(Those TARP Figures are current as of October 31, 2009. Click here for an explanation of the abbreviations and programs in the chart.)
And "The Problem" with the American Economy ???
Oh nothing, but the standard hypocritical, self-serving, inhuman Bullshit like this ...
The Johnson-Hatch-Vitter amendment
July 24, 2013
Senator Ron Johnson (WI) has joined with Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana to make sure taxpayers across America are not put on the hook for a bailout of Detroit.
[...]
“Detroit’s debt is a national poster-child of what can result when politicians enter into an unholy alliance with powerful unions at the expense of the local economy and the people who live there. Federal Bankruptcy Court is the proper venue for settling debts that taxpayers cannot afford,” Johnson said. “What must not happen is a federal bailout that spares Detroit from making the needed reforms that the bankruptcy process may require. Any federal bailout means other municipalities and states who have a similar history will expect a federal rescue as well.”
“Ballooning debt -- driven largely by bloated retiree pension and health benefits and mismanaged budgets -- has financially crippled cities and municipalities across the country and even forced them into bankruptcy,” said Hatch. “Whatever the financial fiasco, however, it’s the responsibility of the local governments to fix. The federal government will not step in, as this amendment makes clear, and bail them out. We’re not going to leave taxpayers on the hook because local governments can’t manage a budget and live within their means.”
“By no means should the federal government be in the business of bailing out state and local governments that are in the red,” said Vitter.
[...]
Simply Un-banking-believable -- and from
people-elected representatives no less.
... And we got this other "little problem" too:
The fact that far too few of our "Leaders" bother to call them, on their hypocritical Bailout BS.
Kind of puts a rotten greed-infested taint on that whole concept of "Leadership," now doesn't it?
A contextual footnote: Unlike most corporate pensions, "city workers, do not have the same federal safety net that protects pensions at corporations."