In a previous post at No Quarter, I referred to Barack Obama’s interesting relationship with Wall street, Bankers and Sub-Prime lenders. I also mentioned Barack Obama’s Finance Chairperson, Penny Pritzker. We all know that Barack Obama hangs out with some interesting people and Penny Pritzker is no exception. I thought you might like to know more about Penny Pritzker and the closing of Superior Bank, which was owned by the Pritzker family.
The Pritzkers are one of the nation’s wealthiest families and heirs to the fortune created by the Hyatt hotels. Yes, Penny is a billionaire. So basically, Penny could squash me like a bug right now for writing this.
Among their other endeavors, the Pritzkers were the owners of Superior Bank in Hinsdale, Illinois when it was seized. Yes, I did say seized.
Here’s a Press Release from the Office of Thrift Supervision, Bureau of the US Treasury:
OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent
WASHINGTON – The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) closed Superior Bank FSB, Hinsdale, Ill., today and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.
The FDIC transferred the insured deposits and substantially all the assets of Superior Bank into a newly chartered, full-service mutual savings bank, known as Superior Federal, FSB, which will open for business on Monday morning. All depositors of Superior Bank automatically become depositors of Superior Federal, and will have immediate access to their insured funds. All 18 of Superior Bank’s Chicago metropolitan area offices will open for business Monday and will continue to offer full banking services, including online banking. Superior Bank’s loan production and servicing operations will also continue to operate normally.
OTS used its authority under the FDIC Improvement Act of 1991 to close Superior Bank when it found that the bank remained critically undercapitalized — that its tangible equity capital was less than two percent of its total assets. The bank failed to implement a capital restoration plan that it submitted to OTS on May 24 this year.
Superior Bank suffered as a result of its former high-risk business strategy, which was focused on the generation of significant volumes of subprime mortgage and automobile loans for securitization and sale in the secondary market. OTS found that the bank also suffered from poor lending practices, improper record keeping and accounting, and ineffective board and management supervision.
Superior became critically undercapitalized largely due to incorrect accounting treatment and aggressive assumptions for valuing residual assets. The bank also experienced significant losses during 2000 from its automobile lending program.
OTS has determined that Superior Bank is insolvent, having incurred losses that have depleted all or substantially all of its capital. OTS also determined that Superior Bank was no longer able to transact business in a safe and sound manner.
OTS notified the bank of its serious concerns in July 2000.
The bank was purchased by two families in 1988 — the Pritzker family of Chicago, owner of Hyatt Hotels and other interests, and the Dworman family of New York, with interests in real estate and financial services activities — and was operated through a complex network of holding companies.
In light of these findings, OTS determined that closure and the appointment of FDIC as receiver were necessary to protect the interests of the bank’s insured depositors.
As of March 31, 2001, the failed bank had total assets of $1.9 billion and total deposits of $1.5 billion. FDIC insures depositors’ accounts up to the statutory limit of $100,000.
Superior is the only bank that OTS has closed in 2001, and only the fourth OTS-regulated institution closed in the past five years.
The FDIC has established a toll free telephone number for customers of Superior. That number is 1-800-331-6306, and will be available until midnight tonight and then from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily thereafter.
I thought you might also like to hear an interview with one of Penny Pritzker’s victims and how this bank closing affected her life. You will also hear her reaction to the thought that Barack Obama would hire Penny Pritzker as his campaign Finance Chair, not to mention her horrified reaction to the thought that Ms. Pritzker might one day be “Secretary of the Treasury”. If “Play” doesn’t work, Click in MP3 Stream link. Buckle your seat belt first, please. This woman does not spare details and is not in a good mood. I suppose I wouldn’t be in a very good mood either if I lost my savings to Penny Pritzker.
I guess the main stream media didn’t think this Petty little Penny Pritzker Problem (say that three times fast) was important enough to look into.
Additional links on this bilking of innocent people:
NY Times, December, 2001
FDIC Failed Bank Information – Superior Bank
OTS Closes Superior Bank FSB; Hinsdale, Ill. Thrift is Insolvent
OTS Announces Resolution of Charges Against Auditor of Closed Superior Bank FSB
Filed under: Uncategorized
--Graphic by Freedom Fairy
--Graphic by Dances With Pumas
"This is not culture. This is not custom. This is criminal."
