TAXES

July 20 (Bloomberg) — U.S. taxpayers may be on the hook for as much as $23.7 trillion to bolster the economy and bail out financial companies, said Neil Barofsky, special inspector general for the Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Treasury’s $700 billion bank-investment program represents a fraction of all federal support to resuscitate the U.S. financial system, including $6.8 trillion in aid offered by the Federal Reserve, Barofsky said in a report released today.

“TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale and complexity,” Barofsky said in testimony prepared for a hearing tomorrow before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aY0tX8UysIaM

The article below regards Commerce Secretary Gary Locke’s comments to the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Now that developing countries have said they will not participate in “cap and trade”, this U.S. offical proposes to TAX US CITIZENS for carbon use in other countries. HUH?

To address the serious threat of global warming, Americans should be required to “pay” for the carbon
content of goods they consume from countries around the world….”It’s important that those who consume
the products being made all around the world to the benefit of America — and it’s our own consumption
activity that’s causing the emission of greenhouse gases, then quite frankly Americans need to pay for
that,” Commerce Secretary Gary Locke told the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed legislation that creates a market for companies to trade
permits to emit greenhouse gases, which would be capped at a certain level and then reduced over time.
The bill also contains “carbon tariffs” that would allow the United States to slap duties on imports of
carbon-intensive goods…Locke said Chinese officials raised concern about those provisions this week.
“They feel in essence it’s a tax on their carbon activity,” he said. http://www.reuters.com/article/GCAGreenBusiness/
idUSTRE56G1A320090717

(CNSNews.com) – Vice President Joe Biden told people attending an AARP town hall meeting that unless the Democrat-supported health care plan becomes law the nation will go bankrupt and that the only way to avoid that fate is for the government to spend more money.