Of the people, but not for the people

This is it, folks... We've lost control of our government.

You guys will remember this little thing we liked to call the TARP, right? Everybody got their britches in a bundle over the "unprecedented" amount of $700 BILLION to be loaned to Wall Street to ostensibly avoid worldwide economic collapse.. Nobody liked it, but at that time, Bush was the lamest of ducks with at least one foot out the door and something [supposedly] HAD to be done.

That the economy eventually collapsed in every realistic and measurable way is irrelevant, but I certainly had to bring it up.

Notice my use of the quotes around "unprecedented" in the paragraph above. I use these quotes because there was plenty of precedence. In fact, the very same banks we bailed out were already into us for a LOT more than $700 BILLION at that time!

Prior to the TARP, the Fed had already made loans to the banks at a total cost that amounted to $7.77 TRILLION! In your face, puny little $700 BILLION.

Bullet points. Too frustrated to make paragraphs:

Magnitude

• $7.7 TRILLION is more than half the value of everything our country produced that year
• Our 6 largest banks turned their share into $13 BILLION in profit
• Morgan Stanley alone borrowed enough ($107 BILLION) to pay off a tenth of nation's delinquent mortgages
• Bank of America took $91.4 BILLION of these secret loans while simultaneously taking $45 BILLION from the TARP funds
• Banks that were declared too big to fail grew even larger
  
• Our largest banks enjoyed more profits in the last 2.5 years than they did in the 8 years preceding the crisis
• All the while, they continue to spend MILLIONS lobbying to derail or weaken laws designed to keep them in check
  

Transparency

• The loans to the banks were undisclosed
  
• The profits earned by the banks were undisclosed
• Shareholders, the "owners" of the banks were not told (Where did the profits go?!?)
  
• Taxpayers, the people that have given the authority to the Fed to watch over our money were not told
• Congress, which was actively writing an overhaul to our financial regulatory system was not told
• These loans were provided with no protections or guarantees for the taxpayers
  

THEY LOANED OUR MONEY VALUED AT MORE THAN HALF OF EVERYTHING OUR COUNTRY CAN MAKE IN A YEAR TO PRIVATE COMPANIES WITHOUT EVER TELLING ANYONE! The Fed knew, the Bank Managers knew. Not even the owners of the banks knew!

THIS is whyipaytaxes.
read more:Wall Street Banks Earned Billions In Profits Off $7.7 Trillion In Secret Fed Loans Made During The Financial Crisis(tp)

It ain't tricklin' down folks!

According to the Congressional Budget Office, since 1979:
After-tax income increased by 275% for the wealthiest 1% of Americans
After-tax income increased by 18% for the poorest 20%

in 2005-2007, right before the Great Recession, the top 20% of the population earned more after-tax income than the entire bottom 80%...

The obvious case that some will make in light of these statistics is that they deserve it. They work harder, they make the right decisions.
Am I to believe that I am that much lazier and that much more ignorant?It feels like I work really hard every day; I'm certainly very tired at the end of a day...
I certainly don't see a 275% increase in my after-tax income ANYtime soon.

Maybe the wealth isn't trickling back down after all...

Don't get me wrong... I don't feel entitled to an increase in my income. If you think about it on a world wide scale, I live a pretty fantastic life full of wonderful toys and comforts beyond the wildest dreams of billions of people.

What drives me nuts is that a vast amount of the 'wealth' in this country has been pooled among 1% of Americans and they have turned our elections into a war of campaign donations while appointing themselves to positions of power so they can use tax payer's money to 'bail' each other 'out.'

They've even stopped paying a reasonable amount of taxes. Again, don't get me wrong, I'm a staunch opponent of high taxes for everyone and loathe big governments.

Alas, we all have to pay our share of taxes to keep the system going. It wasn't until GE paid absolutely $0 (ZERO) in taxes on $5.1 BILLION in profits in 2010 that I realized maybe, just maybe, not everyone was paying their share of taxes.

