Next use for TARP: Government union slush fund
Follow the bouncing ball: TARP, the trillion-dollar-plus banking bailout, has morphed from a toxic assets purchase plan to a capital injection plan, back to a toxic assets purchase plan, to a life insurance company bailout, to an auto supplier bailout. I’m sure I forgot more.
Well, now the Democrats want to use it to bail out state governments and convert unused TARP bucks into…a government union slush fund.
Oh, Christmas tree, Oh, Christmas tree…
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said Thursday that unused money in the Treasury Department’s financial rescue plan would be used to pay for a new job-creation package.
Pelosi said she favored using funds in the Troubled Asset Relief Program to finance initiatives aimed at kick-starting growth in the moribund jobs market.
In doing so, she effectively ruled out implementing a tax on financial transactions by banks and other financial institutions.
Pelosi said she still favored a tax in principle but the U.S. would have to work with other countries to implement such a levy.
So far, financial institutions have repaid around $71 billion of taxpayer money to the Treasury. That figure doesn’t include the $45 billion that Bank of America Corp. (BAC) said Wednesday it intends to repay.
Additionally, there is approximately $226.5 billion of the original $700 billion fund that either was never used by the Treasury or was earmarked for initiatives but not yet spent.
A senior aide to Pelosi said no decisions had been made as to which pot of money to use, or how big the final job-creation package would be.
He said House Democrats are talking to their counterparts in the Senate as well as in the Obama administration.
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday the administration is “actively looking at” ways to use the TARP program to help aid the labor market.
… Pelosi said serious thought is being given to investments in transportation infrastructure, seen by economists as one of the most efficient ways of creating jobs quickly.
She also said money could be used to preserve public-sector jobs such as firefighters, police and health-care providers.
The senior Pelosi aide said this would be distributed by bypassing state governments and providing funds directly to local or regional governments.
It’s the “inevitable lard-up” phenomenon I’ve been writing about since bailout-a-palooza began under the Bush administration.
Let’s hope the Republicans learn from experience and resist the apocalpytic Chicken Little impulses to sign on to another disaster like this again.
No, let’s not merely hope. Let’s make sure we have GOP leaders in place with the brains and spine to stop this from happening again.
***
And yes, I’m talking to you, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan — now a Johnny-come-lately critic of TARP after having voted for the monstrosity last year:
After Thursday’s job summit, the White House is considering using leftover funds from the financial bailout to help boost job creation. Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), the ranking member of the House Budget Committee, tells NRO that such a plan would be foolhardy. “President Obama is trying to apply ‘Cash for Clunkers’ to the entire American economy,” he says.
Such a policy would “just be cosmetic and political marketing,” says Ryan. “Economic actors see through the spin. There’s no need to deploy this kind of capital. If people can borrow, they are doing it. Instead of ladling T.A.R.P. funds, the president should be trying to lower taxes.” The administration, he says, is “desperately trying to pull future economic growth into the present.”
Reminder of GOP Rep. Paul Ryan’s emotional Chicken Little appeal for TARP on the House floor: “Doing nothing is the worst thing we could do!”
No, no it isn’t.
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Well Rush has been saying this for weeks.
So much for the money going back to the tax payers or reducing the debt.
There is no longer any fiscal restraint of any kind.
The worst part is the Federal government bypassing the states. Every governor in the country should file a law suit.
If only they called it HERPES instead or TARP, maybe people wouldn’t be so quick with their hands out.
And I’ve been saying it over and over again for the last two years.
Uh Nan, here’s a novel idea, don’t spend it at all. That way, the federal deficit will only be $1 trillion this year, instead of a trillion and a half. I guess the one day of Pete Stark’s economics class that Nan attended was the one where a greater deficit equals greater wealth. Jeez Louise.
About half (or more) of that jobs panel that met at the “jobs summit” yesterday represented unions. According to the Washington Times, Obama got an earful from the non-union participants about how the entire burden of Obamacare will fall on small business (where every single new job is created). That is why he came out of the meeting spouting “we can’t stand by and do nothing.” “Doing nothing” in ObamaWorld is failing to pass amnesty, Cap and Trade and Obamacare.
It is probably why he appeared in front of a reliably friendsly group of students at LeHigh today to lecture the rest of us about how we just don’t listen.
