Andrea Tantaros

Goldman had help - now it's Washington's turn to testify

2010-04-29T00:00:00-04:00

To really know where you're going, you need to know where you've been. In the battle over how to regulate Wall Street with financial reform legislation, it's exactly the opposite. Americans have no clue in which direction they're headed, but they do know exactly where the mortgage mess started: in Washington. Yet when it comes to accountability, the only offenders on trial are the scapegoat executives from The Street. When will their accomplices in government testify under oath?

To be clear, the Goldman employees are slimy crooks. What they did was despicable, unethical and wrong. But there is still no strong proof it was illegal. The same is true for the equally slimy elected officials who were at the root of the mortgage meltdown.

It's no secret -- why Goldman is getting grilled

2010-04-26T00:00:00-04:00

While they still have total control of Washington, the Obama administration and congressional Democrats have been working feverishly to pass a financial regulatory reform bill that would give the federal government expanded powers over Wall Street. At the same time, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched an investigation into Goldman Sachs and one of its vice presidents for defrauding investors by misstating and omitting key facts about a financial product tied to subprime mortgages just as the U.S. housing market was beginning to falter. Most recently, in an outrageous abuse of power, Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) released internal e-mails from Goldman employees, the same week Goldman execs are slated to testify on Capitol Hill, and on the same week that Democrats make their final push to pass the financial reform bill.
If you think there are coincidences in Washington when it comes to timing, think again.

Presidents are always in need of enemies. Bill Clinton had “the vast right wing conspiracy.” Obama has the Tea Party movement, and Wall Street – and he is using Wall Street, namely Goldman, as a paper tiger to help build support for financial reform. It should be noted that though both Republicans and Democrats have taken money from the firm, Obama is the highest recipient of Goldman donations by almost $1 million. By taking their money with one hand, and spanking them with the other, Obama is sending a message to other Wall Street firms that they better line up behind his reform or else they’ll be next to get an SEC shakedown from a politically-tainted prosecution.

Government has always had these massive powers, but it’s never used them in such a grossly abusive manor to impugn the private sector to arguably get legislation passed so quickly. The fact that Senator Levin released private emails should have us all worried. What’s to stop Congress from releasing any private e-mails to the public from any company it seeks to punish? Were the e-mails showing shameful behavior? Yes. Goldman staffers were boasting about making record profits off of the mortgage crisis. But there is no evidence that the actions mentioned in the e-mails were illegal. And it seems highly unlikely that government can legally tear down an entire company based on a couple low level employees. However, the more control Washington has over private business, the more we can expect to see Congress butt into their business, illegal or not, and it won’t stop with the financial sector.

This is an issue of power over privacy. And it doesn’t help Obama and Democrats, no matter the motive. This investigation only fuels the public distrust of Washington and bolsters the anti-incumbent sentiment embodied by the tea party movement and many independents. Think about the rage against how the process went down when it came to health care reform. Now we’re seeing the public question the process yet again with regard to the timing and motivation of the investigation and the leaked e-mails, as well as the speed in which the legislation is being shepherded through the Hill when it comes to financial regulatory reform.

Nobody wants the street to run wild, but we must make sure that in an effort to regulate Wall Street, we don’t end up destroying it. Sure, Wall Street has been ethically challenged, but the real root of bad behavior began in Washington. It’s time we get access to their e-mails.

Tell Us More, Tim

2009-02-13T07:34:00-04:00

People have been speculating all week about how the economic spendulus bill will affect our financial markets. It certainly will, but the real tell-tale sign is what Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s plans are to dethaw our troubled credit markets, the crux of our crisis. We need action from his department to get banks to write off bad debts, creditors to pay off bad debts, and we need banks to start lending again while the aforementioned are happening. So far, no sensible solutions have emerged from Team Obama.

On Tuesday, Geither’s speech was supposed to bring some clarity, and we thought, a plan. But instead he told us nothing new. It was as if he showed up for the SATs without a No. 2 pencil. Not only was his anti-climactic announcement vague, he appeared more shaken and unsteady than the market in his presentation. News outlets and the Blogosphere made fun of his small stature. But frankly, I don’t give a hoot if Tiny Tim is vertically challenged. I care that he’s short on details.

His boss, President Obama, didn’t do him any favors. Monday night at his first prime time press conference, Obama billed Geither’s speech the following day as the main event on the economy and he dodged questions that related to our credit markets. He explained, in so many words, that his guy would put to the media’s concerns to rest at his press conference the next day. After facing a rough couple weeks over his tax troubles the last thing Turbo Tax Timmy needed was second strike. But he certainly got one. His lackluster performance demonstrated once more that you can fool the left, you can fool The New York Times but you can’t fool the markets. (They tanked after Tim’s address).

Aside from the spendulus being an ideologically and economically unstable solution, Obama and his administration are dropping the ball when it comes to leadership.

