Look, this is what white working-class voters in Ohio and Iowa wanted. https://t.co/ej8aWokp37
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 26, 2019
Turns out those ‘Opportunity Zones’ aren’t just a financial lifeline for Jared Kushner’s family of grifters — it’s a smorgasbord for allll the financial predators among Donny Dollhands’ associates…
In the 1980s, Michael Milken embodied Wall Street greed. A swashbuckling financier, he was charged with playing a central role in a vast insider-trading scheme and was sent to prison for violating federal securities and tax laws. He was an inspiration for the Gordon Gekko character in the film “Wall Street.”
Mr. Milken has spent the intervening decades trying to rehabilitate his reputation through an influential nonprofit think tank, the Milken Institute, devoted to initiatives “that advance prosperity.”
These days, the Milken Institute is a leading proponent of a new federal tax break that was intended to coax wealthy investors to plow money into distressed communities known as “opportunity zones.” The institute’s leaders have helped push senior officials in the Trump administration to make the tax incentive more generous, even though it is under fire for being slanted toward the wealthy.
Mr. Milken, it turns out, is in a position to personally gain from some of the changes that his institute has urged the Trump administration to enact. In one case, the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, directly intervened in a way that benefited Mr. Milken, his longtime friend.
It is a vivid illustration of the power that Mr. Milken, who was barred from the securities industry and fined $600 million as part of his 1990 felony conviction, has amassed in President Trump’s Washington. In addition to the favorable tax-policy changes, some of Mr. Trump’s closest advisers — including Mr. Mnuchin, Jared Kushner and Rudolph W. Giuliani — have lobbied the president to pardon Mr. Milken for his crimes, or supported that effort, according to people familiar with the effort…
The former “junk bond king” has investments in at least two major real estate projects inside federally designated opportunity zones in Nevada, near Mr. Milken’s Lake Tahoe vacation home, according to public records reviewed by The New York Times.
One of those developments, inside an industrial park, is a nearly 700-acre site in which Mr. Milken is a major investor. Last year, after pressure from Mr. Milken’s business partner and other landowners, the Treasury Department ignored its own guidelines on how to select opportunity zones and made the area eligible for the tax break, according to people involved in the discussions and records reviewed by The Times.
The unusual decision was made at the personal instruction of Mr. Mnuchin, according to internal Treasury Department emails. It came shortly after he had spent time with Mr. Milken at an event his institute hosted…
Mr. Milken — operating from an X-shaped trading desk in Beverly Hills, Calif. — was a Wall Street legend. He pioneered the junk bond, which enabled financially risky companies to borrow billions of dollars and ignited a wave of often-hostile corporate takeovers that came to define a go-go era. His firm, Drexel Burnham Lambert, hosted an annual event, which came to be known as the Predators’ Ball, where the era’s greatest financiers mingled. Mr. Milken became a billionaire.
Then, in 1989, federal prosecutors charged him with violating securities and tax laws and with being part of a lucrative insider-trading ring. The next year, Drexel Burnham went bankrupt.Mr. Milken pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison and paid $600 million in fines. After cooperating with the government, he ended up serving about two years behind bars…
Mr. Milken, however, has largely managed to restore his reputation — and his clout. His family gave tens of millions of dollars to his Milken Institute, which he founded in 1991 and whose board of directors he leads. After battling prostate cancer, he helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars to fund cancer research…
The most public display of his renewed stature comes each spring in Los Angeles when Mr. Milken presides over a glitzy gathering at the Beverly Hilton — the same venue where his famed Predators’ Balls took place three decades ago.
The Milken Institute’s annual conference attracts thousands of the world’s most powerful people — from government, finance, medicine, Hollywood and the like — for a frenzy of high-powered networking and conspicuous consumption… Mr. Milken is the power broker at the center of the action. Onstage, he interviews famous guests. In private, he organizes exclusive dinners. Some have called the event the Davos of North America.
In the Trump era, cabinet secretaries and White House advisers have been among the event’s marquee guests, more so than in other recent administrations. Coveted speaking roles have gone to Ivanka Trump and her husband, Mr. Kushner, giving them access to an elite audience.
At last year’s event in Beverly Hills, attendees included Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Mr. Mnuchin. The Treasury secretary was accompanied by several senior aides, including Daniel Kowalski, who is overseeing the department’s drafting of the opportunity zone rules…
To quote a famous predators’ motto from the first Gilded Age: Anything not nailed down is mine. Anything I can pry loose is not nailed down.
