Obama Tax Break Will Have BIG Benefit For Home Builders, Industry With Role In Meltdown

New York Times:

tucked inside the law was another prize: a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004. The tax cuts will generate corporate refunds or relief worth about $33 billion, according to an administration estimate.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[Lorianne]

This is not surprising ... it's been going on for years at the Federal and State levels

The NAHB and NAR are two of the most powerful lobbying groups in the nation.

Big business loves big government.”

[Hysterian68]

If home builders can be so generously rewarded along with the banks,insurance companies, and hedge funds, the question remains: why is Our National Ditherer still occuping his job? Why are members of congress allowed to keep their jobs?

Do we need a Congress?

[MadHeart]

Yes, we just don't need thieves. This is just another reward for the greedheads who created the housing bubble and those in Congress who took their money. The rewards just keep coming. The rest of us can go pound sand.

[MadHeart]

Oh, I thought it was going to be they would be allowed to keep hiring illegal immigrants to take the place of US workers. Silly me, they're still working them to save on "labor costs". Developers overbuilt, so why not give them a tax break? Nevermind that millions of people are losing those overpriced, cheaply built pieces o' junk because many of U.S. citizens no longer have jobs. As long as the greedy builders get their "tax breaks" and can continue undercutting wages by using illegals, everything will be hunky dory--for the developers.

[silvercreeklady]

Why is it ok to help unions but give break that might help some of the millions of small business construction sub contractors that work for these builders is wrong? The vast majority of home builders are not the mega companies used as examples.

Many like my sturggling small business are vendors to those companies and are struggline to stay alive till things recover some. It will also help us keep afloat.

We took advantage of the offset tax credit last year and just now received our refund eleven months later. It is not like instant cash.

[Hysterian68]

It may not be "instant cash", but try telling that to those who have no cash and can expect -0- assistance from this administration and congress?

[efmo]

I think it is king of amusing how much Obama had done for large corporations & they still do their best to undermine him & marginalize him every chance they get. Bet you all these larger companies will still be donating much more to the republican side of things!

[silvercreeklady]

Gee it only took him a year and a 10% uenemployment to finally consider doing something to help business create jobs!

[berrysmart]

Our Government's coddling of big business makes me want to throw up. Yuck.

[efmo]

Totally feel the same way.

[NoMoreBail2]

There wont be any positive change for middle and lower class form the Obammi administration. Expect more of the same BS that was 2002-2007. More bonuses for wall street, surging stock market, booming economy, widening wealth gap, surging gas, surging food, unfordable education & health care & surging oil prices, continuation of Iraq/Afghanistan wars, and high unemployment.

hat tip to; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[efmo]

Yes, and the high unemployment will ensure a lot of folks for the military.

[Hysterian68]

Yes, but try to look on the bright side. The draft will mean three square meals a day for millions.

The draft becomes Obama's ultimate anti-poverty program. If you won't provide cash payments to the people other than home builders, banks, hedge funds, and insurance companies, you can always send them into the army.

[Rosewren]

In Temucula, California recently they were bulldozing new homes or nearly completed new homes down that had never sold. The bank that had taken them back from the builder said there were just too many homes to ever be able to sell them and builders want more land to build more homes.

[silvercreeklady]

Temecula is not indicitive of the rest of the country!

[Hysterian68]

are you sure Temecula isn't in New Jersey? Sounds exactly like something the legislature in Trenton, the defeated governor Corzine, and the Mafia backed legislators would come up with.

[Iskow]

This is so wrong. Homebuilders were equally responsible with themorntgage lenders in the sub-prime mortgage crisis that is still leaving one million foreclosed homes empty while their owners are broke. Help the people not the big corporations who used bankruptcy to walk away from their debts and leave the public to pay for their errors, and in som cases, crimes. Enough with big business that can't run it'self. That's not Capitalism.

[Lorianne]

This is not surprising ... it's been going on for years at the Federal and State levels

The NAHB and NAR are two of the most powerful lobbying groups in the nation.

Big business loves big government.

[MayorQuimby]

Bush was a disgrace to 'fiscal conservatives'.

Obama is a disgrace to a party that is supposed to stand by the common man.

Both parties have sold out.

The best part in the article is the homebuilder ADMITTING he won't hire anyone until work picks up and then states that he will "buy land" with OUR TAX MONEY - because we want corporate America owning every sq ft and barrel of oil right?

[Hysterian68]

so when does the revolution start?

[Leslib]

So, did the earth move for anyone else?

[FloresdelaHoz]

This is all about optics to put a healthy face on corporate earnings. The government is doing everything in its power to give the impression that most Fortune 200 companies are doing OK under the circumstances. This tax break ends up in book earnings. Remember the smoke and mirrors back in March regarding changing the mark to market requirements for banks? same thing, Optics.

All hell is breaking lose globally, we are living through the most important decade of our lives. The world is going multi-polar, the American, European and Japanese economies are DOA. A US - European Trade war with China may result unless China allows its currency to appreciate 30% quickly.

[MayorQuimby]

Did you even read the article? All of the recipients of the refunds have buckets of excess cash. This is like handing a fat man a crate-load of Devil Dogs.

[PennLawyer]

I worked on pushing a statewide bullding code through the Pennsylvania legislature some years back. National and state builders' associations threw around mega campaign donations to weaken consumer protections and minimize constraints on their profits. They are among the best funded and therefore most powerful lobbies in the state. Principals in these organizations were builders of McMansions, gated communities, etc., and NOT EVER low cost housing. For example, they fought the state fire marshalls tooth and nail against requiring smoke detector alarms, as well as fire walls between units in multi-unit buildings. Why? Because this introduced negative aspects. Why spend money on something you cannot use to sex up your product in your advertising?. Now if we had required oversize hot tubs, they would have been all for that!

I specifically recall when the state fire marshalls' spokesperson, testifying at a hearing, played the tape of a woman calling 911. You could hear her recorded screams as she burned to death. At that time there were no full-height fire walls between condos, and the flames spread so quickly that she was trapped in a second floor bedroom. It was horrifying to hear her scream for help as she died. But while the legislators, staff and attendees sat in shocked silence, the next speaker was the lobbyist for the State Builders' Association. He dismissed the tape, as "Well, it was just one death, and so what?" Think Cheney saying, "So?" He was like that.

[Hysterian68]

Now you know why so many businesses in New Jersey are moving to PA. Not only for the lower taxes, but to find a culture where everyone is "looking the other way". PA is the next basket case state to go down the toilet and it will happen very soon.

It's just steps behind NJ and will soon be totally broke just as NJ is now.

[lthuedk 1]

Does the President read and understand these bills? If he did this willingly, it's a sign he had too much Chicago School of Economics and Milton Friedman put in his coffee. He's literally compelling the People to refuse to pay their taxes, buy durables, and withdraw all monies from their bank accounts.

Remember the People? That 33 BILLION would really help people who actually need it. Has he no idea how corrupt the building industry is? Wow. Deeply disappointing. I guess 2012 is in the bag and he can do as he pleases.

Once again, Corporate gets the first and biggest slice at every turn. Bad. Very bad. The money, if not used to buy cocaine for kicks, will be used to defend developers in fraud suits.

For those who attacked Ed Schultz yesterday, I want you to think about this, long and hard.