Damage Control: Bail-Outs, BP and the Revolving Door of Cronyism

The above is Martin L.C. Feldman, the man who, on June 22nd, overturned the Obama administration’s proposed moratorium on offshore drilling. The right-wing media and blogsphere praised the decisions of this man, citing the incident as a constitutional overstep on the behalf of Obama that would result in a further shattering of the Gulf region’s already wayward economy. They conveniently ignore the fact that the would-be six month moratorium extended only to deep water exploration rigs, instead of the blanket-moratorium that the conservative media wants you to believe.

What is also ignored is Mr. Feldman’s curious set of connections and investments: in 2008, Judge Feldman owned stock in Transocean, the company that in turn owns the Deepwater Horizon rigs. He also held stock in Exxon-Mobil, as well as ‘financial investments’ in BlackRock, a New York based global investment management fund that is also the largest holder of BP stock. BlackRock was founded in 1988 as a subsidiary of the private equity firm Blackstone Group.

[The Bail-Out Crew from a Blackstone Perspective




The Blackstone Group was founded in 1985 by two Lehman Brother employees: Stephen A. Schwarzman, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the John Rockefeller-founded Asia Society; and Peter G. Peterson, a former chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank who also sat on the CFR. The self-described ‘leading global investment and advisory firm’ is known for their secretive nature in divulging their business associates, yet on their website they state that in 1998 American International Group (AIG) acquired a 7% interest for the sum of $150 and a commitment to invest over $1billion in future Blackstone-backed funds. Another known business associate of the Blackstone Firm is Henry Kissinger’s Kissinger Associates.

The story gets curious here.

In the 1980s, Kissinger Associates employed future Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. In 1987 Henry Kissinger was hired by AIG to chair their international advisory board, and twenty-three years later, AIG, Kissinger Associates and Blackstone go into a joint venture together to provide “financial advisory services” to Wall Street corporations. Why is this important? Two reasons: if these three corporate giants were advising Wall Street on financial matters, it would go without saying that they had tremendous influence on the economic policies winding up to the financial crisis. The second reason is that Peter G. Peterson would get Timothy Geithner his position at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Fast forward, and Geithner is Treasury Secretary, AIG is receiving massive sums of cash from the bail-outs and Goldman Sachs is walking away with thirteen billion taxpayer dollars. Just prior to all this, however, is the underreported story that Geithner awarded a $71million contract to BlackRock in exchange for their managing of $30billion new-found Federal Reserve assets from Bear Sterns.

The right-run sections of the media seem to gloss over the fact that the Wall Street bail-outs were engineered originally not by the Obama crew, but during the Bush administration with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. Paulson, as most know, was a Goldman Sachs executive prior to his position in the government. Paulson’s assistant in the Treasury - and bail-out co-conspirator - Kendrick Wilson III is a little less known; a close friend of George W., he was recruited by the former President to help save the country from financial ruin. What we got instead was highway robbery. And should anybody be surprised: Wilson is also a former Goldman Sachs man. Several years after the fact, Wilson has been hired by Blackstone as a vice chairman. Around the same time, Blackstone and Goldman Sachs announce that they are entering into a joint business venture to create mutual funds to invest in loans. The circle spins ‘round and ‘round.

Back to the Gulf Coat: Suck it, Fishies and Birdies!

Not surprisingly, Goldman Sachs reared its ugly head during the now unfolding Gulf oil spill disaster. During the first quarter of 2010 Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP, managing to save millions of dollars before the unfortunate collapse of the rig. In a leaked email, Goldman Sachs employee Fabrice Tourree says “one oil rigs down and we’re going to be rolling in dough. Suck it fishies and birdies!”

BP’s ties to Goldman Sachs don’t end there, however. According to Reuters, BP just hired both Goldman Sachs and Blackstone to act as advisers, “without identifying the purpose of the advice.” We can speculate, however, that it has to do with financial damage control; the stocks of BP continue to plummet and plummet as the collective black-eye of the oil giant grows like, well, a Gulf oil slick.

The timing is very interesting:

Goldman Sachs and Blackstone, linked together through a recent mutual fund venture and the dark cloud surrounding the bail-outs, are hired by BP for ‘advice’ on June 15th.

