6 ms·

Treasury official is running the bailout. It’s been great for his family

164 points by hhs 6y ago

vmception 6y ago
This is the same whether it is mortgage backed securities or treasuries too. I would consider this faux controversy because exactly what kind of person would be a better steward of these decisions. The "revolving door" is funny to see how ridiculous it can get, but really who of the citizenry would be better prepared to steward these organizations? What exactly would the pedigree of that person look like? The Fed was ALWAYS going to be forced to buy corporate debt as it expanded the universe of eligible assets. This was predictable no matter who at the Treasury negotiated with the Fed that "the time is now". To me, the only controversy would be the tax implications of the sham transfer of his stakes in his company. But actually, we don't even know if they neglected the taxes and it probably isn't a real issue for them as they'll just report it and try to offset the tax footprint just like everyone else. If it wasn't corporate debt, it would be mortgage backed securities, or leverage up on treasury bonds, or even higher leverage on currencies. There are always information asymmetries and that isn't controversial, except in single issues of companies in the securities market.
- quxpar 6y ago
  After all, the king is chosen by Divine Right, so who could possibly be better prepared to steward the kingdom?
  - 082349872349872 6y ago
    I didn't know we had a king! I thought we were an autonomous collective.
    - tbyehl 6y ago
      Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
      - ccapo 6y ago
        Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
- yowlingcat 6y ago
  > The "revolving door" is funny to see how ridiculous it can get, but really who of the citizenry would be better prepared to steward these organizations? What exactly would the pedigree of that person look like? Let's invert your argument on it's head: - No one of the citizenry exists to play this role. Why? - There is nothing stopping anyone who has regulated the system from switching sides to the thing they used to regulate - Therefore, anyone qualified enough will pass through the revolving door and systematically brain-drain the regulatory apparatus rendering it impotent - Therefore, this part of capitalism is able to seamlessly absorb and neutralize any resistance or regulation - Therefore, there is nothing stopping it from absorbing all power and instituting a one party state Don't call pointing out the corruptibility of this system "faux controversy."
- pochamago 6y ago
  Accurate and undeserving of downvotes
- 1MachineElf 6y ago
  Sometimes the truth hurts, e.g. the downvotes on this.
  - arolihas 6y ago
    Muzinich may be right for this role but he should still properly divest his interests ethically.
AlleyTrotter 6y ago
More of the same TDS
jgalt212 6y ago
These articles would have a lot less bit if Congress were looking after the working man as nearly as well as Treasury and The Fed are looking after the investor class. My beef is not necessarily with the investor class, and its protectors, but I believe the rest of us need someone effective looking after our interests as well.
- dfxm12 6y ago
  Who is lobbying congress? The investor class is certainly among those who are. The working man certainly isn't. If you're unhappy with your representatives, there are elections coming up in November.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - jessaustin 6y ago
    Whom should we elect? The loudmouth confused old man from the urban Northeast who grabs pussies? Or Trump? This voting thing doesn't seem to work the way we're told it works.
- thoughtstheseus 6y ago
  This is true. The fed telegraphed its move into corporate credit for a long time. Many current and former high ranking fed officials said the market was a problem long before and no one did anything until there was a problem. The Fed is just good at its job, the byproduct of that is that people keep asking them to do more and more when they should not.
cs702 6y ago
This reads like something that normally would be written about an underdeveloped country, which, lacking established institutions and rule of law, is run by a kleptocracy for the kleptocracy. Yet we're talking about the United States. It's embarrassing for the country on so many levels. Unbelievable.
- noad 6y ago
  I saw an armored Mercedes car on the streets of Denver for the first time a couple years ago. I have seen dozens of them in Africa and Latin America, but it was a really depressing moment for me when I first recognized that in my home town. I think that people who are not well traveled are not even aware of this slide, but we have been moving towards becoming a highly stratified developing nation for 20 years now. The armored car is just one striking example, but there are dozens more I can think of off the top of my head.
  - javert 6y ago
    I concur, but coming from a more historical/legal perspective. The U.S. has always fundamentally been like the Central and South American countries, just with a thin layer of Lockean rule of law and property rights. That layer is quickly eroding. The U.S. will become more like Mexico or Argentina (for instance) over time. Love him or hate him, Trump did a lot to advance this timeline. You can see that his style is much more reminiscent of Central and South American politics. His followers want to replace the Lockean style with a political system built around a strong central personality.
    - rthomas900 6y ago
      A Mexican friend, long living in the USA, told me how much the Trump family reminded him of corrupt elite families in Mexico: "The dad thinks he's above the law and constantly cheats on his wife. The sons wear their hair slicked back and boast about how good they are at business even though they've never done anything in life but sponge off their dad's companies. And the daughters think they are glamorous fashion models and dream of owning a lifestyle brand."
purplezooey 6y ago
Talks about draining the swamp, proceeds to swamp the swamp with more swampy swamp-dwellers.
- everytimeju 6y ago
  Even his former supporters call him "Zion Don" now. It's always the same. $35 billion more to Israel just this week, while American Jews like Muzinich here are pocketing a fortune from America's pain.
- chance_state 6y ago
  >The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing. [1] It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Somehow a billionaire who shits in gold toilets in a palace in NYC convinced a bunch of working people that he was on their side. Hilarious and sad. [1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/37824/did-joseph-goebbels-say-accuse-the-other-side-of-that-which-you-are-guilty https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/37824/did-josep...
asldfhasdf2 6y ago
> Today, Muzinich retains financial ties to the firm through an opaque transaction in which he transferred his shares in the privately held company to his father. It's a top gov official using the exact same scheme as Tiger King. And that is even before any of the 3trillion part even begins.
aphextron 6y ago
Pretty depressing reading law professors discuss the legality of this, knowing it doesn't matter at all and never will. Rule of law is no longer a thing for anyone but the working class in the US now.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mywittyname 6y ago
If you want a peak into the playbook of these corrupt officials, read the book Moneyland. The author walks through how government officials around the world use their positions to rob their countries, he goes over how they get the money, where the money goes, the effects of kleptocracy on a nation, and the aftermath of the inevitable collapse. I should probably read it again, it might be even more insightful when viewed through the lens of 2020.
everytimeju 6y ago
Reminder that noticing Jewish nepotism and usury is anti-Semitic and they're not necessarily involved every single time. It's just a coincidence that Muzinich is Jewish, as always.
ghufran_syed 6y ago
Couldn't you write the same thing about every government worker with a [retirement plan that contains stocks](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan)? - that the actions they took led to personal financial gain? Note that the same was also true for every member of the Obama administration in the bailouts of 2008-2010. We should care about when government action directly picking individual winners and losers in the economy leads directly to financial benefit for government individuals who made those choices - whereas this seems more analogous to complaining that government action improving the air quality in a city helped a government official's asthmatic child breathe better - why is it a problem unless the benefits are specific to his child while the costs are borne by the broader population? That certainly doesn't seem to be the case here.
dzonga 6y ago
the US has been a 3rd world country, since Reagan. current gvt just exposing the facade faster than most expected.

