(H/T: Instapundit) I am honestly surprised to find that there are people surprised by this.

Among those clamoring for attention and payouts from Motors Liquidation Co., the company that assumed General Motors’ unwanted assets after its Chapter 11 filing, are the environmental and economic redevelopment departments of state governments. According to reports, when GM exited bankruptcy, its polluted factory and land sites were consumed by the Motor Liquidation, allowing the automaker to avoid the responsibility of cleaning up its mess, and state leaders fear there won’t be any money to clean the locations.

After all, this was the original point of the exercise.  GM was an unsustainable, debt-ridden mess; the government takeover and bankruptcy was designed to let it cut out the most diseased portions of its operations and reorganize as something more… ‘untainted,’ as it were.  Or possibly even just ‘less tainted.’  That this ends up with individual state governments left holding the bag on the cleanup* is either an unintended consequence, or just a previously-obscure detail, of the bailout/bankruptcy; it all depends on whether you see the administration as a collection of dangerous idiots, or as a collection of dangerous idiots.  A federal bailout of the state governments’ obligations to clean up a private industry’s ecological mess would certainly be a useful weapon in the federal government’s ongoing quest for ever-more power and oversight.

On the other hand, the White House can’t even spell “Barack Obama” reliably on official state documents, so it’s entirely possible that they stuck already-struggling states with the cleanup bill by the sheerest accident.

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Right now in Washington, D.C., we are seeing nothing short of the deconstruction of America’s free-market system. To be blunt, the strong arm tactics of the Obama Administration’s Auto Task Force are crushing the dreams of many American business owners – and simultaneously putting our future prosperity in jeopardy.

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve spoken with the GM and Chrysler car dealerships from my district that have been targeted for total or partial closure by President Obama’s Auto Task Force. They were given no reason, and really no recourse to challenge their closure. It is as if someone threw a dart at a dartboard to decide which dealerships would be given a pink slip. In fact, we still do not know the formula used to determine which dealers would remain open, and which ones would close.

At one dealership in my district, the owner received an envelope from FedEx with a closure agreement inside, informing them that their highly profitable and nearly century-old business was slated for closure, and that they had twelve days to sign the agreement, or face the consequences.

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General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection this morning and President Obama plans to give the bankrupt car maker another $30 billion bailout during and after the bankruptcy process. That will bring the bailout of General Motors to $50 billion.

The $50 billion bailout of General Motors is second only to the $150 billion AIG bailout.

According to the Washington Post, under the proposed restructuring of General Motors, about 60 percent will be owned by the United States, about 12 percent by the governments of Canada and Ontario, a union health trust would own 17.5 percent, and the company’s current bondholders would get 10 percent.

The General Motors bankruptcy filing is long over due and should have occurred long ago and without the $50 billion bailout.

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In Hartford, part of New England which has only Democrat representation in D.C., the tax day Taxed Enough Already (TEA) party protest drew a crowd of thousands:

An anti-bailout, anti-stimulus “tea party” at the state Capitol in Hartford on Wednesday drew an estimated crowd of 3,000 to protest what they consider excessive government spending on the day that many Americans pay their federal and state taxes.

There is video from the Hartford TEA party. I can’t get it to work here, but you can watch it at the Courant or my Right Side Politics column at the Examiner.

The Hartford Tea Party was one of the hundreds held across the nation yesterday. In Connecticut, TEA party protests also took place in Greenwich, New Haven, New Milford, Norwich and Westerly.

As I said previously, contrary to the spin the spend too much, tax too much and borrow too much Democrats and their supporters in the still Obamamania infected mainstream media would have you believe, this is not a Republican or a Fox News movement. As Glenn Reynolds explains, the TEA party movement is a spontaneous grass roots protest.

The Telegrah reports:

Mirek Topolanek, who is running the EU presidency despite the collapse of his government in the Czech Republic on Tuesday, highlighted European splits over the fiscal stimulus plans promoted by President Obama…

Mr Topolanek warned the European Parliament that the Obama administration’s stimulus package and financial bail-out “will undermine the stability of the global financial market”.

“All of these steps, these combinations and permanency is the way to hell,” he told Euro-MPs in Strasbourg.

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Today, Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Congressional Democrats have taken their false outrage over AIG bonuses a step farther by introducing a plan to limit pay for employees who work for TARP recipients. The entire controversy over executive pay demonstrates why the government has no business interjecting itself into the private sector. Washington has gleefully jumped at the opportunity to rack up political points over an episode that involves a small fraction of the total taxpayer money wasted during the bailout spree, but unfortunately has left the larger problem unaddressed.

As political outrage over bonuses continues to spawn more bad legislation, we can see the precise folly of mixing government intervention with the free market. Washington has done enough to damage the private sector by injecting itself into businesses with no discernible exit strategy. Now, Democrats are pushing legislation that would do irreparable harm to already-struggling recovery efforts by driving away the folks who are needed to repair our financial sector. Government bailouts have led us down the path of institutionalized tyranny. And, all signs out of the White House and the Speaker’s office point to more bailouts and more wasted taxpayer money.

