Taxpayers

AIG: We Shall Know the Truth

Jim Wallis | Posted 12.21.2009 | Business

Read More: Democracy, Economics, Jesus, Economic Crisis, Economy, Derivatives, Regulation, Business, Taxpayers, Economic, America, Government, American Insurance Group, Wall Street, Federal Government, Attorney General, Foreclosures, Financial Crisis, Morality, Business News
Jim Wallis

Before any deals are made to end government (read: taxpayer) control of AIG, we should demand answers to questions such as: Who knew what, and when? Who benefited, and by exactly how much?

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The Parable of the Unmerciful Bankers

Jim Wallis | Posted 12.17.2009 | Business

Read More: White House, President, Stories, Goldman Sachs, Family, Washington, Economy, Employment, Mortgage Broker, Main Street, Taxpayers, Economic, America, Mortgages, Economic Recovery, Sunday School, Fixed Rate Loan, Bailout, Values, Bonus, Stock, American Homeowners, Morality, Foreclosure, Fear, Leaders, Moral Compass, Financial Mortgage, United States Treasury, Bank of America, Economic Crisis, Money, Tradition, PNC Bank, United States, Sub Prime Mortgages, Compensation, Families, Adjustable Rate Loan, Recession, Wall Street, Jon Stewart, Mercy, Gospel, 30 Year Fixed Rate, Christian, Financial Institutions, Parable, Business News
Jim Wallis

It's estimated that the bonus pool of just one of these big banks would have been enough money to prevent or significantly delay foreclosure for all 2.3 million people who lost their homes last year.

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Rape of the American Taxpayer

Eric C. Anderson | Posted 12.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Tarp, Obama Administration, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Taxpayers, Citigroup, Politics News
Eric C. Anderson

I used to have a bumper sticker on my truck that read, "If you are not outraged, you are not paying attention." This sentiment was specifically aimed...

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Goldman Sachs: Let Me Count the Ways You Offend Us

Marcella Mroczkowski | Posted 12.17.2009 | Business

Read More: Arlington National Cemetery, Goldman Sachs, Christianism, Derivatives, Freedom, Middle Class, Economic Crisis, Banking Crisis, Federal Reserve, Objectivism, Banking Industry, Taxpayers, Business News
Marcella Mroczkowski

How do you offend us, Goldman Sachs? Let me count the ways: nstead of investing that money to grow the economy you foster predatory lending to our more vulnerable citizens, to feed your derivative gambling.

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Revisiting The Fed's Bailout Of AIG And The Benefits For Goldman Sachs

New York Times | GRETCHEN MORGENSON | Posted 11.22.2009 | Business

Read More: Tarp, Barofsky Tarp Report, Getihner, Goldman Sachs, Tarp Report, AIG Bailout, Neil Barofsky, Goldman, Taxpayers, The Fed, Aig, Bailout, Fed, New York Fed, Treasury, Bernanke, Hedge, Financial Crisis, Hank Paulson, Business News

A RAY of sunlight broke through the Washington fog last week when Neil M. Barofsky, special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, p...

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Bill Ritter Administration: State To Review Governor's Office Lobbying Colorado Lawmakers

AP | STEVEN K. PAULSON | Posted 11.20.2009 | Denver

Read More: Colorado Budget Cuts, Colorado, Department of Public Safety, Taxpayers, Bill Ritter, Colorado Open Records Act, Governor's Energy Office, Denver News

DENVER — At a time of budget cuts, Democratic Gov. Bill Ritter's administration last year paid employees and outside contractors $1.1 million to...

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TARP Failures Keep Taxpayers On The Hook; 33 Companies Miss Payment

Posted 11.16.2009 | Business

Read More: Tarp, White House, TARP Money, Lending, Economy, Bailouts, Regulation, Obama, Taxpayers, Recession, Wall Street, Bailout, Fed, Treasury, Banks, Citigroup, Cit, Business News

According to The Washington Post, 33 companies that received a portion of TARP's $700 billion have not paid the federal government their most recent d...

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Can Citigroup Carry Its Own Weight?