Scarier and scarier!
Woman: you are easily the best and most entertaining political writer on the Internet right now. Do you understand the world is a better place for what you’re doing?
Thanks much, sweetie!
Boy Kourian, thanks for that. I know I will have reached that rating for sure when my house blows up.
M, I so wish you worked for one of the networks. I mean you clearly would have been fired at this point but you would have had the opportunity to get some of this out. The internet is a great place and you can find anything you want to know just by looking. But the majority of Americans want to sit on their asses and have keith and chris tell them what to think. Oh he meant his or he meant that. You can watch the State of the Union or some other Major speech or a minor one on race and how its all our fault, and I think they are watching Ren & Stimpy during it and then reading some pre-approved taking points because its never the same thing I just got done watching.
Just wanted to say you’re fantastic, keep it up.
Become an independent and write Hillary in if necessary.
Oh I have no intention of remaining in the party if they do what I think they are going to do. Yes, I DO like the write-in idea. My only concern is for those who will find it awkward to do it. I just want to make sure that if they do what I think they are pulling, that nobody who has been disinfranchised or treated like dog crap, eg women, blue collar workers, Italians, and other people who are the backbone of this nation do NOT vote for Barack Obama. That would mean, please do the write-in but if you can’t, either stay home or hold your nose and vote for McCain. At least I know he has never behaved in a sexist fashion and he doesn’t hang out with domestic terrorists, housing bilkers of the poor, or billionaires who owned banks and left innocent working people holding the bag.
…hold your nose and vote for McCain. At least I know he has never behaved in a sexist fashion…
What does your hypereducation tell you about this?
“Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly?
Because her father is Janet Reno.” John McCain
Yet another “upscale” Obamazoid skips school and is heard from — to ensure that fifty percent of Democrats don’t vote for the Baby Jesus in November should Daddy fix the nomination for him.
I bet your parents wish they had gone for oral sex instead.
Not much of a debater are you.
We reap what we sow. But thanks for the IP address confirmation.
Oh, and one more thing, remember this?
…a brouhaha has erupted over recent comments made by Pelosi on “This Week with George Stephanopoulos”, when Pelosi, who will chair the Democratic National Convention, seemed to give a boost to the campaign of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying “If the votes of the superdelegates overturn what’s happened in the elections, it would be harmful to the Democratic Party.”
Taking umbrage, a list of big Democratic donors who support the campaign of Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., have written a letter to Pelosi (subsequently released to the press) pointing out that “Several states and millions of Democratic voters have not yet had a chance to cast their votes” and arguing “None of us should make declarative statements that diminish the importance of their voices and their votes. We are writing to say we believe your remarks on ABC News This Week on March 16th did just that….
[The list of donors] – Marc Aronchick, Clarence Avant, Susie Tompkins Buell, Sim Farar, Robert L. Johnson, Chris Korge, Marc and Cathy Lasry, Hassan Nemazee, Alan and Susan Patricof, JB Pritzker, Amy Rao, Lynn de Rothschild, Haim Saban, Bernard Schwartz, Stanley S. Shuman, Jay Snyder, Maureen White and Steven Rattner — reminded Pelosi that they have given generously to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps fund Democratic House races.
Yup, JB Pritzker. I may not be hyper educated but I can use the Google. That’s more than you can say.
Ok you can understand at this point that I’m growing weary of answering the same remarks from you in two places. Pick a spot. Here or No Quarter.
As I said at No Quarter, Penny and her brother Jay don’t get along too well. But I know you already know this. There is an old saying that you can pick your friends but you can’t pick your relatives. Being a donor to a campaign and bilking people out of millions of dollars under your watch and then being appointed Finance Chair are a far cry from one another. I am sure even you, who adores Barack Obama, can see that.
None of this negates the fact that Penny bilked people of millions of dollars and is into the FDIC for nearly a half a million dollars, AND is finance chair for Barack Baby Jesus Obama. As I said, I am already aware of penny’s brother supporting Clinton. It is fairly apparent that penny and brother Jay don’t get along much, nor does he obviously put any stock on Barack Obama. Now please do not make me answer you in two places. If you do, you will not see another of your posts here.
