{"id":1297719,"date":"2022-02-14T21:52:51","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T02:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1297719"},"modified":"2022-02-14T21:54:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T02:54:07","slug":"pinkerton-bidens-great-reset-goes-through-his-woke-federal-reserve-nominees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pinkerton-bidens-great-reset-goes-through-his-woke-federal-reserve-nominees\/","title":{"rendered":"Pinkerton: Biden\u2019s Great Reset Goes Through His \u2018Woke\u2019 Federal Reserve Nominees"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fpinkerton-bidens-great-reset-goes-through-his-woke-federal-reserve-nominees%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1297719&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">In his Build Back Better (BBB) legislation, President Joe Biden wanted to spend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2021\/09\/12\/politics\/house-reconciliation-package-explainer\/index.html\">$570 billion<\/a> over the next decade on green causes, mostly focused on climate change.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Fortunately, that bill seems to be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/12\/19\/joe-manchin-to-oppose-4-91-trillion-build-back-better-act-effectively-killing-bill\/\">dead<\/a>, and yet now the Biden greens (that is to say, the Biden administration) have their eye on an even bigger pot of money with which to pursue their climate agenda: the assets of American banks.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Those assets total nearly $23 trillion,<i> <\/i>according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/fred.stlouisfed.org\/series\/TLAACBW027SBOG\">Federal Reserve<\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;A crucial vote on&nbsp;whether or not this sneaky policy can proceed will&nbsp;<\/span>be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/finance\/us-senate-banking-committee-vote-fed-nominees-feb-15-2022-02-11\/\">held<\/a> tomorrow when the Senate\u2019s banking committee votes on whether to advance Biden\u2019s Federal Reserve nominees, particularly the nomination of Sarah Bloom Raskin as the Fed\u2019s top bank regulator.<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: larger;\">Where the Money Is<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>Speaking of the Federal Reserve System, the Fed, as it is called, is the principal body that oversees and regulates banking in the U.S.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>After the failure of BBB, the Fed is Biden\u2019s preferred mechanism for advancing his version of the Green New Deal.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>After all, the Fed has vast powers over the banks\u2014including whether or not they can lend money to, or otherwise finance, fossil-fuel companies.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>From a Bidenite point of view, this seems like a clever strategy; as has been <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Willie_Sutton\">said<\/a> of banks, \u201cThat\u2019s where the money is.\u201d <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Specifically, Biden wants to gain control of the Federal Reserve\u2019s seven-member <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Federal_Reserve_Board_of_Governors\">Board of Governors<\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Of these seven slots, three are currently vacant.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;O<\/span>n January 14, the White House named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/briefing-room\/statements-releases\/2022\/01\/14\/president-biden-nominates-sarah-bloom-raskin-to-serve-as-vice-chair-for-supervision-of-the-federal-reserve-and-lisa-cook-and-philip-jefferson-to-serve-as-governors\/\">three candidates<\/a> to fill those slots, all of them friendly to his green scheme.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>If that trio is confirmed by the Senate, they will join a fourth Democrat already on the board, and the left will have gained control of the Fed. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yes, the Bidenites have visions of that $23 trillion\u2014and what they can do with it\u2014dancing in their heads.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>The banks have their $23 trillion, and the Fed has its regulatory power, and so the Fed can rewrite banking rules to choke off financing for fossil-fuel companies.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>This regulatory option is a ray of hope for embattled Democrats, because their elected officials, eyeing recent election results and current polls, have grown leery of <i>overt<\/i> actions to choke off energy, and thus tank the economy.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>That\u2019s why <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/finance\/572444-democratic-bill-would-force-fed-to-defund-fossil-fuels\">legislative efforts<\/a> to block energy lending have ground to a halt. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Instead, sly Democrats prefer <i>covert<\/i> actions, the kind they hope will leave no political fingerprints.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; T<\/span>hat\u2019s where the Fed comes in: Democrats hope that an \u201cindependent\u201d Fed can do all the choking behind the scenes; that is, without Democratic pols actually having to vote on unpopular energy reductions.