Bailout money used to bribe politicians

[J]

I finally have a source which isn't a blog.

Newsweek link

Follow the Bailout Cash
By Michael Isikoff and Dina Fine Maron | NEWSWEEK
Published Mar 21, 2009
From the magazine issue dated Mar 30, 2009

There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

A NEWSWEEK review of recent filings with the Federal Election Commission found that the political action committees of five big TARP recipients doled out $85,300 to members in the first two months of this year—with most of the cash going to those who serves on committees who oversee the TARP program. Among them: Bank of America (which got $15 billion in bailout money) sent out $24,500 in the first two months of 2009, including $1,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and another $15,000 to members of the House and Senate banking panels. Citigroup ($25 billion) dished out $29,620, including $2,500 to House GOPWhip Eric Cantor, who also got $10,000 from UBS which, while not a TARP recipient, got $5 billion in bailout funds as an AIG "counterparty." "This certainly appears to be a case of TARP funds being recycled into campaign contributions," says Brett Kappel, a D.C. lawyer who tracks donations. (A spokesman for Cantor did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Hoyer said it's his "policy to accept legal contributions.")

The cash flow is already causing angst inside the Beltway. "The last thing I want to do is wake up one morning and see our PAC check being burned on C-Span," said one bank lobbyist, who asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services chair Rep. Barney Frank both said recently they won't take donations from TARP recipients. But House Democratic fundraisers have quietly passed the word that the party's campaign committee will resume accepting them—down the road, though; not right now. Said one fundraiser, who also requested anonymity, "These are treacherous waters."

Lovely. The bankers take the bailout money and use it to bribe the government for more bailout money. I hope this gets out into the public conscience like the AIG bonuses with similar results, that is to say lots of outrage leading to action.

[JME2]

Oy vey...

[Count Chocula]

Goddamn. This is from an AIG rant, but right fucking now it's looking pretty transferable across the financial sector.

WARNING: NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK

Don't Click This Link
Seriously, this is not "G" rated, or even "PG", and I can't even fairly call it "R" rated.

This is "XXX", and not for sexual content either.

Those of you reading this from the political space need to pay attention, because sentiment like this is showing up in more and more places, starting with "Hal Turner's infamous reference to "banker baseball" (think about it for a second and it should be obvious what was being referred to) a few weeks ago.

Justice is necessary here folks, and justice doesn't come in the form of multi-trillion-dollar bailouts to the big banks both here and abroad.

It would be one thing if this economic mess was all a matter of accident, but it wasn't. Far too much of this was simple fraud - promising things that the people doing the promising knew they couldn't possibly make good on, whether it was someone claiming to have $300,000 in income when they really made $50,000 or whether it was someone selling over $2 trillion in CDS backed by less than $100 billion in actual capital - without a hedge.

I have many times referred to anger rising in the American population, but this little screed on The Internet makes clear exactly how pissed off some people are getting.

(commentary continues at http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/p2.html)

And here's the link, to the forum's copy instead - apparently there are some not-nice "inclusions" on that page, which is on a different site - my computer didn't get hit with a "nasty", but at least one other person's did on the forum, so I have disabled the direct link. I read the original, and man it's vitriolic.

[CJvR]

One would think Zack is upset about something...

[Uraniun235]

Zack Parsons? The Something Awful writer?

That said there's some wonderful imagery in that rant. Someone should make a movie.