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CBS) At last week's Tea Party rally in San Francisco, protesters waved signs with slogans including "Overtaxation is Tyranny," "A Debt We Can Never Clear," and "No More Bailouts." Some signs blamed President Obama, saying "ObamaNomics: Chains We Can Believe In."

Critiques of taxes and bailouts are worthy sentiments, of course. The U.S. income tax system is broken, with an astonishing 43.4 percent of American "taxpayers" paying no personal income taxes; while those that do see their checks funneled through bailouts to such deserving causes as AIG, Goldman Sachs, and large European banks.

But the problem with the Tea Party movement is that the same complaints can be lodged against former President George W. Bush. It was the Bush administration that bailed out AIG; it bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; it bailed out Citigroup; it bailed out Bear Stearns. And it was the Bush administration that pressed Congress to bail out Detroit automakers.
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quote:
Originally posted by midknightrider:
Yep, the U.S. tax system is broken. While Democrats and Republicans point fingers and blame each other for or current problems, perhaps we should...oh,I don't know...FIX IT!!!

Except, midnight, according to the vast majority of Americans, at least those who voted in the last election, there is nothing wrong with the tax system, and nothing needs to be fixed. Why 45% do not even pay taxes.
Noblewdog would have you beleive that it is all the fault of the Republicans and that there is no turmoil in the Dem camp. Little does he realize that a vast number of the tea party were some who also voted for Obama, but have seen that his policies are no more change than what was being orchestrated in the previous admin. If nothing else, they are evn far more closer to socialism.
yeah, the Dems are in as much trouble as the Repubs if the truth be told.....
Industry/Corporations on welfare. This is very interesting.

Penn Central Railroad 1970 1.In May 1970, Penn Central Railroad, then on the verge of bankruptcy, appealed to the Federal Reserve for aid on the grounds that it provided crucial national defense transportation services. The Nixon administration and the Federal Reserve supported providing financial assistance to Penn Central, but Congress refused to adopt the measure. Penn Central declared bankruptcy on June 21, 1970, which freed the corporation from its commercial paper obligations. To counteract the devastating ripple effects to the money market, the Federal Reserve Board told commercial banks it would provide the reserves needed to allow them to meet the credit needs of their customers. (What happened after the bailout?)http://www.propublica.org/special/bailout-aftermaths#penncentral


2.Lockheed 1971 By 1977, Lockheed had paid off its loans, and its dependency on the federal loan guarantees came to an end. The government earned about $112.22 million in loan fees.
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3.Franklin National Bank 1974 As the story behind Franklin National's failure unfolded, evidence emerged of corruption and shady business practices among the bank's executives -- several were eventually convicted. With the need for further intervention apparent, the FDIC stepped in as receiver that same year and sold Franklin National's104 branches and other assets to European American Bank. By 1981 the FDIC had sold Franklin assets worth about $5.1 billion. The agency was still owed another $185.3 million in interest.
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4.New York City 1975 Until 1986, the government continued using loan guarantees and direct loans to support the fiscally-troubled city. All the loans, loan premiums and fees have since been repaid. Link

5.Chrysler 1980 By 1983, seven years earlier than the scheduled deadline, Chrysler had paid back its loan with the aid of the guarantees from the U.S. government. The corporation bought back the 14.4 million stock warrants (What's this?)A security entitling the holder to buy a proportionate amount of stock at some specified future date at a specified price, usually one higher than current market. This "warrant" is then traded as a security, the price of which reflects the value of the underlying stock. Warrants are usually issued as a "sweetener" bundled with another class of security to enhance the marketability of the latter. Warrants are like call options, but with much longer time spans -- sometimes years. (Washington Post) given to the government in exchange for the loan guarantee. Because Chrysler's finances had improved and its stock had bounced back -- it reported $1.7 billion in profits for the second quarter of 1984 -- the government netted a profit of more than $660 million from its bailout investment. Link

6.Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company 1984 It took the FDIC seven years to completely divest itself of Continental Illinois -- the bailout plan had given the government 80 percent ownership over the bank -- through the gradual sale of its share holdings. By 1991, Continental Illinois had been returned to the private sector, but the FDIC had suffered a $1.8 billion loss. Three years later BankAmerica Corp. acquired the bank. Link

7.Savings & Loan 1989 The Financial Institutions Reform Recovery and Enforcement Act authorized $293.8 billion dollars to finance the folding of numerous failed S&Ls. The final tab for the bailout was roughly $220.32 billion. Of that total, taxpayers were responsible for about $178.56 billion; the private sector covered the rest. Link


