You Lie! (UPDATED... Again!!!)

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(As promised, we are re-running this post from just over two years ago to remind everybody of just what an odious sham were the auto bailouts and in specific the manner in which the TARP funds (funds, by the way, that were never intended for the auto industry in the first place - remember, they were tabbed for the financial sector, only) were paid off. The thuggish history of this administration and its enablers needs to be recalled as often as possible prior to the November elections.)





(Please scroll to bottom for update)



So, General Motors and its folksy CEO, Ed Whitacre, have paid off GM's TARP bailout money? What an incredible turnaround. If by "turnaround", though, you mean paying off your Visa card debt with your Mastercard.

All evidence points to the fact that GM is using a separate TARP line of credit to pay off its primary TARP debt.

During an April 20 hearing on Capital Hill, Sen. Tom Carper, (D-Del.) asked some pointed questions of Neil Barofsky, the “special watch dog” on the Wall Street Bailout, aka, TARP.

It’s good news in that they’re reducing their debt,” Barofsky said of the accelerated GM payments, “but they’re doing it by taking other available TARP money.”…

“It sounds like it’s kind of like taking money out of one pocket and putting in the other,” said Carper, who got a nod of agreement from Barofsky.

“The way that payment is going to be made is by drawing down on an equity facility of other TARP money.”

Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) went off on the Obama administration and the TARP shell game in a letter sent to two-time tax cheat and tax collector-in-chief, Tim Geithner using Barofsky's testimony to level the credible claim that GM was not using GM earnings to pay off TARP debt but rather TARP funds from an escrow account at Treasury to make the debt repayments.

From the letter:

When these criticisms were put to GM’s Vice Chairman Stephen Girsky in a television interview yesterday, he admitted that the criticisms were valid:

Question: Are you just paying the government back with government money?

Mr. Girsky: Well listen, that is in effect true, but a year ago nobody thought we’d be able to pay this back.

Unbelievable. Dude actually wants some sort of recognition that GM was able to pay off tax payer-funded debt with... tax payer funds.

This is the first acknowledgement that we are aware of a shadow TARP. As if the publicly-known TARP wasn't bad enough there is a subterranean TARP that is backing the initial TARP.

This simply re-enforces our sentiment that we will never in our lives purchase a GM or Chrysler product. These people are straight-up gangsters. There is no other word to describe them and their actions to deliberately deceive and forcibly misuse U.S. tax payer dollars.

We believe this instance provides sufficient cover to get your hate on.

H/T: Hot Air


(UPDATE #1): This time, we lie! Much like GM's false claim that they have paid off its TARP debt with actual earnings, there is no actual update.

We originally posted this over the weekend, when readership is down a bit but we wanted to resurrect it during the week to highlight the sheer audacity of General Motors. The federal government is entirely complicit in what we can only tag as gangster capitalism. The government takeover and bankruptcy proceedings that screwed over the secured creditors in favor of the labor unions was executed in a thuggish manner and now the GM/federal government partnership openly displays their contempt for the American public by running an ad during the NBA playoffs patting itself on the back for a job well done.

We may re-run this post again next week. And the week after that. Whatever we have to do to ensure that we never forget what little regard this administration has for your interests and your tax dollars.

Frank Rich, Paul Krugman and the rest of the intelligentsia of this country may disagree with the politics of those who have opposed the bailouts but that they cannot at least understand where this anger may be coming from, again, speaks to a widening disconnect in this country between the taste-makers and those who are actually footing the bill for this fiasco.


(UPDATE #2): Reason TV's Nick Gillespie takes about as much time to explain the shell game that is General Motor's "paying off" its TARP debt as the GM commercial.




Again, the sheer gall that Government Motors has in running this outright lie will compel us to update this regularly or repost from time to time whether or not there is an actual update.





(UPDATE #3): The nation's paper of record is now on the beat.

AS we inch closer to a clearer understanding of the products and practices that unleashed the credit crisis of 2008, it’s becoming apparent that those seeking the whole truth are still outnumbered by those aiming to obscure it. This is the case not only on Wall Street but also in Washington.

Truth seekers the nation over, therefore, are indebted to Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, who in recent days uncovered what he called a government-enabled “TARP money shuffle.” It relates to General Motors, which on April 21 paid the balance of its $6.7 billion loan under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

G.M. trumpeted its escape from the program as evidence that it had turned the corner in its operations. “G.M. is able to repay the taxpayers in full, with interest, ahead of schedule, because more customers are buying vehicles like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick LaCrosse,” boasted Edward E. Whitacre Jr., its chief executive.

