Party of Wall Street

The picture that should prevent Obama from being re-elected

From the last debate

OBAMA: Governor Romney doesn’t have a five-point plan. He has a one-point plan. And that plan is to make sure that folks at the top play by a different set of rules. That’s been his philosophy in the private sector, that’s been his philosophy as governor, that’s been his philosophy as a presidential candidate.

This is a great talking point that I would like to explore. It has populist appeals that tug on the heartstrings. Everyone likes to root for the underdog, the scrappy hockey team with the disgraced lawyer/former hockey star coach looking for redemption against the cake-eating Hawks.

I get it, and it sounds great. The problem is that is a crock of bull.

For those of you who do not know, the man warmly embracing Obama above is Jon Corzine. Former Goldman exec and Governor of New Jersey. Let's get some background on him from our President and Vice President, so I cannot be accused of putting words in their mouths.

According to Biden, literally the first person we called on financial advice.

Helped craft Obama's stimulus

One more time, this time with Megyn Kelly

Why is this a big deal?

Because Jon Corzine is a bigger crook than Bernie Madoff.

Madoff operated an investment vehicle as a Ponzi scheme. While this is dishonest, everyone investing, including my great-uncle who invested his mesothelioma settlement with him, knew that there are inherent risks with any investment. Madoff lied and was a criminal but any time you give your money to other people to invest you have to know there is a non zero chance that things could go horribly wrong.

MF Global, in addition to taking positions on their own behalf, was a clearing house for other, smaller trading shops, hedge funds and private investors. This means they hold cash or securities as collateral and work between trading shops and the exchanges to assure the execution, confirmation,  and settlement of trades. So the money that these people had on account with MF was not there for Corzine and others to make bets with, only to allow them to trade on their own account.

Corzine dipped in to that money when his massive bets started going South. So in addition to losing all the money his firm had on available to invest, he also lost millions of which he had no right to even touch.

But he walks free, continuing to bundle for Obama. This class warrior, opponent of corporate excess, rule-breaking and greed does not really square with the fact that Obama has raised more money from Wall Street than Romney.

I wonder what the price of Corzine's get-out-of-jail free card was? $500,000? A million? Maybe it helps that MF Global was a client of AG Eric Holder's law firm? God knows the DOJ is not busy going after Fast and Furious info so one would think that they have plenty of time. Maybe the other murky connections between MF, Holder and the Obama campaign prevent action.

How Obama can harp on people playing by "a different set of rules" after his biggest campaign bundlers and contributors seem to get massive sweetheart green energy loans, subverted bankruptcy laws and immunity from criminal prosecution in fraud cases over a BILLION blows my mind