Helping Homeowners In Michigan
Archive for April 12th, 2011
The Real Housewives of Wall Street
April 12th, 2011 | 
Author: Why is the Federal Reserve forking over $220 million in bailout money to the wives of two Morgan Stanley bigwigs?
By Matt Taibbi for Rolling Stone Magazine
America has two national budgets, one official, one unofficial. The official budget is public record and hotly debated: Money comes in as taxes and goes out as jet fighters, DEA agents, wheat subsidies and Medicare, plus pensions and bennies for that great untamed socialist menace called a unionized public-sector workforce that Republicans are always complaining about. According to popular legend, we’re broke and in so much debt that 40 years from now our granddaughters will still be hooking on weekends to pay the medical bills of this year’s retirees from the IRS, the SEC and the Department of Energy.
Why Isn’t Wall Street in Jail?
Most Americans know about that budget. What they don’t know is that there is another budget of roughly equal heft, traditionally maintained in complete secrecy. After the financial crash of 2008, it grew to monstrous dimensions, as the government attempted to unfreeze the credit markets by handing out trillions to banks and hedge funds. And thanks to a whole galaxy of obscure, acronym-laden bailout programs, it eventually rivaled the “official” budget in size — a huge roaring river of cash flowing out of the Federal Reserve to destinations neither chosen by the president nor reviewed by Congress, but instead handed out by fiat by unelected Fed officials using a seemingly nonsensical and apparently unknowable methodology.
This article appears in the April 28, 2011 issue of Rolling Stone. The issue will be available on newsstands and in the online archive April 15.
Now, following an act of Congress that has forced the Fed to open its books from the bailout era, this unofficial budget is for the first time becoming at least partially a matter of public record. Staffers in the Senate and the House, whose queries about Fed spending have been rebuffed for nearly a century, are now poring over 21,000 transactions and discovering a host of outrages and lunacies in the “other” budget. It is as though someone sat down and made a list of every individual on earth who actually did not need emergency financial assistance from the United States government, and then handed them the keys to the public treasure. The Fed sent billions in bailout aid to banks in places like Mexico, Bahrain and Bavaria, billions more to a spate of Japanese car companies, more than $2 trillion in loans each to Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, and billions more to a string of lesser millionaires and billionaires with Cayman Islands addresses. “Our jaws are literally dropping as we’re reading this,” says Warren Gunnels, an aide to Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “Every one of these transactions is outrageous.”
But if you want to get a true sense of what the “shadow budget” is all about, all you have to do is look closely at the taxpayer money handed over to a single company that goes by a seemingly innocuous name: Waterfall TALF Opportunity. At first glance, Waterfall’s haul doesn’t seem all that huge — just nine loans totaling some $220 million, made through a Fed bailout program. That doesn’t seem like a whole lot, considering that Goldman Sachs alone received roughly $800 billion in loans from the Fed. But upon closer inspection, Waterfall TALF Opportunity boasts a couple of interesting names among its chief investors: Christy Mack and Susan Karches.
Christy is the wife of John Mack, the chairman of Morgan Stanley. Susan is the widow of Peter Karches, a close friend of the Macks who served as president of Morgan Stanley’s investment-banking division. Neither woman appears to have any serious history in business, apart from a few philanthropic experiences. Yet the Federal Reserve handed them both low-interest loans of nearly a quarter of a billion dollars through a complicated bailout program that virtually guaranteed them millions in risk-free income.
The technical name of the program that Mack and Karches took advantage of is TALF, short for Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. But the federal aid they received actually falls under a broader category of bailout initiatives, designed and perfected by Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, called “giving already stinking rich people gobs of money for no fucking reason at all.” If you want to learn how the shadow budget works, follow along. This is what welfare for the rich looks like.
In August 2009, John Mack, at the time still the CEO of Morgan Stanley, made an interesting life decision. Despite the fact that he was earning the comparatively low salary of just $800,000, and had refused to give himself a bonus in the midst of the financial crisis, Mack decided to buy himself a gorgeous piece of property — a 107-year-old limestone carriage house on the Upper East Side of New York, complete with an indoor 12-car garage, that had just been sold by the prestigious Mellon family for $13.5 million. Either Mack had plenty of cash on hand to close the deal, or he got some help from his wife, Christy, who apparently bought the house with him.