The Dangerman
Milken? Damn, it’s like those late night commercials with the greatest hits of the 80’s.
Cheryl Rofer
They are all crawling out from their crypts, but we will exorcise them
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The House Impeachment Committee (I don’t know if it’s official but I liked typing it) is working today
I don’t want to count any chickens, but… I keep thinking of Alexander Butterfield testified about Nixon’s recording system. He almost seemed to be making a decision right there. I wonder if Reeker, and others, are only in the last few days deciding to truly come clean. I’m glad Taylor testified, glad he created a virtual paper trail, but he was not a whistleblower.
sdhays
We need a new 21st century Crime Bill. People shouldn’t be able to be convicted of serious white collar crimes and still be able to fund shitty “think tanks” to buy influence in Washington. The risk is clearly not high enough.
The Dangerman
@Cheryl Rofer:
Ordering up truckloads of garlic. Going to need massive quantities of air freshener.
Another Scott
A remake/sequel of Wall Street must be just around the corner…
Twitter:
[ Context – FB claims most Wonkette posts are “clickbait” ]
FB is not our friend, and are enabling those who are enemies of our form of government.
Grrr….
Cheers,
Scott.
CarolPW
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yovanovich immediately went back to Georgetown, Taylor immediately headed back to Ukraine, and poor Reeker heads back to work at the State Department headquarters tomorrow. Wonder what they are going to do to him.
Duane
@The Dangerman: This is what happens when you let vampires out of jail. Right back to sucking blood.
laura
Mike Milken has NEVER done anything that didn’t benefit Mike Milken. My loathing of this particular bag-o-shite burns with the heat of 10,000 white hot suns.
He is a destroyer of the American Dream. Full Stop.
I’m thinking bad thoughts. Very. Bad. Thoughts. about this skidmark.
I hope he rots to death. Rot, mofo, rot.
schrodingers_cat
I had read about Milken, first time I have seen his photo.
oatler.
I wish those “Stranger Things” fans (and John Hughes fans) would educate themselves about what happened in Reagan’s America.
laura
@schrodingers_cat: back in the day he wore the saddest, least convincing rug, and it wasn’t until he was chucked into the slammer that his noggin got an airing.
It’s Miken’s prison ‘do that I imagine when thinking of trump’s imprisonment aspect I most look forward to these days.
SiubhanDuinne
Somewhat more pleasant subject: the DNC has announced the location of the next* Dem debate, and it’s going to be at the old Fort McPherson, a few miles southwest of Atlanta, now the lot for Tyler Perry’s production studios.
I hope the field is a bit smaller by then. I’d be happy with the top six or eight at this point.
*November 20
(Edited to fix a stupid.)
Rand Careaga
We’re going to need a bigger tumbril. Lots of them.
James E Powell
@SiubhanDuinne:
It isn’t just the number of candidates that make these things unwatchable. It’s the format and it’s the silly idea to have press/media people asking questions.
schrodingers_cat
Caturday Cat is lounging.
lumpkin
It’s beginning to feel like the US is a giant cesspool of corruption. That doesn’t bode well for its long term viability. Once the corruption becomes widespread enough it’s impossible to stop. It feels like we’ve crossed that threshold.
lamh36
Sigh…video at link.
Really Bernie…really ?
Dan B
@lumpkin: It does feel like the corruption among the elites is accelerating but then again they’ve always oozed corruption. At this point in time they seem to feel safe flaunting it. Will the folks in flyover diners notice?
Oh, nevermind, FOX.
Millard FIlmore
@The Dangerman:
Build a prison in Gilroy.
“Garlic Capital of the World”
Mary G
@lamh36: Ugh. I like some of his ideas, but he’s blind to anything but economic changes to benefit white men, plus his supporters on Twitter are dreadful, so he’s down there with Tulsi on my list.
Dan B
@lamh36: My partner luurves Bernie. Fortunately none of our friends or relatives do, in fact they dislike Bernie. Phew!
And it’s not just discouraging to hear Bernie spout this blind ignorance it’s horrifying. Does he not pay attention to the news? How clueless can he be?
Dan B
@Millard FIlmore: I thought I read that China took over the garlic market from Gilroy.
Raven
White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham added, “I worked with John Kelly, and he was totally unequipped to handle the genius of our great President.”
lamh36
@lamh36: What a crappy answer from Bernie. “respect what they are doing”… Philando C did exactly that and still ended up dead?. GTFOH Bernie!
