PRESS RELEASE
Rohatyn Wants Global Dictator
To Run Global `Big MAC'
PARIS, March 6, 2008 (Nouvelle Solidarité)—Felix Rohatyn, currently the vice-chairman of Lehman Brothers, explained in detail his explicit plan for a fascist new world order — hinting that he would be the perfect economic dictator, in a long interview given to the New York correspondent of France's leading economic daily Les Echos on February 11. Rohatyn called for a "new global regulator, capable of imposing regulations and speaking with a single voice," to deal with what he described as far more than "just another crisis," but a global breakdown of the financial system with serious social consequences.
Using his usual sophist appeal to FDR's New Deal, he revealed what his idea of the New Deal really is: "Today, we need a new New Deal to fix the world economy. The current banking crisis reminds me of the period in the early 1970s, when Giscard and Schmidt warned the world's leaders that the bankruptcy of New York City could provoke a crash of the dollar. This time, the crisis is much more global and more frightening." Of course, Rohatyn was brought in to "save" New York City at that time as head of Big MAC (the Municipal Assistance Corporation) which threw the Constitution aside to turn over the control of the city's finances from its elected officials to the private banks, to ensure all debt payments, at the expense of wages, services, or maintenance of the city's industries — which were destroyed. Clearly he is suggesting the need for a Global Big MAC, with himself (or his fascist pal Michael Bloomberg, perhaps) as the "global regulator."
His fraudulent references to Roosevelt were further exposed when the journalist asked: "Do you want to rehabilitate Keynes, or do you want the New Deal of FDR?" Rohatyn ignored the (correct) distinction between Keynes and FDR, calling himself "a fervent capitalist, but I never hid that I am a Keynesian." He then incredibly claimed that FDR saved capitalism—not from fascism, but from socialism!
Rohatyn noted that "our traditional industries are collapsing simultaneously" (but not mentioning his own role in bringing that about), naming the auto sector, real estate construction, and the financial sector. The problem is that "finance is globalized, but the central banks of the U.S., Europe and Asia are isolated, they don't coordinate, they follow their own policies, with the U.S. lowering rates and Europe raising them. We need a global regulator."
He also spelled out his corporatist scheme for infrastructure, making explicit that the key is the private sector use of public funds for leverage. Referencing the $1.6 trillion infrastructure deficit in the U.S., he said we need a "domestic World Bank" with $60 billion in federal funds, "which would be used to raise funds and borrow money to finance these projects," adding that there must never be more than 50% federal money, "in order to maintain a strong link with the private sector." Of course, these vultures are already leveraged far more than 1-1 in their corporatist schemes.
There is a humorous side: Rohatyn, the Godfather of Mergers and Acquisitions and hedge fund speculation generally, complains that the U.S. image has been tarnished by the fact that "Today, we do not project an image of serious investors, but an image of gamblers enticed by profits. That's very bad."
