Just One More Reason to Say “No More Bailouts”

First, let me start off by saying that I did not want this blog to be a forum for political debates. However, when I see blatant disregard for taxpayer money and essentially witnessing the bailout turning into a billion dollar handout, I feel that something needs to be said.

The latest unbelievable event to occur is the purchase of a 50 million corporate jet by Citigroup, who by the way, just received a 45 billion dollar taxpayer-funded handout. When will the people in this country start opening their eyes and see that this bailout is not the right answer.

Instead, why doesn’t the government give every legal tax-paying citizen $100,000. Wouldn’t the money go to better use: like paying for bills and keeping their homes. Wouldn’t taxpayers rather see this bailout money go to them rather than inefficiently run institutions?

Did we already forget about AIG blowing $440,000 after getting bailout? Less than two weeks after Uncle Sam gave American International Group (AIG) an $85 billion loan – staving off financial collapse – execs from one of its insurance subsidiaries, AIG American General, gathered for a conference at the uber-swank St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, billed as “California’s only Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star Resort,” where ocean-view rooms start at $565 a night and “world class luxury” is the rule. How do you spend half a million dollars for a weekend getaway? Unreal!

And I didn’t even mention anything about the pork that went into the TARP program.

• Sec. 503: Exemption from excise tax for wooden arrows designed for use by children. This shameful pork comes from Oregon senators, and is worth $200,000 to Rose City Archery in Myrtle Point, Oregon
• Sec. 317: Seven-year cost recovery period for a car race track
• Sec. 308: Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
• Sec. 502: Incentives for films to be shot in the United States, including those for adults
• Sec. 211: Bicycle commuter benefits that allow employers to pay for employee bike repair
• Sec. 325. Duty suspension on wool products and wool research fund and wool duty refunds
• Sec. 201. Changes in bonus depreciation for biomass ethanol plant property

What do any of these have to do with providing relief to the bank institutions? Well, when you figure it out, please let us know. One more troubling issue is the fact that there is absolutely no oversight with the TARP money. Everything is essentially “off the books”. Good luck trying to reconcile anything with disbursements from this fund.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Feel free to sound off because I, for one, am fed up.