The statistics from our own government:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/124xx/doc12485/10-25-HouseholdIncome.pdf

Morbid Security

You'll remember my post (yeah, right) about a trend in Japan of folks keeping the corpses of their parents around so they can forge and cash their social security checks. At the bottom of my post I mentioned that it won't be too long before this becomes a trend in the U.S. Well... The trend is certainly moving westward.

Hazel 'Don't forget the Glade' Maddock and her daughter Jasmine 'Just put a blanket over her' Maddock lived with Jasmine's grandmother Olive. When Olive passed away, they simply locked the bedroom door and Hazel told Jasmine that "the death should not be reported until the pension was secured."

After 6 months of not seeing a favorite neighbor, a local resident reported that something fishy was going on at the Maddock's. When an officer first gained entry to the home he immediately smelled a rancid odor and noticed that the house was infested with mice and swarms of flies. After using a crowbar on Olive's bedroom door, it was discovered that the body had already decomposed to a skeleton while lying on the bed.

Upon arrest, Hazel's response was "I'm no expert I didn't know if she was dead."

Pretty sure it doesn't take a doctor to realize that if you haven't seen a person come out of her room for 6 months and your house is filled with swarms of flies and the smell of decomposing flesh that maybe you ought to knock on the door and ask if everything is alright.

I guess I'm no expert either...

THIS is whyBRITSpaytaxes.
read more:Grandmother corpse: Benefit fraud daughter jailed(bbc)

And you thought WE knew a thing or 2 about Medicare fraud

In a case of finding cures for diseases that don't exist that would make Big Pharma envious, 83 unnecessary operations were carried out in a private clinic in Milan, Italy. And I'm not talking a nip here, a tuck there... Oh no.

I'm talking unnecessary mastectomy on an 18 year old girl, 3 lung surgeries on an 88 year old woman when one would have done the trick, at least one unnecessary lung removal, and so many surgeries that 5 elderly patients died.

In the end, about $3.4 MILLION was charged to the Italian version of Medicare for surgeries that had no medical purpose.

In all, 14 people were arrested. The apparent ringleader, Brega 'Chop Shop' Massone said of his 15.5 year sentence: Its unfair, I was the scapegoat!
Imagine. 15.5 years in exchange for playing a part in forever scarring a young woman, scamming the citizens of Italy for millions of dollars, and killing off several elderly patients. And he thinks the sentence is unfair.

THIS is whyITALIANSpaytaxes.

read more: Italy doctors jailed for 'clinic of horrors' operations(bbc)

I miss mom... But I don't miss her social security!

This has been going on for awhile, and I'm sure its far from over....

Japan has over 40,000 folks that are over 100 years old. Or so their social security rolls would have you believe.

As it turns out, moving back in with your dead parents can turn into a healthy living in Japan.

The first story I saw was when some city council members thought they'd cash in on a local photo op by congratulating Sogen 'I'm Not Dead Yet' Kato for turning 111. But the family resisted saying that the old fellow had locked himself into a room to be a living Buddha. The councilmen were having none of this and had the police force their way in where they found the mummified remains of Sogen, who had been dead for many years.
The family had collected over $109,000 off of Sogen's pension.

Then there were a few more stories. Like the one about the woman who is still collecting her payments at an address that was turned to a park in 1981.

Now they busted a dude that has been carrying around his mom's remains in a backpack. Because he couldn't afford her funeral, he thought he'd keep her around and collect her checks. He describes how he washed the body for awhile then eventually broke her into pieces and loaded her into the backpack.

In all, there are more than 200 folks over the age of 100 that are collecting checks but otherwise cannot be found.

THIS is whyjapanesepaytaxes.

PS - You know we're gonna have a bunch of this ourselves now that the boomers are aging and the kids are moving back home...

read more:
Almost 200 centenarians 'missing' in Japan(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest woman' is missing(bbc)
Tokyo's 'oldest man' was a corpse(bbc)

Can't golf today, gotta pick up my welfare check!

Phillip 'Tiger' Bond decided he had had enough of the rat race we call life and found himself a way out: Collecting disability from the government.

Of course, just because he was *ahem* unable to work for a living doesn't mean he had to stop golfing several times a week. After all, what is the point in not being able to work if you can't enjoy it?

He went so far as to compete in several golf tournaments.