On June 22nd, a judge with financial ties to Transocean and BlackRock/Blackstone, overturns the deepwater drilling moratorium. Much of the nation, transfixed by neo-McCarthyite ideas, cheers… and nothing changes.






[edit on 28-6-2010 by Someone336]

You've got my attention. However, I do have to ask; do you happen to have any evidence to support these claims that you make? Are there any memos that you have that would substantiate what you're saying? It will help significantly to establish what you're trying to say.

TheBorg

reply to post by TheBorg


Hi Borg,

I'm sorry, but I had my citations planned last night, but I accidently deleted them. As it was late and I had to be at work early this morning, I opted to retype them tonight.

So without further ado, my sources:

"Judge Feldman owned stock in Transocean..." and "..as well as ‘financial investments’ in BlackRock" - Martin
Feldman Financial Disclosure Report 2008; Martin Feldman Financial Disclosure Report 2009. Upon further reviewing of these documents, I noticed the cropping up on other familar names, including that of Halliburton (Halliburton's incompetence may have lead to the Deepwater Disaster) and Marshall & McMcellan (the CEO of M&M, Jeffrey W. Greenberg, is the son of Hank Greenberg, the former CEO and chairman of AIG. It was Greenberg who hired Kissinger to AIG. AIG). According to USA Today, Eliot Spitzer was investigating a slew of Wall Street companies, including AIG and Marshall & McMcellan, for colluding in a price fixing scandal. Oh, the tangents!

Info on Blackstone and it's founders, all from SourceWatch

Blackstone Group
Stephen A. Schwarzman
Peter G. Peterson

"In the 1980s, Kissinger Associates employed future Obama Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner." USA Treasury: Timothy Geithner Biography

"In 1987 Henry Kissinger was hired by AIG to chair their international advisory board..." Is Henry Kissinger Setting Obama's Foreign Policy?

"AIG, Kissinger Associates and Blackstone go into a joint venture together to provide “financial advisory services” to Wall Street corporations." American International Group, Inc., the Blackstone Group L.P. and Kissinger Associates, Inc. Announce a New Strategic Advisory Venture.

"...Geithner awarded a $71million contract to BlackRock in exchange for their managing of $30billion new-found Federal Reserve assets from Bear Sterns." Timothy Geithner and BlackRock Inc.: A Former Employer’s Business Associate Wins No-Bid Contracts

"...a close friend of George W., he [Kendrick Wilson III] was recruited by the former President to help save the country from financial ruin..." and "Wilson is also a former Goldman Sachs man." Kendrick Wilson III, Bush’s former classmate, will advise Treasury

"...Wilson has been hired by Blackstone as a vice chairman." BlackRock Hires Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Kendrick Wilson as Vice Chairman

"...Blackstone and Goldman Sachs announce that they are entering into a joint business venture..." BlackRock and Blackstone Create New Mutual Funds

"...Goldman Sachs sold 4,680,822 shares of BP..." Goldman Sachs sold $250 million of BP stock before spill

"...“one oil rigs down and we’re going to be rolling in dough. Suck it fishies and birdies!” Goldman Sachs Reveals it Shorted Gulf of Mexico

"...According to Reuters, BP just hired both Goldman Sachs and Blackstone to act as advisers..." Obama set for big oil spill speech, BP hits snag; BP Financial Advisers Said to Include Goldman Sachs, Blackstone

There you have it!

A few more disturbing facts to through out there in light of the on-going crisis:

We all know about Corexit:

Nalco's Corexit brand of dispersant is an EPA preapproved, effective, low-toxicity dispersant that is readily available "and we continue to use it," Dean [Scott, spokesperson for BP]said.

So far it has been established that there is some kind of dubious relationship between Goldman Sachs, Blackstone and BP. I came across this, dated October 1st, 2003:

A consortium of private equity firms comprised of The Blackstone Group, Apollo Management, L.P. and Goldman Sachs Capital Partners (collectively, the "Investor Group") announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ondeo Nalco ("Nalco") from Suez S.A. Nalco is the world leader in providing water treatment and process chemicals and services to companies in the general industrial, institutional, pulp and paper and energy sectors.

AllBusiness.com: Blackstone, Apollo and Goldman Sachs to acquire Ondeo Nalco from Suez.]

Are we really to be surprised at this?

