Catherine Austin Fitts

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Catherine Austin Fitts
File:Catherine Austin Fitts crop.jpg
Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing
In office
1989–1990
President George H.W. Bush
Preceded by Thomas Demery
Succeeded by Arthur J. Hill
Personal details
Born (1950-12-24) December 24, 1950 (age 73)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Citizenship United States
Political party Republican
Education MBA, University of Pennsylvania
B.A., University of Pennsylvania

Catherine Austin Fitts (born December 24, 1950) is an American investment banker and former public official who served as managing director of Dillon, Read & Co. and, during the Presidency of George H.W. Bush, as United States Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing. She has widely written and commented on the subject of public spending and has alleged several large scale instances of government fraud. She has been an advocate of several conspiracy theories, most notably the 'global technocracy' theory, which has developed rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic and about which she has recorded a lengthy interview as part of the 'Planet Lockdown' conspiracy advocate series.[1]

Early life and education

Catherine Austin Fitts was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[2] She earned a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania.[2] After graduating, she briefly worked as a bartender until one of her customers, who was director of admissions at The Wharton School, encouraged her to pursue graduate studies.[3] She received her MBA from Wharton in 1978.[3]

Career

Dillon, Read & Co.

After graduate school, Fitts went to work at Dillon, Read & Co.[3] While there, in 1982, she organized a novel municipal bond sale to raise several billion dollars to revitalize the New York Subway System, marking the first time that a public agency had sold bonds backed by rider fares.[4] In 1986, Fitts became the first woman promoted to managing director of Dillon, Read & Co. in the investment bank's then 156 year history.[3] At the helm of the bank she became what Businessweek described as "Wall Street's foremost champion" of public utilities bonds.[3]

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

During the United States presidential election, 1988, she worked on the campaign of George H.W. Bush and was appointed as Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Development for Housing in the Bush administration where she was billed as the "cleaning lady of HUD", charged with repairing its reputation in the aftermath of the savings and loan crisis.[5][4][2] Among her initial observations upon taking office was that the department had a $300 billion portfolio of mortgage insurance but only employed one certified actuary.[6] The reforms she announced included a plan to sell government-foreclosed homes at a 50-percent discount to non-profit organizations to operate as rentals; previously the government sought to sell residential properties for the highest possible value leading to a large amount of real estate it had to manage at great expense and a shortage of housing stock in some high-density markets.[7]

She resigned her post in 1990, following a report that her relationship with Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Jack Kemp had soured, a report Kemp denied.[8] Fitts' departure prompted criticism of Kemp; she had been – according to Neal Peirce – "widely regarded as the best manager he brought in".[9]

According to Fitts, she was offered an appointment to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors after her departure from HUD but declined, preferring to return to the private sector instead.[10]

Hamilton Securities and Solari

After leaving government, Fitts founded Hamilton Securities, an employee-owned brokerage house, which she ran until 1998.[11] In 1993, Hamilton Securities won a contract with HUD to manage its $500 billion investment portfolio.[5] While managing HUD's portfolio, Fitts devised a streamlined mortgage selling software program – Community Wizard – that some have claimed saved the department several hundreds of millions of dollars.[5][12]

In 1997, HUD canceled the Hamilton contract over what it claimed were accounting errors involving the program; an investigation into Hamilton Securities was launched by the HUD Inspector-General, the FBI, and the Securities and Exchange Commission.[5][13] According to Fitts, the investigation was undertaken as retribution against her; she claims that Community Wizard data revealed that some federally-guaranteed mortgage securities may have been fraudulently issued.[5] One outside complainant, a government contractor, charged insider dealing and bid rigging in its contention that Hamilton Securities had obtained its HUD business due to favoritism, charges Hamilton Securities denied.[13] In 2002 the investigation was closed with prejudice with investigators stating they had found no evidence of wrongdoing by Fitts or Hamilton Securities.[5][12] However, according to Fitts, all of the company's assets, along with her personal assets, were destroyed defending themselves during the multi-year investigation.[14]

Writing and commentary

Fitts has researched and commented on government spending. In a 2004 study published in World Affairs: The Journal of International Issues, she purported to find "evidence that a very large proportion of the nation's wealth is being illegally diverted since several decades into secret, unaccountable channels and programmes with unspecified purposes, including covert operations and subversions abroad and clandestine military R&D at home. Public institutions have been infiltrated and taken over by shadowy groups in the service of powerful private and vested interests, often at the expense of the common good."[15]

In 2017 Fitts co-authored a report, with Michigan State University economist Mark Skidmore, that claimed to find $21 trillion in unauthorized spending by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development over a 17-year period.[16] Four days following the report's release, the Department of Defense announced it would undertake the first independent financial audit in its history.[16] The report was subsequently cited by United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as evidence of government funding that could be redirected to healthcare programs.[17]

Fitts has claimed that HUD's mission of spurring economic growth is secondary to what she contends is its use as a fundraising mechanism for military and intelligence agencies involving a complex securities scheme using HUD-backed Ginnie Mae investments.[5][15] According to Fitts, HUD overpays to rehabilitate public housing and funnels the difference into unaudited black budget programs at the behest of national security agencies.[5][15]

Since 1998 Catherine has been publishing quarterly her online financial journal, The Solari Report (via Solari.com), focusing upon undue financial advantages now & soon taken by the big-tech’s, big-pharma’s, & dark gov’s, which are causing economic & civil oppression across the U.S., Europe, and then worldwide.[18]

In 2006 Fitts founded Solari Investment Advisory Services, which she still runs as of November 2021.[19]

Catherine gives her weekly audio analysis of the latest financial and global events in her audio column "Money & Markets", available for subscribers of the Solari Report, where-in she also presents "The Solari Hero of the Week", and offers her weekly recommendation for a documentary, video, or movie which may help one understand the "deeper news."[20]

Articles by, and interviews of Fitts have been published in a wide variety of sites which tend to focus upon the regaining of our financial and civil liberties; e.g.: a written synopsis by Brian Shilhavy, editor of "Health Impact News", of an interview with her, posted in its January 2021 webpage, titled "Catherine Austin Fitts Explains how the Globalist Billionaires and Technocrats are Planning on Taking Over the Planet, and How We can Stop It".[21]

In her various social media accounts, e.g. Gab.com/CatherineAustinFitts, she presents yet more glimpses of her perspectives of developments, American & worldwide, affecting the economic and civil liberties of populations.[22]

During the United States presidential election, 2016, Fitts supported the campaign of Donald Trump.[23] On December 8, 2020, Trump retweeted one of Fitts' tweets which linked to an article on Breitbart.[24] She has donated to political campaigns of Democrats Cynthia McKinney and Marcy Kaptur, and Republicans Rand Paul and Thomas Massie.[25]

Fitts has been a recurrent guest on the overnight radio program Coast to Coast AM.[26]

Solari Report and Website

Fitts is the lead contributor for her online financial \ economics news-&-editorial quarterly, The Solari Report, via Solari.com; it comprises her and her associates' perspectives re trends & events worldwide which are or will soon be having the most effect upon everyone's personal freedoms & opportunities.[27] (More in the above section, "Writings and Commentary".)

References

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  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.(subscription required)
  10. ↑ https://www.dunwalke.com/media/summary.html
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.(subscription required)
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Coast to Coast guests: Catherine Austin Fitts
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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