July 21, 2008

Obama’s moneywoman was a subprime mortgage queen [Karl]

The Wall Street Journal’s John R. Emshwiller notices that Penny Pritzker — Barack Obama’s national campaign-finance chairwoman — helped run Hinsdale, IL-based subprime-mortgage lender Superior Bank to its collapse in 2001:

Ms. Pritzker served as Superior chairman until 1994. During that period, Superior “embarked on a business strategy of significant growth into subprime home mortgages,” which were then packaged into securities and sold to investors, according to a 2002 report by the Treasury Department’s Inspector General.

“Superior was at the forefront of the securitizing of subprime mortgages,” says Timothy Anderson, a retired bank consultant who has studied Superior and other failed thrifts.

Indeed, as noted here back on May 20, Anderson has been quoted as saying that “Superior’s owners were to sub-prime lending what Michael Milken was to junk bonds.”

The far-Left In These Times ran a detailed account of Superior’s collapse in November 2002:

After federal regulators closed the $2.3 billion Superior Bank in July 2001, investigations revealed that the suburban Chicago thrift was tainted with the hallmarks of a mini-Enron scandal. New legal developments are adding additional twists, including racketeering charges. And yet the bank’s owners, members if one of America’s wealthiest families, ultimately could end up profiting from the bank’s collapse, while many of Superior’s borrowers and depositors suffer financial losses.

***

Even taking into account the “record” settlement they made with the FDIC, the Pritzkers could make more than $700 million in additional profit for running a financial institution into the ground. They had already profited handsomely, sharing in the more than $200 million in dividends to the owners in the ’90s. They accomplished all this with an investment of about $21 million for each partner—though the Pritzkers had also already benefited from $645 million in tax credits.

It is a story with the potential to dwarf that of Obama’s ex-Veep vetter, James Johnson.  But it would require the media to do some legwork to uncover whether — and to what extent — Penny Pritzker profited from the very financial wheelings and dealings Obama condemns on the campaign trail.  So I am not holding my breath waiting for the follow-up reportage.

(h/t Memeorandum.)

Update: Insta-lanche!

Posted by Karl @ 1:04pm
37 comments | Trackback

Comments (37)

  1. Aldo says July 21, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    It is a story with the potential to dwarf that of Obama’s ex-Veep vetter, James Johnson.

    It wouldn’t take much to dwarf the coverage the MSM gave JJ. The LAT did throw all of its investigative journalism weight into allegations that McCain didn’t wait long enough after divorcing his first wife before taking up with Cindy though, so you know they can do some serious legwork when they have the right motivation.

  2. happyfeet says July 21, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    More proof I think that alliteration is indicative of poor character. Yeah I’m looking at you Mr. Hugh Hewitt. Also, assonance.

  3. urthshu says July 21, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    Yup. Every girl Superman hung around with was a total loon, I think.

  4. Log Cabin says July 21, 2008 at 2:27 pm

    It is beginning to feel like 1992 all over again:

    Character doesn’t matter when you are correct on the issues.

  5. takeshi kovacs says July 21, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    I sense an ABBA tune, coming up, maybe ace of base, “mortgage queen” wrk with me, people

  6. Sdferr says July 21, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    I would work with you takeshi, but (how shameful it is to admit) I don’t know the lyrics. Arrrgh.

  7. Palooza says July 21, 2008 at 3:43 pm

    Yawn. The next POTUS is out in Iraq working out the withdrawal of our troops with the Iraqi government…. nobody but you loons give a crap.

  8. kelly says July 21, 2008 at 3:53 pm

    “The next POTUS is out in Iraq working out the withdrawal of our troops with the Iraqi government…. nobody but you loons give a crap.”

    Don’t you have a poster of THE ONE you could be jacking off to?

  9. Spies, Brigands, and Pirates says July 21, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    Don’t matter if your pay is low
    Zero docs to start the show
    Where they set up the swindles, makin’ CPAs moan
    You come in to look for a loan

    Anybody can own a home
    Morons in the Capitol Dome
    With federal handouts everything’s fine
    Interest-only, zero money down,
    If you can’t flip the fucker, you can always skip town.

    You are the Sub-Prime Queen, sleazy accounting, prime rate seventeen
    Sub-Prime Queen, feel the heat from the FDIC
    You can scam, you can jive, skate with a nominal fine
    Buy that house! When you default, watch investors scream!

  10. Palooza says July 21, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    I would rather have your pic Kelly (assuming you are a chick). You sound like one of those hot, repressed, conservative chicks… ;)

  11. kelly says July 21, 2008 at 4:16 pm

    Wrong chromosomes, dude.

