HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074.jpg
2.14 MB
Extraction Summary
4
People
5
Organizations
4
Locations
2
Events
3
Relationships
3
Quotes
Document Information
Type:
Transcript / house oversight committee record
File Size:
2.14 MB
Summary
This document is a transcript page (marked HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074) capturing a Q&A session at a conference on poverty. A question is posed by Deborah Lubov of Zenit news agency to 'Bannon' (Steve Bannon) regarding the role of investment banks in combating poverty. Bannon responds by critiquing the greed of investment banks, specifically citing leverage ratio changes at Goldman Sachs under Hank Paulson, and laments the lack of criminal charges against bank executives following the 2008 financial crisis.
People (4)
| Name | Role | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Bannon | Speaker |
Answering questions at a conference; former Goldman Sachs employee.
|
| Benjamin | Attendee |
Addressed by Bannon in the opening; noted for being 'cleaned up' for the conference.
|
| Deborah Lubov | Questioner |
Vatican correspondent for Zenit news agency; former PricewaterhouseCoopers employee.
|
| Hank Paulson | Former Treasury Secretary / Former Chairman of Goldman Sachs |
Mentioned by Bannon as responsible for changing banking leverage rules.
|
Organizations (5)
| Name | Type | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Zenit news agency |
Employer of the questioner, Deborah Lubov.
|
|
| PricewaterhouseCoopers |
Former employer of Deborah Lubov.
|
|
| Goldman Sachs |
Former employer of Bannon; audit client of Lubov; central topic of Bannon's critique regarding leverage.
|
|
| U.S. Department of the Treasury |
Mentioned in relation to Hank Paulson.
|
|
| House Oversight Committee |
Implied by the footer stamp 'HOUSE_OVERSIGHT'.
|
Timeline (2 events)
Locations (4)
| Location | Context |
|---|---|
|
Where Deborah Lubov previously worked.
|
|
|
Where Hank Paulson went to ask for rule changes.
|
|
|
Discussed in the context of economic recovery.
|
|
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Implied by Lubov's role as a Vatican correspondent.
|
Relationships (3)
Bannon refers to it as 'My old firm, Goldman Sachs'
Lubov states 'I was working for PricewaterhouseCoopers'
Bannon states 'As chairman of Goldman Sachs...'
Key Quotes (3)
"For Christians, and particularly for those who believe in the underpinnings of the Judeo-Christian West, I don’t believe that we should have a [financial] bailout."Source
— Bannon (implied/pull quote)
(Pull quote centered in the document.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074.jpg
Quote #1
"My old firm, Goldman Sachs — traditionally the best banks are leveraged 8:1. When we had the financial crisis in 2008, the investment banks were leveraged 35:1."Source
— Bannon
(Explaining the causes of the financial crisis.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074.jpg
Quote #2
"Not one criminal charge has ever been brought to any bank executive associated with 2008 crisis."Source
— Bannon
(Criticizing the lack of accountability.)
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074.jpg
Quote #3
Full Extracted Text
Complete text extracted from the document (2,329 characters)
Bannon: First of all, Benjamin, I can tell you I could hardly recognize you, you’re so
cleaned up you are for the conference.
[Laughter]
Questioner: Hello, my name is Deborah Lubov. I’m a Vatican correspondent for Zenit
news agency, for their English edition. I have some experience working in New York — I
was working for PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing investment banks, one of which was
Goldman Sachs. And considering this conference is on poverty, I’m curious — from your
point of view especially, your experience in the investment banking world — what
concrete measures do you think they should be doing to combat, prevent this
phenomenon? We know that various sums of money are used in all sorts of ways and they
do have different initiatives, but in order to concretely counter this epidemic now, what
are your thoughts?
cleaned up you are for the conference.
[Laughter]
Questioner: Hello, my name is Deborah Lubov. I’m a Vatican correspondent for Zenit
news agency, for their English edition. I have some experience working in New York — I
was working for PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing investment banks, one of which was
Goldman Sachs. And considering this conference is on poverty, I’m curious — from your
point of view especially, your experience in the investment banking world — what
concrete measures do you think they should be doing to combat, prevent this
phenomenon? We know that various sums of money are used in all sorts of ways and they
do have different initiatives, but in order to concretely counter this epidemic now, what
are your thoughts?
“For Christians, and particularly for those who believe in the underpinnings of the
Judeo-Christian West, I don’t believe that we should have a [financial] bailout.”
Judeo-Christian West, I don’t believe that we should have a [financial] bailout.”
Bannon: That’s a great question. The 2008 crisis, I think the financial crisis — which, by
the way, I don’t think we’ve come through — is really driven I believe by the greed, much
of it driven by the greed of the investment banks. My old firm, Goldman Sachs —
traditionally the best banks are leveraged 8:1. When we had the financial crisis in 2008,
the investment banks were leveraged 35:1. Those rules had specifically been changed by a
guy named Hank Paulson. He was secretary of Treasury. As chairman of Goldman Sachs,
he had gone to Washington years before and asked for those changes. That made the
banks not really investment banks, but made them hedge funds — and highly susceptible
to changes in liquidity. And so the crisis of 2008 was, quite frankly, really never recovered
from in the United States. It’s one of the reasons last quarter you saw 2.9% negative
growth in a quarter. So the United States economy is in very, very tough shape.
And one of the reasons is that we’ve never really gone and dug down and sorted through
the problems of 2008. Particularly the fact — think about it — not one criminal charge has
ever been brought to any bank executive associated with 2008 crisis. And in fact, it gets
worse. No bonuses and none of their equity was taken. So part of the prime drivers of the
the way, I don’t think we’ve come through — is really driven I believe by the greed, much
of it driven by the greed of the investment banks. My old firm, Goldman Sachs —
traditionally the best banks are leveraged 8:1. When we had the financial crisis in 2008,
the investment banks were leveraged 35:1. Those rules had specifically been changed by a
guy named Hank Paulson. He was secretary of Treasury. As chairman of Goldman Sachs,
he had gone to Washington years before and asked for those changes. That made the
banks not really investment banks, but made them hedge funds — and highly susceptible
to changes in liquidity. And so the crisis of 2008 was, quite frankly, really never recovered
from in the United States. It’s one of the reasons last quarter you saw 2.9% negative
growth in a quarter. So the United States economy is in very, very tough shape.
And one of the reasons is that we’ve never really gone and dug down and sorted through
the problems of 2008. Particularly the fact — think about it — not one criminal charge has
ever been brought to any bank executive associated with 2008 crisis. And in fact, it gets
worse. No bonuses and none of their equity was taken. So part of the prime drivers of the
HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_029074
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