Henry Paulson: Our next secretary of fraud

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Written By Ed Henry

Now that we are about to have the third Secretary of the Treasury in the last five years and the second CEO of Goldman Sachs appointed to the position, do you think the media and Congress critters will ask the right questions. For instance, Mr. Paulson: how do you feel about federal trust funds? Or: can the national debt be paid off with anything other than taxpayer money?

Since all federal trust funds are managed by the Secretary of the Treasury, these would certainly seem to be legitimate and important questions to ask, but I’m willing to bet that these subjects never come up and, if they do, they will not be probed beyond the most superficial response.

We’ve already had two Presidents, the first Secretary of the Treasury in the G.W. Bush administration, trustees appointed to oversee these accounts, and a great many other authorities who have openly confessed to the meaninglessness of these so-called “trusts” – currently numbering 137 and accounting for $3.5 trillion or forty-three percent of the national debt – that have no value whatsoever except as a means to tax and double tax the American taxpaying public.

The Secretary of the Treasury has no greater responsibility than the management of these bogus accounts. Many are being drawn down every month with taxpayer money taken from the “general fund” of current receipts of taxpayer money or money borrowed. And some are drawn down every month in the most ludicrous form of accounting imaginable.

Many have simply been set-up with nonmarketable bonds that are demands on the treasury and are labeled as “gift accounts” or funds that are nothing more than perks for the federal government. (See: Trust Fund List)

Let’s take an example from one of the most flagrant rip-offs, a so-called “trust fund” that never has any income and is drawn down every month. The…

FEDERAL EMPLOYEES LIFE & HEALTH TRUST FUND

You can argue that the taxpaying public should provide federal employees with the best medical care possible, better care than they have for themselves, because these are our employees. But you cannot explain why the account increases the more money is spent?

This is just one of the so-called “trust funds” that uses “special” nonmarketable bonds to rip-off the taxpaying public and it is dutifully reported every month in table #8 of the U.S. Treasury’s Monthly Statement along with an archive of back issues which any investigative reporter with an Internet connection could access.

Among the 137 accounts we also have the Social Security trust fund currently standing at $1.9 trillion and accounting, by itself, for 23 percent of the national debt. Every surplus dollar we give them in excessive payroll taxes ends up as debt so we or our children can pay it again plus interest. (See: The Pay-It-Again Sam Scam)

And George W. Bush tells us it’s “double taxation” for stockholders to pay a capital gains tax after corporations have already paid income tax on their profits.

The economic problems of the United States will never be resolved as long as we have this sort of dishonesty, fraud, and outright extortion. We are the Enron to the world.

Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact.”

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