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  13. Palooza says July 21, 2008 at 4:56 pm

    Having a girl’s name, perhaps you should refrain from referring to “jacking off” in a comment thread… unless of course you are teh gay.

  14. kelly says July 21, 2008 at 5:59 pm

    I’m German Irish, dickweed. I’m sure “Palooza” is short hand for auto-erotic asphyxiation.

  15. JD says July 21, 2008 at 7:07 pm

    Jagoffapalooza apparently is a homophobe, or has a mouthful of cum tonite.

  16. Blitz says July 21, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    JD, Tonight? Most all nights from what I’ve read. Probably some other orifices too.

  17. Pingback: Obama Fundraiser Linked to Subprime Lender |

  18. Pingback: More Change We Can Believe in … Penny Pritzker, Obama’s National Campaign-Finance Chairwoman was a Subprime Mortgage “Queen” | Scared Monkeys

  19. Swen Swenson says July 21, 2008 at 9:08 pm

    Wrong chromosomes, dude.

    What makes you think Palooza is a dude?

  20. JorgXMcKie says July 21, 2008 at 9:13 pm

    How’s that “President Kerry” thing working out for you, palooka?

  21. Americaneocon says July 21, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    I took a shot at this story as well…

    Nice work!

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  24. David says July 21, 2008 at 10:32 pm

    In the interest of, you know, truth and stuff:

    Payback: Conspiracy to Destroy Michael Milken and His Financial Revolution

    The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History

    Comparing Pritzker to Milken gives the former way too much credit.

  25. Karl says July 21, 2008 at 10:51 pm

    David,

    I’m just pointing out how the Left saw the Superior Bank case… until now.

  26. Pingback: Written Words - Alliteration « words. before. words.

  27. The Ace says July 22, 2008 at 7:49 am

    working out the withdrawal of our troops with the Iraqi government….

    Yeah, not that fast really – Obama, 46, has said he would remove U.S. combat troops from Iraq by mid-2010, shifting some brigades to Afghanistan.

    Remember when he vowed, not indicated, stumbled over, or meandered on, but promised to get them out now?

    Obama’s plan, outlined before an audience of about 500 at Ashford University, calls for the complete pullout of troops by the end of next year by bringing home one or two brigades each month.

    “Let me be clear: There is no military solution in Iraq. There never was,” he said. “‘The best way to protect our security and to pressure Iraq’s leaders to resolve their civil war is to immediately begin to remove our combat troops. Not in six months or one year – now.”

    -Sept 12, 2007

    I guess you ignorants are ok with a few lies as long as you feel good inside for voting for a black guy.

  28. Percy Dovetonsils says July 22, 2008 at 7:50 am

    I am just amused once again how the Democrats have become the party of the rich, the crony capitalist, and the typical urban professional douchebag.

  29. Percy Dovetonsils says July 22, 2008 at 7:52 am

    “I guess you ignorants are ok with a few lies as long as you feel good inside for voting for a black guy.”

    Ace, the joke will be on them when these guys realize that despite voting for Obama, black people still don’t like them.

  30. hopeful says July 22, 2008 at 2:42 pm

    Maybe some of the newly unemployed journalists we read about everyday might figure out that they could make millions with a corruption scoop and that the democrats might prove fertile ground. Start digging the gold mine fellas! After all, what have the Democrats done for you lately?

  31. Pingback: Is Karl’s Post On Penny Pritzker Racist? [Dan Collins]

  32. reliapundit says September 25, 2008 at 8:55 pm

    actually i broke this story about pritzker the day before the wsj.

    ace and others linked to it.

    here:

    http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com/2008/09/sub-prime-slime-obama-and-pritzker-and.html

    http://astuteblogger.blogspot.com
    /2008/09/sub-prime-slime-obama-and-pritzker-and.html

  33. forex says March 24, 2009 at 6:35 am

    @Percy Dovetonsils:
    I divide your opinion

  34. Coupon Artist, Frugality and Smart Spending Blogger says April 30, 2009 at 9:25 pm

    Wow, so much for Obama being a candidate who was going to change politics and blah blah blah. It looks like he’s appointing friends and supporting the “Big Business” just as much as any other candidate, if not more so. How disappointing!

  35. shaun parker says April 7, 2010 at 8:52 am

    Well I wish that the legacy from the Lehman Bros was not still being felt in the UK, we have a number of sub prime companies that are currently stamping on the consumer, companies that were under Lehman Bros hat but sadly they are surviving http://www.shaunparker.info/capstone-mortgages-beware/655283 this tells you about the misery now in the UK for consumers.

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