Ex-Goldman banker Mnuchin installed as U.S. Treasury secretary

[webfact]

Ex-Goldman banker Mnuchin installed as U.S. Treasury secretary

By David Lawder

REUTERS

 

Steven Mnuchin testifies before a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on his nomination to be Treasury secretary in Washington, U.S., January 19, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump swore in former Goldman Sachs banker and Hollywood financier Steven Mnuchin as Treasury secretary on Monday, putting him to work on tax reform, financial de-regulation and economic diplomacy efforts.

 

The U.S. Senate voted to confirm Mnuchin 53-47, with all but one Democrat opposing him over his handling of thousands of foreclosures as head of OneWest Bank after the 2007-2009 housing collapse.

 

At a White House swearing-in ceremony, Trump said Mnuchin would be a "great champion" for U.S. citizens.

 

"He will fight for middle-class tax reductions, financial reforms that open up lending and create millions of new jobs, and fiercely defend the American tax dollar and your financial security," Trump said. "And he will also defend our manufacturing jobs from those who cheat and steal and rob us blind."

 

Lawmakers, lobbyists and business groups have been nervously waiting for Mnuchin to take office and fill in the many blanks on how he will pursue tax reform and handle delicate economic cooperation efforts with China, Mexico and other trading partners worried that Trump's "America First" strategy will upend decades-old trade rules and currency practices.

 

Mnuchin, 54, provided no details of his plans as he was sworn in.

 

"I am committed to using the full powers of this office to create more jobs, to combat terrorist activities and financing, and to make America great again," Mnuchin said.

 

Trump has pledged to roll back the stricter financial regulation under the Dodd-Frank reform law enacted after the financial crisis, pursue tougher trade policies on China and Mexico to reduce U.S. trade deficits, and reduce business tax rates.

 

CHALLENGES COMING UP FAST

 

Mnuchin faces immediate challenges with the March 15 expiration of a U.S. debt ceiling suspension, ushering in the threat of a new default showdown, and a March 17 meeting of finance ministers from the Group of 20 major economies, where he will face tough questions about Trump's plans to increase trade protections.

In April, Mnuchin will have to determine whether to declare China a currency manipulator as part of Treasury's semi-annual currency report.

"There is a real open question as to whether this administration is going to cut itself off from international monetary cooperation, whether it's exchange rate policies or attitudes towards multilateral institutions or international regulatory policy," said Edwin Truman, a former Treasury and Federal Reserve official now with the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

 

Among Mnuchin's biggest jobs is managing a sprawling congressional tax reform effort that seeks to slash business tax rates and enact a new border tax adjustment system aimed at boosting U.S. exports.

 

Mnuchin will quickly need to build a core management team to handle such challenges.

 

Treasury and White House representatives did not respond to requests for comment on Monday on reports that Trump would soon nominate David Malpass, a former economist at failed Wall Street bank Bear Stearns, as Treasury undersecretary for international affairs, the agency's top economic diplomacy job.

 

Malpass, a Trump campaign adviser who had been leading Treasury transition efforts, was seen as a leading candidate for the job, with experience from international economic posts in the Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations.

 

Other names that have been floated for senior posts include Goldman Sachs banker Jim Donovan for deputy Treasury secretary and Justin Muzinich, a former Morgan Stanley banker, for undersecretary of domestic finance.

 

"FORECLOSURE MACHINE"

 

Mnuchin, a second-generation Goldman Sachs banker who led the firm's mortgage bond trading but left the bank in 2002, came under fire from Democrats over his investor group's 2009 acquisition of another failed lender, IndyMac Bank, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

 

The bank, rebranded as OneWest, subsequently foreclosed on more than 36,000 homeowners, drawing charges from housing advocates that it was a "foreclosure machine."

 

Mnuchin grew OneWest into Southern California's largest lender and sold it for $3.4 billion in 2015. He has also helped finance Hollywood blockbusters such as "Avatar," "American Sniper" and this past weekend's box office champion, "The Lego Batman Movie," which took in $55.6 million.

 

The Senate on Monday also unanimously confirmed David Shulkin as secretary of veterans affairs, putting the only holdover from the Obama administration in charge of the second largest federal agency. Shulkin had been in charge of the VA's sprawling health system for the past 18 months.

