Showing posts with label government takeover of assets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government takeover of assets. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Thursday, August 9, 2012
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Frigtening News from Dick Morris: Democratic Bill Allows Takeover of Businesses - read that last sentence!
Democratic Bill Allows Takeover of Businesses
Wednesday, 14 Apr 2010 10:02 AM
*By: Dick Morris*
**
If the financial regulation bill that passed the House last year becomes
law, President Obama and his Treasury secretary will acquire the right
to take over any financial institution they wish to, provided that, in
their sole opinion, it is both "too big to fail" and on the brink of
insolvency. The House bill provides for no judicial review and does not
require any objective evidence of imminent failure to trigger the
takeover provisions.
Once the government takes over such a company, it will acquire the right
to replace the entire board of directors, fire the management of the
company, wipe out stockholder equity, and even sell off divisions of the
company.
Essentially, this bill permits the government to launch an unfriendly
takeover of any financial institution it wishes without risk and with no
poison pill or other counter-measures possible.
This legislation, essentially, confers on the federal government police
powers that, under our system, are the exclusive preserve of state and
local government. The blank check the bill gives the feds to take over
any financial institution is really more of an exercise of eminent
domain than it is an extension of traditional federal regulatory power.
This grant of power to the executive branch is unprecedented and
potentially totalitarian. Consider:
* Will Obama, or any future president, target companies that are
particularly vocal in their opposition to his policies or generous
in funding his political opponents? Will the fact that Obama would
have this power force companies, investors, CEOs and managers to
self-censor their opinions and political involvement because they
fear the wrath of a vengeful president?
* Will this grant of authority force companies to hesitate before
they grow and expand? Will it function the same way the antitrust
powers of the Justice Department do in making companies re-examine
mergers and acquisitions with a view toward what Justice will
think of their resulting market share? In antitrust situations,
where a specific action brings companies under scrutiny — like a
merger — such concern is not unreasonable. But when the simple act
of making money, showing a profit and expanding in size puts a
company in federal crosshairs, does this not have the potential to
attenuate the capitalist focus on growth?
* In an environment where the feds are looking over the shoulder of
every financial institution to see if they should take it over and
shut it down, will this not force financial companies to follow
the most risk-averse lending policies possible? Doesn't this mean
that it only makes sense to buy government paper, since consumer
loans, mortgages and business lending could be considered risky
and lead to a federal takeover? Isn't this policy precisely the
opposite of what we need to catalyze economic growth?
* In a political world where contributions from financial
institutions are sought and widely given, doesn't this power give
the president and his party unlimited fundraising ability, simply
by baring its teeth and showing the power it has to take anybody
over and fire anybody?
Given the fact that Goldman-Sachs was the second-largest donor to
Obama's campaign, giving $954,795, doesn't this new power raise the
specter that the federal government could take over financial
institutions so as to make the competition lighter for its donors?
Already, there is considerable evidence (cited in our new book, 2010:
Take Back America — a Battle Plan) that Goldman profited handsomely from
the decision of its former CEO — Bush's Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson
— to allow Lehman Brothers to fail. Now that the Treasury secretary will
have the takeover power, might it not be used as irresponsibly and with
as many bad consequences as Paulson used his power in the Lehman crisis?
While the focus on the regulatory bill has been on the consumer
protection provisions, which I tend to support, there has been far less
scrutiny on these horrific expansions of federal power.
Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez could only dream of this power.
© Dick Morris & Eileen McGann
Friday, October 3, 2008
Congress has betrayed us -
Carbon Tax Provisions Hidden in Bailout Bill
Infowars.com
October 2, 2008
Perhaps one of the biggest side-effects of the Senate bailout bill passed yesterday may prove to be the carbon tax measures tucked away in its 451 pages.
News Busters reveals that Section 117 mandates a ‘carbon audit of the tax code’ to be completed within the next two years that will determine which carbon tax measures will be put into place.
SEC. 117. CARBON AUDIT OF THE TAX CODE.
(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a comprehensive review of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects.
Among other global warming taxation pimps, Goldman Sachs, under Henry Paulson’s direction, released a statement several years ago pushing for carbon trading, stating that “voluntary action alone cannot solve the climate change problem.” Now we are on the cusp of compulsory measures taking hold.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel indicated that these tax breaks and others were likely pass in some other legislation anyway. Forbes reports:
In 2008 another piece of major legislation was introduced: the Lieberman-Warner bill, which would implement a nationwide cap-and-trade program on carbon emissions. That would instantly change the landscape for any energy producer. The bill failed this year but is likely to return for the next Congress–both presidential candidates favor a cap-and-trade program.
Additionally, various other ‘carbon credit’ schemes and incentives have been put into place for businesses utilizing carbon mitigation, carbon sequestering, renewable energy, biofuels and/or other alternative energy sources. (Ref. DIVISION B—Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 , summary pages 114-115).
Subtitle A–Renewable Energy Incentives
Sec. 101. Renewable energy credit.
Sec. 102. Production credit for electricity produced from marine renewables.
Sec. 103. Energy credit.
Sec. 104. Energy credit for small wind property.
Sec. 105. Energy credit for geothermal heat pump systems.
Sec. 106. Credit for residential energy efficient property.
Sec. 107. New clean renewable energy bonds.
Sec. 108. Credit for steel industry fuel.
Sec. 109. Special rule to implement FERC and State electric restructuring policy.
Subtitle B—Carbon Mitigation and Coal Provisions
Sec. 111. Expansion and modification of advanced coal project investment credit.
Sec. 112. Expansion and modification of coal gasification investment credit.
Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
Sec. 114. Special rules for refund of the coal excise tax to certain coal producers and exporters.
Sec. 115. Tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration.
Sec. 116. Certain income and gains relating to industrial source carbon dioxide treated as qualifying income for publicly traded partnerships.
Sec. 117. Carbon audit of the tax code.
So the bailout will not only facilitate the government takeover of assets with broad and very unchecked power, but will pave the way to carbon taxation schemes? And how does CO2 hysteria bear any relation to our economic woes? Only in that both are movements towards greater consolidation and control.
Forcing the economy to develop a ‘carbon conscience’ not only would likely be a stumbling block to economic stimulation, but trading carbon-credits on the market seemingly puts real assets in even greater jeopardy and goes beyond leveraging and fiat federal reserve currency further into the realm of imaginary-fiction funny money– and puts globalist monopoly men one step closer to total control.
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