It is always so common that when barack Obama drops an entire tree, someone in his camp finds that a sliver from the tree belongs to Hillary Clinton for smoke and mirror effect. Obviously what Penny did is Hillary’s fault. I understand completely.
Honestly, you didn’t NEED google. Penny’s brother is already mentioned in one of my links. Therefore you went to a lot of trouble for nothing.
Anonymous posters always annoy bloggers and this is on reason why. It shows a certain lack of courage, you know?
M, I think the Kool-Aid must be fermenting, they’re getting delusional and stupid.
Yes but the important thing is I let them post. That’s more than the courtesy I got from Obama blogs,and I have never even tried to be insulting. Believe me it was hard.
I guess I just need to just do what they do at Kos and blogs, not let the post go up. But hey I tried.
I will try and not drool as I type this, since you assume everyone who supports Obama can’t complete a sentence. Sycophants unite!!!
Anyone that would put more than $100,000.00 into one bank (when it’s extremely clear at ANY bank that your money is ONLY FDIC insured up to $100,00.00) is either being greedy (as Superior Bank offered a higher interest rate than most banks) or just plain stupid. Everything knew the risk going in and there were NO VICTIMS. It’s like putting your money in the stock market and expecting a guarantee that you will get your money back. We should be that lucky!
Obama was recently quoted regarding this so-called scandal: “Penny Pritzker was never accused of any wrongdoing nor did she receive compensation in relation to the closing of Superior Bank in 2001, and instead of walking away as millions of homeowners and stockholders suffered, the Pritzker family entered into a voluntary settlement and agreed to pay the government $460 million to defray its losses. Former FDIC Chairman William Isaac said he had ‘never known any investor in a failed bank to take responsibility as the Pritzkers have done.’ Senator Obama believes that the current housing crisis was caused by lax regulation and a system that put the interests of corporations before the interests of homeowners and investors and he has proposed an aggressive plan to step up the regulation of our financial markets to restore fairness and balance to our economy and to prevent a housing crisis of this scale from occurring again.”
Also, Forbes ran this in 2002: Former FDIC Chairman: “I’ve Never Known Any Investor In A Failed Bank To Take Responsibility As The Pritzkers Have Done.” Former FDIC Chairman William Isaac wrote in a Letter to the Editor, “I represented the Pritzkers in their discussions with the FDIC after Superior Bank failed. The family decided to stand behind its investment, ultimately agreeing to pay the FDIC $460 million over a 15-year period, without interest. This is roughly equivalent, on a net present value basis, to the amount the family offered to contribute to keep Superior from failing. I served as FDIC chairman during the 1980s banking crisis. I’ve never known any investor in a failed bank to take responsibility as the Pritzkers have done. ” [Forbes, William Isaac Letter to the Editor, 10/14/02]
It’s easy to print negative things about people instead of telling the complete truth.
There was no choice but to take responsibility, Anonymous.
The Dept of the Treasure and FDIC made sure of it. And it was clear the subprime lending and overly high interest rates they were warned against, the backing of only 2 percent, were under Penny’s watch. Of course they had to take responsiblity, the bank was owned by them. I kind of think, no wonder her brother doesn’t talk to her. I would also wonder what he knows about Obama to make he not join that parade.
No I just bet this same post is over at No Quarter. You are gone from here because I am not going to do this dance for you in two places.
I’m not the previous anonymous. I’m Muppity.
First of all, you banned me at No Quarter. My follow up would not post. I’m not surprised but when No Quarter has made such a big deal about people being banned elsewhere it does seem hypocritical,especialy since I was being relatively polite in comparison to your immediate insults to both my parents and myself. Classy.
More importantly you have an untenable position with regard to the Pritzkers. None of the sources you have cited to make a case against Penny Pritzker single her out. They all mention The family, plural, as in Pritzkers. Example:
The Pritzkers are one of the nation’s wealthiest families and heirs to the fortune created by the Hyatt hotels.