He got £36,000 before investigators were able to film him on the links.

Not only did the British government give him £36k, but they also had to investigate, prosecute, and now house Mr. Bond for the next 7 months... (Which is all cheaper than continuing to pay him disability)

THIS is whyBRITSpaytaxes.

Read more:Disability benefit fraudster filmed playing golf jailed(bbc)

Peeling back the Band Aid

Get ready to have your stomach turned. But at least yours is full...

You all (30s and older) will remember the 1985 Band Aid and other relief efforts pursued by governments and other organizations around the globe to help alleviate the 1984-85 droughts in Ethiopia that left most Ethiopians malnourished if they weren't one of the 1 MILLION who starved to death. A host of jokes about sandwiches and Ethiopians followed, but many Ethiopians were saved by these individual and government donations.

What you won't remember:
At the direction of the CIA (they deny it, of course) hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars from these efforts were siphoned off into rebel groups who bought weapons to fight the Russian backed Ethiopian government of the time.

Here's some key information that will set your stomach to turning:

In one instance, a member of Christian Aid bought sacks of grain inside of Ethiopia worth $500 MILLION. Underneath the handful of grain sacks that Christian Aid inspected were many more sacks of fine Ethiopian sand. Yum!

The man who swindled Christian Aid into spending all this money on sand, Meles Zenawi, went on to become Ethiopia's prime minister in 1991.

He remains the PM to this very day in spite of having used money intended to help his fellow citizens to kill them with guns instead.

The deputy head of the CIA at the time sought to "impose ever stiffer costs on the Soviet Union for its Third World adventurism." What better way to do this than sell bags of sand to aid groups in order to use the money to buy guns? (I'll bet many of those guns were bought from the U.S.)

The deputy head of the CIA at the time was none other than our very own Secratary of Defense, Robert Gates. He's no Prime Minister of a third world country, but he has certainly been well rewarded for his career choices.

I can't even sum this one up in a quick snide sentence. As an American citizen, I apologize to the world...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: Ethiopia famine aid 'spent on weapons'(bbc)

Fuzzy Math

I'm no mathematician... However, even if I'm way off on a couple figures, this holds together pretty well...

1.) It costs the U.S. about $1 MILLION to keep 1 troop in Afghanistan for 1 year. (widely reported) For this exercise, I'm assuming soldiers in Iraq cost about the same.
2.) In 2010, there will be over 102,000 troops in Afghanistan.
3.) There are still 130,000 troops in Iraq.

This is excluding thousands of 'support troops' and other differently classified soldiers, so I'm rounding up to 250,000 troops deployed in our wars. At $1 MILLION per soldier, I'm looking at
$250,000,000,000 in 2010.

4.) There are 15.4 MILLION unemployed in the U.S. as of November. (10% unemployment) These people wish they could have a job, just about any job would be fine.

Conclusion:
We could give over 2/3 (10 MILLION) of the unemployed people in our country meager $25,000 a year jobs paid directly out of the government coffers if we weren't mired in 2 foreign wars that have relatively little to do with defending our country.
Don't get me wrong: $25,000 a year is nothing, but it would bring our unemployment under 5% and get them working until industry can offer them better jobs. Which industry could give them better jobs faster if they were employed and able to buy some things.

Think of what we could do if we had 10 MILLION extra government employees for a year. Sure, most of their time and efforts would be wasted in bureaucratic red tape, but even our government couldn't squander all that time without doing something good.

I'm not saying this is a wise idea. I'm just musing on what we might have done differently with our money...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

From many, to few: Home Edition

Congratulations fellow non-home owning taxpayers! It appears that we will once again be able to spend our hard earned taxes on something that will have absolutely zero benefit to us! Yay!

I tried. I tried to be a liberal. I've always been a conservative at heart after growing up in an area that was heavily supported by state welfare checks. But I like people and think that everyone having a fair shake in life is a noble cause. And, for some crazy reason, I don't think that the whole world should believe in the same god as me. Which, as we all know, if you don't believe in Rush's god, then you don't belong in the republican party.