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Far better, Dems figure, to let <i>un<\/i>-elected bureaucrats do the dirty work. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On January 29, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/01\/29\/pinkerton-bidens-big-shift-on-climate-change-is-the-great-reset-by-stealth\/\">this author<\/a> sketched the outlines of this sneaky strategy: \u201cBiden\u2019s \u2018Big Shift\u2019 on Climate Change Is the \u2018Great Reset\u2019 by Stealth.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>(The Great Reset, of course, is the green-globalist agenda put forth by the German <a href=\"https:\/\/www.weforum.org\/about\/klaus-schwab\">Klaus Schwab<\/a> and the World Economic Forum, aka, Davos.) <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The key to this Great Resetting strategy is Sarah Bloom Raskin, tipped by Biden to be the Fed\u2019s Vice Chair for Supervision; which is to say, she\u2019d have direct authority over the workings of private banks. The other two nominees for seats on the Board of Governors are Lisa Cook and Philip Jefferson.<\/p>\n<p>Raskin has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/05\/28\/opinion\/fed-fossil-fuels.html\">written<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/ffa4f748-9f4e-406e-9cd1-8200cc40047f\">many<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.project-syndicate.org\/onpoint\/us-financial-regulators-climate-change-by-sarah-bloom-raskin-2021-09\">times<\/a> about bending finance to transform the American energy sector in a way that would gladden the Sierra Club.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>As I noted last month, \u201cThe Biden plan is that the Raskin-ized Fed will join with other mostly obscure agencies, such as the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, to steer (read: scare) investors away from fossil fuel companies.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882538\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882538\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238159666.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1277\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sarah Bloom Raskin, nominee to be vice chairman for supervision and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is sworn in during the Senate confirmation hearing on February 3, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Bill Clark-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882530\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882530\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238159437-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lisa DeNell Cook, nominee to be a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is sworn in during the Senate confirmation hearing on February 3, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Bill Clark-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882546\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882546\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238160271.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Philip Nathan Jefferson, nominated to be a Member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, is sworn in during a Senate confirmation hearing on February 3, 2022, in Washington, DC. (KEN CEDENO\/POOL\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: larger;\">Wait! There\u2019s More!!<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, another of Biden\u2019s nominees for the Fed has come under scrutiny.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>That would be Lisa Cook, a professor at Michigan State University.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>In the <a href=\"https:\/\/johnhcochrane.blogspot.com\/2022\/01\/fed-nominees.html\">sharp words<\/a> of Hoover Institution economist John Cochrane, a look at Cook\u2019s academic output shows \u201cessentially nothing related to monetary policy, monetary effects on employment, interest rates, inflation, financial regulation or other traditional Fed topics.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Instead, Cochrane continued, Cook seems best equipped to \u201cbring the Administration and progressive supporters\u2019 racial policies to the Fed.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>That is, in Cochrane\u2019s view, she\u2019d be a better hard-left diversity officer than a careful central banker. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s no need to take Cochrane\u2019s word for it.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Here\u2019s Cook in her own words in a 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.econtalk.org\/lisa-cook-on-racism-patents-and-black-entrepreneurship\/#audio-highlights\">podcast<\/a>:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Everybody <i>benefited<\/i> from slavery, everybody.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Everybody in the economy at the time\u2014besides those who were enslaved persons or related enslaved persons\u2014benefited from the economy at that time. We have to come to terms with that.