New York Times | ANDREW MARTIN and GRETCHEN MORGENSON | Posted 11.01.2009 | Business

Read More: Tarp, Geithner, Hank Paulson, Fdic, Paulson, Economy, Mortgage Crisis, Vikram S. Pandit, Taxpayers, Gmac, Housing Crisis, Recession, Citi, Vikram Pandit, Mortgages, Subprime Mortgages, Wall Street, Bailout, Finance, Common Stock, Treasury, Banks, Timothy Geithner, Citigroup, Business News

OVER the past 80 years, the United States government has engineered not one, not two, not three, but at least four rescues of the institution now know...

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It's Time for Congress to Investigate the Banks

Anna Burger | Posted 10.28.2009 | Business

Read More: Bank of America, Anna Burger, Showdown in Chicago, Bailout, Ken Lewis, Financial Reform, Banks, Financial Crisis, Taxpayers, Seiu, Business News
Anna Burger

What do we do about our broken finance system? We can begin by making sure that the architects of our current economic crisis are investigated, and if necessary, prosecuted for the crash.

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Amtrak Loss Comes To $32 Per Passenger: Study

AP | KEVIN FREKING | Posted 10.27.2009 | Business

Read More: High Speed Rail, Subsidyscope, Amtrak, Train, Taxpayers, Business News

WASHINGTON — U.S. taxpayers spent about $32 subsidizing the cost of the typical Amtrak passenger in 2008, about four times the rail operator's e...

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How The US Blew The Trillion-Dollar Trade Of The Century

Bloomberg | Mark Fisher | Posted 10.26.2009 | Business

Read More: Geithner, John Thain, Hank Paulson, The Logical Trader, Bush, Bill Gross, Paulson, Bailouts, Economic Crisis, Bank of America, Aig, Obama, Bofa, Taxpayers, Barack Obama, Recession, Mark Fisher, Warren Buffet, Merrill Lynch, Wall Street, Bailout, Finance, Lehman Brothers, Fed, Tim Geithner, Bernanke, Treasury, Banks, Ben Bernanke, Business News

When the government was forced to bail out the financial system, our friends in Washington also had the opportunity to make the trade of the century f...

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Rich Germans Demand Higher Taxes

BBC NEWS | Posted 10.23.2009 | World

Read More: Taxes, Money, Germany, Germans, Tax Cuts, Taxpayer Money, Taxpayers, German, World News

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes....

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The Chamber of Commerce's Jobs Deception Campaign

Richard Trumka | Posted 10.15.2009 | Business

Read More: Mortgages, Labor, Wall Street, Lending, Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Afl-Cio, Chamber of Commerce, Capitalism, Taxpayers, Unions, Free Enterprise, Richard Trumka, Business News
Richard Trumka

Unions are popularly known as "the folks who brought you the weekend." In contrast, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has the distinction of trying to take away a long and ugly list of benefits.

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Passive Bank Directors Pose Systemic Risks

Emma Coleman Jordan | Posted 11.22.2009 | Business

Read More: Bank of America, Disclosure, Merrill Lynch Bonuses, Judge Jed Rakoff, Taxpayer Money, Taxpayers, Business News
Emma Coleman Jordan

A new report finds that an amazing 92 percent of the directors of TARP recipients who were in place before the financial crisis of 2008 still hold their jobs.

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Tea Party Washington D.C. PHOTOS: Conservative Protesters Rally Against Big Government

Huffington Post/AP | Posted 11.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: March on Washington, Tea Party Washington Dc, Taxpayer March, 9/12 March on Washington, Tea Party Washington, Taxpayers, Taxpayer March on Washington, Slideshow, Tea Party Photos, Politics News

SCROLL DOWN FOR PHOTOS FROM TODAY'S RALLY (AP) WASHINGTON — Tens of thousands of people marched to the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, carrying signs...

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Why the President Has Been Losing on Health Care, and What He Needs to Say

Drew Westen | Posted 10.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Speech on Health Care, Public Option, Roe v Wade, Death Panels, Olympia Snowe, Ronald Reagan, Michael Dukakis, Pension Plans, George Bush, Washington Post, Taxpayers, Economic Recovery, Great Depression, Uninsured, Barack Obama, Chuck Grassley, Al Qaeda, 401k, Bill Clinton, Brown v Board of Education, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Fdr, Medicare, Medicaid, Electronic Records, Health Care, Hillary Clinton, Republicans, Politics News
Drew Westen

At this historic moment, the White House has determined that the best way to win the center is to tack right. But sometimes, the best way to win the center is not to move to the center, but to move the center.