Why would anyone be surprised that TARP funds won’t be diverted to unions? Everything else has. ObamaWorld and his that of his one-world minions (including most of those Assistant Democrats in the GOP) is crumbling fast.
You should know that seiu and acorn are going to get lots and lots of this money. They are the ones who see to it that the d’s and this bho will get re-elected unless we can stop them.
L
It seems as though the House of Representatives exists in a soap opera world where the normal rules of economics, physics, and ethics don’t apply. In PelosiWorld;
1. Greater deficit equals greater wealth.
2. Higher taxes equals more jobs.
3. The government is the most efficient allocator of resources.
4. The people can’t take care of themselves.
Help me out here. How many more “Rules” have I left out?
Let’s see here;
5. Only babies that survive the womb are precious.
6. The Founding Fathers got a 90% score on the Bill of Rights.
7. Americans living below the poverty line are the most destitute beings in the world.
My bad, I missed that article, sorry. (righteously humbled)
Obamacare is better than the Congressional Health Plan, we’re sticking with CHP to show we care.
Hey, nobody likes a goodey-two-shoes…
(kidding.. heh-heh..)
Can you say higher and higher taxes. That is exactly what this will lead to. First higher taxes to pay off this outrageous TARP debt that is multiplying daily. Then more taxes to keep all these government (union) jobs down the line.
Tax Cheats Geithner and Rangel talking about cracking down on tax cheats.
8. Good intentions trumps good policy.
I have never seen a union create jobs, their function is to destroy companies. It takes two or three union workers to do the job of one non-union worker. The unions only worry about union dues not the worker. The automile industry is a great example.
TARP was a TRAP.
When gas prices were over $4/gallon in August 2008, the “Drill Here, Drill NOW!” movement was gaining momentum, and could have led to large Republican wins in November.
Then, magically, the price of gas fell by nearly 50% in two months, and the “tightening in the credit markets” was triggered by Soros.
With a manufactured crises, trojan horse Henry Paulson then told the “Chicken Little” story and Bush and McCain led the Republicans into the trap, while several “blue dog” Democrats were allowed to vote against TARP and give the appearance that the Democrats were more fiscally conservative than the Republicans.
While McCain was leading Republicans to the slaughter, Mike Huckabee was speaking out strongly against TARP.
Things would have been very different if Huckabee had been the Republican Party nominee. Fence-sitting Republicans would have followed the lead of the Republican nominee, not the lame-duck President.
And lastly, don’t forget that Bush got all the blame for TARP, while Obama was really responsible for voting for it, asking for the second half of the money, and getting to spend the second half of the money as he saw fit, all the while blaming Bush.
“Irresponsible”
And neither TARP nor the Stimulus was ever intended to help the economy. They were intended to fund Democratic Socialist organizations with Trillions of taxpayer dollars. And remember who does, and doesn’t, pay taxes.
Bottom line:
WEALTH REDISTIBUTION in the TRILLIONS of dollars.
Outright theft, by Socialists, for Socialists.
Well, it’s just “spreading the wealth around” because unions are “too big to fail” because the dems need the votes to stay in power so they can raise more taxes. Heck, why doesn’t the congress just pass a law requiring everybody to pay union dues.
OK, I must have missed something in the article and from Rush. Just how do the unions get the money again? Aside from adding to the the police and firefighter roles, which isn’t a bad thing but does add to their union funds, are health care providers that unionized? And how does adding to the “transportation infrastructure” add to union funds? I don’t get it.
My understanding is that unionized companies, hired to do “shovel-ready” jobs, or through programs like ACORN(which has union employees who pay dues to unions which in turn is used as campaign donations) are some examples of how unions get the money.
Thank you, I guessed that as well. I was hoping for a more direct answer, however.
We could reduce the national debt by 2.5% by just using the unused TARP funds? Wouldn’t doing so be the most prudent use of the money, then?
What am I missing?
Well, Michelle, I’m going to reaffirm my support for Paulson’s actions last year.
I know you don’t believe this, but the sky WOULD have fallen last autumn if he hadn’t taken the actions he took. I’m happy to debate whether not not we’d be better off with a fallen sky rather that TARP 1 if you want, but I clearly think TARP 1 was the better direction.
Now, there’s no reason why the “bailout” couldn’t have been limited to TARP 1. The existence of TARP 1 didn’t need to lead to additional bailouts.
