Penny Pritzker, from her position on the board of the holding company controlling Superior Bank, approved of risky loan practices that eventually cost depositors hundreds of millions of dollars. Superior had been unable to make money with traditional safe loans, so Pritzker encouraged the bank to enter the subprime market. Then she defied regulators who told her the bank's practices were reckless. After the bank failed in 2001 and government investigators examined the corpus delicti, the wealthy Pritzker family ended up paying $460 million in penalties over a 15-year period.
Nonetheless, when it came to selecting his finance chair, candidate Obama chose Penny Pritzker. Now, with not a peep of recognition from the media, he abominates Wall Street for practices she pioneered. He claims Republican aversion to regulation led to this financial crisis. Yet the record is clear. In the financial sector, it is the Republicans who favored regulation and the Democrats who thwarted it. If the media remain mum on all this, these same Democrats will control two branches of the federal government soon. Maybe they will make Penny Pritzker secretary of the Treasury.
Emmett Tyrrell
R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. is founder and editor in chief of
The American Spectator and co-author of
Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House.
TOWNHALL DAILY: Be the first to read Emmett Tyrrell's column.
Sign up today and receive Townhall.com daily lineup delivered each morning to your inbox.
©Creators Syndicate