"The Treasury could keep money it owes to ordinary Americans.... the Treasury Department has done nothing to find the original bondholders or their descendants, not even sending out a letter when it came time for the government to repay the bonds.... Treasury kept a list of the original addresses of bondholders but never tried to contact them.... The Treasury has decided to fight back, seeking to keep the states’ hands out of its pockets"
EXCUSE ME, WHOSE POCKETS?
Kind of like the "government's wallet," huh?
Yes, CONTRARY to MSM SPEW, the GOVERNMENT is NOT SERVING YOU!
It is SERVING ITSELF and the SPECIAL INTERESTS it WORKS FOR while SCREWING YOU, American!
Please remember at ALL TIMES that it is YOUR MONEY!!!
"States seek piece of the action on unclaimed savings bonds; Several suing US for right to cash in up to $16.7 billion" by David Cho, Washington Post | October 11, 2009
WASHINGTON - Nearly 70 years ago, the US government began issuing hundreds of billions of dollars in savings bonds to finance the greatest war effort in the nation’s history, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who summoned patriotic Americans to “one great partnership,’’ buying the very first.
BAD INVESTMENT, dumbkoffs!!!
But the bonds came with a catch: They wouldn’t be paid off for 40 years, an unusually long time. As the decades passed after World War II, $16.7 billion worth of bond certificates were either forgotten in dusty attics or thrown out in the trash.
Yup, and the GOVERNMENT thinks it is THEIR MONEY now!
That treasure has remained unclaimed. But now, someone is stepping forward: the states. A half-dozen state governments have filed a lawsuit against the federal government to get that money.
And WHERE DOES the ORDINARY AMERICAN whose MONEY IT IS fit into all this?
HELLO?!!!!
They say the Treasury Department has done nothing to find the original bondholders or their descendants, not even sending out a letter when it came time for the government to repay the bonds. Moreover, the states say they have laws that empower them to take for themselves whatever goes unclaimed, which would be a welcome infusion of cash at a time of economic distress.
That is why we need LESS LAWS!
And THIS is why we need LESS TAXES:
Governor Guts State ServicesPigs at the State Trough
A Slow Saturday Special: Statehouse Slush Fund
Biotech Giveaway Was Borrowed Money
Massachusetts Residents Taken For a Ride
UBS Picks Up Pike
Slow Saturday Special: Day at the Movies
The Hollywood Heist of Massachusetts
Why Massachusetts Needed to Raise Taxes
Yeah, states are broke, right.
The Treasury has decided to fight back, seeking to keep the states’ hands out of its pockets.
WHOSE POCKETS is that again, you BIASED PIECE of FILTH called a newspaper?
Oral arguments are expected to begin this fall in US District Court in New Jersey, where the lawsuit was originally filed.
“It’s daunting,’’ said Randall Berger, a partner at Kirby McInerney who is representing the states in the suit. “But the states are doing it because they need the money and because they have these statutes that clearly lay out what happens . . . to unclaimed property.’’
Maybe if they QUIT GIVING TAX LOOT AWAY they could RETURN this money to its RIGHTFUL OWNERS!!
Spokesmen for the Treasury and the US attorney’s office, which represents the department, declined to comment. The case will largely turn on the issue of where the boundaries are between federal and state power, say lawyers for the states. If the court rules in favor of the US government, the Treasury could keep money it owes to ordinary Americans.
That is the ONE and ONLY MENTION you get int the pro-government, pro-looting, agenda-pushing paper, ordinary Americans, and it is YOUR MONEY!
But if the states win, they could continue to tap unclaimed bonds in the future, establishing a new stream of funding from Washington.
Do you GIVE an ARSONIST MATCHES?
Do you GIVE a MURDERER a GUN?
Then why would you want LOOTING POLITICIANS to have a "new revenue stream?"
Some states, such as California and New York, stand to reap as much as $1.6 billion, according to figures compiled by the states based on federal data. Virginia and Maryland could get more than $300 million each, while the District could get as much as $81 million. The states that have joined the lawsuit are Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Oklahoma. More haven’t joined because they do not know about it, Berger said.
Of course, that is ALL YOUR MONEY, ordinary American.
When the savings bonds were first sold in 1941, the government stressed the patriotic duty of citizens to support the war effort.
And when it comes time for THEM to REPAY the BARGAIN?
(See: gesture)
Yeah, that's about the size of it.
The Treasury produced radio musicals urging listeners to buy war bonds while broadcast networks enlisted top celebrities to make a similar pitch. Newspaper carriers volunteered to sell bonds along their routes. Well after World War II, the Treasury continued to issue the bonds, though their maturity was reduced to 30 years in 1965.
Yes, wasn't it a BETTER TIME when AMERICANS MARCHED UNTHINKINGLY behind a WAR-MONGERING STATE!!? Oh, the good old days!
Because many bonds may have been lost over the decades, state officials said they expect that a substantial chunk of the unclaimed money may end up in their coffers if they win the suit. The Treasury kept a list of the original addresses of bondholders but never tried to contact them, according to documents filed by the states. In many cases, the bondholders died and their rights passed to relatives.
