Doug Feith on Israel - WSJ

I am automatically opposed to anything by Doug Feith, one of the Jewish neo-con hawks who orchestrated the invasion of Iraq after 9/11,  This WSJ op-ed on Israel is no exception.  His op-ed basically says the occupied territories have the same status as the original Israeli border set by the UN, because the Palestinians reject both the original Israeli state and the later occupied territories.  If all Jews and Israelis hold this view, it is no wonder that Palestinians continue their opposition.  To Feith, accepting Israel’s original borders justifies accepting the later, expanded borders.  Feith sees no reason for negotiations.  He seems to think Israel is entitled to all the land it can take.

Conservative Jewish Neo-Cons in the Bush Administration

While I have been criticizing the liberal Jews who supported Hillary Clinton, I just realized that there were a number of conservative, neo-con Jews who encouraged George W. Bush to invade Iraq.  They are significantly responsible for the turmoil in the Middle East today.  The invasion of Iraq may have been a disaster for US foreign and military policy, but it may have been a boon for Israel.  The Arabs and Muslims are now so engaged in fighting each other -- Sunni versus Shiite, Saudi versus Iranian, chaos in Syria and Libya, destabilization of Egypt, etc. -- that they don’t have time to worry about Israel and the Palestinians.  Israel is probably more secure from external threats than it has been for years, maybe since its creation.  The invasion of Iraq has been great for Israel, not so great for the United States.  This is what worries me about whether American Jews put America’s interests first, or Israel’s interests first.  The issue was highlighted by Netanyahu’s visit to the US to oppose the Iran deal; he was greeted much more warmly by Senators and Congressmen that President Obama.  Of course, many of those who cheered Netanyahu were not Jewish.  

In any case, some of those Jewish neo-con leaders who worked for the US invasion of Iraq were Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, Under Secretary of Defense Doug Feith, NSC staffer Elliot Abrams, VP Cheney’s national security advisor Scooter Libby, and Under Secretary of Defense Dov Zakheim, among many others.  These neo-cons are still unrepentant about the Iraq invasion, although they do not defend it on the grounds that it benefitted Israel rather than the United States.  

In any case, their efforts illustrated the influential role of Jews in the American government.  It also illustrates what is often the case: the Jews are not at the top of the pyramid, but serve in important advisory positions right under the man at the top, who is usually not Jewish.  In the case of Iraq, President Bush II no doubt wanted to invade Iraq, and his Jewish policy advisors helped him to justify it.  Non-Jewish advisors might have discouraged his initial impulse to invade after 9/11, but of course, the main proponent of the war was Dick Cheney, who is not Jewish.   

Jewish Influence in American Finance and Politics

I remain concerned about the influence of Jews in America.  They occupy senior positions in the financial industry and politics far in excess of their proportion of the population.  The first big influx of Jews to America came around the 1888s. The Jewish population of American then about doubled between 1910 and 1930, from around two million to about four million, according to the Jewish Virtual Library.  The Jewish population did not grow significantly again until the 2000s, when it grew to around seven million in a total population of about 300 million, about two or three percent. Of the top ten richest Americans 50% are Jewish.  Ten of the 100 senators, ten percent, are Jewish.  

My Jewish Learning says there were three waves of Jewish immigration to the US: Sephardic Jews who came from Brazil during the colonial era, Ashkenazi Jews who came from Germany from the 1840s to around World War I, and Eastern European Jews who came after 1880 from socialist and communist political backgrounds in Eastern Europe and Russia.  Relatively few Jews came to the US around World War II because of immigration restrictions.  

A number of prominent Jews are first or second generation immigrants.  Michael Bloomberg’s grandparents were born in Russia.  George Soros was born in Hungary.  Chuck Schumer’s grandparents were born in Russia, Poland, Austria and the US.  Steve Mnuchin’s great-grandfather, who was Russian, arrived in the US in 1916, bringing his family from Belgium, including Mnuchin’s grandfather.  The father of Google’s Sergey Brin brought his family from the Soviet Union.  Sheldon Adelson was born in Boston of parents who emigrated from Russia. Steve Balmer;s Jewish mother was born in Belarus; his father was Swiss.  Number 22 on the Forbes list of richest Americans, Len Blavatnik is a Jew born in Ukraine.  Forbes number 174, Isaac Perlmutter, immigrated from Israel.  Bernie Sanders’ father was born in Poland, as were his mother’s parents., Paul Krugman’s father’s parents were born in Poland. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’ grandparents came to the US around 1920 from Poland, Russia, Austria, and Bulgaria, Wolf Blitzer was born in Germany of parents who were Auschwitz survivors.  

