The Double Speak of Howard Lutnick

How many times have we've seen Howard Lutnick (estimated worth $3.3 B) serving as Agent Orange's wing-man? Particularly when it comes to the genius of tariffs and the economic wizardry of King Donald?

More times than I'd like to recall.

He's frequently standing at Trump's shoulder squawking about the 'amazing' amount of wealth Trump's policies are generating, how the tariffs will make 'everyone' so-o-o rich. When he's not accompanying Trump, he's flapping his mouth on cable news with the same annoying voice, the chipmunk laughter and cheesy schtick.

Lo and Behold, I come upon this headline at Wired:

Trump’s Commerce Secretary Loves Tariffs. His Former Investment Bank Is Taking Bets Against Them


Turns out, Lutnick's sons are running an ancillary business at Cantor Fitzgerald betting that the tariffs will be deemed unconstitutional while the old man is beating the drum about how brilliant those tariffs are. This from the article:

In a letter seen by WIRED, a representative from Cantor said the firm was willing to trade tariff refund rights for 20 to 30 percent of what companies have paid in duties. “So for a company that paid $10 million, they could expect to receive $2-$3 million in a trade,” the representative wrote. “We have the capacity to trade up to several hundred million of these presently and can likely upsize that in the future to meet potential demand.”


Sounds like a goldmine for Cantor Fitzgerald handing out 20-30% of the anticipated refund and keeping a good portion if not all of the remainder.

It appears the 'everyone getting rich' statement is highly selective.

The rich will get richer.

The rest of us? Not so much. But we already knew that.

The level of hypocrisy, however, is off the frigging charts. I may gag the next time I hear Lutnick do that chipmunk giggle.

https://www.wired.com/story/cantor-fitzgerald-trump-tariff-refunds/