No wonder GE doesn't pay federal income tax

[hard4janira]

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/top-favorite-stock-holdings-of-congress/

[trish]

The article you linked suggests a government regulation on the personal holdings of members of Congress. I haven't thought sufficiently about the particulars of that suggestion, but generally I agree that we need more regulation of big commercial banks, large corporations, their stock holders and especially those stock holders in government and military positions.

[hard4janira]

No Trish, why isn't Congress in jail? That's the quesiton you should be asking...

[trish]

There's a law against quid quo pro, but no regulation against Congressmen owning stock. They aren't in jail because no laws were provably broken. The article suggests a regulation requiring the holdings of a Congress person be put into a blind trust. That would be an additional regulation. The article favors a "bigger" government, if by "bigger" one means a larger body of laws and regulations.

[braveheart0219]

They are not breaking any laws but their is no question that a conflict of interest exists throughout Congress. However anyone entering congress has a contituency and this is not much different. Democrats were bought by the teamsters and big labor for decadesand I'm a Dem.

[hard4janira]

There's a law against quid quo pro, but no regulation against Congressmen owning stock. They aren't in jail because no laws were provably broken. The article suggests a regulation requiring the holdings of a Congress person be put into a blind trust. That would be an additional regulation. The article favors a "bigger" government, if by "bigger" one means a larger body of laws and regulations.

Why do you trust a group of people that pass laws that supposedly apply to all Amercians but not themselves? Why would you trust a body of poeple that demonzie Wall Street for insider trading and a lack of transparency yet enjoy the same privelages legally? Why would you trust a government that passes a law mandating that all Americans purchase health insurance yet they exempt themselves? Why would you put your blind faith in a body of poeple that get a full lifetime pension even if they only serve ONE term in office? How can you trust a government whose elected officials pass laws that forgive student loans for their children when the rest of America has to pay thier debts....

The very institution that you rely on to make life fair or 'level the playing field' are so immoral and corrupt that it is beyond comprehension.

[trish]

Why do trust people who would contaminate your water in order to sell you shale oil at a profit? Checks and balances. One group depends on our votes. The other on our ability to sue their asses. Without the first group, we can't sue the asses of the second group. It's all synergistic. Before one can define what one means by "minimal government" one must first stipulate the expectations of government. IMO we need a government of by and for the people. We need to make sure we are paid the appropriate royalties for the oil, coal, lumber and raw products that are ripped from our lands for personal profit. We need to have government insight to insure our water supplies are safe from contamination and that our air isn’t pumped with carcinogens. You don’t want protesters living in the public park, I don’t want to step over the broke and destitute when I walk down the street. We need economic and medical safety nets like any other civilized nation. Excessive disparity in wealth creates excessive disparity in power, otherwise known as oligarchy. We want our middle class back.

[hard4janira]

IMO we need a government of by and for the people.

Good luck with that. We have a government by and for themselves. If you feel differently please keep drinking the Kool-Aid.

[trish]

So do you advocate no government what-so-ever? Minimal government? What is minimal government? The smallest government required to serve what needs?

[CORVETTEDUDE]

Belongs in the Political Forum...

[yodajazz]

Good luck with that. We have a government by and for themselves. If you feel differently please keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
People dont always pay attention, or remember when the government does something. But the Financial Reform Law, curbed many of the fees that banks were charging, such as overdrafts, or at least let people opt out of the system. My family used to get a lot of fees, periodically. We were told by the bank, that we could not 'qualify' for an overdraft protection program, that would have limited the amount of fees, prior to the law being instituted. I read a few months back where a major cell phone service provider was overcharging, and had to refund about 25 million to customers. In our state we have a public utilities commission, where utilities have to get approval get rate hikes, etc.

And speaking of drinking, it was the government that made it legal for me to drink at all public water fountains in the nation, when I was a youth. The government does have the power to address situations of people whose rights have been violated. There is an extensive list of things done on behalf of the public. I suspect some of the impetus behind, hating the government comes from sources, who know they could get more profits it they did not have to take into account, the 'public good', such as pollution, safety, and other such things.

[hard4janira]

Look at what you goodly, benevolent government is doing now. With friends like these, the taxpayer doesn't need any enemies.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/congress-eyes-help-for-big-first-time-homeowners-2011-11-17?siteid=rss&rss=1