The fact that so many Jewish families who came from Russia and Eastern Europe in the early 1900s when Socialism and Communism were becoming so popular may explain why so many Jews are liberals.  For example, Trotsky was a leader of the Communist movement in Russia.  Almost uniformly, Jewish anchors and commentators on TV are liberal, tending to work for liberal networks like CNN and MSNBC.  However, there are exceptions; Sheldon Adelman is certainly not a liberal, despite the fact that his family came from Russia.  At the New York Times, the leading Jewish columnists -- David Brooks, Paul Krugman, and Tom Friedman -- have so far not been able to accept Donald Trump’s election as President.  Krugman in particular is outraged, calling Trump “vile” in a tweet.  

But I don’t have much insight into the Jewish community, and particularly Trump’s interaction with the Jewish community.  I was struck by how strongly the elite Jewish community -- the Jewish politicians and bankers -- supported Hillary Clinton, who is not Jewish, although I think that Hillary and Bill more or less pledged themselves to support the Jewish community while Bill was President, and that connection carried over to Hillary.  But of course, Bernie Sanders is Jewish and supported the liberal policies that the liberal Jews of Russian origin should have liked.  It seems to be that Trump has succeeded in a profession that should be dominated by Jews, Manhattan real estate.  Is he one of the gang of Jewish real estate speculators, or is he a disliked competitor who makes his Jewish rivals jealous.  In addition his daughter, Ivanka, converted to Judaism when she married the Jewish son of another New York real estate magnate, Kushner.  Does Jared Kushner give Donald an in with the Jewish community, or is he a trusted Trump adviser despite opposition from his Jewish cohorts.  In addition, Trump has named Jews to his cabinet, including to Treasury, and he has named a very pro-Israel Jew as Ambassador to Israel.  On the other hand, Trump has been outspoken about saying, “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays,” and he has talked about America’s Christianity, winning over a lot of unhappy white men in the process.  

I don’t know, but I think there is a Jewish-Gentile split in America, perhaps not as serious as the white-black split, but there nevertheless.  As a white man, I see some of the animosity coming from the Jewish side.  Jews have reason to be concerned about discrimination, based on their history of persecution, long before the Holocaust.  I think that is one reason, they support “diversity.”  They support organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center, because they believe that if they can make discrimination against blacks a major issue, then surely Jews, who look like whites, will be protected from discrimination.  For them, promoting diversity is a form of self-preservation.  Ironically, if Jews chose to assimilate, it would be almost impossible to discriminate against them, since they look just like white Western Europeans.  However, if they choose not to assimilate, which is perfectly legitimate, they should not complain when Gentiles identify them as Jews.  

We’ll see what happens.  I think that if this country seriously attacked the issue of income inequality, that would take care of many of my concerns about Jews tending to run the country.  Or maybe not, maybe more Jews would go into politics.  Maybe they would move to another country where they felt more welcome.  Already, almost every American Jew is entitled to an Israeli passport and can easily go to Israel if he wants to.  Another of my concerns is the huge support of American Jews for Israel.  At one time, the US-Britain linkage may have been as strong, but it no longer is.  Israel is certainly the first among all foreign countries, and the US would go to almost any lengths to protect Israel, mostly because of pressure from Jews through AIPAC and other Jewish organizations, but also because of support from some fundamentalist Christians, and some Gentile politicians, like John McCain.  Obama wanted to focus his foreign policy on Asia, but our involvement in the Middle East made that impossible.  I worry that it was Jewish pressure to focus always on the Middle East that made the Asian initiative fail, and it also influences other foreign policy choices.  This is where I see the outsized Jewish influence as a potential problem.  The US may support Israel to the detriment of America’s own political and security interests.  It will be interesting to see how Trump handles the pressure from the Jewish lobbies.  Is he inclined to give them whatever they want, or will he be more concerned about protecting America’s self-interests than his predecessors have been.  It’s interesting that Henry Kissinger, a Jew, but one who was more even-handed toward Israel than many of his Gentile counterparts, thinks that Trump could be a “very considerable President.”  Trump will certainly bring a different perspective to the job than his predecessors.  