A bit more:

Earlier this year, Peter Sutherland, the man known as the 'father of globalized capitalism', and the prime mover behind the creation of the World Trade Organization, finished a 13 year stint as the CEO of BP. Interestingly, he was also the chairman of Goldman Sachs International, the London-based subsidiary of Goldman Sachs. Sutherland is involved in various neoliberal, pro-globalization organizations, such as the Centre for European Reform (CER). NeoCon Europe.eu describes the CER as thus:

The Centre for European Reform (CER) brings together Atlanticist, New Labour, neo-liberal and neo-conservative elements in a well-funded and promoted EU military-industrial lobby.

Continuing, it says:

The CER are also partners in the New Atlantic Initiative(NAI) which involves several neo-conservative organisations such as the Project for the New American Century and is a spin-off from the Institute for European Defence and Strategic Studies funded by the American Enterprise Institute.

It may be beneficial to point out that the 'blue-print' organization for the Project for the New American Century, the Project for a Republican Future, was founded by the VP of Goldman Sachs/Vice chairman of Goldman Sachs, London, Thomas L. Rhodes.

Continuing on the CER:

Many of the CER’s small group of people have later joined ‘governments or EU institutions.’ But questions as to why ‘senior officials, ministers and commissioners’ get something for nothing remain; and a more important question is why is the CER utterly dependent on the ‘donations’ of its funders which mostly have connections with the advisory board: Accenture, APCO, AstraZeneca, BAE Systems, BAT, BP, British Bankers’ Association, BT, Chubb Investment Services, Daily Mail and General Trust, Deutsche Bank, Diageo, EADS, EDS, The Economist, Express Dairies, German Marshall Fund of the US, GKN, GlaxoSmithKline, Goldman Sachs, KPMG, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Northern Foods, Pearson, Portland Place Capital, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Telecom Italia, Tesco, Thales, Unilever, United Utilities, UPS, Weber Shandwick Adamson and WPP Group.

The CER was founded by former Group Vice President for Policy and Strategy Development at BP, Nick Butler, who allegedly quit BP due to a scandal involving Peter Sutherland and the highest levels of British government:

An article in the Daily Telegraph about Butler's quitting BP in 2006 describes him as “a key conduit between the oil giant and Downing Street”[7]. The article adds that Butler's reputation has become "strained" by “leaks about conflict with BP's chairman, Peter Sutherland” and that he is “close to Jonathan Powell”, Tony Blair's then chief of staff. The Times rumoured that he was "used in a plot to oust a sitting MP" so that Ed Balls, the right-hand man of the then chancellor Gordon Brown, "could be assured of the nomination" for a safe Labour seat in Parliament

NeoCon Europe: Nick Butler

Sutherland is also the European chairman of the Trilateral Commission, an organization well known in conspiratorial circles as the Rockefeller-founded, Ford Foundation funded vehicle to promote global capitalism. Here is a quote from a Project Censored article entitled Obama's Trilateral Commission Team:

According to official Trilateral Commission membership lists, there are only eighty-seven members from the United States (the other 337 members are from other countries). Thus, within two weeks of his inauguration, Obama’s appointments encompassed more than 12 percent of Commission’s entire US membership.

Trilateral appointees include:
* Secretary of Treasury, Tim Geithner
* Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice
* National Security Advisor, Gen. James L. Jones
* Deputy National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon
* Chairman, Economic Recovery Committee, Paul Volker
* Director of National Intelligence, Admiral Dennis C. Blair
* Assistant Secretary of State, Asia & Pacific, Kurt M. Campbell
* Deputy Secretary of State, James Steinberg
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Haass
* State Department, Special Envoy, Dennis Ross
* State Department, Special Envoy, Richard Holbrooke

There are many other links in the Obama administration to the Trilateral Commission. For instance, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is married to Commission member William Jefferson Clinton.
Secretary of Treasury Tim Geithner’s informal group of advisors include E. Gerald Corrigan, Paul Volker, Alan Greenspan, and Peter G. Peterson, all members. Geithner’s first job after college was with Trilateralist Henry Kissinger at Kissinger Associates.

Make no mistakes, folks, what is unfolding in the Gulf is disaster capitalism at its finest, and the people who are profiting are those who are profiting from the disastrous neo-liberal theories of global capitalism being pushed on the world as a fundamental truth.