Tag: Taxpayers

Banksters Find New Life

Daily Agitator

The collapse of the American economy in 2008 , all eyes were focused on the derivative trading markets, where these banksters gamble and if they lose they stick the taxpayer with the bill and if they win they keep all the profit…..good gig if you can get it…..

But now with everyone watching the Banksters a new trick is being employed……(from moneymorning.com)

Well, here’s the secret: They’ve found a new way to skim more of the cream off the top of U.S. economic activity. It’s called “High-Frequency Trading” (HFT).

High-frequency trading uses the speed of supercomputers to trade faster than a human trader ever could. Human owners of the supercomputers program them to take advantage of information milliseconds faster than other computers, and whole seconds faster than ordinary human traders.  This is not a minor development; HFTs now represent about 70% of the trading volume in the U.S. equity market.

HFT computer servers are able to beat other computers because they are located at the exchanges. They take crucial advantage of the finite speed of light and switching systems to front-run the market. They also gain information on orders and market movements more quickly than the market as a whole. They operate not only on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), but also on the electronic trading exchanges such as the NYSE hybrid market.

Predatory algorithmic traders take advantage of the institutional computers that chop up large orders into many small ones. They make the institutional trader that wants to buy bid up the price of shares by fooling its computer, placing small buy orders that they withdraw. Eventually the “predatory algo” shorts the stock at the higher price it has reached, making the institution pay up for its shares.

The bottom line for us ordinary market participants is that insiders are using computers to game the system, extracting billions of dollars from the rest of the market. While it is illegal to trade on insider knowledge about company financials, these people are trading on insider knowledge about market order flow. That’s how Goldman Sachs and the other biggest houses make so much from trading. By doing so they are rent-seeking, not providing value to the market.

See….did not take these thieves long to find a way to replace all the profits they would losing with government money intervention…these a/holes learned nothing from their past practices or the anger of the American people…the taxpayer is NOT ever protected from these predators and the fragile economy is being gamed….AGAIN!

As long as the system is based on GREED…we will always be at the mercy of these criminals….when will we ever learn?  ( a rhetorical question)

The American People May Not Be In A Coma

Have you heard the news coming out of Arizona?  No!  Not the immigration thing that has everybody’s panties in a twist….I mean the sales tax thing….as reported by the LA Times:

Voters in this famously tax-averse state Tuesday night approved a temporary hike in the sales tax to stave off brutal budget cuts.

The veteran Republican had shocked many in her party last year by advocating the penny sales tax increase, arguing that the state couldn’t simply cut its way out of a deficit that rivals California’s. Critics said it was economic suicide to raise taxes in a recession.

Political observers have noted that because the governor was defying GOP orthodoxy by pushing the tax increase, she had little option but to sign the immigration bill, which is strongly supported by most Arizona voters and an overwhelming proportion of Republicans.

It seems that the American people, at least Arizonans for now, agree with me that some form of tax increases are needed to save needed programs.  The residents voted FOR the increase; this was not some sneak attack on their lives by some shady, back street deal made with politicians.

Given the facts, as best as a politician can give the facts, and the people can make a decision that effects their lives……a plus for more direct democracy.

Where Does The Money Go?

Daily Agitator

I have bitch extensively about the economy and that the people are getting the short end of the shaft….but I was awake (as usual) at 0300 hrs and saw an ad for a tax problem agency and it got me to thinking about the whole tax relief thing…..

Let me ask my reader….do you pay your taxes on a regular basis?  Do you feel that you get a fair shake from the IRS?

Most Americans pay their debt to society through their taxes and yet some do not….the ad I am speaking of is from a firm that specializes in help tax evaders…..yes, I said tax evaders!

These people owe the IRS a large sum of money in taxes, they drag their feet in payment and wait for a deal to be offered that will let them pay a much smaller amount than what they owe…..the firm I am writing about says in their ad that they have saved tax payers $100 million so far….that is a $100 million that was owed to the country and they did not have to pay….can you say that?

