As I sit here in disbelief reading about the OUTRAGE over the 165 Million in bonuses given to people that the taxpayers bailed out , I seem to recall the sound of crickets in the last 8 years over things like this:
A blast from the past met with the sound of crickets and the circular filing of sternly worded letters.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than 1.6 million U.S. businesses owe the
Internal Revenue Service more than $58 billion in unpaid taxes
for Social Security, Medicare and unemployment insurance, a government watchdog agency said on Tuesday.
In a report to the Senate Homeland Security investigations subcommittee, the Government Accountability Office said the IRS fails to take full advantage of tools available to collect unpaid taxes and to prevent further cheating on payroll taxes.
"When businesses do not remit payroll taxes, they are using employees' money to fund business operations or the personal lifestyle of the businesses' owners," GAO Director of Financial Management and Assurance Steven Sebastian said in testimony to the committee.[emphasis added]
Here a few other samples of the sounds of crickets, and I'm sure you can add some of your own.
(CBS) The U.S. has currently spent at least $437 billionon the Iraq war, according to the Congressional Research Service. An estimated $100 billion will be spent in 2007. Much of that money is going to 60,000 civilian contractors involved in reconstruction and providing services to the troops.
But recently, the Pentagon admitted it has a hard time accounting for how billions of your tax dollars are being spent — and the billions that may be lost to contractor waste, fraud and abuse, CBS News investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian reports.
Lets see billions in that report. I also seem to recall a number between 8 and 20 billion of missing cash in Iraq a number of years ago. There was isolated voices who were not outraged but it was more of a curiosity as in: Gee, I wonder what happened to the money?...and wait, yes, I'm hearing right now that Paris Hilton is going to show up on American Idol. You heard is here first folks.
That might be called the loud cricket that was stomped on by a SUV driving down the highway burning fuel at 8 MPG on it's way to the mall with a 40,000 loan on the car with the kids just home from the private schools that cost $30,000 a semester. Charge it baby. There was a story here and there , maybe 2 Minutes and 31 seconds on the nightly news.
Here's a little bit of handy coincidence for you. By the end of 2008 exhausted and broke taxpayers had given Citibank 45 Billin dollars. How did they manage to do it? Well up until Oct or Novemeber they were paying $4.00 for gas to go to a job many wouldn't have so by the end of the year Exxons earnings were 45 Billion. The tax payers helped with that as they helped with the 45 Billion dollar bail out of Citibank. Our reward? In the ditch broke, laid off, foreclosed and bankrupt. Citibank ? Stock is on a tear . Exxon, happy to see a year of earnings that was equal to 6.5 years of earnings when gas was affordable. A going away present from W and Friends.
Then there was Cheney's Haliburton stock options that appreciated some 3300% at one point as the auditor at the DoD questioned the need for a no bid contract lasting 5 years for Haliburton and then was summarily demoted afterwords. Do you remember her name? No outrage left? Crickets.
I'm angry right now but for different reasons. Is the road we are following the only road to recovery? The one that has drained every last dime to the Govt can beg borrow and steal to the point where Bernanke admits freely that he is printing money and says "we have to save the financial system".
If Carl Sagan was still alive he would be saying "Trillions and trillions of planets dollars. The way I see this 165 Million is the same way I saw W. Bush show us his middle finger. We knew there would be consequences for the Dems being weak in 06 and 07 when they wouldn't even enforce a subpoena. Who wants to take bets that the CEOs of the 4 Banks that control 40% of the nations finances took notes and are most likely using our money to pay outsize consulting fees to the Lawyers, the lobbyists and the principals themselves who turned their back on congress , lowered their pants and farted in three part harmony.
Then I see this story this evening about Goldman Sachs and the 12.7 Billion they got from AIG . Does anyone here think for one moment that this is noting more than a artificial controversy that was manufactured to divert us from this?
Goldman rejected settling of AIG trades at discount CEO Blankfein had no meetings with Paulson about problems at insurer: CFO
The investment bank demanded that the insurer post more and more collateral over the following year. "Over subsequent weeks and months, we continued to make calls as the market deteriorated," he added.
"We don't think we did anything wrong," Viniar continued, explaining that "we had commercial terms. It is our responsibility to our shareholders to make sure that we are protecting ourselves. That's why we enter into these contracts. That's why we have terms in the first place, to make sure that we are protected."
As part of that protection, Goldman also apparently made trades that allowed it to profit from deterioration in AIG's financial strength -- likely based on those collateral calls.
I picked out selected phrases which meets the max I can quote, but
elsewhere in the article there are screamers like the CEO of Goldman was in the Sept 15th meetings to save AIG but claims not to have discussed it with former CEO Paulson now Treasury Secretary. Why he thinks anyone believes the Bullshit is beyond me. Does it matter that they took billions in additional money from TARP? Does it matter that Goldman wouldn't have received a dime on those swaps if AIG went belly up?
Where's the outrage? Why are there so many fucking crickets. I think the release of the news of the bonuses were timed to build rage so the release of where the payments have gone would be bypassed. Lets look for a second. AIG hands the traders 165 Million of Taxpayer money for failure. OUTAGE meter is pegged into the red zone
Goldman gets 12.7 billion from the Bailout out of AIG and gets another 10 Billion of TARP money after it turns itself into a depository bank. Hey free money. How much does anyone want to bet they will quietly change back to a standard wall street investment bank after they have milked the taxpayers? There is 22 Billion dollars worth of outrage right there and people are going nuts over 165 billion?
The sounds of spring are here. Crickets all over the place. Lets get mad at ordinary shoplifters while Identity thieves clean us completely out.
Now the press has decided to cover these bonuses 24 x 7
Where is the outrage when millions are filing for bankruptcy from these sorry ass pieces of shit and the very banks that are forcing people into bankruptcy who are the same people who paid taxes now and will pay taxes later to save the sorry ass banks only to find out the same banks are selling the discharged debt from those bankruptcies to bill collection firms( one did over 1.5 billion in collections from people who no longer thought they owed money- at a 98% gross margin) . Oh yeah, that really is against the law. The profits are so enormous that guess who is financing the new start ups. Wall Street.
We have been misdirected and as I write this the great Heist continues as the "In" players are laughing their asses off with the congress people they paid off and have been paying off for years as they all gather around for a little kabuki theater for our benefit. Lets also not forget to blame those irresponsible home owners too. That works so will in a standard divide and conquer strategy. God Santelli must have gotten his buddies aroused with that rant as the Bankers and their PR teams expertly manipulate public opinion. They own Limbaugh. They own number of people on this site.
When you angrily spoke out against your neighbors did you know these failed bankers where cheering every word?
Got Crickets ?
ps. President Obama: Step in now and save the Republic. Do nothing and and it very well could collapse on your watch. Stop trying to please everyone. Lincoln had half the country or more wanting him dead and they succeeded. We don't want you dead, but at the same time we want you to emulate Lincoln and do the right thing. That starts with the people who have been giving you the bullshit advice.