G.M. also crowed about its loan repayment in a national television ad and the United States Treasury also marked the moment with a press release: “We are encouraged that G.M. has repaid its debt well ahead of schedule and confident that the company is on a strong path to viability,” said Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary.

Taxpayers are naturally eager for news about bailout repayments. But what neither G.M. nor the Treasury disclosed was that the company simply used other funds held by the Treasury to pay off its original loan.

The CBO estimates we will lose about $30 billion on the GM bailout. And in the article, GM officials are outrageously outraged that anybody would suspect that they are doing anything untoward with taxpayer money. Not that they are specifically denying doing anything untoward.

Greg Martin, a G.M. spokesman, said the company had made no misrepresentations about its repayment. “The bottom line is, our strong business performance has put us in the position that we don’t need these funds,” he said, referring to the cash in the escrow account. “G.M. is performing much better than anyone expected and that does represent a significant milestone for the company.”

And Ron Bloom, senior adviser to Mr. Geithner, bristled at Mr. Grassley’s criticism. “The Treasury Department has tried to be as straight as humanly possible,” he said in an interview. “We have never not been clear about exactly what we paid, exactly the terms of the investment. I’m finding it hard to find anyone obfuscating about this.”

(italics, ours)

They don't need the (TARP) funds... except that they need the funds to pay off the TARP debt.

We'll spare you the righteous indignation this time around because it's all there in black and white. A nice big F-you from General Motors leadership to the U.S. taxpayers.

And you all thought Enron was bad.

Quickies

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A round-up of news items, articles, columns and blog posts that caught our eye this past week.









One would think that during winter hibernation and reflecting upon all the unsanitary, assault-y and rape-y shenanigans of their Occupy camps from last year, these ass-hats would've come up with something cogent, relevant and productive. Nope.

Another #Occupy Fail:





Because nothing speaks to the 99% like making their morning commute that much more difficult and chaotic.

What was the point of this anyway? Isn't being crammed into the shiny metal boxes of mass transit the very epitome of statist social engineering?

God bless ya, #Occupy... if nothing else, you have provided a never-ending stream of blog fodder for this humble little neighborhood blog.








Cave.

Charles Krauthammer on the President's hot mic problem:

"On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this can be solved, but it's important for him (Putin) to give me space.... This is my last election. After my election, I have more flexibility."
— Barack Obama to Dmitry Medvedev, open mic, March 26

You don't often hear an American president secretly (he thinks) assuring foreign leaders that concessions are coming their way, but they must wait because he's seeking re-election and he dare not tell his own people.

Not at all, spun a White House aide in major gaffe-control mode. The president was merely explaining that arms control is too complicated to be dealt with in a year in which both Russia and the U.S. hold presidential elections.

Rubbish. First of all, to speak of Russian elections in the same breath as ours is a travesty. Theirs was a rigged, predetermined farce. Putin ruled before. Putin rules after.

Obama spoke of the difficulties of the Russian presidential "transition." What transition? It's a joke. It had no effect on Putin's ability to negotiate anything.

As for the U.S. election, the problem is not that the issue is too complicated but that if people knew Obama's intentions of "flexibly" caving on missile defenses, they might think twice about giving him a second term.
After all, what is Obama doing negotiating on missile defense in the first place? We have no obligation to do so. The ABM Treaty, a relic of the Cold War, died in 2002.

"Flexibly". That would be one term for it. Read the rest of the dressing down at the link.






B-Daddy grabs ahold of one our favorite subjects: California's high speed choos-choos and the most massive public works boondoggle in the history of western civilization which it represents. It would appear that before even laying down a single mile of track somewhere out in the middle of the central valley, it is running afoul of its bond provisions.

B-Daddy writes:

It seems that all the changes being made to this boondoggle are violating the terms of Proposition 1A. Some provisions that can't be met and would violate the law:

Any initial segment has to use high-speed trains. Instead, the rail authority has agreed to run fewer trains at slower speeds on tracks shared with commuter rail systems.

Passengers must be able to board in Los Angeles and arrive in San Francisco without changing trains.

The system is supposed to run without taxpayer subsidies. I can't stop laughing at that requirement.