My point is…because they are wealthy does not mean that they should be allowed to NOT pay their fair share…we have to pay….everyone should have to pay…..I mean the wealthy already have many many deductions that we normal people cannot use….then why do they get a free ride?

The Tea Party Groups are pissed off about taxes going up…..where is their rage against the tax evaders in their midst?  Oh my bad….they are wealthy also….then who stands with the “little” people on the tax thing?

People stop letting all this pass without a challenge!  If the one firm has saved the evaders $100 million then how much has the others saved?  Do you realize what all that money could fund with one simple law?  Maybe the deficit would not look so bad if we were getting all the tax revenue that is OWED…….

Make ‘Em Pay!

For months now I have been a bitch about the taxpayers money being used to give bonuses to the fat cats on Wall Street…..at every turn the banks have gotten a special treatment and it looked like the taxpayer was screwed…..

Today Obama will announce a plan to recover upwards of $120 billion of the money originally given the banks….

Obama’s announcement will come as U.S. unemployment is stuck in double digits and public anger is growing over big bonuses that some financial firms are poised to resume paying, barely a year after the height of the global financial crisis that made the bailout necessary.

The Obama administration official said the amount of money raised from the fees would not exceed $120 billion since this was the higher end of conservative estimates of the cost of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP.

Sounds like a pretty good idea to me….but as usual there is a downside to the plan…..The source, speaking anonymously because the fee has not officially been proposed, said government officials are also discussing exempting automakers and insurer American International Group from the fee, even though these companies are expected to represent a large chunk of the bailout losses.

There are other ways of “Making Them Pay”……that would be a Goldman-Sachs shareholder that is suing the company……this was posted in “Before Its News”:

the firm is supposed to spend about 50% of its net revenue on salaries and bonuses.  But in 2008 Goldman dished out $4.82 billion in bonuses despite earnings of only $2.32 billion..In the first quarter of 2009, it spent 259% of its net income on employee and executive compensation and in the second quarter 193%. Brown is now Goldman for exceeding its own rules on salaries and bonuses.

I makes me happy to see that at least someone is mad enough to do something as a payback for the screwing the banks have given the taxpayer….I just wish more people would take these a/holes to task….

Let Us Look Back At TARP

Lots of anger….lots of shouting….lots of frustration….lots of cash……lots of everything but justice….by justice I mean the justice where the people that paid the bail out tab got something in return….they got NOTHING….the taxpayer got fleeced!

Let us look back for a moment…..a moment provided by Andre Damon and Barry Grey of wsws.org:

It is worth recalling the justifications that were given at the time for the passage of TARP. Then-President George W. Bush went on national television after the collapse of Lehman Brothers in the fall of 2008 and declared that Wall Street had to be bailed out in order to rescue Main Street. The alternative, he said, was mass unemployment and the worst recession since the 1930s. The taxpayers had to bail out the banks, he insisted, in order to allow them to offload their bad assets so they could begin lending again to consumers and businesses.

These claims were lies. The banks have used their government handouts to boost their profits and further enrich their executives, big shareholders and creditors. They have refused to expand their loans to small businesses and consumers, contributing to the worst jobs crisis since the Great Depression. They have refused to sell off or write down their bad assets, confident that, in the end, the government will make sure that they are able to palm them off at top dollar, or, in extremis, bail them out again.

A good portion of the banks’ revived profits have come from the systematic and open gouging of the public. They have jacked up interest rates and fees on credit cards, imposed higher fees on checking account overdrafts, and gamed the foreclosure crisis in order to profit from the tragedy of families driven into homelessness and destitution.

The American taxpayer has gotten the shaft yet again….they voted for change and they got the same screwing they always get…….no lube….no kiss….no cash……nothing has changed….see what corporate cash can buy?  It buys lots of politicians, even though taxpayer’s money pays them to do a job for the whole country…..they disregard that pledge and work for the captains of industry….the same people that caused all the economic problems……

Goldman-Sachs Spits On The Taxpayer!

