Hillary Clinton has refused to release her Goldman Sachs speech transcripts for which she earned millions of dollars giving paid speeches. Besides the $945,744.00 Goldman donated to the Clinton Foundation (making sure it was under $1 million), they also paid Hillary $675,000 for just speaking at Goldman Sachs, which was clearly a pay-off for there is nothing strategic that one would pay for in these transcripts that would further the profitability of the firm in the future other than buying a seat in the White House to soften regulation. Tim O’Neill was the co-head of investment management at Goldman Sachs and he conducted the questioning. The full transcript is available at NPR, while the paid media tend to spin it claiming they are “stolen” and not “verified” as they naturally defend Hillary.
MR. O’NEILL: By the way, we really did appreciate when you were the senator from New York and your continued involvement in the issues (inaudible) to be courageous in some respects to associated with Wall Street and this environment. Thank you very much.
SECRETARY CLINTON: Well, I don’t feel particularly courageous. I mean, if we’re going to be an effective, efficient economy, we need to have all part of that engine running well, and that includes Wall Street and Main Street.
I think this this small portion says it all. It was pay-back time, nothing more. Anytime I’ve been paid to give a speech inside a major firm, it has never been warm and fussy. It’s always been – so what do you do now! But then again, I was typically paid $100,000 to speak internally and field whatever questions came my way from what country to set up in or leave to restructuring companies for the future and how to set up internal hedging departments. I was not paid $675,000. I suppose if you get the real big bucks, it’s just for the show – no substance or preparation required. Guess I gave too much info. Perhaps less is more?