Mary G
@Dan B: I think their network has expanded all over the world, plus social media has opened windows we didn’t have before. Twitler said he didn’t know Parnas or Furman, and lo and behold, he’s on their Instagram over four or five years. Ivanka used to have all kinds of pictures of her posing with sleazy people on Insta, FB & Twitter. Probably not what they meant it for, but helpful to prosecutors to have pictures tagged with date, place, and time to follow up on.
SiubhanDuinne
@James E Powell:
Agree about the format, although having significantly fewer candidates on stage would mitigate some of those problems. The November/Atlanta debate is sponsored by MSNBC and WaPo, so it’s possible the moderators will be somewhat more tolerable than the usual lot. No guarantees, of course.
debbie
@schrodingers_cat:
That’s quite a handsome kitty. Not that I’ve seen a million of them or anything, but I believe your cat is the first I’ve seen with black footpads.
mrmoshpotato
@lamh36: Oh Wilmer. How’re the fall colors in Vermont? What have you knit lately?
lamh36
Trumps 2020 NH CoChair…state congressman
Racist POS!
khead
Why is the FTNYFT claiming that the Democrats impeachment inquiry is out of public view?
Yes, I know it’s the FTNYFT but damn. It only takes a paragraph or two to debunk the headline.
Zinsky
This Opportunity Zone legislation was tacked on to Trump’s horrific tax “reform” bill in December of 2017 that, let us never forget, was rammed through without a single Democratic vote. Not. One.
There are Democrats with their fingerprints on this elitist giveaway too, like Cory Booker. He supported this nonsense. Here in Minneapolis we are trying to build a 10,000 seat amphitheater on the Mississippi River. We looked at Opportunity Zone funds and rejected them as too biased towards super high net wealth individuals.
Steeplejack
MSNBC is rerunning Rachel Maddow’s episode from last night, where she unloaded on the NBC brass and had Ronan Farrow as her guest. Just started a few minutes ago.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G: Mary G, why don’t you understand that the only problem we have in this country is INCOME INEQUALITY?
*wags finger into a wrist sprain* :)
Leto
He paid a $600 million fine (how much was it really?), yet was still able to afford cancer treatments. On the other end of the spectrum:
So in addition to, “THEY MADE HIM SELL HIS PEANUT FARM!”, can we add: “THEY MADE HIM SELL HIS NOBEL!” For healthcare related reasons? For some of us, just further proof there’s no higher being in control of things.
mrmoshpotato
@Dan B:
Are you giving Wilmer a challenge?
Mo MacArbie
Milken droned his way through seemingly every baseball press booth back around Fathers Day for his prostate cancer bluewashing exercise. Now there was a man in love with the sound of his own voice. It happened to him, so he cares now, but the whole thing just smacked of reputation rehabilitation on top of the absurdity of sports-for-a-cause. Has the World Series stood up to cancer yet this year? I don’t mean to make light of a horrible disease and it’s sufferers in this solemn Breastmas season, but I find the telepoingiance and festive grocery store decorations grating.
Dan B
@Mary G: True that having photos of the grifters is a huge benefit. My family knew the Seiberlings, family that founded Goodyear and were pushed out by tge “banksters”. They started Seiberling which was raided by Charles Lamb in 1960. He sucked it dry. My father was a long time employee as a chemist and had no love for corporate raiders. These old timey vulture capitalists mostly stayed out of sight. Not Charles Lamb but the New York bankers did. Now they seem to aspire to Hollywood level celebrity. It makes the crooks seem more numerous. It also makes them vulnerable.
Dan B
@schrodingers_cat: Our kitty, Oscar, is nearly identical to yours, right down to the black feet.
Steeplejack
@lamh36:
WTF?! ?
debbie
@lamh36:
At least the comments are heartening.
Dan B
@mrmoshpotato: I long ago gave up on Wilmer. Whoever does his Facebook feed is good but the man himself is like the stopped clock but he spouts nonsense twice a day. I believe it’s unpossible for him to learn.
burnspbesq
It’s hardly news that opportunity zones are a scam. It was obvious on a first reading of the statute.
It’s possible to make a good-faith argument that the tax laws can and should do something to incentivize investment in disadvantaged areas. But not this thing.
Quinerly
@Raven: read that earlier. Funniest thing I read in weeks. I think she’s had at least 2 DWIs. Just saying.
Dan B
@lamh36: Well it’s special that this goon from NH makes Wilmer look saintl.
rikyrah
Thanks for the front page treatment of the abomination ???
rikyrah
For the bleachers:
JOHN KELLY AIN’T SHYT ? ?
https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1188175308798808064
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Too cute for words ???
