There’s currently a diary on the rec list citing a hysterical concern trolling article on HuffPo which claims that “the release of Clinton’s Wall Street Transcripts Could End Her Candidacy for President.” This is getting a little ridiculous. As pointed out in Mother Jones today, “Everyone Knows Why Hillary Clinton Won't Release Her Goldman Sachs Speeches.”
Kevin Drum writes,
For what it's worth, I think we all know what's in those transcripts: a bit of routine praise for the yeoman work that investment bankers do to keep the gears of the economy well oiled. Maybe something like this:
These are tough times for investment bankers. I think Goldman Sachs is the only organization with a lower approval rating than Congress [audience laughs politely between bites of prime rib]. But seriously, folks, Main Street and Wall Street need each other. Bankers aren't villains. I support higher leverage requirements and regulation of derivatives [audience stares moodily at their forks], but I've always said that we need to do it in a practical way. Some of the financial engineering that's come under such attack from the Bernie Sanders of the world [audience brightens] is just what our country needs. It helps states build roads and cities build schools.You're the villains when things go bad—and maybe sometimes you deserve to be. But other times you're the heroes America can't do without.
This is the kind of thing that people say when they give a speech. But in the hands of a political opponent, it will come out like this:
Bankers aren't villains....The financial engineering that's come under such attack from the Bernie Sanders of the world is just what our country needs. It helps states build roads and cities build schools....You're the heroes America can't do without.
The author is absolutely right. It’s extremely unlikely that anyone as polished and practiced as Clinton would say something highly controversial to a quasi-public audience. Yet, if she released the transcripts, they would be nitpicked and distorted. Detractors claim that what she said in her speeches is important because they “refuse to believe Goldman Sachs would pay $200,000 for a speech without getting anything in return.” First, even if you add up the three speaking fee totals of $675k from Goldman Sachs, that represents .00002% of the company’s 2015 net revenues. Second, speeches by notable public figures are regular occurrences at Goldman Sachs and all other major companies, and there is no indication that the companies expect to obtain anything other than the service of a speech for their payment. The Goldman Sachs speaker series has recently included Deepak Choprah, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Shaquille O’ Neal, and Tory Burch. I’m sure all those speakers received handsome fees or donations, yet I doubt Goldman expects to be lifted to another meditative plane, given God’s forgiveness, obtain expert basketball lessons for its executives, or get free reva ballet flats for its female employees in return.
It is notable that Clinton gave many speeches after leaving the state department, including to organizations such as the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, the International Dairy-Deli-Bakery Association, the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, and the American Camping Association. According to chart in Business Insider (linked above), these organizations managed to pay the same speaking fees as Goldman Sachs, which amounts almost certainly represented a much larger portion of their respective budgets, and still thought it was a good use of their money. Unlike big banks, however, these organizations are not the most regulation-targeted entities in the U.S. today. I doubt the American Camping Association is expecting big government favors once Hillary gets back in office. Well...maybe they want special access to the National Parks???
One of the organizations worth noting on Hillary’s paid speech list is Robbins Geller Rudman Dowd LLP, which is one of the largest plaintiffs’-side securities class action firms in the country. Robbins Geller obtained a $500 million settlement against Countrywide Financial (now owned by Bank of America) on behalf of investors in mortgage backed securities, as well as a $627 million settlement against Wachovia on behalf of bondholders defrauded in connection with the bank’s mortgage holdings leading up to the financial crisis. Why is no one clamoring to get the transcript of this speech? Oh right, it doesn’t fit the narrative that Hillary is cozy with Wall Street.
Once the primaries are over, it is likely that the speech issue will go away, as it should. The issue fits Bernie’s anti-Wall Street rhetoric, but it is quite doubtful that Trump, who used large financial institutions to help build his empire, or Cruz, whose wife was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and who took loans from the company, will be going after Hillary for purportedly being in the tank for the banks. (Not to mention that Donald Trump purportedly commands $1.5 million in speaking fees.) I doubt we will hear much more about this issue after June.