Today there were revelations that the Treasury changed the tax code, possibly illegally, to give banks an estimated $140 BILLION windfall profits in the midst of a massive financial crisis. This was the result of former Goldman Sachs CEO, and current Treasury Secretary, Hank Paulson. Paulson literally sneaked this change in while Congress and the country were debating the the $700 BILLION bailout. Now that it is out politicians are afraid to declare it illegal, because it will likely spook the markets which will result in another significant decline. This is a perfect example of SHOCK CAPITALISM (ala Naomi Klein) whereby corruption is laying in wait for a catalyst crisis to hide behind.
GM, Ford, and Chrysler are all calling for their “share” of the bailout money to avert their own bankruptcies. All of these companies have blatantly disregarded market forces for decades and have built gas guzzling cars. They now want to be rewarded for gross mismanagement, and they will probably get what they seek. Congress is afraid to not comply because the auto industry failure(s) will likely ripple through the financial markets. GM alone has over $60 BILLION in bonds that would be worthless in the event of a bankruptcy.
For the third time in six weeks AIG has requested more bailout money. What started out as a $85 BILLION bailout is now a $150 BILLION bailout. This is probably not the end and is likely a precursor to what other companies will demand. It is pretty clear that the arbitrary $700 BILLION TARP bailout was just the beginning.
Friday the employment figures were announced and another 258,000 people lost jobs in October. In addition, the government downwardly revised the lost jobs for both August and September. This is significant because these revised job losses could have had an adverse effect on the Republicans. It is interesting that they were held until after the election; undoubtedly, for political reasons.
Daily there is evidence of corruption in the American system. This corruption is so commonplace that it is dismissed. Politicians are caught all the time for illegal activities and influence corruption but little is done. Alaska even elected a Senator who was convicted for seven counts of fraud.
America is doomed.