Dan B
@debbie: You are correct that the comments to this racist NH creep are good. I didn’t see a single comment in support. Some were laugh out loud great!
schrodingers_cat
@debbie: @rikyrah: Thanks! His imperial highness will be pleased.
rikyrah
jen (@jenmendez_) Tweeted:
This Criminal Justice forum & award was supposed to be a PR moment for Trump.
Kamala single-handedly changed that, & now the story is gonna be about his racism & how HBCU students were not allowed at his event. She clearly struck a nerve. She knows how to take the fight to him. https://twitter.com/jenmendez_/status/1188089618253651969?s=17
schrodingers_cat
@Dan B: Is he bossy? Yogi is a boss cat.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@rikyrah:
and I doubt that’s the only crime Kelly sat by and watched, to say nothing of the moral outrages he pushed forward
“The children will go into foster care, or whatever…”
opiejeanne
@Mo MacArbie: I muted the tv when he was in the booth with the Angels announcers. I hate Millken for what he did.
Steve in the ATL
@Raven: Auburn, LSU, Florida: defenses that will give the Dawgs a lot of trouble when/if we get past the Gators. Especially if Kirby keeps running inside zone against stacked boxes.
Alabama has a great, great offense (those receivers!), but their defense is average. They can beat Auburn (turns out Bo Nix is more like sophomore year Trevor Lawrence than freshman year Trevor Lawrence)
but LSU will be a battle. They play tough on both sides of the ball.
It took Georgia’s backup quarterback to do it, but this may be the year an Ohio State beats an SEC team after all.
Msilaneous
@schrodingers_cat: What a handsome boy!
Calouste
@rikyrah: Yep, got no time for anyone who signed on with the shitgibbon. if they want my respect, they can give Adam Schiff a call and make an appointment to give testimony. Then they might get a little.
Career diplomats and civil servants are of course a different matter.
Ruckus
@Dan B:
PFC, possibly moving into MFC territory.
ETA
Thought I should probably define those.
PFC = pretty fucking clueless.
MFC = massively fucking clueless.
I’m leaning towards MFC myself.
Another Scott
Reuters:
Big projects cost big money. We should keep this pricetag in mind when we hear about proposed infrastructure projects. The days of ONE BILLION DOLLARS being a lot of money for a modern country are long, long gone.
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
@Raven:
Seriously?
This sounds like something in praise of Chairman Mao.
trollhattan
Great country, or greatest country? Friends, we all know the answer. Oddly, Florida man plays no evident part.
PersistentIllusion
@Millard FIlmore: Two words: holy water.
prostratedragon
A review of Milken and the dirty ’80s:
Aleta
Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt
*
Heather Meyer @yackheather
prostratedragon
Take 2 (must have mistyped some metadata):
To review Milken and the dirty ’80s:
prostratedragon
My first moderation!
Help, I’m trying to post a link to the book The Predators’ Ball by Connie Bruch, for those who want to know more about Milken and the junk bond raider era in the 1980s. It will tell you all you need to know about wealth and transactions taxes, and white collar crime enforcement.
trollhattan
@Aleta:
SoCal has its unique issues but NorCal once normally experienced at least a few soaking storms by late October that ended fire season until lhe following summer. Tomorrow’s predicted monster off-shore winds–the twin to the infamous Santa Anas–have the potential to create immense fires from nothing and fan current fires into vastly larger blazes.
Fingers and toes crossed.
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
Connie Bruck, The Predators’ Ball (1988).
Aleta
@trollhattan: No words for it. Somewhere I saw a gif of possible wind speeds of gusts from tonight through tomorrow. I hope not.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
from the twitters it looks like US forces killed Baghdadi (leader of ISIS) in Syria tonight. The Beast is going to make an announcement in the morning.
Look for trump to argue at his next rally that Baghdadi was worse than OBL
Aleta
prostratedragon
@Steeplejack: Thanks, that’s the one. Don’t know why my links kept bouncing.
Steeplejack
@prostratedragon:
You had a lot of cruft in your link(s). Sometimes FYWP objects to certain alphanumeric strings. You can’t really know ahead of time. It happens most often with the “abbreviated” URLs that YouTube gives you.
Another Scott
@Aleta: https://www.fire.ca.gov/stats-events/
The numbers are staggering, and I agree that if it were a different state (closer to DC) then it would get more attention. Here’s hoping it’s not as bad as last year.
Cheers,
Scott.