Earlier today, Ben Bernanke had the pleasure of sitting down for a little Q&A with Congress about the economy. Former Real World cast member Sean Duffy inquired as to whether or not raising taxes would hurt job growth. Ron Paul asked if gold is money and had his mind blown when he was told it was not. And Maxine Waters wanted to know why two white bitches got money from TALF when minority-owned banks didn’t see a dime.
Apparently Maxine was reading Rolling Stone a few months ago and “what really caught my eye,” she told Bernanke, was an article called “The Real Housewives of Wall Street,” by a young man named Matthew Taibbi. It was in that story that Ms. Waters learned about a “so-called shadow budget” that enabled John Mack’s wife Christy to received $220 million for Waterfall TALF Opportunity, a company she started with a friend, to purchase asset-based securities. Why does Maxine point this out to Bernanke? “You know I’ve been in your face a long time about opening up opportunities to minority banks, for example. If they had money, they’d lend money to businesses that would create jobs in the minority community. How is it that in this program that you and this shadow budget could make it possible for Waterfall to get $220 million when I can’t get any money from you for these small and minority banks.”
“Well, I don’t think that story is very accurate,” Bernanke began, “But that program was open to any US company, minority owned or otherwise.”
If he thought he was going to get off that easy, he thought wrong.
“How many African Americans did you fund through the TALF program,” Max pressed.
“Anyone who qualifi–”
“NO, NO, NO,” Waters interjected, not interested in letting him evade the question per usual. “I want numbers, I need some answers.”
Bernanke, suspiciously, could provide Maxine with none, which is how she knew she’d nailed him. “I’ll be following up with your office,” she told him with a knowing glance. In meantime, she’d also like answers from Bernanke as to how Bank of America’s recent settlement is only costing them $8.5 billion? She knows he personally is hiding something and will find out sooner or later. Whether it’s done the easy way or the hard way is up to him.
Bernanke Q&A Part 8 [CNBC]
She is scum. How about her husband serving on the board of One United.
Racist!!
Maxine & Matt…a match made in heaven
It would’ve been a funny exchange if it was in a movie or sitcom, but, sadly, people in her district actually voted her as the best representative of their district. He looked flustered by her line of questioning (not exactly the caliber of mind that he witnessed firsthand at Princeton, Harvard, Stanford GSB, or even NYU).
I did like his little jab back about not looking at the race of the applicants (backhandedly calling her out on her racism). It was kind of audacious for some of these elected officials to try to lecture him on depression-era economic policy, but probably reflects the kind of abnormal egos of those who would seek public office.
Any chance that Maxine will be posing for the cover of rolling stones?
stop positioning yourself as a minority and you wont get treated like one
she’s too dumb to matter – waste of time
Maxine is without question my favorite Rep.
who elected this fucktard? seriously.
Chik Fil A Spicy Chicken> CFA > CFAMD > JDMBA > Chung is King > Iran > Maxine Waters
Whatch you talkin bout Willis?
Actually I am also curious about the TALF Waterfall Opportunity story and I belong to the Siasconset Casino. You are not alone in your thoughts Maxine.
I used to think folks in congress were at a minimum as smart as the mean of their constituents…I revoke that premise….all DB jokes aside, what part of “Any company that applied” could should not understand?
-Helicopter Ben
This bitch is crazy!
*She
So no one sees anything wrong with her question ?
The wife of a CEO with no experience what so ever forms a company with her friend and manages to receive 200 mil plus of tax payer money ……..
and smaller legitimate (and less connected ) banks (minority and otherwise) get zip ? ??
Sounds like extreme affirmative action for white people (again), but we are not supposed to talk about that are we ?
…..and Waters is “crazy” for asking a perfectly legitimate question.
A few thoughts-
1) The entire story re Mack’s wife is based on an article written by a guy (Matt Taibbi) prone to, at best, massive, massive hyperbole and hysteria.
2) The issue of Mack’s wife supposedly shadily getting the money should be addressed, but it has nothing to do with the Fed supposedly not giving money to minority-owned banks.
3) The idea that Bernanke had anything to do with Mack’s wife getting money is laughable, as is the insinuation that he/the Fed discriminate against black people.
Imbecile versus greedy oiled bastard.
Dumb Bitch
-W. McKeeva Bush (Premier, Cayman Is.)
The CA 35th aka Ingelwood…the kicker is that she lives in Hancock Park one of the wealthiest areas in LA
Maxine is going to get to the bottom of this, and she doesn’t give a fuck if Bernanke’s at the top.
You are obviously an Idiout,will u stop talking about ther person n talk abou the issues?maybe ur mind is full of shit ,tha u cant even understand the issue.
Sure,yourr comment indeed shows you are dumber than dumb, you must be a donkey or some other dumb animal..
WHO is the Bank of America she keeps blathering on and on about? Fuck.
I don’t think he discriminates,but i smell corruption in the system.
I see what you did there….touché
the only way to get her to understand anything about finance is to reference it to payday loans.
- guy who explains physics to his kids by watching Phineas and Ferb with them
More race baiting by deal breaker.