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Good thing that he cleared that up:

AIG’s $100G donation to Democrats was unknown to Gov. Paterson, he says

Gov. Paterson stuck to his guns Saturday, insisting he knew nothing about a $100,000 donation from AIG to the state Democratic Party days before his office helped save the insurance giant.

State Republicans charged the Democrats with stonewalling an investigation into the Aug. 29 donation, uncovered last week by The Associated Press.

In the first week of September, Paterson launched negotiations to save the financially strapped company. GOP officials questioned whether there was a quid pro quo.

Otherwise suspicious individuals might ask whether September’s relief efforts were perhaps lubricated by such a transaction. Paterson’s intervention stopped the company’s financial free-fall back then, and it took place two weeks after AIG made a donation to the state Democratic party that was ten times higher than previous contributions. But Paterson, the Democrats, and AIG are all swearing that there was no quid pro quo. Or pay-for-play.

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The House is debating HR 1586, a bill that would tax bonuses given to employees of bailed out businesses.  The bill would tax “90 percent of the TARP bonus received by the taxpayer.”  The TARP recipient’s employer must have received the money from “the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″ (the TARP bailout), “the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation”, “members of the same affiliated group” (units of the TARP recipients, FNMA and FHLM monies), and affiliated partnerships.  Conservatives in the House and Senate need to use this debate as an opportunity to debate how this provision was placed in the Obama so called Stimulus bill and forbidding future bailouts.

This effort in the House and Senate to tax bonuses is not much more than a cover your backside vote to protect the Obama Administration and liberals in Congress who requested, through Treasury, that the AIG Bonus Protection Amendment be put in the Stimulus.  If conservatives in the Congress want to show some leadership, they need to use the bonus debate to fight the further nationalization of private enterprise.

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Yesterday, Congress passed H.R. 1106, the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act. Supporters hope this legislation will restore liquidity in the housing market and assist those homeowners who are in foreclosure. While this is a lofty goal, the bill just passed may not achieve it.

There are certain aspects of the bill that I can support. For example, permanently raising the FDIC insurance limit from $100,000 to $250,000 will provide additional assurances that our banks are safe, which will encourage investment.

On first blush, it may appear that giving judges this power will be helpful, however the long-term results are unsettling. The most troublesome provision grants bankruptcy judges the power to write down the principle on a mortgage while lowering the interest rate and extending the terms. Known as “cramdown,” this provision would cause mortgage interest rates for the average American consumer to skyrocket, making homeownership harder for all Americans. Compounding this problem, cramdowns will be costly to investors who have invested in mortgage-backed securities and will cause them to demand a higher interest rate on all further mortgages. The result is grim: in a time when we need to restore confidence and liquidity to the housing market, this bill will actually discourage investment and decrease lending, perpetuating the current freeze on credit.

I am sympathetic to those Americans who are struggling with their mortgage payments. However, approximately 90 percent of homeowners are paying their mortgages on time. The federal government cannot continue to bailout the irresponsible choices of a few at the cost of many. Americans are suffering from bailout fatigue. It is time for Congress to come up with serious solutions to the serious problems we are facing instead of continuing to throw money we don’t have at every problem that presents itself.

Frank Lucas represents Oklahoma’s Third Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. For more Frankly Speakings, please visit Rep. Lucas’ Blog at http://www.house.gov/lucas/frankly-speaking/index.shtml.

When did playing by the rules become a crime?

The housing legislation that the Democrat Congress is set to consider today includes something called “cramdown” It’s a provision of the bill that gives judges the power to rewrite someone’s home mortgage when they default and file for bankruptcy, reducing the principal balance on the loan. That is, if someone takes out a $150,000 mortgage on a $200,000 home and then defaults and files for bankruptcy, the judge can lower the mortgage to match the current, sunken value of the home – say $100,000.

It’s a good deal for the borrower. But, here’s the catch: lenders will no longer want to lend money for homes because a bankruptcy judge may use this “cramdown” power to, by the stroke of a pen, reduce the amount the borrower has to repay. Lenders will have to offset the risk of a “cramdown” by raising rates and tightening lending on the more than 90% of Americans paying their mortgages on time. In other words, if you acted responsibly – saved and sacrificed to buy a home you could afford – you now are being asked to give up a chunk of those savings for someone who was not as responsible.

Once again, if you lived within your means, played by the rules, worked extra hours, your reward is another loathsome bailout strapped to your back.

Washington should be lightening the load on responsible, hardworking Americans. Instead, they keep adding to your burden.

How much more out of touch can the Nancy Pelosi Congress possibly get?

(Via AoSHQ) I have a suggestion for the Federal government. Find whoever it is that made this decision:

In Twist, AIG Sues Its Benefactor Over Taxes

In the midst of its negotiation with the federal government over revised terms of its bailout, American International Group Inc. sued the U.S. on Friday over a disputed $306 million in taxes, interest and penalties.

