Roger’s Rules

April 21st, 2009 6:13 am

Why Steven Rattner is above the law

“As Detroit goes,” it used to be said, “so goes America.”

Let’s hope not.

Today’s news: the Obama administration is making another $500 million available to Chrysler as it tries to make itself pretty enough to seduce Fiat into taking on all that red ink. And GM will get another $5 billion of your tax dollars “to help . . . restructure outside of bankruptcy.” (What happened to the initial $17.5 billion? Don’t ask.)

But wait a minute. Who wields the funnel that channels your tax dollars to the auto makers? Who was it who stepped in a few weeks ago and gave former GM chairman Rick Wagoner the Order of the Boot? Why, that would be Steven Rattner.

And who is Steven Rattner? Well, he is a big fund-raiser for the Democratic party, for starters. He can afford it. In 2000, he co-founded the private equity fund Quadrangle Group, which at one point was leveraging — er, I mean managing — some $6 billion. What else? Oh yes, according to The New York Times, he “has been described in Securities and Exchange Commission documents as having arranged for his investment firm to pay more than $1 million to obtain New York State pension business.”

Oh dear, Oh dear, Oh dear. That’s just the sort of thing the SEC frowns upon–isn’t it? The Times goes on to note that “There is no indication in the complaint that Mr. Rattner faces criminal or civil charges in connection with the inquiry.” Well, that’s nice. But how do you spell “impropriety,” as in “appearance of”? Last week, The Wall Street Journal reported that Mr. Rattner “was one of the executives involved with payments under scrutiny in a probe of an alleged kickback scheme at New York state’s pension fund.” So I’m sure you will be pleased to know that, according to The Washington Post, President Obama has “full confidence” in his auto task force chief “despite disclosures that the former Wall Street financier was involved in business dealings now under investigation by New York and federal authorities.” It gives you a bit of insight into how things work in the Obama administration, doesn’t it?

One bit of advice, though: Don’t you go trying this at home! We ordinary mortals, untapped by Obama, do not get the sort of forbearance Timothy Geithner gets on his income taxes or Steven Rattner gets from the SEC. The message? Laws and taxes are for us little folk, not the big fellas who run things. They’re too busy firing the heads of public corporations and expropriating more of your and your children’s wealth to bother with little stuff like that.

* * * UPDATE * * * Edward Jay Epstein has more in a post called “None Dare Call it Bribery — Not Yet.”

Like the “shock” expressed by Captain Renault in the 1942 movie “Casablanca” after a croupier hands him a pile of money, the investment houses can express dismay that their agents of influence earned their fees in any nefarious way. After all, the boilerplate in their agreements with their placement agents requires those agents, to quote from the Carlyle contract, to “abide by all laws.”

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15 Comments

1. Instapundit » Blog Archive » CULTURE OF CORRUPTION: Pelosi, other Dem leaders pressure members to oppose ethics measure. Hous…:

[...] ANOTHER UPDATE: Why Steven Rattner is above the law. [...]

Apr 21, 2009 - 6:31 am 2. jaymaster:

It’s not just New York. New Mexico pension funds are involved as well.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aVlBfhxjgUZQ

Interesting connections there…..

Apr 21, 2009 - 7:16 am 3. vanderleun:

Bad Epstein link.

Apr 21, 2009 - 8:30 am 4. Hal:

Boy, we are in for a world of hurt.

Had to laugh at your, “Don’t you go trying this at home! We ordinary mortals….”

Saw, too, earlier today that more people are are rejecting the get into debt mantra from Washington and paying down debt and adding to savings. Which explains why banks are having a hard time to find people give loans too. Seems the citizens understand solution and DC doesn’t.

Apr 21, 2009 - 9:18 am 5. Roger Kimball:

# 3: Epstein link now fixed. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Apr 21, 2009 - 9:26 am 6. Herb:

Oh the country is in the very best of hands! ™ Instapundit

Apr 21, 2009 - 9:49 am 7. Congress smoking cash. - Moe_Lane’s blog - RedState:

[...] thing. Visclosky, Thompson, Feinstein, Dodd, Moran, Durbin, Pelosi (with a nod to Harman), Summers, Rattner, Murtha… get the point? Because we can keep going: that list barely touches the House, not to [...]