 

(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson; Editing by Peter Cooney and Leslie Adler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-02-14

[mtls2005]

Trumpers love to dump on Hollywood, when it's convenient.

 

Obviously Mnuchin, (and Bannon), has had a lot of success there; especially with Lego movies.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm6518391/

 

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/how-lego-movies-helped-steve-mnuchin-become-a-big-time/article_0702f666-adaf-597a-bf62-f2216c772eea.html

 

 

[dblaisde]

This is very normal in US politics. The revolving door between Goldman and the US Treasury. Remember Hank Paulsen, Treasury Chief under Bush and ex Goldman Prez, who was at the heart during the great banker bailout.

 

It's also true in the Justice Dept, with Eric Holder, an ex-attorney for Too-Big-To-Fail banks  appointed Justice Head to dish out justice after the financial meltdown of '08. Needless to say, no bankers went to jail, and now he's back working for the same banks.

 

Ditto for the Pentagon with Boeing and other arms manufacturers taking Director of Procurement posts. (I know, I worked for Mitre Corporation, a big Pentagon contractor. Most of their focus was on bribing Washington bureaucrats in one way or another, and Mitre always billed the government for twice the time needed to complete any contract, so we all sat around for 3 months on every 6 month contract twiddling our thumbs). Same, same with Obama appointing a Monsanto VP Snopes as director of the FDA.

 

This is "the government within the government" as Teddy Roosevelt put it way back when.

[dblaisde]

49 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Trumpers love to dump on Hollywood, when it's convenient.

 

Another reason: Hollywood usually votes Democrat, and they have deep pockets.

[kamahele]

Yup. He's gonna drain the swamp...... Hillary was bad because she gave a speech to Goldman Sachs so Trump hires directly from Goldman. That's showing us how to drain the swamp....

[ilostmypassword]

24 minutes ago, kamahele said:

Yup. He's gonna drain the swamp...... Hillary was bad because she gave a speech to Goldman Sachs so Trump hires directly from Goldman. That's showing us how to drain the swamp....

Well, he never said that he wasn't going to replace it with a cesspool.

[elgordo38]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

At a White House swearing-in ceremony, Trump said Mnuchin would be a "great champion" for U.S. citizens.

With this guy you do not need enemies. Check his banking background he robbed from the poor and gave it to the rich. Especially during the banking crisis. I watched the one episode of Bill Maher Live where he did a rundown on the Trump cabinet selections and it was really scary. He only has a couple women in the cabinet yet he sits with Trudeau professing equality in the work force for women and the couple women picks he has made are really well you check em out one is politically motivated and the other has no idea what a school is. Trudeau has a balanced female male cabinet. Its time for women to get a chance God knows men have not done such a hot job. 

[dblaisde]

2 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

I watched the one episode of Bill Maher Live where he did a rundown on the Trump cabinet selections and it was really scary.

But for example, look at Obama's Treasury Secretaries: Tim Geithner and Jack Lew. They weren't much better:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-02-21/citigroup-s-man-goes-to-the-treasury-department

 

And of course, Eric Holder, big bank lawyer who got to be DOJ chief when it came time to discipline the big banks for the 08 disaster. Nobody went to jail and Holder's back representing the big banks again, job well done.

 

Yet, the public chose to be blissful unaware of Obama's appointments.

 

I dislike Trump even more than Obama, but it's just amazing how people are willing to be fooled when they like a guy and irate when they don't.

Edited February 14, 2017 by dblaisde

[ilostmypassword]

12 minutes ago, dblaisde said:

But for example, look at Obama's Treasury Secretaries: Tim Geithner and Jack Lew. They weren't much better:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/business/27geithner.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

 

https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2013-02-21/citigroup-s-man-goes-to-the-treasury-department

 

And of course, Eric Holder, big bank lawyer who got to be DOJ chief when it came time to discipline the big banks for the 08 disaster. Nobody went to jail and Holder's back representing the big banks again, job well done.

 

Yet, the public chose to be blissful unaware of Obama's appointments.

 

I dislike Trump even more than Obama, but it's just amazing how people are willing to be fooled by the boldest of liars if they like him.