The system running without subsidies is some sort of sick joke. And running fewer trains at slowers speeds? That's called AmTrak. And anyone who has seen a proposed map of California's choo-choo routes knows that there has always been a handful of stops between San Francisco and L.A. Say, a proposed map like this:

This whole thing is a mockery of a travesty of a sham and we will admit to taking a huge degree of glee in watching this whole miserable house of cards come down in rather slow-motion fashion.






Sir Charles of Doo Doo Economics has more on the faith-based global-warming set and their continuing truthiness problems.






What are you waiting for? Click here to vote for Leslie Easterman as Circle of Moms Top 25 Political Moms competition. Currently, #35 with a bullet.











... we said get over there and vote, already. sheesh.






Glenn Reynolds on the Solicitor General's dreadful performance this week in defending ObamaCare before the Supreme Court and why, perhaps it is such a daunting task for which Donald Verrilli should not take such a bad rap:

So last week's Supreme Court arguments over Obamacare weren't exactly a smashing success for the Obama administration. How bad was it? Bad enough that Jeffrey Toobin called the event "a train wreck," Mother Jones called it a "disaster," and constitutional law professor Ann Althouse, amid terrible reviews of Solicitor General Donald Verrilli's performance, wondered if Verrilli had taken a dive, deliberately throwing the argument so that the Obama administration would no longer be tied to the increasingly unpopular health care bill.

But I think that people are being too hard on Verrilli. He may have coughed and stammered a bit, but his real problem wasn't about performance. His real problem was that he was tasked with defending the indefensible.

Indeed.







Object Lesson #592 on why it is you don't mess with this regime:

Today I received a letter from the IRS that my 2007 tax returns are being audited. Less than one month after launching TaxCheatStamps.com.

There's a list of "proposed changes" they want to make to my 2007 return that would require me to pay almost $14,000 in taxes, penalties, and interest. All the "discrepancies" they list are bogus and I have documentation to prove it. I keep meticulous records and always pay every cent I owe to Uncle Sam. We're going to talk to a lawyer ASAP.

There is no doubt in my mind that my family is being politically persecuted for making a mockery of our new Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the Obama administration.

Honestly, we're scared. We haven't done anything wrong (and I've got the documents to prove it in storage) but now the IRS is coming after us and they can destroy our lives with a flick of their pen. I don't want to sound like a coward, but I'm so scared I'm literally shaking. We've got a seven-week-old daughter.

I suppose it's a sort of honor to be persecuted like this. I'd really appreciate it if people would blog about this and link to this post. (And a prayer wouldn't hurt.)

Donations and prayers welcome at the link.


Related: Years ago, our old boss, Bob Kinsella, President and CEO of the 5 employee team at San Diego Tug and Barge asked me to order a "Bullshit" stamp as he could not find his. We asked how it was we were going to get that order filled on the up and up. "Simple", he stated. "It's not a "Bullshit" stamp, per se, rather "Ballast Under Load Line - SHip In Transit".










Change.

As a young labor organizer in Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa worked for the city’s teachers, honing his political skills in the fight for a good contract. The union loved him back, supporting the Democrat’s election to the State Assembly, City Council and, finally, the mayor’s office he occupies today.

But now, Villaraigosa, a rising star in the national Democratic party, has a different view. He calls the teachers union “the one, unwavering roadblock” to improving public education in L.A.

Villaraigosa is one of several Democratic mayors in cities across the country — Chicago, Cleveland, Newark and Boston, among them — who are challenging teachers unions in ways that seemed inconceivable just a decade ago.

We've long been of the opinion that because of the realities of big city politics, Democrats were far better positioned to effect any real and meaning full change/reforms within our public education system (the crappiest school systems are almost exclusively the domain of Democrat/Union dominated cities). Also, any Republican mayor or governor who goes messing with the status quo is a knuckle-dragging enemy of the people whereas a reforming Democrat is viewed far less hostily.

No matter. If Democrats are willing to stick their necks out on this one, they have our full support.






No one saw this coming. No one:

Angry lib talking head breaks with channel no one could find.

David Brooks of the New York Times whines about Nathan Fletcher going independent after not receiving the San Diego Republican Party's endorsement for mayor.