For now, it appears, it will be up to the federal courts to settle the matter. In court filings, the states cited the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, which they say gives them the right to be custodians of unclaimed funds. But the US government contends that the bonds are not unclaimed property and that states cannot interfere between a bondholder and the US government.Can I cite the 9th?
Where is YOUR MONEY, American?
--more--"
And a bit closer to home:
"Investors stuck in Big Dig bonds; Treasurer letting auction-rate notes remain in limbo" by Beth Healy, Globe Staff | October 14, 2009
Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill has saved taxpayers $20 million in interest costs by allowing a state bond issue to remain in a market limbo, but the decision has come at the expense of some investors, who are furious they can’t get their money back.
Well, SCREW THEM for a change!!!
Of course, WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE who REALLY MADE OUT on the DEAL!
Also see: The Big Pit
Oh, yeah, don't forget the INTEREST you are paying on that debacle!
The bonds, issued in 2000, raised $400 million to finance Big Dig construction. They were called auction-rate securities, and investors snapped them up because they were safe, paid about 3.5 percent interest, and went to market every week, making them easy to buy and sell.
Related: Municipal Bond Milking
That's right, taxpayers, you are just one big cash cow!
But everything changed in February 2008, when all trading in the bonds froze as a result of the credit crisis sweeping the global financial markets. Since then, interest rates on the bonds have fallen to almost zero. It’s been a good deal for the state as it struggles with its budget crunch. But for bondholders, it’s been a shock: They are getting almost no return on their investment, and because trading has halted, they can’t sell the bonds to get their money back.
Hey, YOU GUYS DEVISED this SHELL GAME so DON'T COME CRYING TO ME!!!!
Frustrated investors describe being caught in a netherworld in which neither the state nor the Wall Street investment firms that sold the bonds will claim responsibility for refunding them....
And WHO do you think ULTIMATELY BENEFITS, 'eh, readers?
Cahill’s staff said the state hasn’t refunded the bonds because it would have to do so at a much higher, fixed interest rate, which would be costly. Also, a refunding would largely benefit the investment banks that underwrote the bonds, because they have bought back billions of dollars of the investments under pressure from state and federal regulators. The investment banks, not the state, Cahill’s office argued, should be responsible for repaying individual investors....
ONCE AGAIN, WHO WINS?
David Kibbe, Cahill’s spokesman. “A refunding of these bonds now by the Commonwealth would subject the state to millions of dollars in additional interest costs, and would provide a windfall to the banks on Wall Street that hold the vast majority of these bonds.’’
Then FOR ONCE the STATE is doing RIGHT BY YOU, readers -- although they NEVER SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN INVOLVED in this in the first place!
Time for the CONGRESS to COIN ITS OWN MONEY like the CONSTITUTION SAYS!!!
The state bond freeze was part of a much broader $330 billion scandal, when on the same day in February 2008 Wall Street firms all stopped trading this type of bond, which were issued by municipalities and student lenders....
Translation: CITIES, TOWNS, and SCHOOLS got REALLY SCREWED -- as usual!
And I'll bet Barney Frank got his money!
Also see: Bankers' Best Friend
Sunday Globe Censorship: Barney Frank Tells Gays to Go F*** Themselves
Wow, what a real PoS he is, huh, Bay-Stater?
For years, auction-rate bonds were a cheap way for government entities, student lenders, and nonprofits to borrow money.
What it is all about, isn't it? GET YOU INTO DEBT no matter WHO YOU ARE!!!
They were popular with individual investors and businesses as safe, cash-like investments. And the weekly auctions reassured investors their cash would never be locked up for long.
You know, like what Barney Frank gets.
When that didn’t turn out to be the case, many investors got their money back only after state and federal regulators brought cases against the Wall Street banks. For example, Goldman Sachs Group, which underwrote a portion of the Big Dig bonds, agreed in August 2008 to buy back $1 billion of these and other auction-rate securities....
Why am I NOT SURPRISED in the LEAST!?
But 19 months later, some investors are still stuck in the Big Dig bonds, earning virtually zero interest, and fear they may have to hold them to maturity in 2030....
SUCKERS!!!!
Goldman Sachs declined to comment. And regulators say they’ve done all they can to help.
“It’s Kafkaesque,’’ fumed Alex Neihaus, a Southborough resident who holds $75,000 in frozen Big Dig bonds, would beg to differ....
Neihaus said he’s angry that he loaned money to the Commonwealth and now can’t get it back....
I'm sorry, but HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!
Ever hear of the expression a FOOL and HIS MONEY are SOON PARTED?!!!
This IDIOT DESERVES to get fleeced!!
You LOANED YOUR MONEY to the GOVERNMENT and THOUGHT YOU WOULD GET IT BACK?!!
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!!
--more--"Hey, thanks for the stress reliever! I should have a good game today!
Also related: Massachusetts Democrats Keep Making the Same Mistakes
Yes, they NEVER LEARN in MASSACHUSHITTS!!!!
