I’m Just Wondering…
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on March 22, 2009 at 10:00 AM in American Consumers, Bamboozling, Barack Obama, Economic Stimulus, Economy, Hillary Clinton, Hoodwinking, John Lewis, Tax stimulus package, Texas, Tim Geithner, Tom Daschle
Why the hell most of us pay our taxes. Because it seems to me that it is just the regular folks out there who are bothering to do that. Believe it or not, I am not even talking about Tax Fraud Director of the IRS, Tim Geithner, either. Are you ready for this? According to this article, 13 Firms That Received Bailout Money Owe Back Taxes. I am not kidding you. Check it out:
At least 13 companies receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes, a lawmaker said Thursday.The lawmaker, Representative John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia and chairman of a House subcommittee overseeing the federal bailout, said two companies owed more than $100 million each.
The House Ways and Means Committee’s subcommittee on oversight discovered the unpaid taxes in a review of tax records from 23 of the companies receiving the most bailout money, Mr. Lewis said, as he opened a hearing on the issue.
“This is shameful; it is a disgrace,” he said. “We are going to get to the bottom of what is going on here.”
The subcommittee said it could not legally release the names of the companies owing taxes.
Well, why the hell NOT??
If they can identify themselves to take OUR hard earned money, they can DAMN sure reveal themselves, or have Congress do it for them. That is absurd!
And John Lewis should sure know about shameful and disgraceful conduct, after the way he plunged the knife into Hillary Clinton’s back about a thousand times (you may recall, he was one of her early supporters who sang her praises up one side and down the other. Until the Black Caucus and Jesse Jackson, Jr., on behalf of Barack Obama, told him, and a few other African American congresspeople who supported Clinton, that if they did not toe the line and support Obama, they could expect to have some heavily funded challengers come nest election season. So, he caved. Yes, he did. In the “karma sucks” department, though, he is having to face a challenger anyway because he supported Clinton in the FIRST place. Obama is just a tad vindictive, you see. Serve’s his ass right, though, for having no freakin’ integrity.
That is to say, spare me the indignation, Rep. Lewis.
Get this:
It said one recipient had almost $113 million in unpaid federal income taxes from 2005 and 2006. A second recipient owed almost $102 million dating to before 2004.Mr. Lewis said that his panel planned to review tax records from other companies receiving federal money, but that he was unsure if it would look at every one.
Banks and other companies receiving federal money were required to sign contracts stating that they had no unpaid taxes, Mr. Lewis said. But he said the Treasury Department did not ask them to turn over their tax records.
The Internal Revenue Service, a division of the Treasury Department, said it would expect the unpaid taxes to be paid.
Oh, yeah - I’m sure Timmy Geithner is gonna get RIGHT on that!! HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
But here’s the thing, Rep. Lewis. Y’ALL are the ones who crafted this document WITH NO OVERSIGHT IN SIGHT. And you’re going to come back NOW and pretend outrage that these companies, who owe MILLIONS of taxes, are getting OUR tax money??? Seems to me the Congress just helped them STEAL money. Our money.
And if they had to sign a statement stating they didn’t owe taxes and took BILLIONS anyway, then why aren’t they being brought up on CRIMINAL charges? And WHY WON’T YOU REVEAL THEIR NAMES???? So much for transparency, eh, Rep. Lewis??
Oh, and get this hilarious joke:
“The I.R.S. recognizes that those entities that receive taxpayer support have a special obligation to pay their taxes,” an agency spokesman, Frank Keith, said in a statement. “And these taxpayer accounts will remain closely monitored by the I.R.S. to ensure that the full amount of taxes due are paid.”Mr. Keith said there could be many reasons for an unpaid balance, including the possibility that a bill was being challenged.
Yeah, sure, okay - because the IRS has proved to be so competent in retrieving these high dollar taxes. Just spare me already. Now the rest of us know what Geithner and Daschle have known for a while - the IRS isn’t exactly Johnny-On-The-Spot in securing taxes from the high rollers!