Fletcher is tall, good-looking, smart, polished (maybe too much so) and moderate. An article in The Sacramento Bee touted him as a rising Republican star, the kind of Republican who could get elected statewide. It didn’t hurt that his wife has worked for George W. Bush and other Republicans.

The next step was obvious: Run for mayor of San Diego. The city has a tradition of electing pragmatic center-right Republicans. Fletcher ran on some conservative ideas — pension reform and fiscal conservatism — and some less conventionally conservative ones — open space, bike paths and environmental policies. He’s also for comprehensive immigration reform.

He was endorsed by Paul Jacobs, the chairman and chief executive of Qualcomm. Both Mitt and Ann Romney, who have a place in San Diego, maxed out to his campaign, giving $500 each.

But as Scott Lewis of voiceofsandiego.org has detailed, the San Diego Republican Party has moved sharply right recently. A group of insurgents have toppled the old city establishment. As Lewis wrote, “The Republican Party has gone through a fantastically effective effort to enforce conformity around its principles.”

Brooks describes Carl DeMaio, who did receive the party endorsement as "the more orthodox conservative". One wonders if Brooks did any research at all regarding DeMaio, the first openly gay city coucil person and the man who has been at the forefront of public employee pension reform, an issue that has resonated greatly with the voters of the city. If this makes DeMaio the more orthodox conservative and which also represents an enforcing of conformity, then so be it but perhaps Brooks should pause to consider that at 3,000 miles away, he has zero feel for the political ground game here in San Diego before he puts fingers to keyboard to bellyache some more about the extreming of politics in this country.





OK, gang... that's it for today. We'll see you all tomorrow.


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Profiles in courage

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Via B-Daddy. This is jaw-droppingly stunning: if there is a bigger case of management-speak bullshit bingo than what Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, gives in the first minute of this clip regarding the admninistration's budget proposal, we have yet to hear it.

"Leaders are supposed to fix problems"

They've pretty much given up. Geithner admits they don't have any plan nor any actual desire to get long-range debt, which is driven by currently unsustainable entitlements in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, under control.


More lying to the American public will have to suffice because Geithner's basis for opposition to Paul Ryan's budget is simply, "We don't like yours".


This is what passes for leadership in this country in 2012. Four more years of cowardice and shameful cynicism. We can't wait.

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Video clip of the day

Something easy to get your weekend started...

Freedom Watch on ObamaCare and Geithner:

"You're not crazy, maybe a little paranoid"

"(Congress) creating unrealistic deadlines to game the CBO scoring"

On Timothy Geithner: a record of "...high bank profit and high unemployment"

Follower blog post of the day

Boy, have we ever fallen off the beam in this little endeavor. No time like the present, however, to get right back on.



Two-time tax cheat and Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner made a speech and did some Q and A afterwards at the Harvard University Shorenstein (Joan) Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy a few days ago and in doing so made some very, very telling remarks.

Sir Charles over at Doo Doo Economics has the goods, here.

We weren't able to sit through the entire thing but there were two general themes that elevated themselves, particularly during the Q and A, and one was that Geithner and his people were infinitelely smarter than the rest of us and that we should be glad they are in charge.

The other was that we should just get used to anemic growth and a sluggish economy - it's the new norm. We got the feeling that Geithner almost welcomed this continual state of economic crisis as it would afford an opportunity, as Rahm Emanuel put it, to do things that would not otherwise have been able to be implemented during a time of a healthy and robust economy. We could be wrong but we're probably not - go check it out for yourself.


Very civil bunch there at Harvard for a guy that deserves to run out of town on a rail.

A few words regarding the statists' favorite day of the year

Some tax day red meat for you featuring our favorite Obama regime cabinet member: that miserable hack that runs the Justice Department.


The hits, they just keep on coming...

US Attorney General Eric Holder and his brother failed to pay the property taxes on their childhood home in Queens, which they inherited last August after their mother died, The Post has learned.

And because their ailing mom, Miriam, was already behind on two quarterly tax bills when she succumbed to illness on Aug. 13, the charges went unpaid for more than a year -- growing to $4,146.

It wasn't until The Post confronted Holder last week about the delinquency that he and younger brother William Holder finally paid up Friday, including $73.14 in interest.

The siblings "weren't aware of the initial missed payments, which happened in the last months of their mother's life when she was battling illness," said a Holder spokesman.

The subsequent unpaid bills "occurred during a time period in which the disposition of the estate is still being resolved," said Department of Justice spokesman Matthew Miller.

