Oh, For God's Sake...

[Eric Carmen]

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE!!!!!!!

I am beyond disgusted.

Come on, Obama, you haven't even been sworn in yet, and you nominate a guy who cheated on his taxes when he was the head of the IMF?????

And his excuse is he "didn't know"????

If the head of the International Monetary Fund doesn't know what taxes he's supposed to pay, how can ANYONE ELSE be prosecuted for the same crime.

Does this mean his accountant made a mistake? Are you trying to tell us the head of the IMF couldn't find a good accountant to do his taxes? Were they both just "confused" about the tax laws?

Are we supposed to believe this crap?

This is so f#*^%ed up.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28642237/

Adding insult to injury, the Obama team doesn't think this is a really big problem, considering the "gravity" of the position, (read Economic Crisis), and the "relatively minor" infractions.

It's not "relatively minor" if I screw up on MY taxes.

I'm not seeing "Change We Can Believe In" here.

[sterling]

I remember in the past during confirmtion hearings several hominees got nailed on the hiring of illegal aliens (immigration status of housekeeper). The rest of this really creates some interesting questions.

[Anna R]

oh boy..."a few little hiccups" ????

So, he "didn't know" ???

And he is nominated to run the Treasury Dept??

This is so pathetic...politics as USUAL!

[hollies65]

And he's going to get a free ride....

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/warner-todd-huston/2009/01/12/sun-times-journalists-shut-out-obama

[Tony Cartmill]

People, He's a Democrat. He was picked by The Messiah, not George Bush! All is forgiven. Move on...

Study up on the decade of the 1930's. The "Gubment" is gonna stretch this bad economy out for years with one well-intentioned "fix" after another...

[darlene]

Exactly. As Sherlock Holmes would say, "Just as I suspected..."

There IS no more outrage, anywhere. Everyone is disgusted--probably too jaded to be outraged. How sad.

No matter how good a game they talk, they all say anything it takes to get elected, then they show their feet of clay.

This economy is so bad that the PORN industry is now asking for part of the bailout money.

As I remember, Rahm Emanuel said "with the ($700 billion) bailout, now we can get a lot of things that we would never have even thought of asking for..." (because any amount would seem small compared to that!) Yep, they're just takin' the tax money (which you notice the officials aren't paying, because they're cheating on their taxes) and running away with it for anything they want to push through.

Obama has said this economy may continue after his first term and get worse along the way.

Not a good scene at all.

--Darlene

[Bessieboo]

So it's pretty much politics as usual.

I wounder how many other people can get away with not paying their taxes or even delay that many years ?

I'm not asking for much, I just don't want to pay more taxes than we already do now.

We haven't had a refund in a very long time, and there were no incentive checks delivered in this house. I'm just hoping for a little fairness

I am surprised this was not enough to discredit him for any position, let alone the Treasury Dept. Who is doing the background checks for Our new President?

[Eric Carmen]

Must be the same folks that "vetted" Sarah Palin!

I want to hear what Obama's got to say about this. Geithner is HIS nominee, and, although I understand the importance of having the guy you want to head the Treasury during these insane times, I just can't see how you just "overlook" the fact that he cheated on his taxes for four consecutive years. Geithner's not your everyday taxpayer, he's a HUGE player in the financial world, and the former head of the New York Federal Reserve and the IMF!

How can you possibly create a new atmosphere of" trust" in Washington by overlooking this kind of behavior, and rewarding it. What message does that send to the American people?

You folks follow the rules, and pay your taxes like good little citizens. We're just going to continue to bail out the crooks on Wall Street with your money, and then they can find loopholes so they don't have to pay taxes on it. Don't worry, your grandchildren will be paying for it.

If you ask me, the first thing we should do is get rid of the Federal Reserve, and go back to the gold standard. Otherwise, the Fed will just keep printing up trillions of dollars, backed by nothing, and flooding the system with "liquidity" while the value of the dollar continues to plunge.We'll all be left with half the money we saved for retirement, homes that are worth less than the mortgages, and the money we DO have will be worth 30 or 40 cents on the dollar.

Watch this if you dare.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-594683847743189197

[Brian]

"Meet the new boss...same as the old boss!"...This guy reaks of corruption already!!...I smell embezzelment!!!

[Raspbernie]

I keep thinking about "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" and wondering if the corruption and cronyism pictured in that movie are part and parcel to politics in this country. My money is on Geithner "withdrawing" in the next week or so. Unfortunately, the act of standing by your President-elect's nominee while the s--t continues to hit the fan injures anyone put in that unfortunate position.

[Shelley]

He needs to withdraw himself from the nomination...I can not believe that he "didn't know" about this..UMM... "little problem"

Obama better wake up before his creditability drops to 0...Great way to start a new administration.. :rolleyes:

[boopell]

If he really didn't know (yeah, right) how can he be qualified? I'm surprised the mainstream media is on this to the extent they are. Maybe the honeymoon's over.

Everyone should watch the video Eric posted. I saw it a few months ago and haven't looked at things the same way since.

Outrage? I've been outraged for quite awhile. No one I talk to is outraged or disgusted, but they sure think I'm crazy for being angry and they don't mind telling me!