Banning Criticism of Israel on Campus

The Wall Street Journal has called attention to a Senate bill that would restrict speech about Israel in educational institutions.  According to the article:

The legislation, proposed by Sens. Bob Casey (D., Penn.) and Tim Scott (R., S.C.), would require the Education Department, when deciding whether to investigate incidents on campus, to consider the State Department’s definition of anti-Semitism. This definition includes “rhetorical” manifestations, such as speech to “demonize Israel,” “delegitimize Israel,” or apply a “double standard for Israel.”  

 It seems likely that this law would violate the First Amendment.  Hopefully this bill will never become law.  If it does it will probably be declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.  It would be a shame to put the educational community through the turmoil the various legal cases would create.  Hopefully the bill will die without becoming law.

In any case I am disappointed to learn the State Department definition of anti-Semitism.  Apparently it believes that Israel is superior to any other country.  We have no similar policy protecting Canada, France, Japan pr any other country. The State Department seems to be protecting Jewish racial purity.  How the world and America have changed since World War II!  Apparently American policy is that the Jewish race is superior to all others, and all universities must promote this policy under penalty of law.

Yellen and Trump - Partners or Adversaries

The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have different takes on how Janet Yellen’s Fed will affect the Trump administration.  The NYT says in a front page story:

The Fed’s assessment that the economy is growing at a healthy pace — not too hot, not too cold — is starkly at odds with Mr. Trump, who has promised 4 percent growth and has described job creation as “terrible” and economic growth as anemic.

Already on Wednesday, one Republican member of the House Financial Services Committee, Representative Roger Williams of Texas, criticized the Fed’s move.

“Today’s decision by the Fed to raise the interest rate is entirely premature and will be burdensome to a nation already struggling to pull itself out of this slow-growth Obama economy,” Mr. Williams said in a statement. “By making rates even higher, the Fed is effectively making our hardships even harder.”

Mr. Williams did not object when the Fed raised rates last December.

Meanwhile the WSJ says:

For at least the next year or two, the interests of Mr. Trump and Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen are closely aligned. He wants low unemployment and faster economic growth, and she’s happy to err on the side of both via the most docile course of interest-rate increases on record, so long as inflation stays low.

So, which is it?  I think they are a little bit at odds, mainly because Yellen decided to raise rates on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, after threatening to do so for over a year, and not doing it.  A quarter of a point increase is not much, and probably won’t matter much to the economy, but it’s a signal.  Ultralow interest rates have encouraged speculation in the stock market, driving up stock prices,  In theory raising rates now should depress stock prices and bond prices.  It should remove some of the speculation from the stock market, and higher interest rates should depress bond prices.  But recently nothing seems to follow old-fashioned rules; so, who knows what the effect will be.  For sure some speculative investors will guess right and will make some money.  That is where I worry about some Jewish connection that will benefit them, even it it’s only subliminal.  

A more normal, predictable financial situation gives speculators less of an advantage over ordinary investors, who are just saving to buy a house or pay for college, rather than make a billion dollars in a hedge fund or private equity.  Of course Trump ran as the champion of the common man, but has chosen a cabinet of billionaire speculators.  

Goldman Sach in the Washington Post

The Washington Post article on “The Eternal Mystique of Goldman Sachs” to some extent puts the lie to my previous blog’s assertion that Goldman is mainly a Jewish institution.  Nevertheless, judging just by the names in the article, it is pretty Jewish.  The two main people in the Trump administration with ties to Goldman are Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn, both of whom would appear to be Jewish.  The current CEO is Lloyd Blankfein.  The name of the firm itself, Goldman and Sachs, both look Jewish.  Another early partner mentioned in the article is Sidney Weinberg, who also sounds Jewish.  He became an unofficial adviser to Franklin Roosevelt, who Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, was I think the only Jew in FDR’s cabinet, and thus frequently called on by the Jewish community to lobby Roosevelt about Holocaust and the plight of Jews in Europe.  