With the egg-in-the-face embarrasment caused by Tom Daschle and then the Treasury head, Timothy Geithner, over unpaid taxes, wouldn't it be reasonable to assume that every other top Obama aide, advisor and cabinet member might've paused for a moment and said, "You know, perhaps I should take a round turn on my own tax situation to save the boss anymore grief"? Would it really be expecting too much to have that rhetorical conversation?

Then again, it's become blatantly obvious why it's so easy for the liberal-Left to talk about raising taxes on "the rich" - paying taxes is for chumps.



But a little bit more on the President's, after extending the Bush-era tax cuts at the end of last year, new found vigor in wanting to raise the tax rate for those making over $250,000 in order to close the budget deficit or something.

It has never been adequately explained to us how taking money out of the private sector, out of the hands of those job-creators and wealth generators - you know, the rich - and putting it into the public sector, into the hands of the government, is going to do a better at job creation and wealth generating. No one has because it's all a big fat lie. This isn't taxing the the rich to close the deficit, this is about envy and class warfare, pure and simple.

You can dress up that pig any way you want with the fineries of "paying their fair share", "social justice" and even the pathetically lame "paying taxes is patriotic" (paying taxes is not patriotic, it's the law) but at the end of the day, it all amounts to income redistribution. Taking away wealth from the producers in society and giving to those who don't even pay personal income tax for the services we all use. Does that sound "fair" to you?

The Friday evening dump... and quote of the day

(one in a (semi)weekly series intended to shine some light on unsavory news being jettisoned from the White House or Capitol Hill right before the weekend)

"I would assume he would be someone we would want to hear from because he would have firsthand knowledge."

That from Iowa Democrat, Bruce Braley, in reference to Dept. of Treasury HMFIC, Timothy Geithner and the revelation made this past Friday regarding just what Goldman Sachs did with their share of the U.S. tax-payer funded TARP bailout.

Goldman Sachs sent $4.3 billion in federal tax money to 32 entities, including many overseas banks, hedge funds and pensions, according to information made public Friday night.
Goldman Sachs disclosed the list of companies to the Senate Finance Committee after a threat of subpoena from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Ia.

Asked the significance of the list, Grassley said, "I hope it's as simple as taxpayers deserve to know what happened to their money."

He added, "We thought originally we were bailing out AIG. Then later on ... we learned that the money flowed through AIG to a few big banks, and now we know that the money went from these few big banks to dozens of financial institutions all around the world."

Grassley said he was reserving judgment on the appropriateness of U.S. taxpayer money ending up overseas until he learns more about the 32 entities.

All told Goldman Sachs received $12.9 billion in bailout money to protect itself from the worthless AIG securities it held. But before it received the bailout, it had secured protection from outfits like Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley should AIG go under and lawmakers and regulators want to know why, if Goldman Sachs had private money lined up to stay afloat, was tax payer money being spent instead?

Shouldn't Goldman Sachs be expected to collect from those institutions "before they collect the taxpayers' dollars?" Grassley asked. "It's a little bit like a farmer, if you got crop insurance, you shouldn't be getting disaster aid."

Goldman had not disclosed the names of the counterparties it paid in late 2008 until Friday, despite repeated requests from Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel.

To date, AIG has received over $133 billion in tax-payer assistance.

Warren, in testimony Wednesday, said that the rescue of AIG "distorted the marketplace by turning AIG's risky bets into fully guaranteed transactions. Instead of forcing AIG and its counterparties to bear the costs of the company's failure, the government shifted those costs in full onto taxpayers."

Indeed. If the Wall St. big boys had each others' back then what was the need for the panic that set Bailout Nation into motion?

Somebody got played here and Grassley, Braley and Warren want to know what did Geithner, who was head of the New York Federal Reserve at the time the bailouts were structured in the fall of '08, know and when did he know it.

An attempt, made Friday, to contact Geithner through the White House's public information office was unsuccessful. Natch.

Poll results

Despite our implicit attempts to sway public opinion on our latest polls, the Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, has been voted by you, the readers, as the biggest hack in the Obama administration garnering 38% of the vote in a very impressive field of hacks.

The readers of BwD have shown an independence that would not be influenced by this pages outright contempt for its vote for biggest hack and because of that we are proud to announce the Secretary as the people’s hack!

