smartest guy that I know in terms of the economy and on finance, I really mean this. And he was pushing when I was campaigning about the need for us, once we took office, to hit the ground running.”  (Remarks from Joe Biden, You Tube, Accessed 11/22/2011) 

OBAMA SAID CORZINE IS “OUR WALL STREET GUY”: “The rollout also provided a showcase for Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs CEO whom Obama referred to as ‘our Wall Street guy’ at a meeting of Democratic governors in Chicago on Friday.”(Claire Heininger, “Corzine Profile Rises In Obama Camp,” The Star-Ledger (NJ),6/23/2008) 

CORZINE WAS ONCE TOUTED AS A REPLACEMENT TO TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER: “There was speculation in the financial press at the time that Corzine might be a

candidate to replace Tim Geithner as Secretary of the Treasury.” (Michael Isikoff, “Corzine, Top Obama Fundraiser, Under FBI Investigation,” MSNBC, 11/2/2011)

STIMULUS MISERY CONTINUES:

“CBO: STIMULUS HURTS ECONOMY IN THE LONG RUN“: “CBO said that while the Recovery Act boosted the economy in the short run, the extra debt that the stimulus piled up ‘crowds out’ private investment and ‘will reduce output slightly in the long run — by between 0 and 0.2 percent after 2016.'” (Stephen Dinan, “CBO: Stimulus Hurts Economy in the Long Run,” The Washington Times, 11/22/2011) 

1.9 MILLION JOBS LOST SINCE OBAMA TOOK OFFICE: (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Accessed 11/7/2011)

CONFERENCE BOARD: “HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT AND SLOW GROWTH MAY BE THE NEW NORMAL FOR THE U.S. ECONOMY”: “High unemployment and slow growth may be the new normal for the U.S. economy, according to leading experts at the Conference Board, a global economic research association.” (Bonnie Kavoussi, “Conference Board: U.S. Growth Unlikely to Return to Pre-Recession Levels,” The Huffington Post, 11/21/2011) 

ECONOMY “WILL MUDDLE THROUGH THE NEXT YEAR,” TOO WEAK TO MAKE MUCH OF A DENT IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE”: “The U.S. economy will muddle through the next year without a recession, but growth will be too weak to make much of a dent in the unemployment rate, forecasters believe.

“In their latest outlook, top forecasters with the National Association for Business Economics predicted the economy would grow 2.4 percent in 2012, only a slight improvement from the 1.8 percent growth they expect for all of 2011.” (“Economy for 2012 Likely to Grow Just 2.4%: NABE,” Associated Press, 11/21/2011) 

WSJ OP-ED: WILL TAKE TIL 2016 TO MAKE UP ALL LOST JOBS: “In 2011, the economy has added about 120,000 jobs a month. At this pace, it will take until the end of 2016 for the U.S. to replace all the jobs lost during the recession that ended two years ago. After the previous seven post-World War II recessions, it took the economy on average about two to three years to recover job losses.” (Editorial, “When 9% is a Relief,” The Wall Street Journal, 11/7/2011)

While Democrats have followed Jon Corzine’s economy-destroying prescriptions to the letter, they have also happily pocketed his campaign checks. Will Democrats return their scandal-tainted Corzine cash?:

Corzine Personal Donations to Incumbents and Select National Party Committees

(CQMoneyLine, accessed 11/03/2011)

DEMS RECEIVED $202.6 MILLION FROM SECURITIES AND INVESTMENT INDUSTRY SINCE 2006: (“Securities and Investment: Long-Term Trends,” OpenSecrets.org, Accessed 12/5/2011)

DEMS RECEIVED $39.8 MILLION FROM COMMERCIAL BANKS SINCE 2006:(“Commercial Banks: Long-Term Contribution Trends,” OpenSecrets.org, Accessed 12/5/2011) 

DEMS RECEIVED $12.4 MILLION FROM FINANCE AND CREDIT COMPANIES SINCE 2006: (“Finance/Credit Companies: Long-Term Contribution Trends,” OpenSecrets.org, Accessed 12/5/2011) 

DEMS RECEIVED $158.7 MILLION FROM REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY SINCE 2006:(“Real Estate: Long-Term Contribution Trends,” OpenSecrets.org, Accessed 12/5/2011) 

“OBAMA AT WAR WITH SELF OVER WALL ST.”: “First, the White House signaled it would make anger toward Wall Street central to President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign. But then, Obama warned against demonizing all of Wall Street — only a few days before he sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street protesters who do exactly that.” (Carrie Budoff Brown, “Obama at War with Self Over Wall St.,” Politico, 11/4/2011) 

“ZIGZAGS BETWEEN EMBRACING THE BUSINESS COMMUNITY AND VILIFYING IT HAVE SHADOWED [OBAMA’S] PRESIDENCY: “The White House’s Wall Street whiplash stretches to the earliest days of the administration, with Obama conciliatory one minute and confrontational the next.

“His zigzags between embracing the business community and vilifying it have shadowed his presidency, exposing him to charges from Wall Street that he’s out to get them and from liberals that he coddles Big Business. Based on his own statements, Obama himself can appear undecided about which way to go — an incoherence that has left both sides dissatisfied as he seeks reelection.” (Carrie Budoff Brown, “Obama at War with Self Over Wall St.,” Politico, 11/4/2011)