We all have an opinion on whether the bank bailout was a good thing…the problem for Wall Street is that more Americans feel betrayed by their government for handing over massive amounts of cash to these thieves while they have to struggle just to keep food and clothing and shelter….and yet there is still NO demand from the people for the heads of these gtamblers that have pissed away America’s economic future…….

The WSJ is reporting that the CEO of Goldman is talking and apologizing:

Blankfein made a startling confession Tuesday. He apologized for Goldman’s role in the financial crisis, saying that the bank “participated in things that were clearly wrong and have reason to regret.”

This is the same egotistical bastard that last month said:

he made an embarrassing comment in an interview with the Financial Times, saying that he was just “doing God’s work.”

YOU should be mad as hell at the audacity of this a/hole….why?

He got paid $400+ million last year…the year that he was a driving force in the demise of an American economy……he is the a/hole that is setting aside billions to give bonuses to the employees……this is the a/hole that got a massive transfusion of taxpayer money and in return he is spitting in the face of every taxpayer in America.

But Professor he apologized…..did he?……what did he apologize for?  Did he apologize for wrecking the economy?  Is he apologizing for stealing from the taxpayer to pay himself?  Just what is he apologizing for?

If this is a PR ploy then it is piss poor….Americans need to stand up and DEMAND that these thieves be held accountable for the destruction of the American economy….We do NOT need to accept their apologies….why?…..these bastards are insincere…if they were truly remorseful then they would be handling all this situation differently….the people need to send the message…….a FAKE apology is NOT accepted!

A “New” Old Issue

There is always someone that tries to resurrect a tired old issue; they try to re-package it to sound more up-to-date….but any analysis will show that it is a tired unsuccessful issue or program.

The GOP is trying to resurrect the Health Savings Account (HSA) as a way to push health reform…at best a tired issue….but my favorite is the push for tort reform, you know those frivilous lawsuits….but unfortunately for the GOP, the CBO crapped all over that proposal….why….they have said that lawsuits account for one half of one percent of the total cost of health care.  Pretty much a dead issue unless of course you are a Repub without any new ideas, then just resurrect something that sounds good but actually does nothing to control the rising costs.

But I digress, the subject of this post is the resurrection of the tired old issue of TABOR…Taxpayers Bill Of Rights….

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (abbreviated TABOR) is a concept advocated by conservative and free market libertarian groups, primarily in the United States, as a way of limiting the growth of government. It requires that increases in overall tax revenue be tied to inflation and population increases unless larger increases are approved by referendum.  (Thanx to wikipedia for the definition)

With rising deficits in the national programs and the state’s dwindling revenue, I look for the TABOR to make a comeback and comeback strong as a way to try and find the funds for the state’s and its programs.

The name sounds like a good thing , right?  A Taxpayers bill of rights…..a great selling point….anytime you invoke the Bill of Rights you have got a winner especially when dealing with people that have no idea what they are voting on.  TABOR is just such an issue.

But how has the past TABOR’s done in helping the state’s fund their programs?  According to the Economist magazine:

The experience of states around the country with constitutionally-mandated taxation limits has been pretty disastrous. California, whose Proposition 13 pioneered the genre, is on the verge of bankruptcy 30 years later, unable to raise the taxes it needs to cover annual expenses because voters refuse to acknowledge that they must pay for the public services they receive. The effect has been particularly devastating on public education. But, you know, why not try it out? Maine’s not Colorado or California, and maybe it’ll work for them.

Everyone hates to pay higher taxes…it is American to do so……in the same breath I ask…..do they want programs like education to be funded?  The Oregon Center for Public policy wrote this in a paper on TABOR:

During recessions (we have that now) …..TABOR’s revenue limit for future  years gets ratcheted back.  When the economy starts to recovery, state government cannot readily restore services  to pre-recession levels, because the new base for determining  spending growth is the low revenue level from the recession.  Thus any cuts in services are basically permanent.

Under TABOR, tax breaks and loopholes cannot be reduced or eliminated without a vote of the people.  Present and future tax loopholes and breaks are effectively locked into place…….