Congratulations, Mr. Secretary, you certainly have earned it.

Poll Question

New poll question which can be found in the upper right hand margin of the page.

We hesitated going with this poll but after it was revealed that the New York Fed, while being headed by the now Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told the money-laundering service, AIG, to keep quiet about to which financial institutions AIG was funneling its TARP money, we figured, screw it - let’s roll.

Poll question: Who’s the biggest hack in the Obama administration?

We don’t want to influence the voting, but for the sake of discussion, we don’t think it’s either Rahmbo or Axelrod. You are certainly welcome to disagree. We give these two credit for never trying to sell themselves as something they are not. Emanuel is an unapologetic, bare-knuckles, Chicago-way pol. He is who he is and we have a grudging degree of respect for that. Same for Axelrod: In our eyes at least, he has never tried to fashion himself as anything other than the absolute sleaze merchant he is. Again, with the sliding scale to which you have to hold this gang, that is to be commended.

We certainly invite write-ins in the comment section because we realize this list is by no means a comprehensive one with respect to potential candidates. Here are your choices listed in alphabetical order:





David Axelrod - Senior advisor to the President





Rahm Emanuel - White House Chief of Staff





Timothy Geithner - Secretary of the Department of Treasury




Eric Holder - Attorney General





Valerie Jarrett - special advisor to the President

Chris Dodd: (Still) #1

Judicial Watch has compiled their 10 most corrupt politicians of 2009 and Chris Dodd, the prohibitive favorite coming off his title-winning campaign last year, claims his 2nd straight crown this year.

This marks two years in a row for Senator Dodd, who made the 2008 "Ten Most Corrupt" list for his corrupt relationship with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and for accepting preferential treatment and loan terms from Countrywide Financial, a scandal which still dogs him.

In 2009, the scandals kept coming for the Connecticut Democrat. In 2009, Judicial Watch filed a Senate ethics complaint against Dodd for undervaluing a property he owns in Ireland on his Senate Financial Disclosure forms. Judicial Watch's complaint forced Dodd to amend the forms.

However, press reports suggest the property to this day remains undervalued. Judicial Watch also alleges in the complaint that Dodd obtained a sweetheart deal for the property in exchange for his assistance in obtaining a presidential pardon (during the Clinton administration) and other favors for a long-time friend and business associate. The false financial disclosure forms were part of the cover-up. Dodd remains the head the Senate Banking Committee.

So, to one of the bright lights in the most ethical Congress ever, we salute you, Senator Dodd!

Rounding out the Top 10:

Senator John Ensign (R-NV)
Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA)
Secretary of Treasury Timothy Geithner
Attorney General Eric Holder
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL)/ Senator Roland Burris (D-IL)
President Barack Obama Oh, my
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA)
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY)

It should be noted that this list is in alphabetical order and Chris Dodd really isn’t #1 but we couldn’t resist the convergence of a great photo op and him being listed first. To prevent any confusion in future years, perhaps we could advise the Senator to stay off this list altogether. As someone who’s taken an oath to uphold the law and represent the people, that’s probably not asking too much.

From the Dept. of Inevitability

To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, "We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.”

Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldn’t do it.

“We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”

Damn near insistent upon it from the sound of things.

So, it would appear that the Obama line of $250,000 as the cut-off line for new taxes will take a dramatic nose dive.

Unfortunately, the first thing that popped into our mind after reading the exchange above between the two-time tax cheat and George Stephanopoulos was not that we were going to be shelling out more money but the little troll below that showed up at the April 15th tea party outside the main San Diego post office who was berating all us racist ingrates for protesting our porkulus tax refund. All $13/week of it.



We’d like an opportunity to re-engage.

P.S. We know it was a decision based upon simplicity and clarity but the link is titled, "Geithner Won't Rule Out New Taxes for Middle Class", forgetting the fact that only Congress can levy taxes.

Not yet ready for prime time

Geithner has been criticized for staffing his department too slowly as it grapples with a banking crisis that has crippled the economy. Uncertainty about Treasury staff also has unnerved financial markets.

Five weeks into his tenure, he has yet to name a single top deputy or assistant secretary. This has left Treasury with too few people authorized to make decisions or represent the department in meetings with stakeholders.

(break)

But at a Senate hearing Thursday about failed insurance giant American International Group Inc. -- which has received four separate bailouts totaling more than $170 billion -- Sen. Chris Dodd said he had asked Treasury for someone to appear, but that no one was available.

