Remember Tim Pawlenty, the former two-time Governor of Minnesota?
Remember when he made a bid for the Presidency this go-round, but bowed out after a poor showing in Iowa?
Remember that during his brief run he acted like he was a Wall Street critic, admonishing the Street to "get its snout out of the trough?" Remember that?
Remember that T.P. became national co-chair of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's run for the roses?
Do you remember that T.P. was a top contender for the V.P. slot that eventually went to Paul Ryan?
Don't worry if you don't remember any of that stuff about T.P. because none of his past politics matter (he's a Republican don't you know?) now that he has a new job.
Oh yeah, with less than 45 days before his buddy Mitt faces off against a resurgent incumbent named Obama - you probably don't remember because it just happened a few days ago - T.P. quit the campaign for a new gig.
You can't blame him. Everybody loves money, and the lure of a reportedly near $2 million salary is mighty enticing. So he took the job.
Guess what he's up to now?
Tim Pawlenty will be the new CEO of the Financial Services Roundtable.
Remember what they do? They're about a 100-strong gang of mega banks, insurance juggernauts and other "financial services" super novas that just want a little love down in Washington.
The Roundtable, don't you know, is the place where they pound their fists and wage their wars against the regulatory machinery that's mucking up the wheels of our economy and preventing all those poor unemployed folks out there from getting jobs that the Knights of the Roundtable would finance as they crusade across America, sprinkling credit dust wherever financing is needed for buying something, anything.
And obviously, they're willing to pay for that love by loving a guy who can claim he's been for Wall Street cleaning up its dirty act. What a great cover.
What a great American.
Speaking of great Americans who are all about protecting us from the ravages of a Street rampage, Scott Brown, remember him? He's the Republican Senator from Massachusetts who is proud of the fact that he says he cast the deciding vote to pass Wall Street's worst nightmare, the Dodd-Frank Act. He's helping himself - and us - again.
Scotty Brownose has quietly, behind the scenes, through his staff, been lobbying the Treasury and the Federal Reserve about easing up on the still-being-written Volcker Rule.
Brownose has constituents in Boston, don't you know, and they are some pretty heavy-hitting financial services types. They aren't friends of the Volcker Rule, which might restrict them from playing the markets with customers' funds for the benefit of their bonus pools.
Just another great American.
What I love is how everyone thinks that there's no compromise in politics, when there is apparently nothing but compromise.
As long as we the people and our futures are compromised by the politicians that lead us like Knights of Darkness, we will eventually get out of the mess we're in and see the dawning of a new day. A day where there's nothing but love and credit for everyone who can be bought and sold.
Just like the American Dream.
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About the Author
Shah Gilani boasts a financial pedigree unlike any other. He ran his first hedge fund in 1982 from his seat on the floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange. When options on the Standard & Poor's 100 began trading on March 11, 1983, Shah worked in "the pit" as a market maker.
The work he did laid the foundation for what would later become the VIX - to this day one of the most widely used indicators worldwide. After leaving Chicago to run the futures and options division of the British banking giant Lloyd's TSB, Shah moved up to Roosevelt & Cross Inc., an old-line New York boutique firm. There he originated and ran a packaged fixed-income trading desk, and established that company's "listed" and OTC trading desks.
Shah founded a second hedge fund in 1999, which he ran until 2003.
Shah's vast network of contacts includes the biggest players on Wall Street and in international finance. These contacts give him the real story - when others only get what the investment banks want them to see.
Today, as editor of Hyperdrive Portfolio, Shah presents his legion of subscribers with massive profit opportunities that result from paradigm shifts in the way we work, play, and live.
Shah is a frequent guest on CNBC, Forbes, and MarketWatch, and you can catch him every week on Fox Business's Varney & Co.