And while I am talking about Tim Geithner, my favorite economist, Paul Krugman, had this piece in the NY Times, Despair Over Financial Policy. Krugman writes:
The Geithner plan has now been leaked in detail. It’s exactly the plan that was widely analyzed — and found wanting — a couple of weeks ago. The zombie ideas have won.The Obama administration is now completely wedded to the idea that there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with the financial system — that what we’re facing is the equivalent of a run on an essentially sound bank. As Tim Duy put it, there are no bad assets, only misunderstood assets. And if we get investors to understand that toxic waste is really, truly worth much more than anyone is willing to pay for it, all our problems will be solved.
To this end the plan proposes to create funds in which private investors put in a small amount of their own money, and in return get large, non-recourse loans from the taxpayer, with which to buy bad — I mean misunderstood — assets. This is supposed to lead to fair prices because the funds will engage in competitive bidding.
But it’s immediately obvious, if you think about it, that these funds will have skewed incentives. In effect, Treasury will be creating — deliberately! — the functional equivalent of Texas S&Ls in the 1980s: financial operations with very little capital but lots of government-guaranteed liabilities. For the private investors, this is an open invitation to play heads I win, tails the taxpayers lose. So sure, these investors will be ready to pay high prices for toxic waste. After all, the stuff might be worth something; and if it isn’t, that’s someone else’s problem.
Or to put it another way, Treasury has decided that what we have is nothing but a confidence problem, which it proposes to cure by creating massive moral hazard.
This plan will produce big gains for banks that didn’t actually need any help; it will, however, do little to reassure the public about banks that are seriously undercapitalized. And I fear that when the plan fails, as it almost surely will, the administration will have shot its bolt: it won’t be able to come back to Congress for a plan that might actually work.
What an awful mess.
Well, that’s the understatement of the 21st century.
I could be wrong, but didn’t people actually go to JAIL for the Texas S&L scandal??? Now Obama and Co. are actively PURSUING that strategy? What the hell is wrong with this picture???
Yes, this IS an “awful mess.” When are the grown ups going to come along and put a stop to it, I wonder? Oh, wait - WE are the grown ups, and we have to tell them enough, no more, stop giving our tax dollars to companies that can’t be bothered to pay THEIR taxes. Stop setting up plans that are identical to illegal strategies for which people have served time. Stop enabling this inept president who claims he didn’t even know what was in the Stimulus bill he signed into law, which included a provision his chief of staff and his Treasury Secretary set in place. Stop the freakin’ faux outrage, too, while you’re at it, because we aren’t buying the crap you are selling. And what you are selling is us down the river. Enough already!
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By Sarah Palin (Release date: November 17. 2009)
Way to tell it like it is Amy!
My husband and I were sometimes in need of the money we paid in taxes, but we did the right thing!
Why? It benefited our community with better schools, police and fire protection, safer roads and bridges, and restful parks and walking trails.
It’s called quality of life, and each should contribute to that!
What we see in Washington are buffoons who place no emphasis on integrity!
My wish for them is that ultimately they pay up, and they will in a different time and place!
That’s OK by me but in the meantime, they need to do some paying up here, too.
Replace the term “assets” with any old noun you like and you’ll get a demonstration as to why we are so screwed. Words do matter, especially to those miscreants that are trying to sell someone a pig in a poke. It isn’t really a pig and it isn’t in that poke. Those aren’t taxes, those are revenue enhancements; they aren’t breaking the law, they’re just delivering the goods under an alternate means of transaction.
Oh, and those aren’t lobbyists in Washington; they’re educators.
Thanks for the good comments, Sassy and Ferd!
And yes, paying taxes IS important - without them, as you said so well, Sassy, our schools, fire departments, and so much more suffer. It just kills me that these RICH people and companies are the ones who don’t bother! Yet, regular people like us wouldn’t DREAM of not paying our taxes!
Ferd, you are spot on - we are screwed…
I concur about the taxes. I’ve always paid mine, even when it hurt. The only thing I have ever wanted in return is that others pay what they owe, that the money is spent wisely, that collections are made fairly, and that the rates be reasonable.
Outraged? You bet … but how has the Obama Administration demonstrated the skills and judgement which would be required for This? Does anyone else find this troubling?
It is troubling in that this administration is already proving itself incompetent, as you say.