164 points by hhs 6y ago

This is the same whether it is mortgage backed securities or treasuries too. I would consider this faux controversy because exactly what kind of person would be a better steward of these decisions. The "revolving door" is funny to see how ridiculous it can get, but really who of the citizenry would be better prepared to steward these organizations? What exactly would the pedigree of that person look like? The Fed was ALWAYS going to be forced to buy corporate debt as it expanded the universe of eligible assets. This was predictable no matter who at the Treasury negotiated with the Fed that "the time is now". To me, the only controversy would be the tax implications of the sham transfer of his stakes in his company. But actually, we don't even know if they neglected the taxes and it probably isn't a real issue for them as they'll just report it and try to offset the tax footprint just like everyone else. If it wasn't corporate debt, it would be mortgage backed securities, or leverage up on treasury bonds, or even higher leverage on currencies. There are always information asymmetries and that isn't controversial, except in single issues of companies in the securities market.

quxpar 6y ago
After all, the king is chosen by Divine Right, so who could possibly be better prepared to steward the kingdom?
- 082349872349872 6y ago
  I didn't know we had a king! I thought we were an autonomous collective.
  - tbyehl 6y ago
    Now we see the violence inherent in the system!
    - ccapo 6y ago
      Help! Help! I'm being repressed!
yowlingcat 6y ago
> The "revolving door" is funny to see how ridiculous it can get, but really who of the citizenry would be better prepared to steward these organizations? What exactly would the pedigree of that person look like? Let's invert your argument on it's head: - No one of the citizenry exists to play this role. Why? - There is nothing stopping anyone who has regulated the system from switching sides to the thing they used to regulate - Therefore, anyone qualified enough will pass through the revolving door and systematically brain-drain the regulatory apparatus rendering it impotent - Therefore, this part of capitalism is able to seamlessly absorb and neutralize any resistance or regulation - Therefore, there is nothing stopping it from absorbing all power and instituting a one party state Don't call pointing out the corruptibility of this system "faux controversy."
pochamago 6y ago
Accurate and undeserving of downvotes
1MachineElf 6y ago
Sometimes the truth hurts, e.g. the downvotes on this.
- arolihas 6y ago
  Muzinich may be right for this role but he should still properly divest his interests ethically.