In fact, the more Obama talks down the economy and uses phrases like “catastrophe” the more likely it is to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more people hear their commander-in-chief predicting financial Armageddon, the more people will be afraid to spend. The tax credits in the stimulus for buying a new home or a car will prove fruitless if Obama scares the nation into thinking they can’t afford to buy a home or a car. Note to President Obama: you’re the leader of the free world, not some state senator from Illinois anymore. People actually give damn what you say, and what you say directly affects the confidence of our country. Until our president and his paperwork challenged Treasury Secretary give us anything but amorphous and vague platitudes when it comes to their plan for our credit markets–the center of our economic woes–our country will continue on a rapid, economic dissent. It’s time for Tim to tell us more.

GOP: Don't Cave on the "Stimulus"

2009-01-28T11:46:27-04:00

House and Senate Republicans should back away from the bloated, pork filled spending bill that Democrats are masking as a stimulus. New computers for State Department bureaucrats? Food stamps? $335 million to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (someone please tell me how preventing the clap is going to revive the economy)?

The New York Times, likely in jubilation, reveals exactly what many opponents have been arguing (and fearing) for a long time in a front page headline today: "Stimulus Plan Offers Road to Retooling Social Policy." With expanded entitlements and experiments in socialized medicine — don't forget the family planning money that was recently stripped — the bill is the largest, liberal spending boon this nation has ever seen.

The key to a successful stimulus is one that puts money directly into the hands of the people, not borderline bankrupt states and the bureaucrats who run them to pay off debt. Besides creating a lobbyist feeding frenzy, the bill does little to create long term jobs. It might create short term work, but that is what we saw with the New Deal, and that is why it failed. While new roads are nice, you can't rebuild a road five times.

While it's true the bill doesn't contain earmarks — as Obama likes to boast — the money gets directly funneled to the states and the bureaucrats decide how to best spend it (with the help of overzealous and overpaid lobbyists). This makes it extremely challenging for the American people to maintain oversight, something we desperately need. The Democrats have perpetrated a fraud: there is nothing that remotely resembles change in this excessive, leftist boondoggle. As the Wall Street Journal said today: "only $90 billion out of $825 billion, or about 12 cents of every $1, is for something that can plausibly be considered a growth stimulus" and that it appears to be comprised of "every pent up Democratic proposal of the last 40 years."

Almost as troubling as the contents of the package and how it will be spent is the speed at which the left is attempting to jam it down the throats of the American people. "It's urgent," they howl. What's urgent is the need for Democrats to ram this thing through so Republicans have little time to publicly oppose it. Whenever the opposition starts obstructing, the media gets involved and constituents begin to pay attention, giving the opposition — and their arguments — traction. The bill was written in the House under the leadership of Speaker Pelosi, with zero Republican input. I caution Republicans: do not fall for Obama's eleventh hour plea to get on board. You might appreciate his overtures to you but his motives are transparent. To Obama, GOP support is only ideal so Democrats aren't solely to blame when voters see that almost $1 trillion of their taxpayer money was used to lavishly reward our new president's supporters and advance a radical agenda instead of helping struggling businesses and families.

The crux of our problem is a credit crisis. This bill does absolutely nothing to fix that. And though what's about to happen on Capitol Hill is frightening, it presents an opportunity for the GOP. We were thrown out of the White House because we acted like Democrats. It's time to stand up, stand strong, and return to our principles of low taxes for everyone, private sector growth, and long term job creation through incentives that aren't handouts for a select few. There is no better time than now.

Andrea Tantaros is a conservative commentator and Fox News.com contributor. Her commentary can be found at www.andreatantaros.com and www.FoxNews.com/opinion.

Show Me the Economist Who Says We Are In a Crisis Because of a Birth Control Shortage

2009-01-26T06:22:00-04:00

In perhaps the most absurd move yet by the current Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi is defending her move to include hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money in the stimulus plan to expand family planning services — arguing that it will help financially strapped states.

Yes folks, her brain has now officially gone numb.

"…this is a, to stimulate the economy, is an economic recovery package and as we put it forth we have to deal with the consequences of the downturn in our economy. Food stamps, unemployment insurance, some of the initiatives you just mentioned. Believe it or not, they're the right thing to do but they also stimulate the economy," Pelosi told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's "This Week," who unsurprisingly didn't press her on how exactly she deduces this notion.

In Pelosi's world, less mouths to feed equals less money states will have to spend. Show me one economist that says that we are in an economic crisis because of a birth control shortage, or one that says more contraception (aka: population control) will get us out of it faster. What's next? Federally funded euthanasia? Pelosi mind as well tell anyone currently contemplating suicide to just go ahead with it.

Republicans aren't the only ones shaking their heads in disbelief at Pelosi's latest perplexing policy push. She will likely make many Democrats horribly uncomfortable. It's one thing to be pro-Choice; it's another to spend tax payer money on abortions at home — and abroad — in the middle of a financial crisis. And it's my hunch it won't take the American people long to figure out what's going on. This means big problems for our new president, who just last week reversed the Mexico City policy which federally funds overseas abortions.

As I've argued before, Obama's biggest short-to-medium-term problem isn't Republicans — disorganized, dispirited, and unsure of their footing and without decisive leadership — his problem is the members of his own party who are determined to implement a radical agenda that will eventually alienate middle America. It is a stale, shopworn agenda that is bereft of new ideas, and it could end up creating major problems for the president and the Democratic Party by ultimately wakening conservatives from their stupor.

