Hannity falsely asserted Dems "voted for those bonuses," while GOP "did not"
SUMMARY: On his radio show, Sean Hannity falsely claimed, "Every single Senate Democrat voted for those [AIG] bonuses. Every -- almost every Democrat in the House voted for those, because they voted for the stimulus bill. And by the way, Republicans did not." In fact, the economic recovery act did not require that AIG pay bonuses; rather, it restricted the ability of companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program to award bonuses in the future.
On the March 18 broadcast of his radio show, Sean Hannity blamed congressional Democrats for the AIG bonuses, falsely asserting that they voted for the bonuses when they voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Hannity stated, "Now, if you're upset about this, you need to understand something, that there's a reason this happened. Every single Senate Democrat voted for those bonuses. Every -- almost every Democrat in the House voted for those, because they voted for the stimulus bill. And by the way, Republicans did not." In fact, as Media Matters for America has documented, the economic recovery act did not require that AIG pay bonuses. Rather, the relevant provision in the act, which was based on an amendment by Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT), restricted the ability of companies receiving money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to award bonuses in the future.
In addition, Republicans did not vote against AIG bonuses by voting against the recovery bill, as Hannity suggested they did, since continuing the status quo would not have limited AIG's ability to pay the bonuses. Indeed, if Republicans had succeeded in defeating the recovery bill, the clause restricting the ability of companies to award bonuses in the future would not have become law. Further, 37 of the 38 Senate Republicans who voted against the final version of the recovery bill previously voted against the Senate version of the bill, which contained the original language of the Dodd amendment. That language stated that companies that received TARP money had to agree to "a prohibition on such TARP recipient paying or accruing any bonus, retention award, or incentive compensation during the period that the obligation is outstanding to at least the 25 most highly-compensated employees, or such higher number as the Secretary [of the Treasury] may determine is in the public interest with respect to any TARP recipient" -- without regard to whether those bonuses had been agreed to prior to the enactment of the legislation.
From the March 18 broadcast of ABC Radio Networks' The Sean Hannity Show:
HANNITY: And when you consider that AIG got $173 billion in your hard-earned tax dollars, over a thousand times greater than the $165 million in bonuses being reported ad nauseam, the point is more attention is being given to bonuses than bailouts in the first place. There never should've been a bailout of AIG. AIG is getting your money, and in turn billions of those dollars are going to foreign banks, $20 billion as we pointed out yesterday. It's going to foreign hedge funds, we find out. Goldman Sachs is getting $13 billion of this.
And I want to emphasize something here. And it -- Barack Obama with a straight face telling the American people that this is all for the benefit of you? How does this benefit you in any way? I don't see -- you know, Democrats for years have complained trickle-down economics doesn't work. So this is trickle-down socialism -- that's not going to work. The idea that we can give the elite few millions and millions of our dollars and that hopefully somehow they might go out and spend some of it? Is that the new trickle-down that they're advocating here?
Now, if you're upset about this, you need to understand something, that there's a reason this happened. Every single Senate Democrat voted for those bonuses. Every -- almost every Democrat in the House voted for those, because they voted for the stimulus bill. And by the way, Republicans did not, which provided -- by the way, this provided the legal protection to ensure that these bonuses would be paid.
You can also blame Barack Obama. He signed the bill, he insisted the bill be passed. He used all the fear-mongering he could muster to pass this bill in haste, and despite the fact that members of Congress hadn't even read the bill, despite the fact that Obama himself had never read the bill. Remember, he promised to go line by line and read these bills, and eliminate earmarks -- oh, that's right, the omnibus had 9,000 of them.
Now, if you think this is government you can count on, if this is the government you want running your health care, if this is the way you think we oughta run Congress, if you think this is a way to lead the nation, then you continue to support these guys. You know, the fact that these Democrats are now howling and feigning outrage about bonuses that they voted for, for a bill that they never read, that they protected as a matter of federal law is just an example of how socialism would work when implemented across the board in this country. And how putting the massive expansion of government is, you know, far and beyond what their top priority is. If you like Chicago politics, if you like European socialism, if you like incompetent government, if you like rewarding all the wrong behavior and punishing all the right behavior, then you've got your government. But this is not good government. This is not about fixing the economy. This is about grabbing as much power as possible and taking over as much of the private sector as they possibly can. And they're so obsessed with this that they're not even reading what laws they're passing. How sick is this? And then they attack as a matter of strategy anybody and everybody who dares to question what it is they're doing and how incompetent they are. All right. We'll get into all this. Got a lot more to get to here today. Mitt Romney's going to weigh in on it coming up at the top of our next hour.
progressiveright---The problem is that he like others of his ilk are adictted to lieing to make their points.
