NLPC President Peter Flaherty joins this discussion with Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA) and CNBC hosts Donny Deutsch, Jeff Macke and Dennis Kneale at the 8:00 mark.… Read More ➡
Corporate Integrity Project
NLPC seeks to promote integrity in corporate governance, including honesty and fair play in relationships with shareholders, employees, business partners and customers. In doing so, NLPC places special emphasis on:
* Asserting that the social responsibility of the corporation is to defend and advance the interests of the people who own the company, the shareholders. True responsibility is fidelity to one’s own mission, not someone else’s, or someone else’s political agenda.
* Exposing the seeking of influence on public officials by corporations, which is the inevitable result of high levels of government spending and intervention in the marketplace.
* Combating practices that undermine the free enterprise system, including philanthropic giving to groups hostile to a free economy.
Flaherty Says Its Government Gone Wild on Hearst-Argyle TV Stations
Obama is Exceeding Presidential Authority on Wagoner Firing, Auto Bailout
Although Rick Wagoner should have been gone years ago, Barack Obama has exceeded presidential authority in firing the CEO of a major corporation. Of course, the justification is that GM is accepting government money, but Congress has not authorized money for an auto bailout.
The money has come from the TARP, which was supposed to used to buy the toxic assets of banks. The Constitution is being shredded. This concentration of power in the hands of the President, a small circle of advisors, and financiers is dangerous.
If Obama can take over sick companies, why can’t he take over healthy companies he doesn’t like? After all, he’s not only criticized the auto companies for building certain kinds of cars, but he’s criticized oil companies for their business decisions. Can Obama now tell oil companies to close down their wells and build windmills?
It is government that destroyed the U.S. carmakers … Read More ➡
Flaherty Blasts AIG Bonuses, Obama’s Hedge Fund Bailout
Another Trillion to Buy Toxic Assets? What Was TARP For?
If Barack Obama wants another trillion or more for toxic-asset purchases, what was the TARP for? The burden is on him and Timothy Geithner to explain why another Wall Street bailout will work when the previous ones have not.
This latest plan would have the taxpayer finance the purchase of troubled assets, opening the door for unregulated opaque entities like hedge funds to speculate with taxpayer funds. This “public-private partnership” might also be called the Obama Hedge Fund Bailout.
When TARP was passed by Congress in October, its purported purpose was to buy toxic assets from banks. Instead, the $700 billion has been used to buy preferred stock in banks, bail out the automakers, and now bail out the automakers’ suppliers. Yet these stock purchases have failed to prevent the deterioration of bank’s capital positions, even as common stock, held by millions of small investors, has been crushed.
Former Treasury … Read More ➡
Rangel Wants 90% Tax Rate for Wall Street; 0% for Himself
Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) would seem an unlikely point man for the legislation passed by the House yesterday imposing a 90% tax on any bonuses given to employees with family incomes of more than $250,000 at firms that received more than $5 billion in bailout funds.
As exposed by NLPC, Rangel failed to pay federal income tax on rent received from his beachfront home in the Dominican Republic, and cheated on his D.C. property tax by improperly claiming a homestead exemption. Also, Rangel led a Citigroup-funded Caribbean junket last November that violated House rules.
After the 328-93 vote, the indignant Rangel warned, “Don’t dare try to take a bonus and get away with it.”
In a CNBC interview, Rangel was challenged on his moral authority to lead the floor fight for the bill. Strangely, Rangel seemed to deny the “false” reports about his own tax evasion, even though he admitted … Read More ➡
Where Was Congress on Bonuses in 2004?
NLPC issued a press release on December 29, 2004 that began:
Peter Flaherty today expressed surprise and disgust at the current attempt by fired Fannie Mae Chairman and CEO Franklin Raines to walk away with millions of dollars despite his central role in the accounting scandal rocking the company.
According to Flaherty, “At the time, I remember having very little luck in drumming up interest in this issue. I was a guest on a couple of local radio shows, but that was it. I made a round of calls to Capitol Hill but nobody wanted to do anything.”
The release continued:
Flaherty said, “Let me get this straight. Raines apparently cooks the books, brings disgrace to the company, and imperils Fannie Mae’s standing with regulators, the Congress and administration. So for his punishment he is made wealthy for the rest of his life?”
… Read More ➡According to a December 27 Form 8-K