Wall Street accountability

Published on May 13, 2012

Rep. Alan Grayson questions the FED inspector General where $9 TRillion dollars went... and Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman hasn't a clue...Dunno whether to laugh or cry - I am still getting over the shock and have watched 4 times - LISTEN carefully to what she says - THEY HAVE NO JURISTRICTION to investigate the fed!!!

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Wall Street banks took down the economy by creating hundreds of billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities that were toxic and often designed to fail. They knew that it was just a matter of time before mortgage foreclosures would destroy the value of those securities. Yet, all the largest U.S. banks packaged and sold toxic mortgages to investors all over the world, who were told these were sound investments. Sometimes the very same banks joined with hedge funds to profit by betting that the toxic securities would collapse. Meanwhile, they pumped up the housing market until it burst all over us.

bailout of AIG

Clicking here will automatically add your name to this petition to Congress: "Stop the secret bailout of AIG. Pass legislation to revoke AIG's ability to use its net operating loss to offset future tax bills. And take away the ability of the U.S. Treasury to grant waivers that let companies like AIG dodge taxes." Automatically add your name: Learn more about this campaign

Elizabeth Warren has asked Congress to stop the secret bailout of AIG, and so should you.

Dear Friend,

At the height of the financial crisis, we spent billions of dollars bailing out failed insurance giant AIG after its reckless bets on mortgage-backed securities went south.

And now, according to recent reports, the Treasury is engaging in a second, secret bailout of the firm — one that's costing U.S. taxpayers billions, and artificially boosting AIG's profits, leading directly to higher share prices and bigger executive bonuses for some of the same people who ran the company into the ground.¹

Elizabeth Warren and three other members of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program she chaired — including two members appointed by Congressional Republicans — have denounced this stealth bailout of AIG and asked Congress to intervene.²

Tell Congress: Stop the secret AIG bailout. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

The issue is about something called "net operating loss," which in normal circumstances allows corporations to use losses in one year to offset their future tax bills.

But when companies are taken over, as AIG was when the government spent over $100 billion to keep the company afloat, they are supposed to be barred from using their net operating loss in this way.

Here's where things become suspect. In 2008 the Treasury issued a special waiver to a handful of companies, including AIG, that allows for their net operating losses to offset taxes owed to the government.

At a time of brutal budget cuts at all levels of government, it would be simply unconscionable for Congress to allow for a multi-billion dollar subsidy to AIG's shareholders and executives.

Tell Congress: Stop the secret AIG bailout. Click here to automatically sign the petition.

By some estimates, the waiver given by the Treasury will allow AIG, a company that claimed over $19 billion in profits just from the last three months of 2011, to avoid paying anything in taxes for a decade.

With tens of billions in tax dollars on the line, Congress needs to step in and pass a law to revoke AIG's waiver and require the company to pay its fair share in taxes.

Furthermore, the Treasury has clearly abused its discretion to grant waivers like this, and Congress needs to take away the U.S. Treasury's ability to allow companies like AIG to dodge taxes.

Tell Congress: Stop the secret AIG bailout. Click the link below to automatically sign the petition:

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5540804&id=36595-5154581-%3DF82oKx&t=10

Thank you for speaking out to stop another bailout.

Matt Lockshin, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets

1. "Bending the Tax Code, and Lifting A.I.G.'s Profit," Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times, 2-27-12
2. "Former bailout watchdogs criticize AIG tax break," Jim Puzzanghera, Los Angeles Times, 3-12-2012.

U.S. foreign policy is a disaster

In Libya, where aiding rebel forces did help depose dictator Moammar Gadhafi, a radical Islamic regime is taking his place.

There is Iraq, where President Obama is crowing about bringing the troops home while downplaying the  fact that the Iraqis are kicking us out. The Iraq war cost $4 trillion, took more than 4,000 American lives and lasted nearly nine years. And we’re leaving behind a resentful and divided Iraqi people, an America-weary Iraqi government and an empowered Iran.

The Afghanistan war is the longest war in U.S. history. Trillions of dollars have been spent, almost 2,000 American soldiers have been killed and nearly 15,000 American soldiers have been wounded in Afghanistan over the past decade.

Libyan intervention remains popular with a plurality of Americans precisely because Gadhafi was killed at minimal cost.

On Iraq and Afghanistan, most conservatives find themselves on the complete opposite side of the same cost/benefit argument they make concerning Libya, and also against the overwhelming sentiment of the American people. In most polls, upwards of 60% and even 70% of Americans call the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan mistakes, say they were not worth the cost and believe it is time to bring our troops home. Many American soldiers feel the same way. As CBS News reported this month: “One in three U.S. veterans of the post-Sept. 11 military believes the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were not worth fighting, and a majority think that after 10 years of combat America should be focusing less on foreign affairs and more on its own problems.” Perhaps even more interesting, a Pew Research Poll of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans published this month revealed: “About half (51 percent) of post-9/11 veterans say that the use of military force to fight terrorism creates hatred that breeds more terrorism.”

Paul’s critics like to first cite his contention that our foreign interventions breed more Islamic terrorism than they quell.. Yet, according to the Pew poll, a majority of our soldiers  agree with Paul on this point. More significantly, Paul’s overall foreign policy of avoiding going to war where there is no clear national interest is where the congressman is most in line with public sentiment.

Ron Paul vs. foreign policy partisanship