News/Commentary

Biden appoints leftist billionaire heiress with a troubling record to rebuild Ukraine economy

September 14, 2023 | | Print Article

President Joe Biden has appointed leftist billionaire and former Obama Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker as the US Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery.

(Video Credit: Beyond the borders: World news)

“Today, I am proud to announce that I am appointing Penny Pritzker to serve as the new U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery,” Biden announced on Thursday.

“She will drive the United States’ efforts to help rebuild the Ukrainian economy. This includes mobilizing public and private investment, shaping donor priorities, and working to open export markets and businesses shut down by Russia’s brutal attacks and destruction,” the president added.

“As we take this next step to help Ukraine forge a stronger future, we remain steadfastly committed to helping it defend its freedom today,” Biden said in his statement.

This signals definite concern from the Biden administration about Ukraine’s economic long-term survival.

Pritzker, who is 64, served as secretary of the U.S. Commerce Department under President Barack Obama from June 2013 to January 2017. Her family reportedly fled anti-Jewish pogroms in Ukraine in the 1880s, according to Reuters.

Pritzker said in a statement, “Simply put, the stakes could not be higher. My role — working with governments and the private sector around the world — is about ensuring Ukraine succeeds, now and long into the future as a prosperous, secure, independent, sovereign democracy. Our collective mission is simple: to see to it that Ukraine survives and thrives.”

“But this is also personal for me,” she claimed. “My family fled Ukraine in the late 1800s, and my attachment to the country remains. During my tenure as Commerce Secretary, I worked with the Ukrainian government to advance progress on reforms, draw private sector interest, and coordinate with partner governments — activities I will also pursue in this role. And, like many Americans, I have been inspired by the bravery and resilience of the Ukrainian people.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement that Pritzker would also work closely with Kyiv on reforms needed to mobilize foreign direct investment.

Pritzker, who knew Obama before he ran for president, served as financial chair of his first campaign and is credited with bringing in millions of dollars in donations for him.

Pritzker is not the pure-as-the-driven-snow Democrat that she is made out to be, however.

In These Times published a piece in May of 2013 that detailed troubling aspects of the billionaire’s rise in politics.

The media outlet accused her of union-busting, especially when it comes to workers at the Hyatt Hotels chain. She was the director of Hyatt Hotels at the time and her family owns the chain.

The article goes on to accuse her of conflicts of interest as well.

“The family’s $20 billion empire was built on a diverse base of businesses, including Hyatt, Marmon (an industrial conglomerate), the TransUnion credit rating agency, and many others in industries such as container leasing, insurance, and travel,” In These Times wrote.

“The family has long had a reputation for not only accumulating its wealth through elaborate schemes of tax evasion, including offshore accounts but also for using its political clout to win favored treatment,” the media outlet contended.

Most interesting of all was Pritzker’s involvement in the subprime mortgage meltdown making her a VERY dubious choice to head up Ukraine’s economic recovery.

“But perhaps the most infamous and pernicious Pritzker abuse of power was the Superior Bank scandal, a predatory subprime mortgage securitization racket that led to the failure of Superior Bank in 2001 and prefigured the 2008 crash,” In These Times noted.

“Penny Pritzker played a leading, decision-making role in the lead-up to the failure, which ultimately lost 1,400 depositors an estimated $10 million and cost the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation approximately half a billion dollars,” the outlet reported.

“After the Pritzkers and a family friend took over a failed suburban Chicago bank on very favorable terms in 1988, they began aggressively pursuing high-interest, high-risk subprime loans. They were able to repackage the loans in securities given an investment grade, Anderson says, because they promised to replace any failed mortgage with a good one. But as they pumped out profits for themselves, they eventually failed to live up to their promises, including a pledge to invest more capital,” In These Times stated.

The bank collapsed in 2001. But due to a deal with the FDIC, Pritzker came out of the whole sordid mess unscathed.

“When FDIC took over, the Pritzkers continued the operation, giving it an air of legitimacy and setting up the global economy for disaster. Superior’s exploitation of securitization of sub-prime loans, coupled with federal regulators’ lax treatment of the Pritzkers, inspired other lenders, helping to spawn the huge subprime loan market in exotic derivatives that precipitated the 2008 Great Recession,” the media outlet reported.

Pritzker, a member of one the richest families in the nation, is the sister of Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker. She currently is the founder and Chairman of PSP Partners and its affiliates, Pritzker Realty Group, PSP Capital, and PSP Growth. A leading philanthropist and Democratic donor and fundraiser, she is also a board member of the Obama Foundation.

Smells like more corruption to X users:

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