Treasury made change to bailout bill (WITHOUT authority) giving $140 bill to banks

While no one was watching - Treasury made change to tax policy (WITHOUT authority) giving $140 billion to banks

nearing.newsvine.com

The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 10-11-2008 by Shocka]

"Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a backdoor way of providing aid to banks."

Lawmakers are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers.

"It was a shock to most of the tax law community. It was one of those things where it pops up on your screen and your jaw drops," said Candace A. Ridgway, a partner at Jones Day, a law firm that represents banks that could benefit from the notice. "I've been in tax law for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this."

More than a dozen tax lawyers interviewed for this story -- including several representing banks that stand to reap billions from the change -- said the Treasury had no authority to issue the notice.

nearing.newsvine.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 10-11-2008 by Shocka]

Its widely acknowledged now that only in the last month they have stolen 2 trillion dollars from the treasury.
And they have no receipts on who got what.
They just handed out money to whoever however they chose.
In theory they could have just flat out stolen huge amounts of tax payers money and given it to there buddies.
They could have even stolen it themselves.
The people who said it should be done with great transparency are now saying we wont tell you who got what.
These people should be arrested immediately.
Bernanke and Paulson should be in prison right now.

Bernanke and Paulson should be in prison right now.

Gotta agree, but shouldn't we add more people to the list.

Welcome to Ripped Off USA.....Home of the friendly charity to all financial institutions in need. Come one, Come all. No one will be denied. Failed businesses with high paying CEO's a priority.

This Hands down,is the biggest heist of all time! USA has been robbed blind!

[edit on 11-11-2008 by all2human]

Originally posted by jam321

Bernanke and Paulson should be in prison right now.

Gotta agree, but shouldn't we add more people to the list.

Welcome to Ripped Off USA.....Home of the friendly charity to all financial institutions in need. Come one, Come all. No one will be denied. Failed businesses with high paying CEO's a priority.

Yeah plenty more people to the list.
But these 2 for starters as they clearly have publiclly lied to everyone.
They said "we will give full transparency on who gets what money",
and now are just straight up saying.
"No we aren't telling you anything".
They are outright lying to the public and don't even seem to care.
This has gone way to far when they don't even have to try and hide there lies.
They don't even care anymore if people think they lie because they have so much power no one can do anything anyway.

A telling quote, from the very end of the Washington Post article this thread is sourced from:

"It's just like after September 11. Back then no one wanted to be seen as not patriotic, and now no one wants to be seen as not doing all they can to save the financial system," said Lee A. Sheppard, a tax attorney who is a contributing editor at the trade publication Tax Analysts. "We're left now with congressional Democrats that have spines like overcooked spaghetti. So who is going to stop the Treasury secretary from doing whatever he wants?"

reply to post by Ian McLean

So who is going to stop the Treasury secretary from doing whatever he wants?"

Excellent question. Can anyone come up with any names at all? I can't think of anyone.

I think I liked it better back in the good old days when they would actually try to be sneaky about stealing from the public. I don't like this new "We are going to take everything we want and there is nothing you can do about it" attitude. Even though it is true.... it doesn't make it feel any better.

Originally posted by all2human
This Hands down,is the biggest heist of all time! USA has been robbed blind!

[edit on 11-11-2008 by all2human]

Gotta disagree, the creation of the Federal Reserve Bank was the biggest heist of all time.

Fiat money is, was and always will be an illusion.

Let this charade continue a little longer and you will watch as the revelation that the US has been bankrupt for decades will become very clear.

The Bailout Bill unofficially changed our governmental structure from post-constitutional republic to Corporatism.

Next will either be socialism/marxism or complete implosion.

If implosion, who knows what will rise from the ashes. I can only be certain that it will never be anything like the design envisioned by our founding fathers..

We do not even speak or write as well as our founding fathers did, there is no way we can construct a new Government anything like they envisioned.

I just heard today on "The Savage Nation" that they ended up giving AIG 2 times the dollar amount they asked for....

Check this out..
Feds nearly double AIG bailout to $150 billion

WOW!

-ChriS

I read several pieces a couple of weeks or so ago about AIG, or it could have been one of the other big charity cases, in which the US Gov had purchased stock to the value of about $120B, that actually had a current market value of half that amount.
I'll have to see if I can dig up the article when I get home tonight.

I get the feeling that a lot of what we see going on is a deliberate consolidation of the financial industry, financed by the taxpayers. It's a two part thing: firstly they get $Billions to shore up their accounts due to criminal practices, then they use that, and more, to buy up the less favoured competition.

Pats on the back and large drinks all round at the country club.