But to announce that billions of taxpayer dollars should be spent on tax credits for people who make their home more energy efficient blows my mind. These people already have homes! By no means does that make them rich, but what the hell do I care if someone 5 states away decides to re-insulate their attic next summer? Why does money, given to the government by all taxpayers, need to get spent on a select portion of the rest? We've already given them significant tax breaks when they bought the home. We've already bought and installed energy efficient windows for them in 2009.

Hell, I'd feel better if we were to create a plan where we help people with inefficient homes buy better homes so we can move some homeless people into the old homes. Next time you find yourself complaining about a drafty window, think about how drafty a cardboard box under an overpass must get! [en: I'd feel better, but I'd still be bitchin' about it...]

This plan is not official and was merely a suggestion by POTUS. One who apparently thinks that hiring a handful of illegal immigrant carpenters to install doors made in China so that homeowners are more ready to heave a sigh of contentment is a good way to stimulate the economy.

Still better than George W[MD] Bush!

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Read more: Obama’s ‘Cash for Caulkers’ May Help Insulation Sales, Dow Says (BLOOMBERG)
P.S. - Well, fucking bully for Dow!

Cash for clunkers on a grand scale

I was waiting for someone to figure it out. The first calculation I found comes from the Rochester Institute of Technology:

Every vehicle GM sells costs $12,200 of taxpayer money.
Every vehicle Chrysler sells costs $7,600 of taxpayer money.

Meanwhile, for every vehicle Ford sells, they don't expect you and I to pay their expenses. After all, they are a for-profit PRIVATE company. Unlike Chrysler and GM.

Don't get the math wrong, I'm sure there is a bit of forecasting and estimating going into those numbers. Its not like the costs will go up every time they make a sale, in fact, the more they sell, the less per vehicle cost of the tax burden. I just found it shocking that a reasonable estimate sets the cost of producing cars HIGHER than the MSRP!

Government subsidized auto industry...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: Each GM car sold costs taxpayers $12,200, RIT says (RBJ)

So long and thanks for all the cash

With the collapse of CIT was the elimination of any hope of getting the $2.3 BILLION taxpayers gave to them under Dubya's TARP fund.

You kinda gotta wonder where all that cash went... I mean, I know you're not supposed to. Its easier if you just don't think about it and try to forget it while wondering what team Brett Farve is playing for this week.

But... You kinda gotta think about it... That's a lot of money to give to someone who 3 months later comes to you and says paying you back just isn't gonna work out for him anymore.

Maybe we should be breaking some knees...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Am I an artist?

'Cause if I am, I can get the Taxpayers of Rockford, Illinois to pay my rent for me!

That's right. As he slashes budgets around town, from the Library to the Fire Department, Rockford Mayor Larry Morrisey has hired a well-paid consultant to organize subsidized housing in the downtown area for anyone who considers themselves an artist or musician.

I design packaging and other graphic arts, could I get someone to pay my rent if I moved to Rockford?
How about a talentless bass player with no future beyond a local band who gives nothing more back to their community other than an annoying racket at a local dive bar? S/He would certainly be a 'musician.' Does that mean s/he qualifies for free rent?

I can see the need for arts and culture in any downtown setting... But do we really have to pay for the artist's rent? (And do we have to pay a salary to a guy to set up the payments?)

THIS is whyrockfordianspaytaxes.

read more: Bringing A New Element to Downtown Rockford(msl)

AIG

Here's an idea everyone:
The next time you have a creditor on the phone demanding payment of the money you owe... Ask them if its ok to treat yourself first.
Hell, even if you're not being harassed, but simply debating whether you should pay off money you owe or just buy yourself something nice...
Either way, go with giving yourself a bonus and forgoing your responsibility.

Why not? If it works for AIG, it can work for you!
Over the next few months, AIG intends to hand out $238 MILLION in retention bonuses. Gotta retain that talent! After all, their talented employees managed to bring the world's economy to its knees and the company was handsomely rewarded with $180 BILLION.

Did I say rewarded? I meant bailed out. And there is NO need to pay it back anytime soon. Not when we have hungry executives to reward!

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

read more: found in CW in Newsweek. Just Google 'AIG Bonuses' and click on the news results...

