Mother Jones: Six Ways the Financial Bailout Scams Taxpayers

[Truth2Tell]

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/six-ways-financial-bailout-scams-taxpayers

Here's a snapshot in words of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner when he was still president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank from a recent portrait in the New York Times:

"He ate lunch with senior executives from Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley at the Four Seasons restaurant or in their corporate dining rooms. He attended casual dinners at the homes of executives like Jamie Dimon, a member of the New York Fed board and the chief of JPMorgan Chase. Mr. Geithner was particularly close to executives of Citigroup, the largest bank under his supervision. Robert E. Rubin, a senior Citi executive and a former Treasury secretary, was Mr. Geithner's mentor from his years in the Clinton administration, and the two kept in close touch in New York."

Small world, don't you think? This catches something of the lifestyle of Wall Street's rich and financially powerful as well as those who "regulate" them. It's no longer news that the revolving door from Wall Street to Washington and back is now spins endlessly. Hence, the increasingly popular moniker "Government Sachs."

"Crony capitalism" was once a term applied to the power oligarchs of "emerging economies" or—a term not heard so much these days—banana republics. Now, however, as economist Simon Johnson has written, the U.S. is beginning to look startlingly more like one of those "emerging economies" in meltdown. And overseeing the response to the crisis are, of course, representatives of the same crony capitalists and oligarchs who helped create it.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/05/six-ways-financial-bailout-scams-taxpayers">More here...

[leftstreet]

1. "greater losses...rising unemployment...tougher economic times ahead"

Milton Fucking Friedman would be so proud.

K&R

Excellent article.

[Richard Steele]

2. K&R

[pam4water]

3. K & R

[truedelphi]

4. Becuz of Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner,we are heading into feudalism

We now have a situation in Which the princes and nobility of society are saved from their gambling excesses because the Powers that Be pretend our society is being held hostage (and will become extinct!) unless we bail them out.

The Constitution does not provide instruction on whether or not our nation is run according to Capitalistic or Socialistic methods. But there is a clause in the Constitution that clearly states that there should be no establishment of a nobility. In setting up the perpetual BailOuts, so that the Main Street Worker who cannot get a loan must now bail out the Wall Street investment dealer, allowing him or her to keep their Masserati, we have indeed created a nobility.

Obama had a real shot at putting the Main Street economy ahead of the Wall Street economy. Never before had Wall Street tripped up so blindly and so badly. And those actions could have helped a President in Power argue that the smart thing was to take advantage of the situation and go ahead and create a Central Bank that truly was for the People, not just for Wall Street.

But then again, a peek at Obama's contributers makes it clear just whom he is listening to. Like George Carlin often said, "You and I aren't in that club!"

[democracy1st]

5. this crap makes me sick,f... this change I want my dollar back!

[emilyg]

7. It's not worth a dollar anymore.

[Truth2Tell]

6. Here's the six concerns of the author...

1. By overpaying for its TARP investments, the Treasury Department provided bailout recipients with generous subsidies at the taxpayer's expense.

2. As the government has no real oversight over bailout funds, taxpayers remain in the dark about how their money has been used and if it has made any difference.

3. The bailout's newer programs heavily favor the private sector, giving investors an opportunity to earn lucrative profits and leaving taxpayers with most of the risk.

4. The government has no coherent plan for returning failing financial institutions to profitability and maximizing returns on taxpayers' investments.

5. The bailout's focus on Wall Street mega-banks ignores smaller banks serving millions of American taxpayers that face an equally uncertain future.

6. The bailout encourages the very behaviors that created the economic crisis in the first place instead of overhauling our broken financial system and helping the individuals most affected by the crisis.

[Horse with no Name]

11. the only reason I KNOW the bailout is working

is the same reason that I KNOW the surge worked.

The teevee man told me so--I can't palpably feel any difference, but they have no reason to lie, do they?

[riverdeep]

13. Is there anyone arguing that these things aren't happening?

That's why there were those of us against the bailout from the beginning. Back when it was Paulson and his three page document saying, in essence, 'give me billions and don't ask why'. They told us they changed it when that first bailout passed, but they didn't read the fine print (or were in on it) because the final version wasn't too far off from the original three page letter.

Bailout two, with the same people who ran the economy into the ground constructing it, what did we think was going to happen? Geitner and Summers were a huge mistake. We're being snookered, just in a kinder gentler way. Our largest economy, California, is on the verge of meltdown, and all we're doing is putting off the inevitable by pumping our dwindling resources into the hands of the elite while the average person just sinks further and further.

[slipslidingaway]

8. knr nt

[Wednesdays]

9. K&R

:kick:

[Wilms]

10. .

[Vidar]

12. K&R.

[Danascot]

14. This is a must read

Highly recommended. Thanks for posting.

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. So where is the "change"?

x( And overseeing the response to the crisis are, of course, representatives of the same crony capitalists and oligarchs who helped create it.

[omega minimo]

16. Obsolete and bankrupt Reaganism lives!!

[Truth2Tell]

17. Neo-Reaganism. No party but the Money Party. nt

[Echo In Light]

18. Recommended

[Vinnie From Indy]

19. The other HUGE way your average schmoe is getting screwed concerns credit cards

The recent credit card legislation that passed the Congress was a sham. Essentially, the big banks were given minor new restrictions and at the same time given the green light to stick it to the very taxpayers that bailed them out. The main big banks that issue credit cards have jacked up the rates on their credit cards RETROACTIVELY to 29.99% and more. In short, the same big banks that got bailed out have been given the OK to literally rape millions of people by charging usurious rates on credit card balances. It is disgusting!