No one was talking about the following piece of legerdemain but it should have been debated by the Congress and by the public before passage. The banks and corporations have made another coup d'état by obtaining "tax extenders" or tax breaks. Will it never end?
We are watching the careful plans of banks and corporation to undermine the public part of the economy in order to subsidize the private side. Soon we all will be beholden only to private graft, public corruption and deliberate fraud. Of course, Goldman Sachs is right there with hands out.
Eight Corporate Subsidies in the Fiscal Cliff Bill, From Goldman Sachs to Disney to NASCAR
By Matt Stoller - Naked Capitalism
Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn’t mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what’s known as “tax extenders”, or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.
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5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends “tax exempt financing for York Liberty Zone,” which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, “little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp.” Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that’s saying something. According to David Cay Johnston’s The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds.
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Two comments worth recording from the article are from
tawal says “Sick Bastids…”.Claudius says:
Noooo! Patriots, I say!
The great patriot, Mayor Bloomberg (and George Pataki), chose the companies that would receive the government guaranteed, triple tax-exempt (No federal, state or local tax) bonds. Not so much to defray the cost of One World Trade Center and its other rebuilding commitments (only $3.8 billion [59%] going to the WTC – Silverstein Properties) but to show taxpaying patriots how patriotism is articulated in the Big Apple; as Goldman Sachs got: $1.7 billion for its “downtown” tower; the Durst family: $650 million for the Bank of America building – in Midtown. Developer Forest City: $90.8 million for the Bank of New York Mellon building – in Brooklyn (for non-Americans, Midtown and Brooklyn are not any part of WTC or its environs). The remainder went toward smaller projects -most having nothing to do with 9/11 rebuilding.
So, as often is the case, it’s patriotism for the plebs and bonds for the rich. But, at least we plebs, firefighters, policemen, other first responders can feel morally superior in our patriotism. How hollow and shamed Goldman, BoA and other banking executives must feel; securely ensconced behind anonymous, reflective panels of bright, smart engineered, steel, glass and concrete provided at the taxpayers patriotic munificence. Looking up from the frigid Manhattan streets, we can sense them; all embarrassed and self conscious; sitting there in their nice shiny tax-payer subsidized housing. And, good for us; that we would rather use our patriotic street-smarts to protest their patriotic ‘Street-smarts’ in their private, “publicly gifted” parks below.
With patriotism being rewarded like this in America, is it hardly surprising that the zeitgeist for most patriotic Americans is fear and self loathing?
and from
Bravo Matt — and Great comment Tony ! And how many pages was this little piece of trickery passed at the eleventh hour?Helen says:
Why in the world are we worrying about giving subsidies to
Build race Tracks! OMGoodness. And of course Goldman
Sachs got their piece of the pie — look at how many ex-Goldman
People are at the forefront of running not just the US but the
Global economy.
And this plot sickens…..just a big slap in the face to remind us that the banks and Investment bankers truly rule the world and our government. Not
A new discovery, by the way. This is a fact of life since we became the USA.
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