In a press release, the groups highlighted the links between Citigroup—which has lobbied extensively on the TPP, TTIP, and Fast Track authority—and Froman, who they note “received a more than $4 million golden parachute from Citigroup upon leaving the large financial institution to join the Obama administration in 2009.”
In particular, the letter’s signatories are concerned that provisions in proposed trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the TransAtlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) would weaken or rollback existing U.S. financial regulations, for the benefit of big banks.
As many people have accurately noted, what’s far more important than the President him or herself, is the people who end up surrounding the executive. These are the people who will formulate and implement various policies of national importance, particularly when it comes to enforcing, or not enforcing, the rule of law (Justice Department) and whether or not to start yet another war (Congress has abdicated its Constitutional role).
Indeed, appointing Eric Holder to head up the Department of Justice guaranteed that Wall Street criminals would never be prosecuted and led to America’s justice system rapidly devolving into Banana Republic territory.
So how did Obama end up choosing the various banker-coddling professional cronies to make up his administration? The Wikileaks Podesta email leak shines a very disturbing light upon the process, which was led by then Citigroup executive, Michael Froman. Moreover, as current U.S. trade representative, this ex-TBTF bank executive is currently the nation’s top proponent of the sovereignty-killing Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement.
As David Dayen reports over at the New Republic:
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