"I am not pleased that we don't have someone here from Treasury to explain what their role in this is," Dodd said.

In the two-time tax cheat’s defense, though, we can’t blame anybody for not wanting to be in the same room as that tool, Dodd.

A nice wrap-up here from KT on the amateur hour we have gotten ourselves into.

But, damn, if Michelle doesn't have some awesomely-toned deltoids.

That 100th Day can't come soon enough

What accounts for this debacle? You could start with a lack of presidential leadership. Who would have thought the missing player in the first month of the administration would be Barack Obama? He let his signature economic legislation, the stimulus, be shaped by congressional Democrats. He let internal disputes over the difficult question of how to save the banking system result in a disastrous non-announcement of a non-plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner last week. Before that, he let Geithner become Treasury secretary after cheating on his income taxes, and waived his own ethics rules to appoint a lobbyist as deputy secretary of defense--undercutting his promises to clean up Washington. He allowed Rahm Emanuel to politicize the Census Bureau, losing as a result his commerce secretary-designee, Judd Gregg, an ornament of his professed hope for bipartisanship.

The passage of the stimulus package, labeled as “Obama’s big victory” (like it wasn’t going to be passed?) has overshadowed a myriad of missteps that have been chronicled, in part, in these pages.

KT provides a nice wrap-up, here, about early Administration decisions sure to bite us in the ass down the road.

Dig the part about Chris “Onions” Dodd inserting language into porkulus which would restrict executive pay retroactively…. a feature not part of the advertised plan and which was done without White House knowledge.

It's a 'Taxable Moment'

The Tax Guys, hosts of the call-in show “Hey, Tax Guys” on OBAMA 1260 have added none other than President Obama’s Director of Health and Human Services nominee, Tom Daschle to its lineup that already includes Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, Charles Rangel (D-NY).

Today’s show features “Mail call”. Let’s dive right in shall we:

Dear Tax Guys:
I've had a lot on my mind lately, and when I was going through some old receipt boxes in my filing cabinet I suddenly realized I haven't paid my income taxes for the past 8 years. Am I in trouble? Please help!
Forgetful in Fort Worth

Dear Forgetful:
Here at the IRS, we realize that many well-meaning taxpayers like you can be distracted by various family illnesses, baseball pennant races, political campaigns, and so on. The rules for late filing can be surprisingly flexible if you have the right qualifying circumstances. According to IRS guidelines, you are eligible for the 306(b)(19) "I Forgot" amnesty if the following applies:
(1) Your total adjusted gross income in the "I Forgot" years was equal to or greater than $8,528,000; and
(2) You are a nominee to head a cabinet-level federal agency.
If you answered "yes" to (2), or both (1) and (2), then you are in the clear. If you answered "yes" to (1) but "no" to (2), mail 10% of the total to the Democratic National Committee and request a cabinet appointment. If you answered "no" to both, then I'm afraid you are shit out of luck. Turn yourself into your local IRS authorities, who will assist you in computing appropriate penalties, interest, and parole terms.
Tim
PS - If you have any money left, buy a few jars of that 'Ginkgo Biloba' supplement from Walgreens. I hear it really helps with memory problems!

More here from Iowahawk.

… and tune in next week when special guest Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut will be sharing some tips on how to find that killer mortgage deal that is just right for you.

High Irony content warning

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner picked a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist as a top aide Tuesday, the same day he announced rules aimed at reducing the role of lobbyists in agency decisions.

Mark Patterson will serve as Geithner's chief of staff at Treasury, which oversees the government's $700 billion financial bailout program. Goldman Sachs received $10 billion of that money.
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Melanie Sloan, executive director of the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said President Obama was retreating from his own ethics rules barring lobbyists from working on the issues they lobbied about during the previous two years. "It makes it appear that they are saying one thing and doing another," she said.

Perhaps Ms. Sloan hasn’t quite caught on to the drift of the financial bailout package. Where is the conflict of interest when everybody seems to be getting some Fed money whether their bank needs it or not?

We appreciate her pluck and willingness to point out an empty and now violated campaign promise but the helicopter is gassed up and its time to take to the air and scatter mass quantities of tax payer largesse across the fruited plain.