What? ‘sigh’ (shakes head, goes back to work, feels sorry for Guest @12:49 am)
The better question should be, if SHE really wants to find out if their is corruption:How many ACTUALLY took the time to Apply vs how many were approved / rejected for funding.See its up to people to APPLY first, you cant just say “I didnt get any” you have to APPLY first.It’s like sitting at home every day and then saying you cant find a good job. nobody is going to come to your front door and offer you a job, you have to look for it.
As for Mack’s Wife…. this story should still be looked into, I agree
That’s about as logical as blaming a rape victim for getting raped. “If you’d just stop acting so rapeable this would have never happened.”
Is it race baiting by DB who simply reported the story or race baiting by Maxine Waters for… well ……. race baiting?
Oh, you again, Got it.
i tell my bitches that all the time.
So perhaps Maxine’s point is this: corruption is ok, as long as minorities get to play in the game as well.
Some of Maxine Waters’ greatest hits:
Remember back in Feb 2009 when Waters tried to grill bank CEOs? She had no idea what she was talking about regarding lines of credit. She also tried to catch Ken Lewis in offshore activity to avoid taxes and Ken looked at her as if she was speaking Japanese. She interrupted Vikram Pandit time and time again. That’s just fucking rude.
Remember back in Feb 2010 when Waters didn’t know the difference between the federal funds rate and the discount rate? She thought that the discount rate was connected to mortgages. Bernanke tried his best to make her not seem incompetent, but even he could not put her back together again.
November 2010: Possibly steering federal funds into her husband’s garbage bank.
Look…. This isn’t a race thing, this is an intelligence, suitability, and professional thing.
I rarely give my own opinion on this site, but this person is completely unacceptable. I am embarrassed for anyone unfortunate enough to have to listen to the ramblings of this obvious idiot savant. Add unethical practices and you have a dangerous situation. CA for once in your overly liberal miserable smug existence, remove your head from your crack and get rid of this glorified PTA member.
“obvious idiot savant”…I see the idiot part, don’t quite follow on the savant.
Hey, that’s my defense argument. Get your own.
I knew someone was listening in on our editorial meetings.
Savant: she has one area of expertise; convincing people she has no place in the world of politics
fucktard is masculine. It is more appropriate to say fucktande.
Other than that I have no concerns.
- Advocate of the “other than that .. . ” meme
“I deny $12 M TARP funds was sucked and swallowed by my OneUnitedBank. Only I can do dat for my Bank Director hubby.” —Rep. Maxine “Leave-no-chiles-behind” Waters’ response to 2010 House Ethics charges.
See Attachment: Rep Waters’ 2009 ”Porker of the Month” award. Suitably framed 3 X 5 glossy.
—– Citizens Against Government Waste
Repro. The problem with the question starts with Matt Taibbi’s complete and utter hatchet job on the truth. It is easy to whip up hysteria when it is built on a pack of lies and hyperbole.
Interesting logic. Seeing everything in terms of alleged racial implications equates to being raped? Perhaps you should run for Congress yourself.
better than James Traficant?
To her credit, she does manage to keep getting re-elected. Fooling all of the people all of the time makes you kind of a savant.
i don’t see “houseplant” on there…
Bitches love smiley faces.nn-The Fleece from the East
Wow Maxine, we’re like soul mates, I too get my most of my research for my job by perusing pop culture magazines.u00a0 I find they are never biased, and are always based 100% on fact, and not written with selling magazines in mind at all.nnThat being said, we probably didn’t have any money set aside for minorities because you had steered it all to your husband.nn-Benny Boy.
So you all have a problem with a black Congresswoman calling out the Chairman of the Fed on the lack of so-called minority investment. u00a0The problem here is that it was in the context of John Mack’s (Chairman of Morgan Stanley) wife getting $200M and minority-owned banks getting squat. u00a0I could care less about Mack’s wife…u00a0
I liked when she asked Toyoda when HER Corrola was going to get recalled.u00a0 I think the interpreter was embarrassed to interpret.
Thank you for responding responsibly.u00a0 Often times I will read some of this garbage, and shake my head.u00a0The racism in this country is so prevalent yet if those that are discriminated against say anything, they become the villain.u00a0 My mother use to say “Some White people will break your leg and dare you to limp”.u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0
Hey guy who has common sense, n” if SHE really wants to find out if their is corruption”nTheir, there, they’re. All the same right?nn
I went on Yahoo Autos and could not find a “Toyoda” “Corrola”. Special imports must be another black privilege.u00a0
Maxine reveals herself to be an idiot because the question she poses in no way fits with a reasonable conclusions one might make, unless one is idiotic.nnThe program design was fucked up, to the point that John Mack’s wife was involved. That is seriously fucked.u00a0However, this has nothing to do with skin color. If you take that mental step, then you’re an idiot.nnAlso, your first sentence doesn’t fit in the context of the argument you’re failing to construct.u00a0n
Bait it!
Hey that’s how ATL gets 90% of its traffic…
The truth is whenever a member of the CBC speaks, it makes for hilarious youtubery, especially when not complaining about their wealthiest minority contributors and friends getting shafted by the system (ie, not getting tons of Fed money). Check out one guy talking about Guam sinking into the sea if we transfer USMC from Okinawa there. nand ps- John Mack’s wife ran a fund? seriously???
Pretty sure Mack’s wife just invested in the Waterfall fund, never had anything to do with managing it.u00a0