There's a huge difference between Obama and Trump. Obama and the Democrats tightened the rules on the big banks, the shadow banks and the hedge funds. And there's also the Consumer Protection Bureau. These are measures that Wall Street mostly detests.  Now Trump and the Republicans are going to try and undo them or at least water them down.

[Opl]

14 hours ago, webfact said:

At a White House swearing-in ceremony, Trump said Mnuchin would be a "great champion" for U.S. citizens.

 

"He will fight for middle-class tax reductions, financial reforms that open up lending and create millions of new jobs, and fiercely defend the American tax dollar and your financial security," Trump said. "And he will also defend our manufacturing jobs from those who cheat and steal and rob us blind."

 

It's a pity ( now that we know,  after 3 weeks of Presidency)... that Trump was not elected in 2007, just to see how He and his Cabinet and Advisors would have done .. Financial crisis, subprime crisis, M.E ..

Edited February 14, 2017 by Opl

[Phatbeets]

Didnt he said he would do the exact opposite during the entire campaign? 

[elgordo38]

8 hours ago, Phatbeets said:

Didnt he said he would do the exact opposite during the entire campaign? 

Of course he did. Its called lying to get the suckers to vote for you. If you have been around for decades like me you would have seen it time and again. If your lucky enough to be around a few more decades it will just be a repeat of the same. Your not sitting at the big boys table your on the floor scrounging for crumbs and that is your future unless your smart enough to invent a better mousetrap. Every 4 years the big boys allow you to sup with them then its back to the floor. 

[Chicog]

If you think Trump has conflict of interest issues, wait until this shyster gets cracking.

 

 

[sujoop]

As one who is all for business/jobs, repatriating offshore cash to create even more jobs etc, unfortunately here's how it will roll out:
 

1) Dodd/Frank bill regulating 'too big to fail' and other bank/wall street rules brought in by Obama after Bush meltdown will be neutered (and we're right back to a meltdown scenario but at least banks/wall st benefactors will be happy to have free reign again)

2) Fund managers and CEO's to get MASSIVE bonus payments as a result of corp tax cuts = temp stock gains

3) Corporate stock self-buy-backs will also be a priority

4) Most offshore money will remain in lower offshore tax jurisdictions regardless

5) Some of the 'new' money  will be (is) ear-marked for further automation of homeland production, thus more lost jobs (inevitable and has been largely happening for several years already sadly)
 

So a temp shot in the arm for one's 401k (but only temporary as wall st and corps lap up the excess and does little to 'create new jobs', automate yes, create no). As for 'bringing back coal' & sunset etc jobs, sorry rust-belt but y'all got conned by the Don, that ship sailed ages ago. Better to offer all rust belters and others marginalized by changing economies credits to upgrade skills, apprenticeship positions, etc etc. Not that it will happen as this requires longer than 1 voting term to manifest (unfortunately both sides of the aisle are guilty for neglecting fwd long-term re-engineering, re-training)
 

What WILL we get? Some temporary/dissolving Fed Govt infrastructure shovel-ready jobs and that's that. Meanwhile, fund managers & CEO's will be buying up even more bling with new bags of found wealth thanks to all the Trumpsters conned by Don & Co.

Edited February 15, 2017 by sujoop

[dblaisde]

18 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

There's a huge difference between Obama and Trump. Obama and the Democrats tightened the rules on the big banks, the shadow banks and the hedge funds. And there's also the Consumer Protection Bureau. These are measures that Wall Street mostly detests.  Now Trump and the Republicans are going to try and undo them or at least water them down.

After the  '29 stock market collapse, bankers went to **jail** for fraud, but not with Obama (and there was *obvious* fraud with Lehmann and Goldman). Dodd Frank was written by two congressmen with allegiances to the banking industry, and was fairly quickly undermined anyway by modifications to it, making it rather toothless. If the Democrats really wanted to, they could gotten Glass Stegall back again: for the first two years the Democrats had both Houses and the Presidency. Yet they didn't even try, and in this period they didn't even *consider* Single Payer as a possible health plan. ACA was written by the insurance industry, and there's abundant evidence of that. A mandate that forces people to buy their insurance? Oh yeah, they love it. And they're jacking their prices up all the time too.