Rise and shine, Republicans. My prediction that Obama, Reid and Pelosi would present an opportunity for the GOP has already come true.

Andrea Tantaros is a conservative political commentator and FoxNews.com contributor. Her commentary can be found at www.andreatantaros.com and www.foxnews.com/opinion.

McCain's Latest Bailout Move: Too Little Too Late?

2008-10-08T18:31:35-04:00

In yesterday's column "McCain's Bailout Blunder" I noted that his camp has stumbled quite a few times during this process from the perplexing suspension of his campaign to his actual vote in favor for the massive spending package.

Last night he proposed $300 billion to have the government buy failing mortgages. Besides the fact that this number is likely an extreme low ball, why didn't he propose this sooner? The idea is a noble one, and though it's political kryptonite among fiscal conservatives, it will win favor with many voters and will actually use their hard earned tax payer money to help them and not a fat, cat Wall Street suit.

Though we're still scratching out heads as to why the McCain campaign sprung this new policy proposal out of left field during a debate, we're looking forward to see how it is messaged by the schizophrenic campaign and acutally plays with voters.

One thing is clear: McCain should have proposed this plan from day one and voted against the Senate bill last week if he really wanted to differentiate himself from Obama and keep his campaign alive. Forget William Ayres, this is the economy stupid.

McCain's Bailout Blunder

2008-10-06T17:44:00-04:00

John McCain botched the biggest issue of this election cycle and passed up the most important way to differentiate himself from Barack Obama: the financial crisis.

First, suspending his campaign was strange. Heading back to Washington wasn't a bad idea but if you're going to supposedly return to a town burdened by gridlock to help solve a crisis you still need a cogent message. The message should have been THIS BILL STINKS. McCain didn't have one. All we saw was footage of him sitting silent at a White House meeting. And if he had an opinion on the bailout, we certainly didn't hear it.

Then there was the notion McCain wouldn't debate unless a bill was passed. That, too, seemed odd. Why wouldn't he want to address the nation with his opponent in front of millions of Americans? McCain has always been on the right side of this mess. In 2005 he called for a tough, independent regulator for Freddie and Fannie and he could have made the case on a national stage for proper regulation and personal responsibility. Unfortunately, the only pre-debate dialogue perpetuated on the cable news channels and in print was whether McCain was going to actually show up in Mississippi. Not fruitful if you ask me.

When he did show up Senator McCain and Senator Obama were prodded by moderator Jim Lehrer on the rescue bill and current state of the US economy. Neither one would address it head on, a giant blunder. Obama isn't known for his cajones. His shtick is ducking tough issues and taking the easy road as not to expend political capital and offend voters. McCain is known for just the opposite. And at time when the country was looking for a hero like McCain to reassure them and display leadership and hope he did not.

Last week when it was time for a vote in the Senate John McCain folded and voted for the bill even though he had an opportunity to differentiate himself from Obama, congressional Democrats and his Achilles heel, President Bush, and be on the side of the American people by voting against this measure. The bill was also laden with what some called pork, but what were actually tax credits for such ridiculous things as wool research and wooden arrows for children. McCain has fundamentally been opposed to special interest legislation and this was his chance to show it and showcase that he is opposed to government spending.

Voting against the bailout would have been risky, but worth it. We don't even know if this bill will work. Yesterday the market still looked bleak. What we do know is Americans are angry about it. They know government is the reason we're this mess. We shouldn't give them more control or our tax payer dollars. McCain could have stood out, and stood up, for the principles and people he is running to represent that echo this sentiment. McCain appears to be puffing off the same pipe as the rest of them.

The Obama camp is now calling McCain a "big spender." McCain is a lot of things, but a big spender he is not. But ever since he voted for the bailout he IS a big spender, so the label works. A pretty tough blow to the maverick four weeks out.

Why the Bailout Failed

2008-09-29T16:20:00-04:00

1. Republicans, and some Democrats, were tired of carrying George Bushs water. In the last eight years, George Bush has asked Congress for a lot of money. Hes asked them to fund the war. Hes asked them to pass the Medicare Prescription Drug Bill, in the middle of the night no less, when nobody was watching. They did. When he asked for Social Security reform many House Republicans put their foot down. They did that again today.

The Bush Administration did a terrible job selling this bill and members of the House were not willing to be the ones on the front lines doing his work yet again, no matter how crucial the impact of not passing it.

2. The importance of protecting their congressional tails. Constituents across the country are furious. They dont care who started this mess, they just dont want to have to pay for it.

This close to an election many members werent willing to put their political careers at risk to appease the Administration and Paulson, no matter how much arm twisting, and how many parks and statues they were promised for their districts.

3. At last, House Republicans did not go against their DNA. They bucked massive government intervention and the nationalization of our financial markets. Spending like drunken sailors over last few years, many put their foot down this time around as if to say no more. Voting for a 700 billion dollar bailout bill was inherently against the genetic code of many Republicans. Unlike the Medicare Bill, this time they knew America was watching.