By Cliff Montgomery – June 26th, 2009
Top U.S. representatives had large holdings in the very financial institutions which received billions in taxpayerbailouts last year, declares recently released financial disclosure reports.
From stock ownership to mortgages or retirement funds, over 20 House lawmakers held large personalinterests in the Wall Street giants that created last year’s economic collapse through unchecked greed andmassive incompetence…and that government officials claimed were just ‘to big to fail’.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and husband Paul lost between $100,000 and a cool $1 million last year,thanks to investments in American International Group (AIG). The corporation received $170 billion in federalloans and other cash payments, easily making AIG the biggest recipient of U.S. bailout dollars.
Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) and wife Diana possessed stocks, retirement plans and various otherinvestments worth between $183,000 and $495,000 in many Big Banks which received federal bailout money,including Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
And at least 18 lawmakers sitting on the House Financial Services Committee owned stock last year incompanies that received U.S. bailout funds, according to a Washington Post study of lawmakers’ financialdisclosure reports which were released on June 10th.
The House Financial Services panel was supposed to oversee the banking and investment industries thathelped bring on the economic meltdown.
Some ethics watchdogs have openly criticized House members who are directly investing in the verycompanies they are supposed to police for the American public.
“You wonder if they’re voting on things because it’s good for the country or because it would increase theirpersonal wealth,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Melanie Sloanrecently told the Post.
The yearly financial disclosure forms had been slated for a June 12th release. But the House clerk–apparentlyby mistake–briefly posted online many of the lawmakers’ reports, two days early.
These disclosure forms must only broadly state the financial assets and liabilities of a lawmaker, and little else.Such things as the precise value of finances, primary residence information–including mortgages–and theannual salaries of spouses do not have to be revealed.
The Pelosis lost hundreds of thousands as AIG’s stock lost its value last year. Paul Pelosi reported that he soldpart of his AIG stock on New Year’s Eve, 2008. He apparently owned $1,000 to $15,000 of stock in thecompany.
The Pelosis’ total stock portfolio has fallen at least $730,000 in value since last year’s stock market crash. Butthey have been able to recoup those losses through gains in other investments.
Nancy Pelosi’s husband runs Financial Leasing Services, a San Francisco investment company. The Housespeaker thus remains one of the richest members of Congress. Her 22-page financial disclosure reportacknowledged family investments in a Napa Valley vineyard, a Rutherford, CA, hotel resort, a San Franciscolimousine company and a number of San Francisco condos.
Ms. Pelosi reported an income of between $100,000 to $1 million last year from vineyard grape sales alone.