The Macks make for an interesting couple. John, a Lebanese-American nicknamed “Mack the Knife” for his legendary passion for firing people, has one of the most recognizable faces on Wall Street, physically resembling a crumpled, half-burned baked potato with a pair of overturned furry horseshoes for eyebrows. Christy is thin, blond and rich — a sort of still-awake Sunny von Bulow with hobbies. Her major philanthropic passion is endowments for alternative medicine, and she has attained the level of master at Reiki, the Japanese practice of “palm healing.” The only other notable fact on her public résumé is that her sister was married to Charlie Rose.
It’s hard to imagine a pair of people you would less want to hand a giant welfare check to — yet that’s exactly what the Fed did. Just two months before the Macks bought their fancy carriage house in Manhattan, Christy and her pal Susan launched their investment initiative called Waterfall TALF. Neither seems to have any experience whatsoever in finance, beyond Susan’s penchant for dabbling in thoroughbred racehorses. But with an upfront investment of $15 million, they quickly received $220 million in cash from the Fed, most of which they used to purchase student loans and commercial mortgages. The loans were set up so that Christy and Susan would keep 100 percent of any gains on the deals, while the Fed and the Treasury (read: the taxpayer) would eat 90 percent of the losses. Given out as part of a bailout program ostensibly designed to help ordinary people by kick-starting consumer lending, the deals were a classic heads-I-win, tails-you-lose investment.
So how did the government come to address a financial crisis caused by the collapse of a residential-mortgage bubble by giving the wives of a couple of Morgan Stanley bigwigs free money to make essentially risk-free investments in student loans and commercial real estate? The answer is: by degrees. The history of the bailout era reads like one of those awful stories about what happens when a long-dormant criminal compulsion goes unchecked. The Peeping Tom next door stares through a few bathroom windows, doesn’t get caught, and decides to break in and steal a pair of panties. Next thing you know, he’s upgraded to homemade dungeons, tri-state serial rampages and throwing cheerleaders into a panel truck.
It was the same with the bailouts. They started out small, with the government throwing a few hundred billion in public money to prop up genuinely insolvent firms like Bear Stearns and AIG. Then came TARP and a few other programs that were designed to stave off bank failures and dispose of the toxic mortgage-backed securities that were a root cause of the financial crisis. But before long, the Fed began buying up every distressed investment on Wall Street, even those that were in no danger of widespread defaults: commercial real estate loans, credit- card loans, auto loans, student loans, even loans backed by the Small Business Administration. What started off as a targeted effort to stop the bleeding in a few specific trouble spots became a gigantic feeding frenzy. It was “free money for shit,” says Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation. “It turned into ‘Give us your crap that you can’t get rid of otherwise.’ ”
The impetus for this sudden manic expansion of the bailouts was a masterful bluff by Wall Street executives. Once the money started flowing from the Federal Reserve, the executives began moaning to their buddies at the Fed, claiming that they were suddenly afraid of investing in anything — student loans, car notes, you name it — unless their profits were guaranteed by the state. “You ever watch soccer, where the guy rolls six times to get a yellow card?” says William Black, a former federal bank regulator who teaches economics and law at the University of Missouri. “That’s what this is. If you have power and connections, they will give you a freebie deal — if you’re good at whining.”
This is where TALF fits into the bailout picture. Created just after Barack Obama’s election in November 2008, the program’s ostensible justification was to spur more consumer lending, which had dried up in the midst of the financial crisis. But instead of lending directly to car buyers and credit-card holders and students — that would have been socialism! — the Fed handed out a trillion dollars to banks and hedge funds, almost interest-free. In other words, the government lent taxpayer money to the same assholes who caused the crisis, so that they could then lend that money back out on the market virtually risk-free, at an enormous profit.
Cue your Billy Mays voice, because wait, there’s more! A key aspect of TALF is that the Fed doles out the money through what are known as non-recourse loans. Essentially, this means that if you don’t pay the Fed back, it’s no big deal. The mechanism works like this: Hedge Fund Goon borrows, say, $100 million from the Fed to buy crappy loans, which are then transferred to the Fed as collateral. If Hedge Fund Goon decides not to repay that $100 million, the Fed simply keeps its pile of crappy securities and calls everything even.
