9 thoughts on “CBC reports that Goldman Sachs exec may be new US ambassador to Canada”

1. Why keep all the Dodd Frank criminals inside the country? Why not let the world enjoy their thievery?

2. The GW Bush administration sent a former Goldman Sachs general partner, Peter Coneway, to be US Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from 2006 to 2008. He is best known for his description of Switzerland and Liechtenstein as “very successful, but frequently frustrating alpine democracies” in a confidential farewell cable obtained by Wikileaks.

   A blogger commented on Coneway’s farewell cable which is quite entertaining:
   http://timeoutcorner.wordpress.com/2011/01/21/us-ambassador-despises-switzerland-bern-000612/

   The original cable was published by the Norwegian “Aftenposten” and is at this link:
   http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3980221.ece

   The view of many Swiss and other nationalities in Switzerland was that Coneway neither understood nor appreciated Switzerland.

   I wish Canada the best of fortune with its Goldman Sachs-trained US Ambassador.

3. Thanks for the heads-up, Innocente. We ‘US Persons’ in Canada have learned that the present US Ambassador to Canada had no inclination to correspond with or stand up for those of us in Canada. We have learned that the US Ambassador to Canada is only here to serve big business interests.

4. Yet another big bagman for Obama and the Democrats. And with the requisite eye for the main chance. I guess this guy wasn’t available http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/apr/03/goldman-sachs-trader-fbi-fraud or any of those involved here http://www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2012/08/2012810114857984434.html and here http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/16/us-goldman-idUSTRE63F3JX20100416 or some of the Goldman Sachs stars of the sub-prime mortgage scams http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldman_Sachs#Actions_in_the_2007.E2.80.932008_subprime_mortgage_crisis ?

   And par for the course for this administration as in the choice of ‘Turbotax did it’ Geithner http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/13/treasury-geithner-obama-biz-beltway-cx_bw_0113geithner2.html and then Lew; http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/13/jack-lew-tim-geithner-us-treasury-boss ….”Citigroup and Bank of America, which were totally dependent on federal support for their existence (Citigroup was nearly 40% owned by Geithner’s department). No curtailment of bonuses, no attempt even to tax them. No breaking up of too-big-to-fail institutions, some of which were and remain so complex that they are, as my colleague Charles Morris has said, too big to succeed. No attempt to curtail the toxic lobbying and revolving-door hiring of those same institutions – once again, including several that would not exist except for federal aid. No attempt to develop an evidentiary record to support criminal prosecution for the massive criminality that accompanied the bubble. No attempt to develop an evidentiary record for asset seizures under Rico, the law routinely used to seize the assets of criminal organizations. No serious attempt to rescue millions of homeowners facing foreclosure, or imprisoned in houses that they will never be able to sell for as much as they owe. No attempt to rein in the deeply entrenched culture and incentives that produce toxic financial “innovations” and increasingly frequent crises. A pattern of hiring truly dreadful people, ranging from Goldman Sachs lobbyists to private equity executives who worked with banks to bet against their own securities…….” and http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/02/19/jack-lew-and-the-obama-administration-s-finance-friendly-status-quo.html .

   What, were there no Enron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enron_scandal or ex-Wachovia http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/03/us-bank-mexico-drug-gangs personnel available for the post?

5. Actually, I just thought of this:
   It would be really really interesting if the new BankAmbassador to Canada from Goldman SachsUSA were to state where he stands on FATCA reciprocity. Given that the US banks want no part of any even faux ‘reciprocal’ reporting or FATCA/DATCA obligations. So, let him justify why Canadian banks and financial institutions should do the full Monte whereas the US reserves the right to be coy.

6. Right, badger, CBC should ask him that — or the CBA. Why not the Government of Canada? Wish someone would! Given the lack of interest that the US Ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, gave US Persons here, one of us would likely not get an answer to such a question.

7. Why not just appoint Goldman Sachs itself as ambassador to Canada, since “corporations are people, too” now? 🙂

8. How much does a US bagman have to come up with to get the post of US Ambassador? What is the Canadian post worth?

   See chart at;
   http://taxpol.blogspot.ca/2013/09/how-to-buy-us-ambassadorship-and-how.html

9. Thanks, badger, for Allison Christians blog on this. My comment at National Post regarding Mr. Heyman’s nomination was:

   Talk about patronage. What an insult — another US Ambassador to Canada who is an Obama boot-licker. As David Jacobson before him, will Mr. Heyman also ignore the questions of ‘US Persons in Canada’ regarding US extra-territorial FATCA, the Canadian arm of the IRS and the destruction of Canadian sovereignty?

   This after the former US Ambassador to Canada getting the ‘gift’ of Canada’s Bank of Montreal appointment as Vice-Chairman — in where else but Chicago? It sounds like a cheap political novel.

   Will Mr. Heyman discuss ‘US Persons in Canada’ and FATCA?