Congratulations, America!
With the advent of that minimum $800 billion legislation, you get to pay for the following--with a possible total "investment" of 1.8 T-T-T-TRILLION dollars:
(Source: CNET.com)
And that's not all! With the vote of our Senate and our House of Representatives, we now get the esteemed pleasure of paying for the following earmarks (read: pork projects):
New Tax earmarks in Bailout bill
- Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
- Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
- 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)
Tax earmark "extenders" in the bailout bill
- Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
- American Samoa (Sec. 309)
- Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
- Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
- Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
- Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
- Railroads (Sec. 316)
- Auto Racing Tracks (317)
- District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
- Wool Research (Sec. 325)
However, even more troublesome than all of that is the revelation that this legislation also contains an extension of power to the Internal Revenue Service that had previously expired on January 1, 2008.
Yeah, we really didn't hear about that part from our Senators and Congressmen, did we?
Again, from CNET.com:
The bailout bill also gives the Internal Revenue Service new authority to conduct undercover operations. It would immunize the IRS from a passel of federal laws, including permitting IRS agents to run businesses for an extended sting operation, to open their own personal bank accounts with U.S. tax dollars, and so on. (Think IRS agents posing as accountants or tax preparers and saying, "I'm not sure if that deduction is entirely legal, but it'll save you $1,000. Want to take it?") That section had expired as of January 1, 2008, and would now be renewed.
Starting with the so-called Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1988, the IRS has possessed this authority temporarily, with occasional multiple-year lapses. A 1999 internal report said the IRS had 126 "trained undercover agents" working in field offices at the time. This is the first time that such undercover authority would be made permanent.
...
There's another section of the bailout bill worth noting. It lets the IRS give information from individual tax returns to any federal law enforcement agency investigating suspected "terrorist" activity, which can, in turn, share it with local and state police. Intelligence agencies such as the CIA and the National Security Agency can also receive that information.
The information that can be shared includes "a taxpayer's identity, the nature, source, or amount of his income, payments, receipts, deductions, exemptions, credits, assets, liabilities, net worth, tax liability, tax withheld, deficiencies, overassessments, or tax payments, whether the taxpayer's return was, is being, or will be examined or subject to other investigation or processing, or any other data received by, recorded by, prepared by, furnished to, or collected by the Secretary with respect to a return."
So, not only has the Government of our United States of America purchased billions of dollars in bad debt, they've also purchased a little more of our collective freedom. It took a lot more than thirty pieces of silver, too, and we paid them to do it.
After all, we all know what a munificent organization the Internal Revenue Service can be. They're such a forgiving and compassionate organization that truly cares about the American taxpayer.
I wonder why our Senators (like Barack Obama or John McCain) didn't talk about that.
I wonder why our Congressmen failed to mention that.
I wonder why the President didn't announce that at the bill signing.
What the hell have they gotten us into?
Thanks a lot, Washington. You stay classy.
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