Also, I think we should discuss the total amount of TARP 1 funds that the government will be repaid (including the amount already repaid). I’d like to hear from all of you that claimed the number would be 0%.
What? Suddenly we are all going to be teachers, police, fire fighters, and nurses? I don’t think so. This is a pay off for bloated state civil servants roles! Keep em big and they will vote for you!
Obama signed an executive order early on that all stimulus funds could only be allocated to projects that are contracted by union companies. Simple enough for this money to be covered by a similar, if not the same, executive order. By doing it this way, the democrats do not force the rep’s from right to work states to vote for the union only allocation of funds.
Meantime, it is unclear to me just how 300 billion can be diverted to local political chronies directly from the congress bypassing state governments.
The democrats method of stealing money from people of one political party for the exclusive use by a preferred political party, is exactly the kind of activity that can destroy this country.
But then, it is becoming very clear that destroying this country is EXACTLY what democrats are determined to do!
Cheese head P. Ryan is a dope.
Well, the feds have spent all of the Social Security withholdings on other things, so when they want to divert TARP money to other things at least they’re being consistent.
And as far as getting any of that as-yet unspent money back, Bill Clinton already gave away the donk philosophy when the idea was floated to give back some of the tax surpluses that he was racking up back in the 1990s:
“But what if they don’t spend it right?”
That’s right, American taxpayers, you can’t be trusted with your own money, so feel glad that the government is stepping in to keep you from making fools of yourselves…
Just rearrange the letters: T.R.A.P., or change just one: C.R.A.P. The problem is, if they think it’s free they might still put their hands out.
ECS
Obama’s RCP Average 11/12 – 12/3 –
Approve Disapprove Spread
49.3 45.0 +4.3
His horrible policies may be catching up with him. Even the way over weighted polling results of the liberal new networks were not able to save him from the “Lame Duck” zone of below 50% of approval.
Perhaps there is still hope that people will wake up from their apathy & take back their government.
P.S. As it stands right now, he would not be re-elected if an election was held today.
Duh! Same with the jobs summit – anything to enrich government, and those who solely support government involvement. Government is the left’s god, their ivory tower.
I. HATE. UNIONS.
I think that was also one of Tiger’s pick-up lines when a hot chick played hard to get.
Here is something I wish Michelle would look into :
When the Mexicans go to the Embassy to get thier Matricular Consular Cards, are they made to Register as Democrats at the same time?
This question has been bugging me for YEARS!
Ever since I seen that Portable Consular Bus at a High School in LA some years ago. It does sound like something the DNC would do, in return getting them Amnesty… What do you think?
Mebbe he’s just looking to run with John F. Kerry on the “For It Before I Was Against It” ticket.
Police and firefighters are always the first to be used as a scare tactic by local govt. for tax increases…Since the number of fires is way down in the last 32 years, maybe we don’t need so many of them?
From NFPA pdf file Sept. 2009.
I heard Obama’s support for his healthcare dropped 30 points among the under-30 crowd when they found out they would go to jail if they didn’t buy health insurance for x number of thousand $$ per year.
The final solution.
Unions are communist organized Pyramid Schemes.
In early, and you get everyone below your level to pay you. The Game is to keep rising through the many levels of the game pyramid to get more and more layers of the Scheme to filter their dollars upwards towards you.
Rules enforced by leg breakers and hit men.
So, think Amway run by M13 and sanctioned by Congress.
That’s “unions”.
jeff; you are sooo right on target. a city could save millions, by cutting back to a minimum fire and police force, that doesn’t respond to “help, I’ve fallen and i can’t get up” calls, but only responds to “help, fire” calls, or “help, I’m being assaulted” calls. Our fire and police departments are now just revenue agents, police give out tickets, and firemen inspect businesses for violations of code only they know. go to your next town meeting and ask the mayor, “when was the last time our fire dep’t squirted water on a fire, and how many times per year does that happen?” then divide the fire dep’t budget by that number, and ask yourself if any 10 houses in your city are worth that much. beaurocracies are built by fear, and are usually only shrunk through war.
Actually the ‘too big to fail’ money given to Chrysler, GM was a ‘bail out for unions”. Had these companies not been unioned by the UAW Obama would have kicked them to the curb.