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SBA's ARC Loans Are Stimulating the Wrong Businesses

Jerry Chautin | Posted 10.22.2009 | Business

Read More: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, Banks, Lenders, Taxpayer Money, SCORE Mentor, Sba, Arc Loans, Stimulus, Taxpayers, Karen Mills, Business News
Jerry Chautin

SBA expects 60 percent of its ARC loans to go into default even though principal payments are not due for 12 months. So save this column to help you remember why you should be outraged.

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Get Ready for 'Son' of Stimulus Plan

John F. Wasik | Posted 10.20.2009 | Home

Read More: Job Losses, Recovery, Obama Stimulus Plan, Economic Stimulus Package, Unemployment Rate, State and Local Government, Tax Relief, Congress, CPI (M), Taxpayers, Home News
John F. Wasik

There is visible progress from the stimulus spending. About $60 billion of the $288 billion in promised tax cuts has flowed into the pockets of most middle- and lower-class Americans.

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IRS Could Mine Mortgage To Catch Tax Cheats

Flife | Martin Vaughn | Posted 10.17.2009 | Business

Read More: Taxes, Irs, Tax Cheats, Taxpayers, Mortgage Data, Business News

WASHINGTON -- The Internal Revenue Service will expand a program designed to catch tax cheats that searches for inconsistencies between mortgage payme...

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The Abortion Distortion: Setting The Record -- and John Boehner -- Straight on the Capps Amendment

Jessica Arons | Posted 09.26.2009 | Politics

Read More: Abortion, Lois Capps, John Boehner, Health Care Reform, Government-Funding, Taxpayers, Politics News
Jessica Arons

Abortion is a red herring. Most of the politicians and interest groups who protest abortion coverage in health care reform do not want reform to succeed at all.

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A Message from Whole Foods: Let Them Eat Cake

James P. Hoffa | Posted 09.21.2009 | Business

Read More: John Mackey, Whole Foods, Food, Social Responsibilty, Facebook, Teamsters, Taxpayers, Health Care, Labor Unions, Barack Obama, Unfi, Business News
James P. Hoffa

John Mackey's irresponsible op-ed will no doubt cost Whole Foods dearly in lost customer loyalty. I just hope Whole Foods recognizes that going it alone isn't a feasible way to run a business or a country.

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Eric Cantor Regurgitates Someone Else's Column In Article

Wall Street Journal | Elizabeth Williamson | Posted 09.20.2009 | Politics

Read More: Obama Administration, Rep. Eric Cantor, Taxpayers, Czars, Politics News

There's a hint of deja vu in a column by House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor that ran in the Washington Post on July 30. In the opinion piece, "Ob...

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United States of America vs. UBS: A Step Too Far?

Georges Ugeux | Posted 09.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Ubs, $780 Million in Fines, Swiss Government, Irs, Swiss Bank, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Finra, Taxation, Tax Fraud, Taxpayers, Switzerland Banks, Swiss Bank Accounts, Chancellor Angela Merkel, Swiss Banks Secrecy, US Banks, Us-Taxpayers, Tax Evasion, Oecd, Nicolas Sarkozy, Switzerland, British Prime Minister Brown, Tax Havens, Politics News
Georges Ugeux

There is no winner when fundamental rule of law and customer loyalty are not respected. This will have major ramifications outside of Switzerland and the United States.

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Dr. Obama, Please Listen to your Patient

Joan E. Dowlin | Posted 09.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Bank Bailouts, Politicians, President Obama, Health Care Reform, Taxpayers, Tea Party, Stimulus, Barack Obama, Politics News
Joan E. Dowlin

We need time to give the Recovery plan a chance to work. Allow us to heal before tackling such a complex issue as health care. There's time for that later.

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Earmarks Should Require an Itemized Receipt

Rep. Bill Cassidy | Posted 08.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Rep. Jackie Speier, Anti-Earmarkers, Sunlight Foundation, Earmarks, Nancy Pelosi Earmarks, Taxpayers for Common Sense, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, The Hill, Rep. Bill Cassidy, Taxpayers, Politics News
Rep. Bill Cassidy

Transparency, accountability, and rigorous oversight are the keys to cutting waste, fraud, and abuse in government. They are also the keys to regaining taxpayers' trust.

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