We all need to keep voting them out of office. After then next one serves one term, vote the out. etc
i agree - i think the entire lot of them need to be voted out.
Agreed. And after several election cycles of one-term politicians, they might just get the message.
The problem with this, is that while “we” may vote them out, the same machine politics will replace them with others that arrived by the same means as these clowns.
How to change the beast?
Elect PUMAS! hehe
I don’t know, we need to vote in newbies with no dirty strings… people like college professors - the brains, but not the politics.
Well, it will at least make them have to p.ss away money every election.
Campaign finance reform. Make it so every pol has the same amount of money to campaign with. Period. Nobody can be bought that way, no favors owed once in office.
AMEN!!!!lets get a big broom and clean house….
Can we wait until the next election? The voters should be able to demand a special election. Well, ok, let’s just go the impeachment route. seriously. How long are we going to wait??? I have seen enough of this to know we better save the country and the Government we have right now is not up to the task!
Amy, great post! It is so maddening! Doesn’t anyone pay taxes anymore, besides the common man, that is….
You need to check out these signs from a recent tea party!!
http://pereiraville.com/scribble/?p=7104
And check this out - the media is all but ignoring the irate people protesting Obama, and throwing tea parties.
BUT, the media was at large at the AIG protest event, that was a big bust. Obama supporters, organized by an ACORN affiliate, who wanted to go door to door and harass AIG employees were drastically out numbered by members of the media.
But, the events opposing Obama administration, the real guilty party, were ignored.
Typical.
http://www.businessinsider.com/protest-bust-20-vans-of-media-just-one-bus-of-protesters-2009-3
The media is getting the karmic payback they sooo deserve for aiding and abetting the Fraud.
CNN’S SLOW DEATH
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/9507
WOW - those are AWESOME photos, AGII!! And yes, where is the MSM reporting on THIS? The only channel I’ve seen do anything is Fox - they covered the thousands who marched in Cincinnati last week. There were some FANTASTIC signs - I encourage everyone to go take a look at them.
Doc, thanks for the link. It’s amazing, isn’t it? Obama, et al, make sure the bonus loophole is in there, and now he wants to oversee how much these people get paid?? Um, no - as angry as I am that executives get paid disproportionately high amts considering what their WORKERS get, still, gov’t cannot step in to provide oversight - hell, it hasn’t done very well overseeing OUR money, how is it going to oversee executives’ pay??
Only the middle class pays taxes because they have brought into the scam. The poor are wards of the state and rich legally avoid taxes through political influence. The only solution is a a VAT (Value Added Tax) on everything except food, education and healthcare while simultaneously eliminating the income tax with a reduction in real estate taxes.
the poor pay *tons* of taxes; maybe not so much federal income tax, but they pay taxes on virtually every single thing they buy, and the total is a large percentage of their income. the super-rich are the only ones who pay relatively very little taxes.
Amy and Ferd - For a long while I qit commenting and lurked less often because I get NQ in my email. But a day or so ago - I think it was suggested in the email to visit the site, so I did. I’ve been reading and speaking my mind ever since. This is America, we have a right to speak what is on our minds so long as we don’t walk on anyone else.
Amy, this tax problem worries me more than I can tell you. Before I retired I had a tax business, and I always cautioned my clients to report every income source as well as every deduction.
I believe everyone should pay their fair share. But IS it a FAIR SHARE, when the little guy is paying through the nose and the big guy is cheating right and left? And the final kick in the teeth is to see a tax cheat as head of the Treasury Department which is in charge of the Tax Department (IRS).
Now to find that all these recipients of TARP money (our tax money) haven’t even paid their taxes for some length of time.
Thanks Amy, for putting this where at least some of the American public will see it.
Sorry, I meant to say I quit commenting.
Lee, thank you for commenting! Glad you are speaking your mind.
And I agree completely with everything you wrote. I cannot begin to tell you how astounded I am with friends/family who shrug off having a TAX FELON in charge of the IRS!! I mean, really - can you IMAGINE if Bush had pulled something like this?? We would have been screaming our bloody heads off, and rightly so! It is reprehensible.