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And so, Cook continued, we need to move toward reparations for slavery:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B4\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I think that we absolutely need some sort of reckoning. . . . There are many proposals on the table to study the possibility of reparations, many economic proposals being put forward, and I think they should all be taken seriously.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>. . . We learn more, so we need to do more.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We can add that offering reparations is another one of those lefty causes that reelection-minded Democrats don\u2019t want to touch; so once again, they think it is best to shunt the mission off to <em>un<\/em>elected officials\u2013the kind voters can\u2019t touch\u2013to see what they can figure out. (And for a reparations-minded governor at the Fed, that $23 trillion held by banks provides a mighty fine target of opportunity.) <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Cook\u2019s racial preoccupations are so strenuous that even the mainstream media are noticing; hence this February 2 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2022\/02\/02\/biden-nominee-ensnared-in-debate-over-woke-fed-00004922\">headline<\/a> in <i>Politico<\/i>: \u201cBiden nominee ensnared in debate over \u2018woke\u2019 Fed.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Reviewing her record, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/\">Sen. Kevin Cramer<\/a> (R-ND) judged Cook to be \u201cfundamentally not qualified.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882522\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882522\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238160459.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dr. Lisa DeNell Cook speaks before a Senate confirmation hearing on February 3, 2022. (Ken Cedeno-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: larger;\">Strong Republican Opposition<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>Still, the main focus is on Raskin, she of the green dream, of using the Fed to please Greenpeace.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>On February 2 the<i> Wall Street Journal<\/i> published an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/sarah-bloom-raskin-federal-reserve-vice-chair-supervision-nomination-confirmation-oil-gas-energy-prices-biden-11643833586\">op-ed<\/a> by two energy trade association officials, \u201c\u2018No\u2019 on Sarah Bloom Raskin.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>As the authors put it, \u201cMs. Raskin\u2019s public statements make clear that she would use this position to reshape our financial system in ways Congress never intended.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>They added:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The Fed\u2019s only mandates are stable prices and low unemployment. That\u2019s why it\u2019s endowed with such independence and power\u2014it isn\u2019t meant to be political.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Whether the government limits fossil fuels is the purview of elected representatives in Congress, not insulated bureaucrats.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Indeed, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ipaa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/Joint-Trades-Letter-on-the-Nomination-of-Sarah-Bloom-Raskin.pdf\">open letter<\/a> opposing Raskin and signed by 41 energy associations\u2014from the Alaska Oil and Gas Association to the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association\u2014is circulating widely on Capitol Hill. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Speaking for another energy-producing region, the Southeast, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cassidy.senate.gov\/newsroom\/press-releases\/cassidy-announces-opposition-to-biden-anti-energy-federal-reserve-nomination\">Sen. Bill Cassidy<\/a> (R-LA) was loud and clear on Raskin:<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>For someone to be nominated who wishes to destroy the oil and gas industry, not on a rational basis, but based on a prejudice and a dream that we no longer need fossil fuel, is dangerous for the workers of Louisiana.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>It is dangerous for the consumers in this country.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>It is dangerous for our foreign policy and national security. In short, it is dangerous for the world.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Our economy depends on clear-minded, nonpartisan monetary policies, not activists in the Fed carrying out an ideological and political agenda.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Okay, so it\u2019s easy to peg Raskin is a green ideologue bent on unemploying Louisianans, as well as many others across the country. According to the American Petroleum Institute, total national employment in the fossil-fuel industry is currently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.api.org\/oil-and-natural-gas\/energy-primers\/hydraulic-fracturing\/how-many-jobs-has-the-oil-and-natural-gas-industry-created\">9.8 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, surveying the troubled energy scene, Democratic Senators\u2014the folks who will be called upon to vote in support Raskin\u2019s nomination\u2014are getting nervous.