What was the final senate vote on passage of the stimulus bill?
Senate approval: 60-38 wasn't it? With ALL democrats supporting it and only 3 republican. And let's not forget the House of Reps vote: 246-183 (with NO republican support).
Tell me again who the dividers are? Democrats are the ones pushing through these high bonus's. Dodd and Frank are the ones who decided what bonus's were approved or not. Obama was president during the demanded/rushed passage of this bill. So much for Obama's promise of 'transperant government'.
-- if Republicans had succeeded in defeating the recovery bill, the clause restricting the ability of companies to award bonuses in the future would not have become law -- mmfa
That is a lame attempt at re-writing history...and clairvoyance. There is absolutely no way of being able to predict subsequent legislation had the bill not passed.
The point that MMFA is making is that without another law passing is that nothing would have changed. Bans on bonuses should have been in every bailout bill as it passed. These people are crooks and know it but they also know they can get away with it.
-- without another law passing is that nothing would have changed -- progressiveright
You may choose to defend mmfa's assertion but the position is untenable...simply because mmfa has no earthly idea what subsequent bills would have passed had this particular bill failed.
The statement is long on partisan talking points...and short on substance.
Right we do not know what would have been in subsequent bills but the GOP tried to get rid of everything that would have limited or elminated bonuses. That was one of the reasons for the watered down verssion of the Dodd admendment.
-- Right we do not know what would have been in subsequent bills -- progressiveright
You're on a roll...another good call.
>>You're on a roll...another good call.
Why don't you just admit you are wrong instead of being insulting?
I do not mind at least he is not spilling the same lies that most of the right wing talking heads are right now.
"In addition, Republicans did not vote against AIG bonuses by voting against the recovery bill, as Hannity suggested they did, since continuing the status quo would not have limited AIG's ability to pay the bonuses."
That's the prededing sentence to what you quoted. The point is clear, and you're parsing words to make it seem as if they were making some prediction.
Thanks for making that point.
So, is it both wesley and jamesb that are Tommy's sockpuppets?
I'll give you my take over email if you like:Brabantio2@gmail.com.
are you embarrased to publically admit the democrats did vote for the bonus's while the republicans did not?
You didn't read the comment I was responding to, obviously.
And again, the bill didn't give anyone permission to give out bonuses. They had that anyway. It's not as if the bill was defeated the bonuses would have been disallowed. Your framework, like your effort to read posts, is sorely lacking.
House of Reps: 246-183 (246 yeah votes by democrats/ 0 republicans + 176 republicans voted nay / 6 democrats) Senate: 60-38 (all democrats voting Yeah with just 3 republicans joining them).
Dodd and Frank put bonus rules in that bill. If anyone is to blame it would be them. So, yes republicans voted against the bonus's by opposing that bill.
The bill restricted bonuses, with a provision for previously-established contracts. If it hadn't passed, then there would be no restrictions on bonuses even after Feb 11th. It's pretty difficult to claim that Republicans are voting "against the bonus's [sic]" in that scenario. Again, they were able to give out the bonuses whether the bill passed or failed, so there is no such thing as voting against the bonuses. Neither voting for nor against has any influence on AIG's actions.
They're not gonna get away with as much as they did under bush and the gops.
Dodd still put greater limits on compensation for these schmucks than the gops wanted.
Scum like the mannity didn't want any limits put on these guys at all and they trashed the joint.
Flush still thinks they should get their bonuses. As long as the matter is confined to the facts, the gops are toast.
No, that would be you, little factually-challenged fella. Revisionist history is a gop-scum growth industry. Then again, it'd kinda have to be. The facts sure as hell ain't doin' ya any favors.
Let's take a little trip down factual memory lane. The inescapable fact remains that the gop-slop hit the fan in September of 2008. If you'll recall, shrub was still President in September of 2008. Clueless McSame was claiming that the fundamentals of the economy were strong in the morning before changing his mind in the afternoon. Phil Gram had only recently claimed much the same thing before adding that anyone who claimed anything to the contrary was part of a nation of whiners.