This is the deal of a lifetime. Think about it: You borrow millions, buy a bunch of crap securities and stash them on the Fed’s books. If the securities lose money, you leave them on the Fed’s lap and the public eats the loss. But if they make money, you take them back, cash them in and repay the funds you borrowed from the Fed. “Remember that crazy guy in the commercials who ran around covered in dollar bills shouting, ‘The government is giving out free money!’ ” says Black. “As crazy as he was, this is making it real.”
Posted in bailouts, Banks, Corruption, Economic Crisis, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financial System, Money, Morgan Stanley | 
Tags: TALF, Wall Street | 
Comments Closed
Follow the Money: How Systemic Bank Fraud Contributed to the Financial Crisis
Posted in Banks, Corruption, Economic Crisis, Economy, Financial System, Foreclosuregate, Foreclosures, Fraud, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Mortgage Fraud, Mortgage Industry, Mortgage Loans, Mortgage Modificaton, Mortgage Servicers |
Comments Closed
Tossing The Tea Cart
GDP = C + I + G + (X – M)
C = Consumption
I = Net Investment
G = Government expenditures
X = Exports
M = Imports
The fundamental equation of a nation’s output. Memorize that, because there will be a test.
It is amusing and somewhat-distressing to see all of the jockeying that people do on a daily basis trying to take credit for this or that, or even worse, re-writing history. Such appears to be the case of late with whatever you care to call “The Tea Party.”
Let’s start with what “The Tea Party” is and is not.
It is an idea. It began in 1773. The idea has survived for more than 225 years and was, somewhere around the original time of the act, represented No Taxation Without Representation.
It is not a singular organization. Nobody (in their right mind) claims that it is. Even the “Tea Party Patriots”, one of the organizations that attempts to coalesce other groups, says on its “about” page:
Tea Party Patriots is a national grassroot organization that provides logistical, educational, networking and other types of support to over 1000 community based tea party groups around the country. Tea Party Patriots national coordinators understand that we are mere servants to the grassroot groups. We understand that we do not set the course for our member groups, as they have developed their own vision and plan for how to address the local and national challenges that they are facing.
I don’t think I could say it any better than this, so I simply cite them.
There it is.
“The Tea Party”, as an idea, began in the 1700s. Nobody now alive is old enough to claim to have been “THE owner” or “THE originator” (note the definite article, for those who are English-challenged) of that idea. More to the point, ideas are not, broadly (with damn few exceptions) able to be owned or controlled. They just are.
Those of us who are honest state quite-clearly that we have, are, and will continue to build upon the idea embodied in The Tea Party (as occurred in Boston.) Indeed, not even Samuel Adams’ ghost, were he to be queried, could take direct credit for the act, as the meeting he was chairing at the time had not adjourned and he was, at the point where Colonists turned idea into act, attempting to regain control of his meeting! History records, of course, that he post-hoc adopted the act and both publicized and defended it. He is, as such, a (note the indefinite article again) founder of “The Tea Party” (reduced from idea to act.)
There are thousands of people across this nation that are “one of the” (note those three words) founders of “The Tea Party” (in the physical sense of a group of people, one of many such groups) or “The Tea Party Movement” (more broadly, some collection of groups) yet remaining inclusive, not exclusive. The dictionary tells us that “found” means to establish, formulate or coalesce. If you were or are one of the people who has put together a sign, waved it in people’s faces, and demanded that the government become responsive to the people – the broad idea that came from 1773 – you are a (note the indefinite article, again for the English-challenged who are disturbingly common among those who claim to possess even ordinary skill in the English language, and a more-convenient and ink-conservative, digital or otherwise way to write “one of the”) ”Tea Party Founder.”
As for one of many physical manifestations of that idea, I provide the following as (again, one of many elements of) evidence:
FedUpUSA In New York City, April 25, 2008
Every one of the individuals who marched that day, and in the days before and after, those who waved signs, those who organized, those who said “Taxation without representation: Isn’t that why we had the Revolution?“ to a camera - here, there, or anywhere: you have, and if you in the future so act, you are A (again note the indefinite and inclusive, not exclusive article) “founder” as you have reduced an idea to action – whether by speech, by pounding shoe leather or waving signs in people’s faces.
In short, for those who claim that I, or anyone else, has (or has claimed) some “right of control” over what is today called “The Tea Party” I respond with this as my last and final statement on the matter, entirely consistent with that which I have said before: Learn the difference between the definite and indefinite article in the English language, the use of exclusive and inclusive language, the difference between an idea, a group of people, and an action of peaceful protest by a group of people, and then grow up – you can’t own or control an idea and any alleged premise to the contrary is ridiculous.