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>As a sign of their nervousness, just on February 9, <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/593496-vulnerable-democrats-call-for-gas-tax-suspension-amid-rising-prices\">six of them<\/a> (four up for re-election in 2022) called for a suspension of the federal gas tax as a way of reducing pump-pain for motorists. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882594\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882594\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1238159513.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1278\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), right, speaks with Sarah Bloom Raskin, nominee to be vice chairman for supervision and a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, before the start of the Senate confirmation hearing on February 3, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Bill Clark-Pool\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>That might be a clever enough political tactic, pushing down gas prices, and yet we can observe: It\u2019s the <i>opposite<\/i> of the approach that Raskin favors: As we have seen, she wants to make carbon-energy scarcer, which would, of course, make it more expensive.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>So how will those six Democrats who want to reduce gas prices regard Raskin?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; Will they think that if they are call loudly for reducing gas prices (making voters happy) that they can then get away with&nbsp;voting \u201caye\u201d on Raskin, who will ultimately raise energy prices (making donors happy)? &nbsp;<\/span>Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p>To be fair, we should note that Raskin has taken, lately, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/\">disavowing<\/a> her old views on using the Fed to clobber the carbon-energy companies. &nbsp;You know, her old views, the ones she expressed in 2020 and 2021. &nbsp;Now, in 2022, facing the risk of rejection by the Senate, she\u2019s changed her mind, she insists. &nbsp;Honest! &nbsp;But we can ask: If she changes her mind in 2022, why couldn\u2019t she change her mind again in 2023? &nbsp;Or, for that matter, the day after she is confirmed?<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it\u2019s safest to assume that she is just trying to sneak her way onto the Fed, that her real views haven\u2019t changed at all. &nbsp;So out of <em>fairness<\/em>, we note her new line, and out of <em>common sense<\/em>, we keep our guard up.<\/p>\n<p>One important figure who is keep his guard up is Sen. Cassidy, representing oil-and-gas-rich Louisiana, who argues that the problem is broader than Raskin\u2013the problem is the Biden administration itself. As <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/senate\/594031-gop-senator-agrees-with-bidens-refusal-to-send-military-to-evacuate-americans\">he said<\/a> on Fox News Sunday on the 13th, \u201cRight now this administration is putting in amber, the ability of the U.S. to expand its energy supply. That\u2019s why we\u2019re paying more for gas and natural gas.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Still, the most immediate question is Raskin; the Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote on her nomination on the 15th; if she survives that vote, her name then goes to the full Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Yet there\u2019s more to the story than just Raskin as an enemy of Main Street.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/span>She is, at the same time, mostly a <i>friend<\/i> of Wall Street.<\/p>\n<p><b><span style=\"font-size: larger;\">Today\u2019s High-Finance Left<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<p>If Raskin\u2019s last name seems familiar, that\u2019s because she\u2019s married to Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a left-wing legislator, Trump impeachment leader, and January 6 hunter.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Indeed, through that power couple, we get a peek into the new look of the left, which is decidedly <i>luxe.<\/i><\/p>\n<p>As an historical aside, it\u2019s worth recalling that Jamie Raskin is the son of <a href=\"https:\/\/keywiki.org\/Marcus_Raskin\">Marcus Raskin<\/a> (1934-2017), a longtime left-wing activist who was repeatedly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aim.org\/aim-column\/progressive-congressman-defends-fathers-soviet-ties\/\">accused<\/a> of being in league with the old communist Soviet Union.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Yet even if the younger Raskin has a red background, these days he has a green side\u2014and not just the green of environmentalism, but also the green of <i>money<\/i> \u2014 as in, high finance and maybe some hanky-panky to boot. As Breitbart News <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/02\/03\/rep-jamie-raskin-violated-stock-act-not-disclosing-wifes-1-5m-stock-payout\/\">reported<\/a> on February 3:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Raskin took eight months to&nbsp;disclose&nbsp;his wife\u2019s sale of 195,936 shares of Reserve Trust, where she sat on the advisory board. This sale resulted in $1.5 million in profit for Raskin\u2019s wife.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>We can marvel: This is a company Ms. Raskin joined in 2017, and from which she departed in 2019. So $1.5 million went to Ms. Raskin for sitting on an <i>advisory board for two years.<\/i><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Not bad!