Wow, your really good pegging 50 years of "prosperity" to Glass-Steagall. Ignore the proximate factors of politically motivated government meddling in the home mortgage market via the CRA and Federal Reserve. Dismiss the reckless and fraudulent activities of Fannie and Freddie, just write them another check for $20 billion in deficit dollars. Blame the greedy bankers, brilliant!

How about a little research on Operation Praying Mantis?
Operation Praying Mantis@Everything2.com

During the Iran vs Iraq war the Iranians would have closed or significantly reduced oil shipments in the straight of Hormuz if not for the US Navy. There is no reason to assume they wouldn't revert to the same tactic if the US adopted an isolationist stance.

From the public record I "remember" Senator Obama speaking in favor of TARP and voting for it at a time when he was the odds-on favorite to win the Presidency. Bush the lame-duck President had no leverage to force Obama or the Democrat controlled Congress to do anything.

Bush and McCain had sounded the alarm for Fannie and Freddie in 2004. Guess who came to their defense?

“This hearing is about the political lynching of Franklin Raines,” said Congressman William Lacy Clay of Missouri. Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank said, “I see nothing in here that suggests that safety and soundness are an issue.” Other Democrats complained that the mere fact of releasing the report could increase the cost of home-ownership."

Keep in mind this is the same Fannie that cooked the books to give out huge bonuses to its Democrat operative controlled board of directors chaired by Franklin Raines. Will you summon up some of your rightous indignation to call for the prosecution of the Frank Raines gang for cooking the books at Fannie Mae and pocketing millions in bonus money from it? If not, why not?

Allegations are not evidence. I provided links to the income statements of both banks disproving your allegation they paid no taxes. A quick look at the banks income statement is all it would take for you to verify your allegations. But, that might cut into your rant.

They weren't given bailout money. The banks secured Tarp loans with non-voting preferred stock. Avoiding paying another round of dividends on this preferred stock was a major factor motivating the bank to repay the government. The plain facts are the banks fulfilled their obligation to the government regarding the TARP money and repaid it early. Bonuses and compensation in a privately held corporation are a matter for the stockholders to determine, not government regulators.

I am taking our side by defending private property and requiring the government to abide by the terms of its agreements with privately held corporations. You seem to prefer a mafia style government where once they make a loan, the borrower never gets out from under the obligation even if it's repaid in full.

In the case of the big banks, they were able to fulfill their TARP obligations while paying salaries and bonuses. They didn't use tax dollars so you have invalidated your own complaint.

You might have a case against AIG paying bonuses. You certainly could make one against Guvmnt Motors (GM) yet Dimocrat anti-corporate populist rhetoric has been mute on these companies for a year or so.

We didn't give $ to the big banks, we loaned it to them. The ones that repaid the TARP money cannot be held hostage to the whims of the Dear Leader's political agenda.

We have given around a $100 billion in taxpayer funds to prop up Fannie and Freddie despite their major role in the collapse. Time to retire these New Deal era cesspools of corruption money-pits.

I won't post the entire article (actually it's a response to another article of statistics), but here's the last bit, and I urge you to read the bulk of it to (perhaps) get the meaning you are looking for.
The entire reply explains how this came about.
Look for machinehead61

__________________
Sanity. Try it; doesn't sell a lot of soap, but it's a lot safer than the alternative.
-me
The Federalist Papers Online


Old School Dance

The majority of default loans were from private lenders, Einstein.

Bush threatened Congress with Martial Law. That is a matter of public record.

__________________


"I just spent a trillion dollars and 4000 lives
on the GWOT and all I got was this T-shirt!”

I bet a lot of people see the chart at the top of the page and ignore anything which might conflict with their flat earth reasoning.

Machinehead61 quoted:

"(In 1980, the chief executive officers of the three hundred largest American companies had incomes twenty-nine times that of the average worker. Ten years later the incomes of the top executives were ninety-three times greater. The income of the average employed American declined slightly in those same years. – Gailbraith p. 55) (John Kenneth Galbraith, The Culture Of Contentment, 1992 p. 103-108)"

JR, after that and some other comment earlier by ajax who said, "the real cause is income disparity, not tax rate" to suggest it is not the share of tax but the share of income (that little bit of wealth we do tax) that can result in a disparity, says: "WE NEED A FLAT TAX"

The topic seems to end when jerry asked:

How about a flat tax on net worth, instead?"

*****

It is more about who has the power to set their own income to match their tax, and pass their burden on, than about who is paying a higher share of one part of overall wealth.

The statistics indicate that the bottom 50% is not keeping up with the top 1%, with regard to Adjusted Gross Income (or that bit of wealth that is taxed).

Whereas I agreed with Reagan that a really high progressive income tax rate penalized invention (actors being an example Reagan gave), who would make a million in one shot and have to work as a carpenter for years waiting for another role, I was not buying a Flat Tax. I was not buying that we should lower taxes when there was no indication whatsoever after the irrational exuberance caused a correction at the end of Clinton that "those we needed for trickle down" were overburdened at all by the tax rates. The so-called Bush Tax Cuts were unnecessary and when left with the treason of the lukewarm "liberal" arts of war in Iraq Democrats (delusional inhuman monsters like solar {Philosophically Handicapped Degree in political science university professor} who said containment was working and Clinton never went to war or invaded Iraq) I had no choice but to vote for the Bush taxes instead of the "war for oil," "unjust war," "wrong war," and "stupid war" of the Obamanation.

*****

Thanks saltwn, I needed that.