Glorified radio personality gets Treasury post

The man who will be charged with flying around America and throwing money out of a helicopter to hopeful bank executives was confirmed by a 60-34 vote in the Senate today for what is now the second most powerful position in the federal government.

So, let’s get this straight: Linda Chavez, George W. Bush’s choice for Secretary of Labor, withdraws her name for consideration 8 yrs. ago because she allegedly employed and illegal immigrant when in reality she was doing what any good liberal would do by letting this women who was facing domestic abuse at home, stay at her residence while providing her some emergency cash on the side.

Timothy Geithner did indeed briefly employ an illegal immigrant after her visa expired. An honest mistake. We get it. You wouldn’t believe the admin. nightmare it’s become to stay up with the paperwork of the staff here at BwD headquarters.

The bit with not paying taxes, on the other hand, leaves us dumbfounded that not more of a stink was made when this is the guy that is now tax collector-in-chief.

And to be sure, not paying taxes for the years he was audited (’03-’04) is bad enough but his most egregious offense was that he knew he had shorted the IRS by essentially the same amount in ’01 and ’02 and didn’t come clean about it until informed of this other little oversight by the Obama vetting team.

Sorry – this is an outrage. The man responsible for collecting this nation’s taxes is a cheat and a bald-faced liar.

But, it’s cool. You wanna know why? Because Chris Dodd said it is.

"To suggest that Tim Geithner is unqualified because of this tax issue is to fail to understand his contribution to this country," said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

To suggest that Chris Dodd has any credibility whatsoever in this matter is to fail to understand his contribution to this country's financial crisis.

Chris Dodd must find it very difficult to be able to walk around carrying those basketball-sized onions of his.

You might be interested to know that one of the crown jewels of the “most ethical Congress in history” has his own clock. As of this posting, it has been 186 days, 2 hours, 48 minutes and 40 seconds since Dodd promised to release his mortgage documents that would detail the extent to which he received a sweetheart deal from Countrywide back in ’03… and for which he attempted to arrange a financial bailout as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

So, you can see how it is that Dodd felt an immediate kinship and affinity towards wacky Tim, right off the bat.

After all, what good is sacrificing your professional life to public service when you can’t game the system.

Change: you better believe in!

Glorified radio personality has himself some tax problems

Timothy Geithner didn't pay Social Security and Medicare taxes for several years while he worked for the International Monetary Fund, and he employed an immigrant housekeeper who briefly lacked proper work papers.

In case you hadn’t heard, Obama’s pick for the Secretary of Treasury, which will make him the most powerful man in the U.S. government, failed to pay taxes in 2003 and 2004 while working for the International Monetary Fund. This was discovered by an IRS audit in ’06. The IRS decided against levying penalties and Geithner had to pay $17,230.

“An honest mistake” we were assured by both the President-elect and members on both sides of the aisle of one of the chummiest clubs in western civilization, the U.S. Senate.

Problem is, his failure to pay taxes wasn’t just restricted to ’03 and ’04, the years in which he was audited. He also failed to pay taxes in 2001 and 2002, years also in which he was employed by the IMF. This other “honest mistake” was discovered by the Obama vetting team late last year and Geithner submitted payment for that tax to the tune of $25,970.

As to why Mr. Geithner didn't pay all his back taxes after the 2006 audit, an Obama aide said the nominee was advised by his accountant he had no further liability. Senate Finance aides said they were concerned either Mr. Geithner or his accountant used the IRS's statute of limitations to avoid further back-tax payments at the time of the audit.

Nothing like “statute of limitations” trumping “ethical behavior”. Dude knew he was getting over for ’01 and ’02 and still didn’t come clean.

But similar to our coming-around on Caroline Kennedy’s bid for Senate and our tireless campaigning to see Princess attain her rightful seat of power, we have similar feelings about this Timothy Geithner fellow.

While Bush’s John the Baptist has heralded the coming of the One for Bailout Nation, Henry Paulson has set the template for Geithner.

Geithner’s tax problems and failure to be voluntarily-transparent when he had the chance is indicative of the temperment that is needed in a job that has become the equivalent of wacky drive-time FM DJ guy that will be flying around America dumping bails of money from out of a helicopter.

If there is to be zero accountability and minimal transparency as to how the next $350 billion dollars of the original $700 billion financial bailout package is to be spent, then dammed if Timothy Geithner isn’t the man for the job.

Welcome aboard, Tim.