 

Watch "Inside Job" if you haven't. It's all about the banking crisis and the players who made it happen: the banks, the in-bed-with-the-banks SEC, and the paid off ivy league economists who earn fabulous money from speaking engagements at Goldman and others to tell them what they want to hear.

 

Each political party knows that without heavy corporate and bank funding, they'll loose the elections. It's political suicide *not* to accept their money, and to get it you have to do what they want. That's so obvious.

 

I'm with you on the Republicans. They're a good deal worse. My point is that the Democrats are really awful too. Obama along with them. But people don't read enough to understand that. Obama had two constituencies, those who paid for his election and those who voted for him. To the former, he gave almost everything they wanted. To the latter almost nothing. I call them Demos and Repos. Demos because the demo model always promises a lot more than what goes into production, and Repos...well, Repo Man. They like to steal.

Edited February 15, 2017 by dblaisde

[Prbkk]

An unblemished record of support for/active participation in corporate greed at the expense of all else.

[Grouse]

In Iceland, they threw all these crooks in jail after the crisis.

 

How many American bankers went down?

[elgordo38]

22 hours ago, dblaisde said:

I dislike Trump even more than Obama, but it's just amazing how people are willing to be fooled when they like a guy and irate when they don't.

Its called human nature. 

[dblaisde]

15 hours ago, elgordo38 said:

Its called human nature. 

It's also called indoctrination and propaganda. The dumbing down of the population by an educational system which shuns critical thinking and promotes mindless distractions of "infotainment".

 

Worth seeing again:

 

 

Edited February 16, 2017 by dblaisde

[elgordo38]

2 minutes ago, dblaisde said:

It's also called indoctrination and propaganda. The dumbing down of the population by an educational system which shuns critical thinking and promotes mindless distractions of "infotainment".

 

Worth seeing again:

 

 

Loved you and miss you George. 

[dblaisde]

18 hours ago, Grouse said:

In Iceland, they threw all these crooks in jail after the crisis.

 

How many American bankers went down?

Right...American politicians have the good sense not to try to throw their owners in jail. :)

Edited February 16, 2017 by dblaisde

[Dagnabbit]

You can tell liberals that never actually had to hold down a serious job before.

When you have an employer, you have to do what is best for that employer. So did this guy do a good job for Goldman or not? If he did, then why can he not do a good job in this new role?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dblaisde]

13 minutes ago, Dagnabbit said:

>>So did this guy do a good job for Goldman or not? If he did, then why can he not do a good job in this new role?

 

Simply because he never leaves off working for Goldman when he enters Government. He doesn't serve "the People", he serves Goldman. And no doubt after he's done his government stint he'll go back to work for Goldman again. Job well done. As Sanders commented in the debates: it's the banks that regulate government, not the other way around....And you can't get to fire these people because you never got to elect them in the first place.

Edited February 16, 2017 by dblaisde

[ilostmypassword]

M

2 hours ago, Dagnabbit said:

You can tell liberals that never actually had to hold down a serious job before.

When you have an employer, you have to do what is best for that employer. So did this guy do a good job for Goldman or not? If he did, then why can he not do a good job in this new role?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Maybe because he hasn't changed his views from when he worked for Goldman Sachs? Maybe because he defends getting rid of Dodd Frank?  Maybe because he defends allowing financial advisors to accept bribes to promote bad investments and lay waste to clients' retirement funds?

[Guest]

5 hours ago, dblaisde said:

It's also called indoctrination and propaganda. The dumbing down of the population by an educational system which shuns critical thinking and promotes mindless distractions of "infotainment".

 

Worth seeing again:

 

 

 

So, are all the countries and their leaders part of this conspiracy?

 

[dblaisde]

On 2/16/2017 at 6:25 PM, oilinki said:

 

So, are all the countries and their leaders part of this conspiracy?

 

When you start using the word "conspiracy", it's another way to say "it's not true". It's a word commonly used by gullible people who spend too much time watching TV. If I'd told you 3 years ago that the US government keeps detailed spying information on all its citizen, you'd probably have call me a conspiracy nut. But then along came Snowden, and now you know it for a fact. Of course people like me knew it a long time ago courtesy of NSA leakers like Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe. But you have to work a bit if you want to know what's going on. You won't get it staring at the boob tube.

 

What you don't know can hurt you.

Edited February 17, 2017 by dblaisde