The Payoff, Jeff Connaughton
The Payoff, Jeff Connaughton
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The Payoff
Why Wall Street Always Wins

Author: Jeff Connaughton

Narrator: Jeff Connaughton

Unabridged: 7 hr 15 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/10/2013


Synopsis

Beginning in January 2009,The Payofflays bare Washingtons culture of power and plutocracy. Its the story of the twenty-month struggle by Senator Ted Kaufman and Jeff Connaughton, his chief of staff, to hold Wall Street executives accountable for securities fraud, stop stock manipulation by high-frequency traders, and break up too-big-to-fail megabanks. This book takes us inside their dogged crusade against institutional inertia and industry influence as they encounter an outright reluctance by the Obama administration, the Justice Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to treat Wall Street crimes with the gravity they deserve. On financial reforms, Connaughton criticizes Democrats for relying on the very Wall Street technocrats who had failed to prevent the crisis and Republicans for staunchly opposing real reforms, primarily to enjoy a golden opportunity to siphon fundraising dollars from the Wall Street executives who had raised millions to elect Barack Obama president. Connaughton, a former lawyer in the Clinton White House, illuminates the pivotal moments and key decisions in the fight for financial reform that have gone largely unreported. His arch, nonpartisan account chronicles the reasons why Wall Streets worst offenses were left unpunishedand why its likely that the 2008 debacle will happen again.

About Jeff Connaughton

Jeff Connaughton holds an MBA with honors from the University of Chicago and a JD from Stanford Law School. He worked for four years as an investment banker, first at Smith Barney and then at E. F. Hutton. In 1987 he joined Joe Biden’s presidential campaign as deputy national finance director and thereafter became his special assistant when Biden chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee. After graduating from Stanford, he clerked for Chief Judge Abner Mikva of the United States Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit then followed Mikva as his special assistant when Mikva was appointed counsel to President Bill Clinton. In 2000, along with Jack Quinn and Ed Gillespie, Connaughton founded Quinn Gillespie & Associates, one of DC’s premier lobbying firms. Now retired from politics, he lives in Savannah, Georgia.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Don on January 22, 2013

Connaughton worked for former U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman, the man that replaced Joe Biden upon his ascension to Vice President. What interested me was Kaufman's very matter of fact, public opposition to the nefarious practice of "Naked Short Selling" (a.k.a., "Electronic Counterfeiting" & "Fails To De......more

Goodreads review by Matt on January 09, 2013

I thought this book was a courageous critique of Wall Street's influence on Washington, so I'm particularly perplexed that a number of reviewers criticize the author for his critique of Biden. That part of the story illustrates that people in DC like the author who are willing to take on Wall Street......more

Goodreads review by Christopher on February 11, 2021

Jeff offers an important glimpse both into Joe Biden and into a Congress that Wall Street owns. Jeff seems to come quite clean in this memoir without trying to make Democrats or Republicans out to be particular heroes or villains. The villain is corruption. It offers some interesting insight into ho......more

Goodreads review by Randy on February 15, 2019

This book complements "A presidency in peril" by Robert Kuttner very well. I admire Obama a great deal for what he did in a very difficult time, I always thought he seemed to stay aloof, and didn't push for reforming Wall Street nearly hard enough. From Kuttner's book: At a moment of great crisis req......more

Goodreads review by Bryan on November 18, 2012

A furious autobiography about a senatorial staffer who comes to realize just how thoroughly Wall Street dominates American politics. The structure is interesting. It's one part memoir, one part loving biography of a hero (one-term Sen. Ted Kauffman), and one part sullenness towards Joe Biden. At the......more