TARP For Rum: Distiller Diageo Gets A $2.7 Billion Windfall

bloomberg.com:

June 26 (Bloomberg) -- In June 2008, U.S. Virgin Islands Governor John deJongh Jr. agreed to give London-based Diageo Plc billions of dollars in tax incentives to move its production of Captain Morgan rum from one U.S. island -- Puerto Rico -- to another, namely St. Croix.

DeJongh says he had no idea his deal would help make the world's largest liquor distiller the most unlikely beneficiary of the emergency Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress just four months later.

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Read the whole story: bloomberg.com

Comments

[Bumpkins]

Bumpkin is a Bumpkin=need to proff read...correction, the pension money was not invested illegal, but legal according to state law....that is the claim.

[mamalisa38]

All this money could have been used to help pay for health care for all American's.

[fifty8]

Sadly the only way anything will change is the death of the greenback.Nothing else will stop
them.They know it.

[nogimmicks]

The bailouts, the stimulus, the future "climate change" bill, the Obama-expanded war, are all wasteful and inefficient debt-increasing scams. The main beneficiary: the Fed. It gets to collect twice as much as guaranteed interest payments.

[Bumpkins]

A little story.....our union put on a great campaign through e-mails,telephone calls, letters, and groups going to the offices of our State Legislators. I do not know where you live, but here we were shut down in a few days-would not take calls, no e-mails etc., etc. We did not want our pension fund to be invested by the state - keep it in treasuries. If we continued to bother the Legislatures, there might be some very detrimental legislation passed-that we will not like. That is business as usual here, there, everywhere in most of the US, and especially in DC. Now there is an investigation, as to how the pension board lost billions-guess what fooled again. The money is gone, and naturally was done illegal- remember investment is risk taking- too bad for main street. Greed is rampent.

[OpposingViewpoint]

There will never be accountability, integrity, or honesty on Capitol Hill until the electorate puts to rest the partisan divide on Main Street. The political elite counts on, in fact they thrive on, the partisanship exhibited between the dems and repubs. Your Congress is fully aware that divisiveness among the electorate provides them the latitude to do as they dam well please without any worries over reprucussions at the polls. You are their enablers with your bitter divisive rhetoric and the defenses you provide for even the most repulsive transgressions simply because those transgressions were committed by a politician from your own party. We are our own worst enemy, not these larger-than-life politicians for they are doing nothing more than we allow them to do.. We deserve nothing better than what we are getting.

[Bumpkins]

Tarp money -remember the deal that was made for Paulson to have free reign over how the money was to be used, he did not have to tell how the money was spent. Oh, President Bush was to appoint an "overseer" - he was going to report to Congress as to where the money was used. Well no appointment was made until December, useless- the money already flew the coop - I guess nine trillion dollars for wall street, and promises t o main street. When Mr. Paulson was asked to explain to Congress - he did not- I am not required too, and besides it might harm business- Congress fooled again and again. Now I see Senator Baucus gives 150 billion to companies in tax breaks-nobody will know. Senator Baucus take that 150 billion back and give us health care now.....We got forclosuers setting records -no help 1million eight hundredthousand since Jan. The financial institutions were asked to co-operate-no way . Main street got a watered down re-do mortgage law, watered down clunker law, pension funds in the toilet, watered down credit card bill-almost useless,no regulations on the financial industry - business as usual - short sell, speculators in commodities, no regulation, where is a new Glass-Steagell law, will hurt creative financing- Geitner. Main steet nothing- not even health insurance.

[BannedNBoston]

If Captain Morgan is in triouble let it fail!
you can make a spiced rum drink that tastes better anyway

Fed's Inspector General Elizabeth Coleman Missing Trillions of Taxpayers' Dollars

http://www.wanttoknow.info/banking_finance/elizabeth_coleman_fed_missing_trillions

[fifty8]

Department of Defence can't account for 3.3 trillion since 1999. This mystery has never been
solved.

[EdCoughlin]

Every time I see this I keep wondering if I secretly live in a third world country.

There needs to be a law that makes receiving political contributions from companies directly, or any gift reported or not, akin to receiving cash in a shady corner of a bar in a suitcase. It is bribery pure and simple and should be a federal crime not an accepted practice.

This practice of a company giving congressmen 1 million dollars then getting 100 million in federal dollars (my dollars and your dollars) back to pocket is just obscene.

Additionally they need to change the amendment process so crap like this can't just be tacked on to unrelated bills. Provisions like "give 2.5 billion to Captain Morgan" should be considered on their own merits.

[fifty8]

Additionally they need to change the amendment process so crap like this can't just be tacked on to unrelated bills. Provisions like "give 2.5 billion to Captain Morgan" should be considered on their own merits.



Do you think they would heed this advice

[OpposingViewpoint]

No! They will laugh at that advice almost as hard as they laugh at you for having provided it.

[cavegal]

There is no accountability in Washington anymore. Getting elected to Congress just entitles you to access into the moneyed halls of corporate lobbying or sitting on the boards of big business once you have served the corporate masters with their desired positions on legislation.

[sc300nc]

And the Dems want to give the Fed'l government more of our money and more control over our lives? Before you say it, the republicans are just as bad, except right now its the dems in power. Where's the accountability?