Picking winners; choosing losers (pt. 3)

I knew back in October that it was a bad sign when the federal government started deciding which banks would succeed (with bailouts) and which banks would be allowed to fail. It seemed even scarier when the fed began deciding which industries it would help through these tough times while ignoring the others. Now the Fed has let all this power go to its head as it begins picking and choosing which facilities will be closed or remain open...

When the new GM team (You've seen the commercials we're paying for: They're not going out of business, they're getting down to business.) decided that the Norton parts distribution center in Massachusetts needed to be closed. It is not clear why they decided this center should be closed, but I'll bet it was more than a dart being thrown at a map of GM facilities.

However, there is a small chain of relevant circumstances that far outweigh their professionally analyzed conclusions which GM forgot to consider:
1.) Rep. Barney Frank represents Norton, Mass.
2.) Rep. Barney Frank heads the Financial Services Committee
3.) The Financial Services Committee pretty much owns GM now.
4.) Rep. Barney 'NIMBY' Frank doesn't like closing facilities in his district.

So, under the guise of being environmentally concerned, he visited the government-installed CEO GM employees calls boss, Fritz 'The Puppet' Henderson. In this meeting he explained to 'The Puppet' that he was just a puppet and that while just about anyone in our government can have a tug at his strings, Barney is one of the few puppet masters holding the strings up. Then, he explained that closing the facility in his district would increase global warming because those parts would have to be shipped to New England from Philadelphia instead. Not entirely inaccurate, but lets assume that in its place, the Phillie facility gets closed instead. Will that not mean that the Eastern Great Lakes region would have to get theirs shipped from New England?

And, of course, the boss gets what the boss wants. GM no longer finds it necessary to close that facility as a part of its re-structuring.

The government exerts supreme power over its new puppets under the guise of environmentalism, proving that regardless of what they say, our government IS in the business of running the automotive industry...
Not long ago, I respected Barney Frank.

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Psycho

That title is a reference to the movie. And, of course, this post...

When Mr[s]. Thomas Prusin-Parkin's (First flag: Dude with a hyphenated last name) mother died in 2003, he just couldn't bear to let her [identity] go. So, he provided the funeral director with a fake ss# and assumed her identity. Ever since her death, [s]he would put on a wig and some makeup, grab her walking stick and collect social security checks and rent subsidies, visit banks, appear in court[!], file for bankruptcy[!!], and renew her driver's liscense[!!!]. (He even got a friend to pose as a nephew while getting her liscense...)

The late Mrs. Prusik still gettin' her shit done.

In the end, Tom 'Mom' Prusin-Parkin collected over $115,000 directly from the government. No totals were given on the material gains on the bankruptcy...

At least no one got stabbed while taking a shower!

THIS is whyipaytaxes...

read more: US man 'posed as his dead mother' (bbc)

Taxed for a Crazy Woman

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't we told that the various bailout funds being given to banks because if they failed there'd be catastrophic consequences?
Without these bailouts our way of life would be devestated, our economy turned into a shambles, life as we knew it would no longer be feasible, right?

So, you mean to tell me that without the Crazy Woman Creek Bancorp of Buffalo fucking Wyoming, our world would crumble down around us? Is that why they got $3.1 MILLION of MY money? Because without them, my reality would cease to fucking exist? I am really getting pissed off here...

Some other 'institutions' that support our economy. Institutions who are brave enough and bold enough to ensure smooth flowing capital and trade around the world. Who are single handedly keeping you in your job:
Hometown Bancorp of Alabama in Oneonta Alabama.
The Private Bank of California.
DeSoto County Bank in Horn Lake Mississippi.
First Express of Nebraska.
The Little Bank Incorporated in Kinston NC.

Were it not for these pillars of our economy all would be lost. Too big to fail.

The complete list of TARP and various other government bailout fund recipients can be found here:
http://ustreas.gov/initiatives/eesa/docs/transaction_report_02-24-09.pdf

Too big to fail my ass...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.

Silver lining?
If Bush were still in charge of giving away this money, there wouldn't be a published list...