[hollies65]

Securities have been downgraded...The banks are back in Washington today with their hands out. They want 2 TRILLION more dollars. They have not been lending ANY money, and did not account for the 350 billion they got a couple of months ago. Truly scary and depressing. Our children are not going to grow up in the world we did.

[Anna R]

Isn't that the truth, Steve.

Our children...I really, really worry about their future.

[Eric Carmen]

We should have voted for Ron Paul.

[raspathens]

What really angers me about this is that he didn't pay for four years and the IRS only penalized him for two years. Only when he was nominated did he pay up on the two remaining years. Now the media is going along with the new administration in referring to this as a "mistake." The definition of income is clearly IMF compensation for sevices rendered. If I pocketed a fee and didn't report it my ass would be grass and I would lose my ticket to practice law. He needs to be grilled on this by a skilled questioner. He won't be.

[Tony Cartmill]

Soon, the "Quiet Revolution" will get louder.

It's time to "string up" a couple of career "public servants" in the public square.

Let's take a poll on who should be the first on "the pole"...

[Danny S.]

I voted for Joe Walsh....And I have the T-shirt to prove it! :p

[HT from Mo]

We should have voted for Ron Paul.

[Paulie Mississippi]

Quote:

Originally posted by Eric Carmen:

We should have voted for Ron Paul.

Where's Jesse Ventura when we need him?

[AnneG]

"I'm not saying at this point it's disqualifying," Grassley told reporters in a conference call. "But it's a little more important about income tax for somebody that's overseeing the IRS than there is, maybe, for the secretary of agriculture, as an example."

Are you kidding me?????

[Tony Cartmill]

Since 2005, I have felt more "disenfranchised" with our Gub-ment than a po' black man living in Mississippi during the 1950s.

Ron Paul could have made a difference, right up until he got whacked by the powers that be...

[Eric Carmen]

I think we ought to form a militia, just like in 1776, and we ought to go take over Wall Street and Washington, and throw every single one of these crooks out on the street. Then we should appoint someone credible (give me a few minutes, I'll think of SOMEONE) to read the Constitution on television, in prime time for everyone to hear.

Next, we should abolish The Federal Reserve and go back to the gold standard. That currency should be printed by a U.S Mint and ONLY a U.S. Mint. The Fed charges us interest. It's a never ending debt machine.

We should appoint some wildly successful businessman (like Mike Bloomberg) to oversee the budget, and run this country like a business. No more red ink. Period.

Then we should abolish the income tax, the death tax and capital gains taxes and lower the tax on businesses. There should be a "value added tax" on everything we buy. You only pay tax on what you consume, nothing else.

After that, we should appoint an independent commission of attorneys, accountants, auditors and law enforcement officials to examine the Pentagon's books for the past twenty years. Any company that overcharged the U.S. taxpayer should be barred from ever bidding on and/or receiving another government contract, ever. The top officials of that company should be prosecuted and thrown into prison. Their estates should be liquidated, and the money returned to the taxpayers.

The same commission should be given complete access to ALL the financial records of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Clinton, Bush Sr, James Baker, etc. and any companies that profited from the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. Wrongdoing should be prosecuted, guilty parties imprisoned, and their estates should be liquidated and all money should go to the families of the soldiers killed in Iraq, Afghanistan and the September 11th attacks, and the soldiers who have come home wounded.

The Federal Government should only be responsible for protecting us from foreign invasion.

Everything else should be left to the states to decide, or to the individual. The states should stay out of everyone's personal business.

There should be a salary cap for all athletes, coaches, rock stars, models, Hollywood producers and directors, actors etc. nobody needs to earn 160 million bucks for hitting a ball with a bat, or stuffing one through a hoop.

Teachers should have to pass a tough test, but then their starting salary should be $100,000 a year.

Drug addicts should be automatically sentenced to treatment programs, not prison terms. Child molesters get life with no parole for the first offense.

All drugs should be de-criminalized, require a prescription from a doctor, and be taxed. The money from the tax should go to funding treatment and rehab programs.

Government officials should have to pass lie detector tests. We shouldn't have to "take their word for it." If they fail the test, they lose their job and pension.

All lobbying in Washington should be banned.

There should be term limits for Congress and the Senate, maybe six years and your done. That way, no one ever has to worry about being re-elected. maybe then they'd actually "do the right thing." No more endless campaigning. No more "pork" projects.

[Bessieboo]

Holy Moly !

Eric Carmen an anarchist !!

I do agree on most with the definite exception of

"All drugs should be de-criminalized, require a prescription from a doctor, and be taxed. The money from the tax should go to funding treatment and rehab programs."-EC

and add that Nurse's, Firefighters and Police officer's pay would start at $100,000 as well.

Also, something needs to be done for farmers and penalties for businesses who send work over seas.

I am willing to pay more for goods and services " Made in America".

[hollies65]

The consumption tax is the way to go. Nurse's start at 100K? Oh, that'll help healthcare costs. Nurse's do pretty well. My old Girlfriend was the head of psychiatric nursing at San Francico General...she was making over 100K. Start at 100K? No way!