Hard to Imagine...

It is hard to grasp just how bad we, the taxpayers, have been screwed by our own government. I am going to give you just a very, very small taste - the very tip of the iceberg.

The Great Exalted Unquestionable Federal Reserve has "loaned" $1,200,000,000,000 since September 1, 2008. There are about 140,000,000 people in the United States that file federal income tax returns and, of those, approximately 50% have no income tax liability. That means that about 70,000,000 people carry the entire tax burden. (I know what you are thinking, that corporations, etc., pay taxes, too. They do write checks, but, in reality, it is just a scam by the government to take more money from individuals without them noticing as much but that is a topic for another day.) That works out to a little over $17,000 per taxpayer, in addition to what they already owe for the existing government spending.

Here's where this gets really rich: the Fed won't tell anyone where it went. Even Congress. Here is a clip from recent Capitol Hill testimony from Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj0JAfq4esk

For just a minute it almost seems like we have a Congressional committee standing up for the people and trying to hold someone or some department accountable. Then reality sets in -

The Committee is headed by none other than Representative Barney Frank. Yes, the same Barney Frank that has served as chief dog-washer for Frannie Mae and Freddie Mac - the government 'backed' home lending monstrosities that have left the taxpayers on the hook for about $5 trillion in debt. The same Barney Frank that the Wall Street Journal called "'Fannie Mae's Patron Saint." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122091796187012529.html?mod=most_emailed_day

A Hollywood writer couldn't come up with this - we have the man who has spent more than a decade protecting and advocating Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac and being instrumental in laying $5 trillion dollars in debt on the American taxpayers heading the committee that is supposed to provide oversight on the Federal Reserve.

It seems we have a little intragovernment tiff - a power struggle over just who has the proper authority to put their boot on the throat of the American taxpayer.

Gotta show some love to the guy that brought the testimony to my attention:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/radio/2009/01/26/grayson/index1.html