In this video, my brilliant new girlfriend Rachel Maddow tells this tale of the perverse manifestation of capitalism that increasingly sacrifices the livelihood of the many to the gluttony of the few.
Embedded within October’s Wall Street Baal-Out was the repeal of a previously untouchable tax law that prevented large corporations from concealing the portions of their profits that belong to the national community. The Washington Post reported:
“Section 382 of the tax code was created by Congress in 1986 to end what it considered an abuse of the tax system: companies sheltering their profits from taxation by acquiring shell companies whose only real value was the losses on their books. The firms would then use the acquired company’s losses to offset their gains and avoid paying taxes.
Lawmakers decried the tax shelters as a scam and created a formula to strictly limit the use of those purchased losses for tax purposes.
But from the beginning, some conservative economists and Republican administration officials criticized the new law as unwieldy and unnecessary meddling by the government in the business world…”
This bold roll-back of important tax laws was pursued by Bushies and conservatives for years, but unsuccessfully. Section 382 was sacred, there was no ideological justification for letting the rich shirk their civic duty in such a sleazy and obvious way. In the fog of the financial crisis however, Treasury Secretary Paulson made his move.
“”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?”"
So again fear was used to force the citizenry to submit to oppressive and exploitive government policy. Come on.
Dude, read Shock Doctrine already.
If you own it, loan it baby!
[...] interests: the federal bailout of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, AIG and the October Baal-out of the financial sector that will eventually cost taxpayers over a trillion dollars, and the impending bailout of the auto [...]