Tag: profit

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Featured Politics

GOP Leader Eric Cantor Could Make a Profit if United States Default

House Democrats are circulating a resolution accusing House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) of having a conflict of interest in the debt ceiling debate, a move that could provide an awkward C-SPAN moment for one of the lead Republicans in the budget negotiations.

The resolution goes after Cantor’s investment in ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury ETF, a fund that “takes a short position in long-dated government bonds.”

The fund is essentially a bet against U.S. government bonds. If the debt ceiling is not raised and the United States defaults on its debts, the value of Cantor’s fund would likely increase.

The Democratic resolution, obtained by The Huffington Post from a Democratic source on the Hill, argues that Cantor “stands to profit from U.S. treasury default, which thereby raises the appearance of a conflict of interest,” and that he “may be sabotaging [debt ceiling] negotiations for his own personal gain.” It’s not clear how widely the measure was being circulated, with a House Democratic aide saying they hadn’t seen the resolution or heard it being discussed.

“Majority Leader Cantor has compromised the dignity and integrity of the Members of the House by raising the appearance of a conflict of interest in negotiations with the executive branch over raising the debt ceiling,” adds the measure.

Categories
Domestic Policies

The AIG Bailout Worked – Taxpayers Earned $22.7 Billion in Profit

President Obama did what he felt was right. He authorized the bailout of AIG and received what seemed to be a never ending amount of criticism from Republicans and their news channel, Fox News.

But according to the latest report from the Treasury Department, it appears that the AIG Bailout was the right move, and now the president and the American people are laughing all the way to the bank.

The Treasury Department said on Tuesday that it had sold its remaining stake in the American International Group, earning about $7.6 billion from the sale.

The government sold the 234.2 million shares at $32.50 each, a small discount from the closing price of $33.36 on Monday. The block of shares represented a 15.9 percent stake in the insurer.

With the latest sale, taxpayers have gained about $22.7 billion from a bailout that many predicted would prompt a staggering loss. In an effort to stabilize the global banking system, the government rescued A.I.G. just days after the failure of Lehman Brothers.

The stock sale also means that A.I.G. is a fully private enterprise once more, after the government owned as much as 92 percent of its shares. After the sale, the Treasury Department will hold only warrants to buy about 2.7 million shares of A.I.G. common stock, which will also be sold to generate a profit.

Categories
Politics Texas Wall Street

Rick Perry Tried To Gain Benefits From Dead Texans

This is as slime-ball low as slime-ball low goes. A story in the Huffington Post details a scheme by Governor Rick Perry of Texas to make money off the dead.

The scheme, according to the report, spoke about an arrangement the Perry administration proposed, where Wall Street investors would bet on how long retired teachers would live. Perry’s administration would act as the middle man, introducing the insurance provider USB to the unsuspecting retired teacher. Wall Street would then bet on that teacher’s longevity, and upon their passing, Perry would take the insurance money and reward the winning investor. The state of Texas would get a percentage for introducing USB insurance, The Wall Street investor and the deceased.

The family of the deceased, predictably, will not get anything from this arrangement

According to the notes, which were authenticated by a meeting participant, the Perry administration wanted to help Wall Street investors gamble on how long retired Texas teachers would live. Perry was promising the state big money in exchange for helping Swiss banking giant UBS set up a business of teacher death speculation.

All they had to do was convince retirees to let UBS buy life insurance policies on them. When the retirees died, those policies would pay out benefits to Wall Street speculators, and the state, supposedly, would get paid for arranging the bets. The families of the deceased former teachers would get nothing.

Calling Perry a slime ball is wrong. My apologies to the real slime-balls of the world. You wouldn’t sink this low.

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