A number of the Goldman Sachs Gentiles mentioned in the article are no longer with the firm, either because they did not want to remain there, or they were pushed out.  Again, just guessing from the names, these Gentiles include William Dudley, Heidi Cruz, Malcolm Turnbull, and Erin Burnett.  One former CEO of Goldman, who was also Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, is not Jewish.  

The article points out a concern that many Gentiles have about Jewish financial wizards: they are not always honest, although some are certainly more honest that they Gentile competitors.  It cites a joke by Eddie Cantor (also Jewish) who said Goldman lost all the money he was saving for his old age, thus making him feel old.  And, of course, Goldman was deeply involved in the housing mortgage scandal of 2008, and nobody there went to jail.  Of course, neither did any of their other Jewish or Gentile colleagues.  But to an outsider, it looks like a sleazy business.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-eternal-mystique-of-goldman-sachs/2016/12/14/4fa8d4ca-c0ab-11e6-afd9-f038f753dc29_story.html?utm_term=.04002a0e022e

Racist Financial Industry?

Is there racism on Wall Street, especially Goldman Sachs, and at the Fed.  Is there discrimination in favor of Jews?  Jews are extremely influential on Wall Street and lead many Wall Street financial institutions, banks and nonbanks.  Is there racial bias in hiring employees,  The Fed has been headed by Jews for over thirty years.  Elite Jews supported Hillary; did Fed raise rates to damage Trump administration?  

A small rate increase is nothing compared to the financial disaster Obama inherited from Bush.  Nevertheless, it is odd that after a decade of zero interest the Fed raises the rate on the eve of Trump’s presidency.  

Mnuchen

Trump has picked Steve Mnuchen to be Secretary of the Treasury, according to the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo, and many other sources.  Mnuchen is probably better than many people that Trump might have picked, but I would  have liked to see some other possibilities.  I would have prefered someone who was not a Wall Street-Goldman Sachs alumnus. I would also prefer that he had not foreclosed on tens of thousands of homeowners who held IndyMac mortgages while getting government assistance.  Like Trump, who paid no taxes, he is a billionaire beneficiary of government welfare.

I also wonder where his primary allegiance is.  Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, Robert Rubin, was instrumental in repealing Glass-Steagle, which was a huge benefit to Wall Street, but came back to haunt homeowners many of whom lost their homes, and taxpayers, who had to bailout the bankers.  The bankers rewarded Bill and Hillary Clinton handsomely, as well as Robert Rubin, who moved on to a top job at Citibank that paid well but had little responsibility.  Although Rubin guided the US through a financial crisis, his overall record seems to favor Wall Street over the best interests of the United States, since those interests often conflict, as they did in 2008.  I hope that Mnuchen will give priority to main street over Wall Street, as Trump promised.  It remains to be seen.  

I was concerned about Mnuchen because of his record of foreclosures at IndyMac, and a recent article in the New York Times about two Jewish brothers who bought up rent-controlled apartment buildings in New York and then did all kinds of terrible things to the apartments to drive the tenants out.  This is just recent anecdotal evidence of what has been said for centuries about the hard-heartedness of Jewish property owners.  As a Jew, Mnuchen has centuries of suspicion to overcome.  

I am already concerned that every chair of the Fed for more than thirty years has been Jewish, and appears to have favored Wall Street in their policies.  I am not totally against the Fed like the Rand Paul Libertarian Party, but I want it to be evenhanded in its treatment of Wall Street and Main Street.  I worry that Jewish chairs of the Fed will always have closer ties to other Jews on Wall Street than to the ordinary people on Main Street.  I understand that Bernie Sanders, the most outspoken critic of Wall Street, is Jewish.  Good for him!  I supported him until he lost to Hillary.   

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/steve-mnuchin-trumps-treasury-nominee-has-a-nagging-foreclosure-problem-173531947.html

http://www.wsj.com/articles/steven-mnuchins-defining-moment-seizing-opportunity-from-the-financial-crisis-1480547063

Landlord brothers

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/nyregion/brooklyn-landlords-joel-and-aaron-israel-arrested.html