Apr 21, 2009 - 10:11 am 8. Moe Lane » Congress smoking cash.:

[...] thing. Visclosky, Thompson, Feinstein, Dodd, Moran, Durbin, Pelosi (with a nod to Harman), Summers, Rattner, Murtha… get the point?

Apr 21, 2009 - 10:12 am 9. Rignerd:

Some animals are more equal than others.

Apr 21, 2009 - 5:48 pm 10. MainStreet:

Sorry! Too busy looking into those who gave “torture” advice to Pres. Bush. Now that is where our problem is.

Apr 22, 2009 - 1:26 am 11. Jim:

MainStreet:

Actually, Bush did receive torture advice. If you deny that the procedures Bush and Cheney ordered were torture, then you must deny that John McCain was tortured. Waterboarding, to take only one example, has always been considered torture under US law. Waterboarding is featured in the torture museum in Cambodia, as an instance of the horrors perpetrated by Pol Pot’s regime.

I realize that you Kimballites are so busy calling a 3% increase in the top marginal tax bracket “socialism” to notice, but Bush and Cheney ordered torture. That you belittle this fact reveals something terrible about you and your characters. Remember, MainStreet, that among the Nazi officers hanged by the Allies after World War II were men who’d ordered lesser crimes than the ones Bush and Cheney ordered.

By the way, I notice no discussion of any of this from Kimball. Conservatism, it would appear, is now defense of torture. God help us all.

Apr 24, 2009 - 8:03 am 12. Will:

Boy, we conservatives really sound hypocritical at times like these. The denial and crass of these pundits – from Rush to Kimball to Krauthammer etc etc – is bewildering. I know that we should be pissed about Rattner, but it’s not like the NY Times is denying it or playing it down. The opposite is being done by conservatives (and when did being a conservative mean one should be pro-torture?) in the Washington Times, National Review and others: these publications are taking stances for the mere act of taking a different stance. Devil’s advocate my ass. What happened to a thorough and level headed understanding of conservatism instead of this nasty “let’s make Obama fail” mongering.

Apr 24, 2009 - 2:04 pm 13. Steynian 349 « Free Canuckistan!:

[...] ROGER KIMBALL– Why Steven Rattner is above the law: “As Detroit goes,” it used to be said, “so goes [...]

Apr 25, 2009 - 2:45 pm 14. Bilbo:

To Jim,
You silly fellow! Waterboarding is not “torture” by any international convention signed by the U.S. (that I know of) since it inflicts no bodily injury or permanent psychological damage. These facts can be attested to by the numerous U.S. special forces that undergo waterboarding every year as part of their training. Thus, one can indeed say in truth that John McCain WAS tortured (e.g., having his arms pulled out of their sockets) while the (grand total of) THREE terrorists that were waterboarded were not tortured. See how it works?
Also, a rise of 3% in the top marginal tax bracket is not what conservatives are calling socialism. Rather, it is the huge (sometimes controlling) ownership by the U.S. government in car companies, banks, etc. and the call for socialized medicine by the Obama administration that makes conservatives worry that socialism is on the way. This is all totally unconstitutional, but who cares about that except conservatives? Also, where will all the money come from to pay off these huge deficits that Obama has created? Increased taxes FOR ALL over the long run will be the answer (maybe you don’t smoke, but you should look into the excise tax hikes that are beginning to be instituted. They are REGRESSIVE and substantial). Are you eyes beginning to open?
Oh, don’t ever call George W. Bush or his cronies “conservatives”either. The “neo-cons” take their philosophy from the left, just like Obama. Ever wonder where the “neo” in “neo-conservatives” comes from? Bush might have been a social conservative, but he was no fiscal conservative! Bush spent money like a drunken sailor (including domestic social spending). I am a conservative and I hated Bush and many of his policies. But I DESPISE Obama and almost all of his policies.
Bush & Cheney like Nazis, huh? That’s a bold statement.
.

Apr 29, 2009 - 1:26 am 15. Sic Semper Tyrannis « The 3 Monkeys Guide to Health:

[...] laws of our country governing commerce are made by a group of individuals who have never run a business, never met a payroll, have trouble with taxes and who consider major ethical violations to be [...]

Aug 19, 2009 - 6:13 pm