Central Mass and AGII are right - we have to vote these people out. They clearly do not have our best interests at heart (another understatement)…
Hey, SUSAN…
When does the site that Lee M writes for get of your hit list??
You didn’t seem to approve of suggesting a visit in the course of commenting to NQ posts….now you can see that we have good people writing at IA…
So, when do I get the honor of a reply or at least a post which says “in moderation” instead of your blind blacklisting?
You’re spot on, Lee M.
Hey, Lee, glad they let you post!
It clear Obama and his gang of corrupt investment bankers are robbing the country NOT running it. The Question is are we going to sit around and let them rob us, the taxpayers?? Got to stop! NOW!
I hope we have a tea party close, can’t wait to go. Great Post RRA, Ferd, American Girl in Italy, LEe, all good points, and couldn’t agree more. I just returned from the grocery store, food is on the rise again.
Check out the 912 project.
It is started by Glenn Beck to just get like minded people who are sick of this government together. They also link to Surround the Capital on the 4th of July.
The silent (not anymore) majority want the rest of America to know they are not alone. There are millions of us.
Surround the Capital wants us to spend our 4th of July in the nations and our state Capitols, surrounding the buildings to tell them to just quit taking us down the road to destruction. STOP SPENDING our children’s money. Let the politicians know THEY WORK FOR US, we don’t work for them.
the link… http://theglennbeck912project.com/
This is just more proof that we were right about 0bambam and his dirty Chicago gang.
Impeach the bastards.
Impeach him and he should lose all benefits from his “win” — plus he needs to go to jail.
Sen Gregg is on CNN right now saying the idea to tax AIG 90% on their bonuses is an abuse of the tax system.
Well, one more abuse won’t hurt.
We don’t pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes
Leona Helmsley
Too bad she gone she would have fit in with the new masters.
Amy, I came across a good quote for you this morning.
If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls of government would be necessary.
Alexander Hamilton
Oh, NICE, Sassy! Thank you!!!
Gal from cal and I’m Fed Up, thanks for the links!
None of us should pay our taxes and we should all support the Tea Parties being staged all over the country. That Porkfest is criminal and is taxation without representation. All of these crooks need to get voted out, the DNC disbanded and the Dems start over as a real party “for the people.” Unless and until that happens, no one should pay for Obama and Pelosi’s reckless, pathetic spendathon that will only further destroy us.
Mark Steyn article…about “Prime Minister Obama” - a must read.
http://ivanyi-consultants.com/articles/primeministerobama.html
“Seems to me the Congress just helped them STEAL money. Our money.”
Amen Sister.
(not just aig, check out this link: http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/_business/bailout_tracker/)
Our federal government is helping these bastards run off with OUR money. Seems to me the French Revolution had a deeply similar situation with the rich not paying taxes while the burden of revenue was increasingly born on the backs of the middle and peasant class–the monarchy needed that money to throw lavish parties and generally live like rock stars. The French monarchy bankrupted the country because it required more money to operate than the total amount of money in the entire country, throw in a little famine for good measure to starve the peasant class and viola: The perfect storm of events causing a revolution. Sound familiar?
Until we are literally starving in the streets (and really when have you heard reports of anyone, anywhere in the U.S. starving to death? Hungry yes, starving no) nothing will change. Til then we are “Full of sound and fury; signifying nothing” we’re just blowing a lot of hot air…
Actions speak louder than words. The revolution will be televised…
Intresting link, thanks.
As long as you get a straightforward pay check, you’re forced into paying taxes by the system.
For every one else it’s optional.
Rev. Amy the final irony will be that all these “firms” will use the bailout money to pay the taxes they owe.
Pinky bet.
How is it that these firms were not leaned?
.
GW 2002 or BO today?
Good piece, Rev. Amy. Keep them coming. I think we’re approaching a tipping point. For additonal reading pleasure and moral outrage, I give you a release at Newsweek, not the exactly an icon of objective journalism, but a short piece that appears to indicate that even the MSM sees the writing on the wall.
Partytime over. Time to flush the rats out. Link here:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190363
We wanted to know where AIG funds are going in addition to being funneled to foreign governments, investment houses that have already been bailed out, and every guilty party who gleefully raided the Nation’s coffers?