Now let’s get to why I have raised so much hell in relationship to those who claim affiliation with “The Tea Party” as an idea, including my rant back in October of this year before the election.
Go back and read the top of this Ticker again.
GDP = C + I + G + (X – M)
The fundamental equation that determines what everyone calls “economic health.” The output of the nation and which way it’s trending.
It is my considered opinion and has been since I started writing on this matter in early 2007 almost exactly four years ago, and indeed even before 2007 back in the Nasdaq-bubble-bursting days where I was occasionally quoted in various media, that the intentional distortion of this equation is the mother and father of all frauds upon the public and we are going to eventually have to cut it out!
Here’s the most-recent GDP release with the above terms labeled for you in nice, bold red letters:
So you want to cut government spending (“G”) eh?
Ok, every dollar you cut will reduce GDP by (at least) one dollar. See the above equation.
You prefer instead to tax the rich?
Ok, every dollar you tax (from “the rich” or otherwise) will reduce GDP by (at least) one dollar, as it must by definition reduce either “C” or “I”. Once the government steals your money via taxation you cannot spend or invest (save) it.
In fact GDP will fall by more than one dollar, because the extra limousine that President Obama was going buy and now doesn’t is no longer demanded, and the people who were going to build that car won’t have a job. They will thus demand less, and again, “C” and “I” will fall. The exact amount of this additional loss of GDP is the subject of much complex mathematical modeling by economists and plenty of argument. It is sufficient for the purpose of understanding what is going on, and what has gone on, to understand the basic principle that for each thing not bought someone doesn’t get employed to make that thing.
But, you argue, the economy is recovering!
No it’s not.
Look closely at that graph. $1,700 billion borrowed and spent last year by Government, more or less. Take that $1,700 billion off of a combination of “G” (less government direct spending) or “C” (transfer payments – that is, entitlements of one form or another) as both were direct and intentional distortions to GDP.
The really bad news is what the government has been trying to cover up and why we hit the wall. That’s found here:
That’s the change, quarter-over-quarter (not annualized) for both debt everywhere in the system (according to The Fed Z1) and GDP. For a literal thirty years we have “goosed” GDP numbers by borrowing more and more money – vastly more than the increase in GDP, each and every year.
But every dollar you borrow you have to pay back from tomorrow’s production with interest. We have as a consequence of these actions blown a massive, outrageous and utterly unsustainable bubble in our alleged “GDP” and contrary to the assertions of the left, right, Tea and otherwise in the political sphere, which is where I write from today, it has not been corrected and there has been no recovery.
Back to that basic equation: Paying down or servicing debt by government and private parties, where that debt is held outside the United States, means capital flows that go outside the US and cannot be recaptured in GDP since those funds are not here in the US any more. And before you say “but they export to us” go look at that equation again – “M”, imports, are a subtraction to GDP.
Borrowing for the purpose of consumption or speculation does not constitute actual growth of the common weal of the nation. Borrowing for consumption is nothing more than pulling forward tomorrow’s car, home or hamburger purchase into today. Neither does running a trade deficit that “finances” our budget imbalance. These acts produce a distortion in GDP. When the blue line is increasing in distance above the red line the distortion is getting worse, not better, as net leverage in the system is increasing. When it is constant then so is the distortion. And when the blue line is below the red line it is signaling a return to health, even though such a return will result in a net decrease in GDP as it occurs and the distortion is removed.
Note that none of this has anything to do with how a currency is backed or based, or who controls it. The Ron Paul crowd and similar who argue for “hard money” are arguing for a chimera, whether they realize it or not. So long as one can lend at interest the attempted expansion of borrowing in excess of GDP will occur. It cannot be otherwise because every dollar borrowed must be paid with interest. As a consequence it is a mathematical certainty that “busts” must occur in which debt and output are brought back into balance. We call that process by which the weakest borrowers and lenders go bankrupt and clear the economy ”recession”, and when it is intentionally delayed, obfuscated, covered over and tampered with, it becomes more and more severe the longer attempted denial of basic arithmetic continues.
For those on the left or right, Tea Party or Coffee Party, these are economic facts. They are trivially reducible to third grade arithmetic. The fundamental equation of GDP is taught in your first formal economics exposure, no matter where you have it (in High School, College, or right here on The Ticker.)
