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Lunch » Tags » Finance » Reviews » Jon Corzine

Jon Corzine

2 Ratings: -5.0

Public figure

Jon Stevens Corzine (born January 1, 1947) is the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and a one time American politician, who served as the54th Governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. A Democrat, Corzine served five years of … see full wiki

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1 review about Jon Corzine

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A Human Plague

Mar 8, 2012

by rbuchanan

Exclusive to the Lunch Network

Rating:

-5

Little can be stated regarding this career criminal that Gerald Celente, William Cohan, et al. haven't repeatedly and exhaustively explained. However, two points deserve reiteration:

None of the following are credits to one's resume: CEO of usury syndicate Goldman Sachs, Senator and Governor of the revolting, crime-ridden, overtaxed police state of New Jersey and chairman/CEO of devastated futures brokerage MF Global.
As both a politician and a financial executive, Corzine has failed to do anything constructive save turn a profit for himself.

Say what you will of Mike Milken and Ivan Boesky; at least they made money for others at relatively little expense to the market. Corzine is an impossibly venal black hole into which enormous sums of taxpayer and investor cash have vanished. His response to an inquiry before a House committee regarding hundreds of millions of dollars in missing MFG customer funds: "I simply do not know where the money is, or why the accounts have not been reconciled to date." Well, why would he? After all, he's but an impotent CEO and Chairman who can't be held responsible for his customers' money.

Oh, but CME Executive Chairman Terrence Duffy has since explained to the Senate Agriculture Committee that MF Global's ostensible "accounting error" was nothing of the sort:

"Our auditors returned on Sunday, October 30th because we learned from the CFTC that the draft segregation report for Friday, October 28th, which had been provided to the CFTC that day, showed a $900 million dollar shortfall in segregation caused by an “accounting error.” Our auditors, working with the CFTC, devoted the rest of the day and night Sunday to find the so-called accounting error. No such error was ever found. Instead, at about 2 am Monday morning, MFG informed the CFTC and CME that customer money had been transferred out of segregation to firm accounts. After receiving this information CME remained at MF Global while MF Global attempted to identify funds that could be transferred into segregation to reduce or eliminate the discrepancy. A CME auditor also participated in a phone call with senior MF Global employees wherein one employee indicated that Mr. Corzine knew about the loans that had been made from the customer segregated accounts. CME Group has provided this information, the names of these individuals to the DOJ and CFTC who are investigating these matters. Transfers of customer funds for the benefit of the firm constitute serious violations of our rules and of the Commodity Exchange Act. MFG was taken over by a SIPC Trustee on Monday. However, before the SIPC Trustee stepped in Monday, the segregation report for Thursday, October 27th, which had shown not only full segregation compliance but also $200 million in excess segregated funds, was corrected by MFG to show a deficiency of $200 million in segregated funds. Apparently based on MFG’s segregation reports, additional transfers out of segregation occurred on Friday."

Quoth Duffy in 2010, standing aside Mayor Daley as he delivered a proud speech detailing the futures exchange's sterling history: "No customer has ever lost a penny as a result of a clearing member default at CME Group."

Eager to avoid any substantive accusation of criminal conduct, Duffy's readiness to circuitously indicate that Corzine perjured himself repeatedly to the U.S. Senate is hardly an act of abstruse motivation. MF Global's malfeasance - resulting in the eighth most expensive bankruptcy in U.S. history - directly undermines the trust which Duffy has endeavored so ardently to cultivate.

Representative of the repugnant corruption endemic of the political class and the financial sector, and the fatuous ineptitude prevalent among the former, Corzine's careers can be read as a litany of failures: as Chairman and CEO of the world's most impossibly corrupt investment banking and securities firm for five years, he was ousted in a power play by co-CEO and future U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, only after which GS went public and Corzine was provided $400M during its initial public offering to soften the blow of his overdue ejection; as Governor, his ill-conceived attempt to privatize the New Jersey Turnpikes and the Garden State Parkway by lease to a public benefit corporation resulted in overwhelming public repudiation; excessive spending amid egregious cuts to state university and public employee retirement benefits; an embarrassing Government shutdown (comparable to that of Minnesota not too many years following) which lasted nearly a week until Corzine's sales tax increase was approved by an exhausted state General Assembly. Even Corzine's ex-wife was unreservedly vocal in her public criticism prior to his appointment: "Jon did let his family down, and he'll probably let New Jersey down, too." Unenthusiastic approval ratings throughout his term confirmed as much.

Corzine is currently under investigation, and if permitted to walk free by odious U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the credibility of the futures market will decline further - perchance irreparably. However, if the unthinkable occurs and one of so many slimy personalities among the Goldman Sachs circle is sentenced to prison, I'll be thrilled to view his adjudication.

Perhaps Corzine's been designated a scapegoat for the security of his peers. Few men are more deserving of the role, and too few others of his ilk have been punished for wholesale theft and market destabilization. After all, Bernie Madoff wasn't a member of the White Shoe Boys' club.

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Annusya March 08, 2012

Ouaou, this is very thorough and perfectly organisedsie, Snuudles, heehee! ^-^

Why aren't *You* getting paid to write articles and reviews like these?! You write a zillion times more competently than 99.999% of people who are paid for it!

That guy is so yucky, lol. He *is* slimy, heehee! ^-^

YOU are a Snuudles! ^-^ Heehee! ^-^ Muu! ^-^

*snugglesnus*
*nosiebuuups*
*juicy yummy kisssssssssssssies* ^-^

♥ Annusya ♥

rbuchanan March 09, 2012

To be honest, I've no idea how to sell my nonfiction. When I was a journalist, I earned a pauper's wage anyhow.

That I no longer turn a profit from my reviews doesn't concern me. What's truly galling is the horrid writing endemic in most media reviews of mainstream outlets and journalism in print the anglosphere over. However, I'm very happy to see high standards of writing observed in many independent social commentary and news sites. Two fine examples are socio-economic-political warhammer ZeroHedge, well-scribed almost entirely by one Tyler Durden (LOL), and Chateau Heartiste, which elevates male sexism and eugenics to new heights of objective eloquence. Even though I agree with perhaps half of what's posited to the latter, I love its presentation. So, hope exists for those of us who appreciate enjoy bold, elegant commentary - though regrettably, not so often on paper.

As for Corzine, I haven't an adjective to adequately describe him. He epitomizes nearly everything that's wrong with American institutions, and I dearly hope that Gary Gensler (oh, look! Another Goldman Sachs loan shark) asks Holder to cut him loose for much-needed jail time.

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