Courtesy of Pam Martens.
Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board
Each business day, the President of the United States makes his daily schedule available to the press. The President is the Commander in Chief of the military, the man who signs or vetoes legislation, the individual with the power to initiate military action against another nation. To most Americans, he is viewed as the most powerful individual in the country.
If such a powerful individual involved with so many delicate negotiations can share his daily appointment calendar with the American people, why can’t the Washington money men whose mandate is also to serve the country’s interest.
The U.S. Treasury Secretary’s daily appointment calendar is posted on the Treasury’s web site. The web site tells us that the calendars “are generally posted every quarter.” However, the last six months of Jack Lew’s schedule are missing from this archive.
What we do know from Jack Lew’s appointment book that is on the web site is that on his first full day in office, February 28, 2013, the second call he made as U.S. Treasury Secretary was to Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs; the third call he made was to Larry Fink, CEO of another powerful multinational investment company, BlackRock.
Senator Max Baucus, Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, who delicately dealt with Lew during his scandal-plagued confirmation hearing and failed to require Lew to testify under oath, was the very first person Lew called from his new perch as Treasury Secretary.
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