The turn-down in the economy occurred because private debt accumulation reached its limit of service. On this there is no debate – the American public was unable to pay its mortgages and credit cards. The GDP “increase” over the years from the early 1990s on forward was not purchased with output – the effort of people – but rather with ever-increasing amounts of debt. That debt increase, net-on-net, reached one of three dollars spent in the economy in 2007 before it collapsed.
There has been no net increase in consumer borrowing capacity as household incomes adjusted for inflation have in fact been stagnant or declining since 2000. The only category of personal consumer debt (e.g. ex-housing) that has increased since the decline in credit growth began in 2008 has been student loans.
Government has attempted to prevent recognition of the GDP contraction that must take place to restore balance to the economy. That balance can be restored either by paying down or defaulting (restructuring) that excess debt, and there’s a lot of it. Either will result in a serious contraction in GDP.
In 2000 I argued that the net contraction required was about 10% of GDP. In 2007, if you go back to my earlier writing, I argued that this amount was about 20% of GDP. Today, a quick back-of-the-envelope look at the distortions created since 2007 by the Federal Government and their infantile attempt to prevent the inevitable has added at least 25% to the total damage net-net, and likely more.
Withdrawal of the government’s taking over of private debt addition will result in a contraction of GDP, no matter whether it is done by raising taxes, cutting spending, or some combination of the two.
This is a serious time for serious people. Those who wish to play political “gotcha” and games, along with making demonstrably false statements about how “I was sent to Washington to quit spending more than we make“, but who will not stand before the camera and tell the truth on this matter are not serious people. They are playing politics as we have done for the last 30 years through more and more “deregulation” and “tax cuts”, both of which are simply another way to cheat on the economic realities by goading someone (whether private or government) to go out and borrow more and more money to print up false claims of economic prosperity which they then use to get reelected.
And that is why I tossed, and will continue to toss, the “Tea Cart”, along with that of the “conventional” political left and right.
FedUpUSA, Co-Founder, Karl Denninger – The Market-Ticker
Posted in Banks, Debt, Economic Crisis, Economy, FedUpUSA, Financial System, Fraud, Government, Money, Tea Party |
Tags: Protest |
Comments Closed
65 Ways That Everything That You Think That You Own Is Being Systematically Taken Away From You
Everything that you own is slowly being taken away from you. It is being done purposely and it is being done by design. Many Americans like to think of themselves as “well off”, but as will be demonstrated below, we don’t “own” nearly as much as we think that we do. The truth is that most of us have to frantically run around accumulating wealth as rapidly as we can so that we can somehow stay ahead of the rate that wealth is being taken away from us. The entire system is designed to take what you have away from you. There are many ways that this is accomplished – taxation, inflation, debt, interest, fines, fees, tickets, government seizures and good old-fashioned corporate greed. If you tried to just sit back and do nothing but hold on to the wealth that you already have you would find out that it would disappear rather quickly. When you take the time to really analyze our system the conclusion is undeniable – everything that you think that you own is being systematically taken away from you.
There is a reason why the wealthiest one percent of all Americans control 40 percent of all the wealth in the United States. The system is designed to funnel all of the wealth to them and to the government. Average Americans are experiencing a declining standard of living and it is not by accident.
Just check out some of the ways that our wealth is being taken from us….
#1 Do you think that you own your house? You might want to think again. Most Americans that “own a home” are paying a mortgage. If you stop paying that mortgage you will lose that home. Over a million American families were kicked out of their homes last year. This year a million more American families will get the boot.
But when those families get booted out onto the street they don’t get their down payments back. They don’t get all the mortgage payments that they have made back. The banks get to keep all of the money and all of the houses.
Perhaps you don’t have a mortgage. Does that mean that you “own your home”?
No, not really. Just refuse to pay your property taxes and watch what happens. At best you can say that you have the right to rent your home from the government.
In any event, the reality is that the banks now own more of “our homes” than we do. During the most recent recession, the total amount of U.S. home equity owned by the banks surpassed the total amount of U.S. home equity owned by the rest of us for the first time ever.
Things used to be far different in this country. Once upon a time American families owned most of the houses and most of the land in this nation.
But now the banks own most of it. Sadly, most American families that believe that they “own homes” are actually enslaved to 20 or 30 year debt contracts.
#2 Do you think that you own your car? You don’t own it if you are still making payments on it. If you stop making payments you will rapidly lose that car.
