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| here's to the little people |
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| WE don't pay Taxes |
As the late hotel-chain-owning billionaire Leona Helmsley
famously said in 1983, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay
taxes..." Of course she was later
jailed for tax evasion.
Helmsley isn’t the only rich person who was consumed with
little people. We now have Lloyd
Blankfein CEO of Goldman Sachs. Look, I‘m
a reasonable guy. I don’t expect CEOs of
companies to publicly campaign to have their taxes raised or to campaign to
repeal special interest legislation that favors them. I expect companies to work in their best
interest.
I am not surprised when companies engage in criminal
activities in the pursuit of profit and even less so when they get away with
it. Take Lloyd for example. Last I saw Lloyd he was testifying in front
of Congress in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crises.
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| Anyone have a seat cushion? |
As a result of that two-year bipartisan investigation Senator
Carl Levin, D-Mich., and Senator Tom Coburn M.D., R-Okla. issued a 635-page final report on their inquiry into key causes of
the financial crisis. The report catalogs conflicts of interest, heedless
risk-taking and failures of federal oversight that helped push the country into
the deepest recession since the Great Depression.
WALL STREET AND
THE FINANCIAL CRISIS: Anatomy of a Financial Collapse
I
read it (with a healthy portion of skimming) – it is fascinating.
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| Would look so much better in stripes |
Unfortunately, and for a lot of
reasons other than possible guilt, the Justice Department decided not to pursue
the case.
To which Senator
Levin said
“Whether the decision by the Department of
Justice is the product of weak laws or weak enforcement, Goldman Sachs” actions
were deceptive and immoral,”
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| Report TOC - Goldman Sachs references |
Keep in mind that
Goldman Sachs had already paid $550 million to settle a related civil matter
brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission. When your company comprises half of a 635
page report you are doing something seriously wrong.
So you may be
wondering why I am rehashing the past.
Why after all certainly Mr. Blankfein was punished for his actions
right? Wasn’t he? Well actually, Goldman Sachs paid him a lot
of money for getting away with it.
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| That's right - half of the report was about Goldman Sachs |
So in our time of greatest
need, Lloyd and a bunch of his fellow CEOs have banded together to save us from
Social Security and the rest of the so-called "safety net."
During
the past few days, CEOs belonging to what the campaign calls its CEO Fiscal Leadership
Council -- most visibly, Goldman
Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein and Honeywell's David Cote -- have barnstormed the
media, making the case that the only way to cut the deficit is to severely
scale back social safety-net programs -- Medicare, Medicaid, and Social
Security -- which would disproportionately impact the poor and the elderly.
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| We are here to save you |
The
companies represented by executives working with the Campaign to Fix the Debt
have received trillions in federal war contracts, subsidies and bailouts, as
well as specialized tax breaks and loopholes that virtually eliminate the
companies' tax bills.
The
CEOs are part of a campaign run by the Peter Peterson-backed Center for a
Responsible Federal Budget, which plans to spend at least $30 million pushing
for a deficit reduction deal in the lame-duck session and beyond.
Blankfein appearing on CBS News showed his in depth
understanding of social security when he said
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| 65 - 18 = 25 |
“You can look
at history of these things, and Social Security wasn't devised to be a system
that supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year career. ... So
there will be things that, you know, the retirement age has to be changed,
maybe some of the benefits have to be affected, maybe some of the inflation
adjustments have to be revised. But in general, entitlements have to be slowed
down and contained.”
Here’s a guy who is supposed to be
good with numbers. He is responsible for
billions of dollars which are a form of numbers. He can’t figure out that most people work
from 18 to 65 which is 47 years not 25. A
lot of people start at 16 and have to now work past 65. No
wonder Goldman Sachs sucks with people’s money.
The people who most need social
security the most are people with less means.
And with less means comes along shorter life expectancies. Life expectancy for poorer US citizens is
five years less than that for affluent citizens, say researchers from Rice
University and the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Source - http://news.rice.edu/2012/06/21/poorer-us-citizens-live-five-years-less-than-affluent-countrymen-2/
The 30 year retirement Blankfein is
rallying about is really 12 years when you only live to the age of 77.1.
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| Let me try that again 65-33 = 7 |
Blankfein instead of being in jail
where he belonged is now worried about the great evil social security. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase would be out
of business if it were not for government bailouts. Other companies involved in Fix the Debt rely
heavily on federal contracts. Talk about
mouth to the teat.
All the while companies lobby
Congress to maintain a bloated defense budget.
Last year we spent 711 billion dollars on our defense. More than the next 9 highest nations
combined.
What about the abuse of carried interest? The New York State Attorney General is
investigating whether some of the nation’s biggest private equity firms have converted
certain management fees (taxed at 35%) collected from their investors into fund
investments, which are taxed at a far lower rate (15%) than ordinary income.
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| Carried Interest - not only is it profitable - it's fun! |
Between 2007 and 2011, Apollo Global Management converted
more than $131 million in fees into investments in its funds. KKR & Co. L.P. (formerly
known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.)
converted more than $180 million in fees between 2007 and 2009. Between those two companies 331 million
dollars was taxed at 15% instead of the rightful 35%.
Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman compared Obama’s
push for the tax change to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.
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| I get the analogy |
There needs to be a rational
discussion on social security. Given the
“expertise” of these CEOs I would to see them get their hand out of my pocket
before worrying about my retirement.
Have they suggested cutting defense
spending? Rolling back legislation that
allows them to avoid their tax liabilities?
Advocating for laws that protect the consumer? No, but then to my earlier point. I didn’t expect them to.
It is also
interesting to note that on the “Who we
are” page of “Fix the Debt” website that neither co-chair retired Senator Judd
Gregg (now working for Goldman Sachs) or former Pennsylvania Governor Ed
Rendell (now working for investment bank Greenhill & Co.) have any mention
of their ties to these giant financial institutions. Apparently they are just devout public
servants trying to do their best for the country. Spare me.
http://www.fixthedebt.org/who-we-are
According to
S&P Capital IQ based on as reported total executive compensation:
• JPMorgan Chase CEO James Dimon: $23.1
million
• Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf: $19.8
million
• Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein:
$16.2 million
• Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit: $14.9
million
• Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan:
$8.1 million
So Lloyd has demonstrated that he loves the little people and is very concerned about us. So much so that he is taking time out of busy schedule to count the number of years I work and to ensure that I don't expect too much.
If you have anymore interest in what Lloyd has been up to here are some links to stories written by Matt Tabbi.
and
Lets round up those wall street banksters. They would all look sogood in pinstripes rather than those glormous three piece suits. Will throw in a good pick and shovel and a nice bucket to.
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