In short, TABOR is a bad idea….sounds like a good idea only because they will package it with the words “Bill of Rights” and we all think that is a good idea…If they, the tax reform people, are trying to sell this idea in your area….do some research, do not just take my word, do some research and see if it is everything they promise….you will find it is NOT!

Taxpayers Take Yet Another Screwing!

The bailout thing has been nothing but a good gang rape of the taxpayer from the beginning…..the bags of money delivered to Wall Street by the government  has done nothing for the taxpayer and everything for the greedy people on Easy Street…..

The Business journal is reporting:

CIT Group Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection Sunday after its board of directors approved of a plan to reorganize the giant small business lender.

The plan has also been approved by CIT’s creditors.

The bankruptcy of CIT is likely to hand the Treasury Department its biggest loss to date under the Troubled Asset Relief Program. It invested $2.3 billion in CIT last December.

CIT was caught in a squeeze between loans gone bad as the economy worsened in the past year and being cut off from the unsecured debt market, which it relied on for about 75 percent of its funding. More stable bank deposits made up less than 5 percent of its funds.

Wait!  Did the article say that the creditors approved the action?  Since the taxpayer is on the hook for billions……did anyone ask them if they approved?  I did not get a note asking me….how about you?

When are the people going to start exercising their muscle on all this silliness?

AIG May Get A New Teat

Surely you remember AIG, the giant insurance compnay that made many bad choices in the markets and then got lots of our money to help them pull through there illness.  Remember?

If you have forgotten the company, do not worry they are about to get a new taxpayer teat from which to suck more of our money.  Reuters had a report:

Insurer American International Group Inc’s  once-desperate financial state has started to stabilize, a government agency said on Monday, as an influential lawmaker said he would look at easing the terms of the insurer’s federal bailout once more.

AIG, the recipient of billions of dollars in government support, started to show signs of stabilizing in mid-2009, as financial markets improved, congressional investigators said in a report on the status of the government’s assistance to the company.

The insurer was rescued by the government in September 2008, after losing bets that it made on the U.S. housing market threatened to drive the firm into bankruptcy.

Rep. Edolphus Towns, a Democrat who chairs the Government Reform Committee, told staff to take a look at a proposal from former AIG Chief Executive Officer Hank Greenberg that could make it easier for the insurer to repay federal obligations, a committee spokeswoman told Reuters on Monday.

The proposal would cut the government stake in AIG from the current 80 percent and trim interest rates on AIG’s government loan. It also would extend the term of the loan, giving the company more time to repay.

Now are you not pleased that I have found and told you about the next big screwing the taxpayer will be taking?  Ask yourself, has the government done anything to make you debt repayment lighter?

A Win For Bloomberg

Recently our government, first under Bush and then with Obama, gave the financial sector a ton of flipping money to help them avoid a crash and burn….money by the way was from the taxpayers…and when they, the Fed was asked to tell the taxpayer where their money had gone, the Fed declined and in turn Bloomberg sued them for that information.

The Federal Reserve must for the first time identify the companies in its emergency lending programs after losing a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.Manhattan Chief U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled against the central bank yesterday, rejecting the argument that loan records aren’t covered by the law because their disclosure would harm borrowers’ competitive positions.

The Fed has refused to name the financial firms it lent to or disclose the amounts or the assets put up as collateral under 11 programs, most put in place during the deepest financial crisis since the Great Depression, saying that doing so might set off a run by depositors and unsettle shareholders. Bloomberg LP, the New York-based company majority-owned by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sued on Nov. 7 on behalf of its Bloomberg News unit.

“The Federal Reserve has to be accountable for the decisions that it makes,” said U.S. Representative Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, after Preska’s ruling. “It’s one thing to say that the Federal Reserve is an independent institution. It’s another thing to say that it can keep us all in the dark.”

The case is Bloomberg LP v. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, 08-CV-9595, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

I am sure that there will be an appeato the ruling…but for now….the taxpayers have a win in their column, not that it will do much to help them with their economic struggles, but maybe we can see who got what and why.