The suit steps up a battle with the Internal Revenue Service largely over AIG’s use of a controversial type of “tax arbitrage” transaction that authorities are challenging across the world.

With the company essentially suing its owner, the suit highlights the awkwardness of national control of AIG, which the government rescued from potential bankruptcy in September. If through litigation “you’re moving money from one pocket to another, why should we be paying lawyers to do that?” says David Weisbach, a tax law professor at the University of Chicago.

“AIG is taking this action to ensure that it is not required to pay more than its fair share of taxes,” said a company spokeswoman. An IRS spokesman declined to comment.

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With the so-called “stimulus” bill, President Obama has thrown the change he promised under the bus.

On his Change.gov website, Obama promised to “end the practice of writing legislation behind closed doors” - to “restore the American people’s trust in
their government by making government more open and transparent. Obama
will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative
sessions, including committee mark-ups and conference committees, to be
conducted in public. By making these practices public, the American
people will be able to hold their leaders accountable for wasteful
spending and lawmakers won’t be able to slip favors for lobbyists into
bills at the last minute.”

Just words.

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“We are not going to be able to perpetually finance the levels of debt that the federal government is currently carrying.” — President Obama, February 12, 2009

That was yesterday, before the Congressional Democrats and three Senate Republicans gave President Obama his national debt-busting $787 billion bailout boondoggle, which will actually cost $3.27 trillion.

Now, with his so-called “stimulus” in hand, Obama will morph into a deficit hawk.

Obama’ has scheduled his “fiscal-responsibility summit” for February 23, and according to the Wall Street Journal, three days later, Obama will start to pressure politicians to address the country’s debt crisis.

Oh the irony hypocrisy Obama. How does this president get away with having everything both ways?

The Boston Globe reports Senator Edward Kennedy is going back to Florida, where he has been resting after suffering a seizure on Inauguration Day,

Kennedy’s absence has Senate Democrat leader Reid seeking another moderate Republican or two to vote for the compromise version of the stimulus on Friday:

With Kennedy’s vote and those of three Republicans, the Senate passed the plan with 61 votes — just one more than necessary.

Reid is worried that final passage could be made problematic if a Democrat is ill or otherwise absent.

The Heritage Foundation reports that the true cost of the so-called “stimulus” is going to be $3.27 trillion. That’s right, President Obama’s bloated bailout boondoggle is going to cost four times the already outrageously expensive $789 trillion Senator Susan Collins finds “fiscally responsible.”

Here’s the skinny from Heritage:

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Now that President Obama, the House and Senate Democrat leadership, and three Republicans have agreed upon the parameters of Obama’s now $789 billion bailout, unelected Democrat staffers, in
total secrecy, will write the biggest spending bill in the country’s history in
total secrecy.

Today or tomorrow, Congress will vote blind, without having anything like a reasonable amount of time to read, let alone sufficient time to study, what will be 700-odd pages of legislation:

“It is a fiscally responsible number that reflects our efforts to truly focus this bill on programs and policies and tax relief that will help turn our economy around, create jobs and provide relief to the families of our country.” — Main Republican Senator Susan Collins

I could not disagree more.

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From his flubbed oath of office, to tax cheat Treasury Secretary Geithner’s market downing $2 trillion financial bailout “plan,” Obama’s presidency has had a bumpy start.

Perhaps President Obama’s difficulty boarding Marine One is emblematic:

Do you think Obama’s head bump will make a David Letterman top 10 list?

Like Jeff Emanuel, I was shocked by President Obama’s “sub-prime” performance in his first prime time press conference.

Obama wasn’t the laid-back, inspirational orator for which he was dubbed the One. No, last night, Obama came across as angry and arrogant. His campaign of hope for change has somehow morphed into a governance of doom and gloom.

Jeff and I are not alone in perceiving Obama’s performance as wanting.

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This provision was not in the House version of the bill, and was not in the Senate version of the bill. And now Carl Levin wants to sneak it into the conference report — despite the fact that Republican supporters are insisting that the bill be slimmed down?

General Motors Corp. may win protection from a tax liability of as much as $7 billion when Senate stimulus legislation moves to a conference committee, Senator Carl Levin said.

“There’s some strong feeling that it ought to be included in the conference report,” Levin, a Michigan Democrat, said of the protection in comments to reporters today. “There’s strong support for it.”

The $838 billion stimulus measure the Senate approved today doesn’t include the tax provision for GM, nor does the House version. A “technical change” that won’t increase the cost of the legislation could be added in the House-Senate conference committee before the proposal is voted on again in both chambers, Levin said.

Do lawmakers see any tension between a new culture of ‘accountability,’ and a $7 billion payoff that hasn’t even gotten a Congressional hearing yet?

On the other hand, Geithner doesn’t pay taxes, Daschle doesn’t pay taxes, Al Franken doesn’t pay taxes, Rahm Emanuel doesn’t pay taxes… why should GM suddenly have to?

There’s a lot of self-congratulation on the left about how open and accessible the Obama administration will be, but it seems there’s a lot of reluctance among his representatives to talk about the Big 3 bailout.

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