Airline Industry 2001 The Chrysler and airline bailout plans had a commonality: stock warrants. A provision inserted into the ATSS Act, which allowed the Treasury to purchase stock at below-market prices from any airline receiving a loan guarantee, allowed the Treasury to earn money. Reports varied on the total net profit, ranging from $141.7 million to $327 million. The loan guarantee program suffered one loss of about $23.2 million when ATA Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection.
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quote:
Last week's Tea Parties were a welcome conservative protest against bailouts and government spending run amok. But the lack of conservative protests against Mr. Bush's own bailouts-and-spending-run-amok policies over the last eight years lends the Tax Day rallies an unfortunate partisan overtone. (It was the libertarians who remained, for the most part, true to their principles.)
Not until the Republican Party can admit that Mr. Bush was no conservative, and distances itself from his more unfortunate policies, will it be able to regain its footing and offer an alternative to the Democrats. The time for this is now: the midterm elections are not that far away.

How odd that he cheers the tea parties but calls it a conservative movement past due, when he omits that no democrats protested the taxes and bailouts. He is right about one thing, mid term elections will kick a lot of politicians out on their azzes, rep or dem.
As for those bailouts under Bush, the dems had control the last two years and Obama was crowned Nov 4, and started his reign on the 5th.

And I had a fifth as well.
I agree LMM, the tea party was not soley a conservative participant only. I think mid term elections will see members of both partys seeking new employment. What still amazes me is that after fourteen years of repub leadership in both houses of congress and eight years of control of the white house, the demos are the ones at fault because they had control of congress for the last two years. Not trying to flame but I think theres plenty of blame to go aroung!!
The difference is the 'spending' Bush did was under good times, as was Clinton's. Obama is spending while we are crashing. It just is not logical.

The bailouts started at the end of Bush's term, with Reid and Pelosi calling the shots. There is blame on both sides for getting into the mess and heads will roll in 2010.
quote:
Originally posted by teyates:
quote:
Originally posted by midknightrider:
Yep, the U.S. tax system is broken. While Democrats and Republicans point fingers and blame each other for or current problems, perhaps we should...oh,I don't know...FIX IT!!!

Except, midnight, according to the vast majority of Americans, at least those who voted in the last election, there is nothing wrong with the tax system, and nothing needs to be fixed. Why 45% do not even pay taxes.
Noblewdog would have you beleive that it is all the fault of the Republicans and that there is no turmoil in the Dem camp. Little does he realize that a vast number of the tea party were some who also voted for Obama, but have seen that his policies are no more change than what was being orchestrated in the previous admin. If nothing else, they are evn far more closer to socialism.
yeah, the Dems are in as much trouble as the Repubs if the truth be told.....



In fact, defacrats would like nothing better than to double or triple the amount of people on the taxpayers backs. Why? Because they vote. Voting against the defacrats would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Just like this past weekend, while watching the NFL draft I couldn't help but think we taxpayers are missing out. One first round pick was one of 16 brothers and sisters and another was one of 14 brothers and sisters, never knew who his male producer was and he was homeless because his female producer was a crack addict.

Both players were surrounded by dozens of people, eagerly celebrating their sudden fortune because they were tied to the player in one way or another. Since we as taxpayers were vital in their upbringing, shouldn't we too, share in the wealth?
quote:
Originally posted by kperk:
quote:
Originally posted by teyates:
quote:
Originally posted by midknightrider:
Yep, the U.S. tax system is broken. While Democrats and Republicans point fingers and blame each other for or current problems, perhaps we should...oh,I don't know...FIX IT!!!

Except, midnight, according to the vast majority of Americans, at least those who voted in the last election, there is nothing wrong with the tax system, and nothing needs to be fixed. Why 45% do not even pay taxes.
Noblewdog would have you beleive that it is all the fault of the Republicans and that there is no turmoil in the Dem camp. Little does he realize that a vast number of the tea party were some who also voted for Obama, but have seen that his policies are no more change than what was being orchestrated in the previous admin. If nothing else, they are evn far more closer to socialism.
yeah, the Dems are in as much trouble as the Repubs if the truth be told.....



In fact, defacrats would like nothing better than to double or triple the amount of people on the taxpayers backs. Why? Because they vote. Voting against the defacrats would be like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Just like this past weekend, while watching the NFL draft I couldn't help but think we taxpayers are missing out. One first round pick was one of 16 brothers and sisters and another was one of 14 brothers and sisters, never knew who his male producer was and he was homeless because his female producer was a crack addict.

Both players were surrounded by dozens of people, eagerly celebrating their sudden fortune because they were tied to the player in one way or another. Since we as taxpayers were vital in their upbringing, shouldn't we too, share in the wealth?

We will, he just doesn't realize that now he is one of the RICH and will soon be paying ole Uncle Same "his fair share"....welcome to real world hombre'... Wink

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