But even if your car is paid off, you can only operate that car if you do the following….
*You must pay the license fee
*You must pay the car registration fee
*You must pay the emissions inspection fee
*You must pay the property taxes on that car (if that applies in your area)
*You must pay the tire taxes
*You must pay the gas taxes
If you have paid all of those taxes, then you are permitted to drive only where the government allows you to drive and only under the rules that the government sets for you.
But at least you “own” your car, right?
#3 What about your possessions? Do you own them?
Well, yes, you probably own some possessions.
But that doesn’t mean that they are not enslaving you.
After all, did you use a credit card to pay for any of them?
If so, you could end up paying much more for your possessions than you originally thought that they cost.
For example, if you only make the minimum payment on your credit card each month, a $6,000 credit card bill could end up costing you over $30,000 (depending on the interest rate).
#4 Do you own your education? Well, it is undeniable that nobody can ever take it away from you. But if you took out student loans that debt may end up enslaving you for decades.
The borrower is the servant of the lender and student loan debt is more of a financial drain on Americans than ever before. Americans now owe more on student loans than they do on credit cards. As hard as that is to believe, that is actually true. Americans now owe more than $903 billion on student loans, which is a new all-time record.
#5 Will you protect your wealth if you put your money in the bank?
No, in fact your wealth will be systematically destroyed in the bank.
Inflation is a hidden tax on every single dollar that you own. It destroys the value of all dollars in existence. There are some Americans that have been saving money for decades, but those savings are being taxed into oblivion by inflation. Many experts are now projecting that the average price of a gallon of gasoline will hit $5 by the end of the year. So the next time you go to the gas pump just take a moment to think about how your wealth is being drained away by inflation.
#6 Insurance costs continue to soar. After insuring everything in our lives many of us barely have any money left over to actually live our lives with. In particular, health insurance premiums have become completely and totally ridiculous. According to the Los Angeles Times, Blue Shield of California plans to raise rates an average of 30% to 35%, and some individual policy holders could see their health insurance premiums rise by a whopping 59 percent this year alone. So how are American families supposed to survive if they keep on handing over bigger and bigger chunks of their income to the health care industry?
#7 State and local governments all over the nation have turned to ticket writing as a primary revenue source. In fact, in some areas of the country traffic citations are soaring at a crazy rate. For example, 110,000 more traffic citations were written in Los Angeles County last fiscal year than were written in the fiscal year immediately prior to the last recession.
The truth is that the police even realize what is going on. Just consider the following quote from from Police Chief Michael Reaves of Utica, Michigan….
“When I first started in this job 30 years ago, police work was never about revenue enhancement, but if you’re a chief now, you have to look at whether your department produces revenues.”
#8 Some states have decided to simply confiscate wealth even if nothing has been done wrong. For example, the state of California is aggressively seizing “unclaimed” safe deposit boxes. If you have a safe deposit box that you have not checked on in a while you might want to make sure that it is still there.
#9 You might end up losing your valuables when you cross the border. It is being reported that U.S. border agents are now regularly seizing laptops and other electronic devices as people cross the border. In many cases those items are never returned.
#10 If you don’t pay your property taxes, you will lose your house and it will likely be a big Wall Street bank that will be taking it from you. As I have written about previously, the big Wall Street banks are buying up thousands upon thousands of tax liens and are making a killing by socking distressed homeowners with predatory interest, outrageous penalties and almost unbelievable legal fees.
#11 Of course the biggest way that our wealth is being drained is through federal income taxes. The reason that the Federal Reserve and the IRS were established back in 1913 was to redistribute wealth. Wealth is transferred from the American people to the U.S. government and then ultimately to the elite and to the causes that the elite favor.
But federal taxes are only one of the taxes that we pay. The truth is that the average American pays dozens of different taxes each year. Just check out a few examples of the different taxes that drain our wealth….