<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yet as for <i>Mr<\/i>. Raskin\u2019s delay in reporting that windfall, that would appear to put him in possible violation of the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/STOCK_Act\">STOCK Act<\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>That is a 2012 law, formally known as the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge Act, which prohibits members of Congress from various financial shenanigans, including not reporting spousal profits.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_19882610\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19882610\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/GettyImages-1353687542.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks with reporters outside the U.S. Capitol Building on November 16, 2021. (Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Not surprisingly, enforcement of this statute has been spotty; just this year, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was brazenly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2022\/01\/10\/democrat-sen-jeff-merkley-admits-pelosis-stock-trading-sways-her-legislative-judgment\/\">trading millions in stocks<\/a>, an obvious trampling of at least the spirit of the STOCK Act.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>And as for Rep. Raskin, it\u2019s not clear that he would have <i>ever<\/i> disclosed that $1.5 million had not his wife been up for the Fed post.<\/p>\n<p>To return to Ms. Raskin, we can wonder: What exactly did she do to receive that $1.5 million from Reserve Trust?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>We can readily see that \u201cReserve Trust\u201d sounds a bit like the U.S. Federal Reserve\u2014and that\u2019s surely <i>not<\/i> a coincidence.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Yet in reality, Reserve Trust is a completely private financial institution.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>More precisely, it\u2019s \u201cfintech.\u201d That is, it is a part of the new financial-technology realm of cryptocurrencies, blockchain, and other digital exotica, the long-run implications of which nobody understands.<\/p>\n<p>Yet in the here and now, Reserve Trust plays up its close connection to more familiar financial institutions, including the Fed.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>On its website, the company <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reservetrust.com\">touts itself<\/a> as \u201cthe first fintech trust company with a Federal Reserve master account.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.frbservices.org\/financial-services\/accounting\/service-setup\/master-account.html\">master account<\/a>, as the name suggests, puts the holder at the front of the line for Fed banking operations.<\/p>\n<p>So we can see that in addition to being an environmental green, Ms. Raskin, like her husband, is fully familiar with <i>financial<\/i> green, as a policy-maker, as well, of course, as a profit-taker.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, from 2010 to 2014, Raskin was a member of the Fed\u2019s Board of Governors, and from 2014-17 she pulled duty as Barack Obama\u2019s deputy secretary of Treasury.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Since then, as we have seen, Raskin has reaped plenty of green.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>(In 2018, Rep. Raskin\u2019s Congressional disclosure form showed a net worth of up to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensecrets.org\/members-of-congress\/jamie-raskin\/other-data?cid=N00037036&amp;cycle=2018\">$6.01 million<\/a>; it\u2019s unclear whether that total includes all of <i>her<\/i> wealth.)<\/p>\n<p>Most likely, the Raskin family\u2019s wealth is still piling up&nbsp;nicely, because Raskin keeps working the&nbsp;system. And that\u2019s come to the&nbsp;attention of Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee; on&nbsp;February 11, he denounced Raskin for seemingly inappropriately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.banking.senate.gov\/newsroom\/minority\/toomey-blasts-fed-and-kansas-city-fed-for-stonewalling-congress\">lobbying<\/a>&nbsp;on behalf of Reserve Trust:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>While it may be routine for your average company director to call a regional Fed bank, there is nothing routine about a former Fed Governor, like Ms. Raskin, calling the president of a regional Fed bank, with whom she previously served on the Fed\u2019s Federal Open Markets Committee, about such a decision.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Given Raskin\u2019s intimacy with finance, here\u2019s something interesting, if not surprising, about her, full-spectrum green that she is: <i>Raskin has plenty of support from the commanding heights. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p>To be sure, the fossil-fuel associations are opposing her, and yet at the same time financial services associations are supportive.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>As <i>Politico<\/i> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/newsletters\/morning-money\/2022\/01\/31\/the-surprising-split-over-bidens-fed-nominees-00003543\">reported<\/a> on January 28, Raskin\u2019s nomination \u201cis dividing Big Banks and Big Oil.