Customer Reviews

Bought and Paid For: The Unholy Alliance Between Barack Obama and Wall Street

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Not many books bring a reader deep inside the complex worlds of both finance and Washington DC. Gasparino nails two birds with one stone in "Bought and Paid For." The book, in classic Gasparino style brings you behind the scenes, at the restaurant with all the insiders. This book will show you how the system really works. Gasparino is one of the great journalists of our time and his priceless contacts and Rolodex bring your right there. I couldn't put this book down. How did the Obama administration flip flop so quickly on "Change," and why? Who really controls the process inside the beltway when it comes to financial reform? Who pulls the strings and gets what they want? Who got left at the alter after writing all those checks $$$? What about the little guy? There are so many unanswered questions and people on Main St. want answers. Gasparino has them. Go to the voting booth informed. Buy this book then buy one for a good friend.

What an eye opener. Not so surprising when you think about it. Obama's actions, especially the so called stimulus package, have alienated him from many of the people who voted for him. Now that we've moved into Fall, whatever happened to the "recovery summer" we were promised? Unemployment of the people continues around ten percent and the Banks seem to have "recovered" beyond all expectations. Gasparino offers insight into where Obama seeks to shore up his falling power. He's lost much of the populace with what he's done and now turns to the money people to make up for what his failed policies have cost him in popular support. Politics makes for strange bedfellows . . . as Gasparino tells it maybe it's not so strange to find this failing president has gotten into bed with big money.

A thoughtful, carefully investigated and documented contribution by Mr. Gasparino, this eye opening look at financial chicanery should help us all to understand what is really goning on. Never was the axiom "the first step to solving a problem is to recognize it" more true. Of course, that requires objectivity, not party line sheep.

Gasparino's latest is the exact reason I read his books.

He comes off as a hard hitting type and at first I wasn't used to his kind of reporting/writing.

As time goes on Wall Street and Washington seems like a bad movie these days....Gasparino is dead on and calls it the way it is.

For anyone afraid of the truth...wake up and read this !!!

More reporters and "news" networks should step up and tell it the way it is.....good going Gasparino !!!...keep it up you're in the majority.

I really don;t care who this guy works for, facts are facts, no matter where they come from. This country is not on a good path, and needs to be exposed and turned around. These types of books help clearify, and point at the problems, no matter who writes them. I loved it, and couldn't put it down once I started reading it. Cheers T

I am 66 and this book was long overdue. Right on the money. All Americans need to read this book to understand once and for all WHY governments, ALL governments, love to put their citizens into debt. Here's a "tip". Because Wall Street and Banks want to sell that debt around the world because they make huge commissions when they do. It's like a car dealer who wants to sell cars, but never has to actually pay for the cars sold. They just move them down the line. An excellent book which is well researched.

This book contains an excellent analysis of the connections that have existed between Obama and Wall Street.It is the first book to concentrate specifically on this connection ,although Robert Scheer's book,"The Great American Stickup",written in 2010,was the first to deal methodically with the very close connections between Wall Street and Obama.

The interesting thing is that the connection has been available for anyone to discover who is a regular reader of mainstream newspapers and magazines.Obama's voting record in the Senate in the 2004-2008 period demonstrates time after time a voting pattern supporting Big Oil,the insurance industry,the HMO's,etc.The connection between Obama and British Petroleum had been established by his Senate voting record.The same holds for his long association with Goldman Sachs and his reliance on many libertarian academics from the University of Chicago's economics department and Booth School of Business ,which teach a fake free trade approach that directly contradicts the analysis of the conservative free trade position provided by Adam Smith on pp.434-439 of the Modern Library (Cannan) edition of The Wealth of Nations with the foreward by Max Lerner.The author does an excellent job of laying out the Goldman Sachs connection.

However,the fact that this connection between Obama and Wall Street is only now coming out means that ,in general,the voting public simply is ignorant of who they have been voting for.Consider the following information that was available in late 2007-early 2008:For example,one could simply read the July 9,2007 issue of FORTUNE magazine to discover who the major backers of John McCain,Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were.One could also have read Business Week(2-25-2008) or the Los Angeles Times of 3-21-2008.Through February, 2008 the major donors to the McCain campaign were 1)Merrill Lynch,2) Citigroup,3)Goldman Sachs,4)J P Morgan Chase and 5)Credit Suisse.The major donors to the Hillary Clinton campaign were 1)Goldman Sachs ,2)Morgan Stanley,3)Citigroup,4)Lehman Brothers and 5)J P Morgan Chase.Guess who were the major donors to the Obama campaign ? If you guessed 1)Goldman Sachs,2)UBS Ag,3)J P Morgan Chase ,4)Lehman Brothers and 5)Citigroup,then you are correct.

The American public has been hoodwinked, bamboozled and befuddled by Obama.Consider that the two cochairs of the Obama appointed commission to study Social Security,Erskine Bowles and Wayne Simpson,are both Wall Street puppets.Similarly,consider that Obama's appointmants mirror those of his Democratic predecessor,Bill Clinton. Clinton's appointment of F D Raines,a Wall Street operator-speculator-manipulator,to run Fannie Mae,created serious problems for this company.Raines simply looted Fannie Mae.Fannie Mae was in financial trouble long before 2007.

There is a possible solution if someone,like Ross Perot, will step up to the plate and offer a serious alternative by creating a third party.

Theodore Roosevelt ran as a third Party candidate in 1912 because both Howard Taft and Woodrow Wilson were dominated by J P Morgan.Roosevelt's near assassination in the 1912 campaign was probably a calling card to Roosevelt from Wall Street.Unfortunately,it appears that there are no Theodore Roosevelts left.

I recommend buying this book.The author names a lot of names of Wall Street executives that have been backing Obama for many years.

The book hits a home run in describing the motivations and significant risks taken. Gasparino does a terrific job in describing it all in terms the average layman can understand. He tells the whole story and how the pieces interrelate. It is impossible to tell the complete story without knowing all of the players and their role. The discussion of things that went on behind closed doors is excellent. The best book I have read on the 2008 financial crisis and it's causes.

Charles Gasparino works for fox business

Even more reason to buy the book

The only network to report the truth about this corrupt Obama

Administration

Put down the kool aid and get yourself informed

About Obama's plan to fundamentally destroy America

As of this writing, the GOP had captured the House and made gains in the Senate in the 2010 midterm elections. All eyes are on the prospective Chairman of the Finance Committee Spencer Bachus of Alabama to see what he will do for the finance world. After reading this book, I would say to him "don't make any deals with these devils on Wall Street. Tell them no bailouts, no sweetheart deals and let them stew in their own mistakes." Mr. Gasparino makes an eye-opening case concerning the Democrats deals with the movers and shakers of Wall Street in this 268-page book with three appendices that names all of the key players of the Meltdown of 2008 and other fiscal disasters, the financial organizations that were at the center of this controversy and a handy guide of terms that include such names as carry trades and credit default swaps that gives the everyman on the street a good overview of the situation that affects us all.

The main thesis of the book is that the rise of Barack Obama came not from the grass roots of community in his hometown of Chicago, but rather through the efforts of major Wall Street players like Lloyd Blankfein, Jaime Dimon and Larry Fink. Millions of dollars were given by the financial power players to carry Obama to the White House in exchage for "protection" of their empires and to gain favor with him that resulted in moderate success on their part.

Omce you read this book, you will shed the stereotypes of Wall Street bankers that have been in place for years. This is a recommended read. I reiterate, the GOP should NOT make deals with these guys; if they don't, they will be shoo-ins to retain their majority in 2012.