AlleyTrotter 6y ago

More of the same TDS

jgalt212 6y ago

These articles would have a lot less bit if Congress were looking after the working man as nearly as well as Treasury and The Fed are looking after the investor class. My beef is not necessarily with the investor class, and its protectors, but I believe the rest of us need someone effective looking after our interests as well.

dfxm12 6y ago
Who is lobbying congress? The investor class is certainly among those who are. The working man certainly isn't. If you're unhappy with your representatives, there are elections coming up in November.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- jessaustin 6y ago
  Whom should we elect? The loudmouth confused old man from the urban Northeast who grabs pussies? Or Trump? This voting thing doesn't seem to work the way we're told it works.
thoughtstheseus 6y ago
This is true. The fed telegraphed its move into corporate credit for a long time. Many current and former high ranking fed officials said the market was a problem long before and no one did anything until there was a problem. The Fed is just good at its job, the byproduct of that is that people keep asking them to do more and more when they should not.

cs702 6y ago

This reads like something that normally would be written about an underdeveloped country, which, lacking established institutions and rule of law, is run by a kleptocracy for the kleptocracy. Yet we're talking about the United States. It's embarrassing for the country on so many levels. Unbelievable.

noad 6y ago
I saw an armored Mercedes car on the streets of Denver for the first time a couple years ago. I have seen dozens of them in Africa and Latin America, but it was a really depressing moment for me when I first recognized that in my home town. I think that people who are not well traveled are not even aware of this slide, but we have been moving towards becoming a highly stratified developing nation for 20 years now. The armored car is just one striking example, but there are dozens more I can think of off the top of my head.
- javert 6y ago
  I concur, but coming from a more historical/legal perspective. The U.S. has always fundamentally been like the Central and South American countries, just with a thin layer of Lockean rule of law and property rights. That layer is quickly eroding. The U.S. will become more like Mexico or Argentina (for instance) over time. Love him or hate him, Trump did a lot to advance this timeline. You can see that his style is much more reminiscent of Central and South American politics. His followers want to replace the Lockean style with a political system built around a strong central personality.
  - rthomas900 6y ago
    A Mexican friend, long living in the USA, told me how much the Trump family reminded him of corrupt elite families in Mexico: "The dad thinks he's above the law and constantly cheats on his wife. The sons wear their hair slicked back and boast about how good they are at business even though they've never done anything in life but sponge off their dad's companies. And the daughters think they are glamorous fashion models and dream of owning a lifestyle brand."

purplezooey 6y ago

Talks about draining the swamp, proceeds to swamp the swamp with more swampy swamp-dwellers.

everytimeju 6y ago
Even his former supporters call him "Zion Don" now. It's always the same. $35 billion more to Israel just this week, while American Jews like Muzinich here are pocketing a fortune from America's pain.
chance_state 6y ago
>The cleverest trick used in propaganda against Germany during the war was to accuse Germany of what our enemies themselves were doing. [1] It's one of the oldest tricks in the book. Somehow a billionaire who shits in gold toilets in a palace in NYC convinced a bunch of working people that he was on their side. Hilarious and sad. [1] https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/37824/did-joseph-goebbels-say-accuse-the-other-side-of-that-which-you-are-guilty https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/37824/did-josep...

asldfhasdf2 6y ago

> Today, Muzinich retains financial ties to the firm through an opaque transaction in which he transferred his shares in the privately held company to his father. It's a top gov official using the exact same scheme as Tiger King. And that is even before any of the 3trillion part even begins.

aphextron 6y ago

Pretty depressing reading law professors discuss the legality of this, knowing it doesn't matter at all and never will. Rule of law is no longer a thing for anyone but the working class in the US now.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

mywittyname 6y ago

If you want a peak into the playbook of these corrupt officials, read the book Moneyland. The author walks through how government officials around the world use their positions to rob their countries, he goes over how they get the money, where the money goes, the effects of kleptocracy on a nation, and the aftermath of the inevitable collapse. I should probably read it again, it might be even more insightful when viewed through the lens of 2020.

everytimeju 6y ago

Reminder that noticing Jewish nepotism and usury is anti-Semitic and they're not necessarily involved every single time. It's just a coincidence that Muzinich is Jewish, as always.

ghufran_syed 6y ago

Couldn't you write the same thing about every government worker with a [retirement plan that contains stocks](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrift_Savings_Plan)? - that the actions they took led to personal financial gain? Note that the same was also true for every member of the Obama administration in the bailouts of 2008-2010. We should care about when government action directly picking individual winners and losers in the economy leads directly to financial benefit for government individuals who made those choices - whereas this seems more analogous to complaining that government action improving the air quality in a city helped a government official's asthmatic child breathe better - why is it a problem unless the benefits are specific to his child while the costs are borne by the broader population? That certainly doesn't seem to be the case here.

dzonga 6y ago

the US has been a 3rd world country, since Reagan. current gvt just exposing the facade faster than most expected.