And what about that TARP money, the cash we were told not to ask questions about but to “trust the government” in using the money wisely?
You just can’t make this stuff up. The foxes really have been guarding the chicken coop.
Perhaps, the jounalistic community is beginning to catch on: if we [the American public] go down, they go down with us. This is a first shot across the bow and Congress better start listening.
PeggySue…That’s outrageous, thanks for the link. These pathetic boobs thought that the country was so pissed about Bush that they could do whatever they want to us, loot, thieve, steal, cheat, lie, etc. Disgusting. The party better be over soon, or America will.
…..Will fight back and oust these anti-American scum.
Just thought I’d finish the sentence for you.
LOL SM…Okay, you win. Revolution it is
I’m fed up says it all.
Here is the sign I’m going to use when I open my franchise business…
Moss’s Quality Pitchforks
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/pp222/frprmrb/Board/NEWVOLU.png
What a fantastic logo for your business SM…But it should be:
“Moss’s Quality Pitchforks and Torches”
I will take that great suggestion under advisement.
Thank You!
It looks like the “media” is being taken care of.
http://thecablegame.blogspot.com/2008/11/ge-capital-gate-first-scandal-of-obama.html
…and http://seekingalpha.com/article/105984-general-electric-gets-a-140b-bailout-what-s-the-point-of-aaa?source=yahoo
CentralMass…Way back during the election I asked a friend of mine deeply up the food chain in politics why in the hell MSNBC and NBC were so far up 0Zero’s behind. He told me that GE was close to bankruptcy and the 0Zero Campaign promised to bail them out. Sure enough, a few days later there was one teeny, tiny little story about it somewhere - that Zero was going to give GE money. Of course we all knew that no one could be as biased and full of crap as those two buffoons Matthews and Olbermann….now we know why.
Interesting…
I remember during the election hearing Matthews one night make some vague refence how “they” were going to be getting some lucrative contract, or advertising contracts or something like that . I’ve forgotten the specifics but he seemed to imply some quid pro quo for supporting Obama. He may have been talking to Olbermann at the time.
A web search would probably turn up a quote or two.
RRRAmy, we’re identical cousins, in expression of our rage (outrage over this); it’s a great read. Many thanks. Now, I could use some cute pictures of the puppies to soothe the nerves. Give those little guys some scritches and love for me.
LOL - happy to have you, Cuz’n! And I am glad to have someone who shares my rage, as other good fok here at NQ do. Thanks!
Funny you should mention that - the puppies have started on their puppy food gruel, the beginning stage of weaning. Their poor mom is happy - even with cutting their nails, they scratch her, and we discovered last night when they chomped down on our fingers, that their TEETH are coming in!! I’m going to TRY to get a little video of them eating to put up, but at the least, I’ll take photos. They are playing now, growling and barking at each other - it is hilarious and adorable, all at the same time!
Are we forgetting Charlie Rangell?
Mary, don’t leave us hanging - please say more! (Parking tickets, taxes? What else?)
Don’t forget the best part AIG is SUEING the governemtn for 306 million in taxes they paid that they want back and I’m sure they are probably using tax payer money to sue. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/business/20aig.html
While the American International Group comes under fire from Congress over executive bonuses, it is quietly fighting the federal government for the return of $306 million in tax payments, some related to deals that were conducted through offshore tax havens A.I.G. sued the government last month in a bid to force it to return the payments, which stemmed in large part from its use of aggressive tax deals, some involving entities controlled by the company’s financial products unit in the Cayman Islands, Ireland, the Dutch Antilles and other offshore havens.
A.I.G. is effectively suing its majority owner, the government, which has an 80 percent stake and has poured nearly $200 billion into the insurer in a bid to avert its collapse and avoid troubling the global financial markets. The company is in effect asking for even more money, in the form of tax refunds. The suit also suggests that A.I.G. is spending taxpayer money to pursue its case, something it is legally entitled to do. Its initial claim was denied by the Internal Revenue Service last year.
Excellent point!! Yes, I saw that - thank you for adding that. Talk abt hubris!!! We’re bailing them out, and they are essentially suing US!!! That takes a lot of nerve, doesn’t it?