#12 Accounts Receivable Taxes
#13 Building Permit Taxes
#14 Capital Gains Taxes
#15 CDL License Taxes
#16 Cigarette Taxes
#17 Corporate Income Taxes
#18 Court Fines (indirect taxes)
#19 Dog License Taxes
#20 Federal Unemployment Taxes (FUTA)
#21 Fishing License Taxes
#22 Food License Taxes
#23 Gasoline Taxes
#24 Gift Taxes
#25 Hunting License Taxes
#26 Inheritance Taxes
#27 Inventory Taxes
#28 IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)
#29 IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
#30 Liquor Taxes
#31 Local Income Taxes
#32 Luxury Taxes
#33 Marriage License Taxes
#34 Medicare Taxes
#35 Payroll Taxes
#36 Property Taxes
#37 Real Estate Taxes
#38 Recreational Vehicle Taxes
#39 Road Toll Booth Taxes
#40 Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)
#41 Sales Taxes
#42 Self-Employment Taxes
#43 School Taxes
#44 Septic Permit Taxes
#45 Service Charge Taxes
#46 Social Security Taxes
#47 State Income Taxes
#48 State Unemployment Taxes (SUTA)
#49 Telephone federal excise taxes
#50 Telephone federal universal service fee taxes
#51 Telephone federal, state and local surcharge taxes
#52 Telephone minimum usage surcharge taxes
#53 Telephone recurring and non-recurring taxes
#54 Telephone state and local taxes
#55 Telephone usage charge taxes
#56 Toll Bridge Taxes
#57 Toll Tunnel Taxes
#58 Traffic Fines (indirect taxation)
#59 Trailer Registration Taxes
#60 Utility Taxes
#61 Vehicle License Registration Taxes
#62 Vehicle Sales Taxes
#63 Watercraft Registration Taxes
#64 Well Permit Taxes
#65 Workers Compensation Taxes
Even the future is being taken away from us. The future is literally being stolen from our children and our grandchildren. They will be inheriting the 14 trillion dollar (and still rising) national debt that we have accumulated. What we have done to future generations is unthinkable, and yet we continue to endlessly borrow more money. The Congressional Research Service estimates that the U.S. government will need to borrow $738 billion between April 1st and September 30th. Faith in U.S. Treasuries is falling so rapidly that now the biggest bond fund in the world, PIMCO, is actually shorting U.S. Treasuries.
When you base an entire economy on debt, eventually you end up with money problems that never seem to end. As a nation we are now enslaved to a vicious spiral of debt that is going to destroy everything that our forefathers worked so hard to build.
As the debt loads of our federal, state and local governments become even more burdensome, they are going to want even more money from us. For decades we gave in to new tax after new tax thinking that it would finally satisfy them. But it never seems to be enough. They always want more.
It is the same thing with the banksters. They are never satisfied either. They always want more assets and they always want more Americans to be enslaved to debt.
Unfortunately, most Americans are so caught up in the “rat race” that they never take much time to think about who designed the race or why they are running it.
Hopefully more Americans will wake up and will realize that our entire economy and our entire financial system need to be reformed. Our current system is inherently flawed and it will eventually impoverish the vast majority of us if we allow it to.
Posted in Banks, Corruption, Debt, Economic Crisis, Economy, Federal Reserve, Financial System, Fraud, Government, Inflation, Money, Taxpayer |
Tags: Banksters, Fascism, Kleptocracy, Middle Class, Oligarchy, Taxation |
Comments Closed
Bretton Woods Conference 2011: Simon Johnson on Too-Big-To-Fail
An excellent video. This is the heart of much of our economic catastrophe. Sovereign governments are sacrificing themselves for private banking institutions. Trillions upon trillions of taxpayer dollars, world-wide, are being transferred to banks that have destroyed themselves many times over with their Enron-style Ponzi schemes and ‘creative accounting.’ The question is, how long will people stand for it? Soon it will be too late. So far, Iceland is the ONLY country whose people have made the right choice, while Ireland and Greece have made the devastatingly wrong choice – with Portugal ready to follow suit.
Posted in bailouts, Bankers, banking, Banking System, Banks, Corruption, Debt, Economic Crisis, Economy, Financial System, Fraud, Government, Money, Taxpayer, Too Big To Fail |
Tags: Captured Government, Kleptocracy, Oligarchy |
Comments Closed
proudly supports:
Bill Still For President
for Congress
Michigan 11th District
By Bill Still
There is only one answer for the world economic situation; monetary reform.
1. No More National Debt
2. No More Fractional Lending
PDF PowerPoint Congressional Patriots Federal Reserve Balance Sheet Paulson's Lies Bernanke's Lies FedUpUSA Archive Mathematics of Failure Media Kit Door Hanger Corruption Flier Bank Flier Made In America A list of products and services made right here in the USA. Choosing to buy American made products preserves and creates American jobs.