\u201d<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>For instance, cheerleaders at the Institute of International Bankers trill that Raskin\u2019s r\u00e9sum\u00e9 \u201cdemonstrates her intellect, qualifications, and commitment to transparency and integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So what gives?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; <\/span>Why the split between the Bigs?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>The answer is that the financial sector has a different outlook than the carbon-energy sector.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Without a doubt, financiers have been happy to make money dealing with old-line energy producers, and yet these days, they are even happier dealing with newer energy producers, such as those involved in solar and wind.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Why? Because the banks know that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/robertbryce\/2021\/12\/27\/why-is-solar-energy-getting-250-times-more-in-federal-tax-credits-than-nuclear\/?sh=2197ab1921cf\">Washington Favor Factory<\/a> has been showering left-favored energy sources with myriad subsidies, totaling some <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americaspower.org\/its-time-to-end-subsidies-for-renewable-energy\/\">$100 billion<\/a> over the last decade. <span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>And by now the banks have figured out how to insinuate themselves into that rushing money stream; as clever crony capitalists, they know that what they need most are good relationships with D.C. decision-makers, such as Ms. Raskin\u2014and, of course, Mr. Raskin.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In truth, the banks don\u2019t really mind that they and their $23 trillion are being steered around by the federal government, because<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>to them Uncle Sam is really <i>Uncle Sugar<\/i>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>That\u2019s the lesson the banks learned in 2008, when\u2014after decades of bankers\u2019 often reckless, predatory, and even illegal lending on home mortgages\u2014the feds stepped in to bail out the financial sector.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Happily for the big banks in particular, few questions were asked, no wrongful profits were clawed back, and perhaps best of all, nobody went to jail.<\/p>\n<p>Just how much did that epic bailout cost the U.S.?<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Estimates vary wildly\u2014from the federal government being out trillions to the feds making a profit\u2014and yet a sober and exhaustive analysis by MIT\u2019s Deborah J. Lucas, published in 2019, found that the net cost to the government was <a href=\"https:\/\/mitsloan.mit.edu\/ideas-made-to-matter\/heres-how-much-2008-bailouts-really-cost\">$498 billion<\/a>.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>To put that another way, nearly half-a-trillion dollars were transferred from ordinary taxpayers to high finance.<\/p>\n<p>To be sure, the country was hit hard during those years\u2014unemployment went to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/spotlight\/2012\/recession\/pdf\/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf\">10 percent<\/a> in 2009, and millions lost their homes and livelihoods\u2014and yet the banks collected a no-strings $498 billion.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>And during most of the years of the bailout, Raskin was either at the Fed or at the Treasury, watching the money gush by.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>From a big banker\u2019s point of view, what\u2019s not to like about Raskin?<\/p>\n<p>Given Raskin\u2019s cronyistic track record, the banks have little reason to fear her being on the Fed once again, at an even higher position.<\/p>\n<p>Green energy, financed at the behest of the Fed, may well prove to be a huge debacle of money-losing, and yet the banks aren\u2019t worried, because the government has proven itself to be quick on money-replenishing.<\/p>\n<p>Needless to say, if green energy melts down, the fate of America as a whole would be bleak.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>But the bankers, especially the big ones, don\u2019t seem worried about that.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp;<\/span>Bailout history tells them to be right there with Raskin and the rest of the Great Resetters.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">The vote in the Banking Committee on the&nbsp;nomination of Raskin, Cook, and&nbsp;Jefferson is scheduled for tomorrow. Here\u2019s a list of all the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.banking.senate.gov\/about\/membership\">members<\/a> of the committee<\/span>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In his Build Back Better (BBB) legislation, President Joe Biden wanted to spend $570 billion over the next decade on green causes, mostly focused on climate change.\u00a0Fortunately, that bill seems &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1297719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1297719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1297719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1297719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1297719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1297719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}