Family Support

Signe Wilkinson

Only in Kentucky (?) Part 2

Billionaire helps out Nicholas County woman buy a mobile home(ky.com)

Thanks to a savvy donkey salesman, Frances is able to live the American Dream. You know, so long as the American Dream consists of making it by on handouts alone.

Some points of interest in this article:

I was right, I didn't want to assume, but its verified: Frances is unemployed. She helped to manage the mobile home park she used to live in, but only for free rent. It is not explained how she is able to afford to move up to a $250 per month on the land-contract, but I'll bet the state of Kentucky pays for it. In Frances' words: "If that's not a lot for a person to ask for," she said, "I don't know what is."

7 of the dozen people that were living with her bailed in a quick and found their own place to live where their future and their stuff might never be subjected to a man named Pancake and his tractor. (Though, with the new double wide, I'll bet they start coming back when the electricity gets hooked up.)

In all, so far, she's received donations of $37,000 to buy a new double wide, furniture, washer and dryer, and High School Musical posters. Apparent moral of the story: If your ignorance ever puts you in a bind, make sure CNN picks up the story.

ADDENDUM (Really a Part 3, but didn't want to put up any more posts about this junk.)
Check out the slide show (one of the shots shows the curvy bend this thing was stranded on, lucky no one got hurt)
I read some of the comments on the slide show page:

'Dick again in 2010!'

Dick has been investigated for selling pot

Someone posted Frances' phone number and address, should you feel she needs to know what you think

A good point: 'Unofficially adopted children' = kidnapping.

The number of people that lived in the trailer changes according to Frances' mood. Someone that knows them swears only 2 people lived with Frances. She told one reporter 10 people. By the time it was CNN reporting, there were a whole dozen people living there.

She apparently has 2 freezers full of food from a Schwan's truck. Not exactly 'poor'. (not an exactly verified comment either...) I work for a living and cannot afford a dedicated freezer, let alone 2.

A friend of Pancake's logged on and commented that the reporter was full of shit because she spelled Myers incorrectly. It should be Meyers. Pancake's friend also stated that the reporter shouldn't be covering stories about rednecks because there are prostitutes in Lexington. The reporter is also lambasted by other locals for not 'getting to know' the county before reporting.

Apparently, one of the most outrageous things about this story is that Dick smokes. *gasp*

One of my biggest questions has been answered: Why didn't dick call the state cops to deal with it? Because they bill the county big money to get involved in such incidents. Explains a lot. Dick was just trying to protect the county coffers by doing his job.

Dick seems to be well respected in his county. He sounds like a real stand up fellow willing to help his constituents to no end. I'll say it one last time: Obviously this is true. No cop in their right mind would allow this travesty to go on for 9 hours on a public highway. Unless that cop wanted to do everything he could to help out a moron in need.

Read as the locals discuss at http://www.carlisleky.com

At carlisleky.com the locals now discuss Frances' spending habits:
do the people that donated money to Francise, think that she paid for the two cases of beer she bought the other night,was with your money
And they point out that she has opened accounts at 6 banks to make it easier for people to donate money to her. (And, I assume making it easier for her to launder the money and avoid paying taxes on it.)

Some of the people that may or may not have lived in Frances' trailer have been indicted for welfare fraud and have been busted TRADING FOOD STAMPS FOR DRUGS.

THIS is whyKentuckianspaytaxes.

Little Hitler

There really isn't much to say on this one... Friend of mine sent me a link to a story about the wonders of ignorance:
Holland Township man names son after Adolf Hitler(lvl)

Why do I post this story here? How do these crazy bastards cost me tax dollars?

1.) They live off of Social Security. Checks from the government are what keep these people hating.
2.) They will be suing a grocery store for not inscribing birthday wishes to Adolf Hitler, taking up the valuable time of judges, clerks, et. al. because they feel their rights were violated when a grocery store bakery felt their rights were going to be violated.
(not too clear... try this: While they were offended when refused a cake, they get to sue. However, when the bakery was offended by being asked to wish a happy birthday to Adolf Hitler, they either do it or be sued.)

Keeping ignorant dreams alive...

THIS is whyipaytaxes.