Therefore if you are condemning Penny, the same applies to J.B. and it should be clear that J.B. is a big time backer of the Hillary campaign who is pressuring the party on the basis of his wealth. Pretending Penny alone is culpable for the sins of the Pritzker family shows a double standard that is clear to any reader with the basic information.
Ignoring this is bad blogging and only undermines your credibility. Both you and No Quarter have nothing if you destroy your credibility by omitting salient facts. You’d better learn how this whole thing works or you will continue to embarrass yourself.
No Merideth I did not ban you. I do not have any authority whatsoever at NQ. They just cross my posts sometimes as they wish. For what it’s worth though, I lost a post too, and actually ended up with double posts besides. So it may just be a server issue.
Yes I am aware of what I wrote in my post. I am also aware that Penny was the Banker.
I’m not Meridith. I’m Muppity.
I did not ban you. I do not have any authority whatsoever at NQ
You made a big deal about my IP number and pretty soon I couldn’t post there.
I am also aware that Penny was the Banker.
None of your links support that. How do you know it?
I hope you get the NQ posting ironed out. I just want you do know I not only couldn’t ban you, I wouldn’t if I could.
You know, being a “big supporter” with lots of money to donate and being a Finance Chair of a Campaign when you have been involved in a bank seizure are fairly different positions. I also would love to know why J doesn’t like Obama much. But then you would wonder why P doesn’t like Hillary. And what’s that “secretary of the treasury” rumor all about anyways.
But I did expect this argument before I even posted.
I have a boatload of links not organized, but this is the first one I dug up. She was most definitely the bank chair/CEO/whatever we call them.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/01_37/b3748104.htm
Are you able to get on NQ yet?
[DELETED BY ADMINISTRATOR — PEDDLE YOUR NASTY JOKES ELSEWHERE — SusanUnPC ]
It was a McCain quote that was obviously in a disapproving context, linked to an article condemning McCain for it. Ironically, that must have been too PC for SusanUnPC or was it too UnPC or what? Apparently these are the St McCain rules. St McCain will not be criticized on No Quarter.
That was the one that called Chelsea ugly right? I would say that’s why it got taken down, certainly not because of McCain love. To be honest it LOOKED like you were telling that “joke”. When you posted it here I took it that way too. I didn’t click on the mccain link because I just expected it to be some crap about the old man.
So you are not actually banned then, right?
At any event this is no place to hash this and I probably should take this stuff on this subject down.
Why not write to NQ. I can’t help you. I can only help you with my blog.
Think we need to change the subject. We all know that reciprocal rational communication is neither a strength nor an interest on the part of rabid Obama supporters.
So, on a lighter note (and yes I read this is true and saw actual photos and posters) THE KLU KLUX KLAN has ENDORSED Obama! and it’s been uncovered that Obama has NATION OF ISLAM Staffers working in Titled Positions in his campaign offices (guess that explains why he was so low key in his rejection of that “blow up all white America” group.)
So, why don’t we just stop trying to reason with the non-reasoning and get on the phone to work for Hillary.
go to: http://www.hillaryclinton.com
and just click make calls. It’s easy and rewarding. Finding there are still reasoning reasonable voters in remaining states trying to sort all this out. And they need to hear from well-informed people (like you, uppity woman)!
Incidentally, unlike Hillary’s issue-oriented supporters, BHO campaign instructions to their volunteers are:
Stay away from talking about the issues. Keep the subject on your personal experience and how he makes you feel.
Clarification: INTENTION of
http://www.writehillaryin.com
has nothing to do with giving up. Current focus is to build momentum and show the DNC that without Hillary supporters they don’t have much of a party (not only voters, but workers and financial contributors as well.)
[...] Control is not only correct, but it looks like it’s time for a re-print (and then some) of my April 3 2008 piece on Penny Pritzker and the failed Superior Bank. I must have been psychic, I [...]
Obama and his band of merry thieves are truly the gift that keeps on giving. They need to be brought to the forefront and made to pay for their offenses. OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!
COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY!!!!
[...] Penny Pritzker? The Penny Pritzker, Mother of failed subprime banks and close friend to Barack? The Penny Pritzker who turned down an [...]