If McSame had won, Gram would be his Secretary of the Treasury and we'd really be fooked.
Remember that the next time ya go off on another one of your factose-intolerant flights of fancy and start whinin' about Obama's progress in making chicken salad out of the chicken gop-slop the lunatic-fringe likes of shrub, paulson, gram and the gop-scum rubber-stamp Congress who created this mess in the first place, little fella.
Dismissed.
-- the economic recovery act did not require that AIG pay bonuses. -- mmfa
-- The administration official said the Treasury Department did its own legal analysis and concluded that those contracts could not be broken...Mr. Geithner reiterated the Treasury position of that lawyers inside and out of government had agreed that “it would be legally difficult to prevent these contractually mandated payments.” -- salon
Of course the bill did not proclaim that AIG "had" to pay the bonuses...but the Obama administration made it clear there was little they could do legally to prevent the payment because of contract law and the potential for huge legal costs...leaving the door wide open.
But, these bonuses didn't come out of the stimulus bill, they came out of the TARP bill. This is where Hannity is getting everything confused. AIG didn't get money from the stimulus, they got it from TARP.
He's lying, again. Plenty of republicans voted for the TARP funding, and defended companies as being able to "pay their employees what they want".
mags,
You won't get any static from me about the lousy reporting by Hannity...my issue is with mmfa's contention.
Regardless of who voted for the bill...it was a clear signal to AIG that the bonuses were okay. The issue was not a secret to the Obama adminsitration or congress...it only became volatile when exposed to the public.
>>my issue is with mmfa's contention.
Which is what? And to whom was it okay that the bonuses were okay?
But, you see, this article IS about Hannity's lousy reporting.
But, you see, my comment addressed a direct quote in the mmfa article.
C'mon mags...don't stoop to the hall monitor tactics of defining other's comments on a discussion forum...because you want to discuss something else.
I said here and many times previously that I am not a fan of Hannity nor do I watch his show.
all this comes down to one single issue. who wanted to stop the bonuses. there is a case to be made that the bonuses had to be paid, because of the legal ramifications.
but aside from that, the real question is, who is it that did not want to put limits on bonuses/compensation? that would be bush and the republicans, because there are numerous quotes from them where they expressed that exact view. those quotes have appeared extensively on this site and others. we have also seen the "leader of the republican party", rush limbaugh, and people like hannity and many other conservatives attacking the idea of limiting compensation to the executives of these companies.
the legal and contractural issues are one thing. but when it comes down to the basic philosophical idea of limiting compensation in these bailed out companies, the opposition has come from republicans and conservative media figures. that's why it's the height of hypocrisy for republicans to be complaining about democrats and the issue of bonuses.
Exactly. To the conservatives who spoke so favorably of Glenn Greenwald's analysis yesterday, he was on target again today:
See my list below. Boehner voted against limits on executive compensation today! Another all talk no action republican...
Yeah, until flush set him straight. Flush is still pro-bonus. The central facts don't change.
This is shrub's mess. Gop incompetence put us here. That's not gonna change.
Six years ago today, shrub lied us into Iraq with some horsebrit about mushroom clouds, wmd and Saddam being behind 9/11.
How'd that turn out? How's that workin' out for the US? How's that whole $20/barrel, financing their own reconstruction/ six months, tops thing workin' out for the US Economy today?
Gops were lying, incompetent scum then. They're lyin', incompetent scum now.
Based on their current shtick, that's not likely to change.
-- To the conservatives who spoke so favorably of Glenn Greenwald's analysi yesterday -- craig
Here's one thing I almost agree with Greenwald on "The objection to the government intervention in salaries is rooted in the Republican belief that government is inherently ineffective"...count me in...as a conservative but not necessarily a republican.
In the same article Greenwald piously tries to take the high ground with the statement that "many of the very same Republicans who emphatically opposed any executive compensation limits are now leading the way in protesting the AIG bonus payments.".
He's correct...but the poor behavior is not limited to republicans. When the AIG bonus deal went off in the current administration's hand...they shamelessly tried to throw Dodd under the bus.
The stench from Washington is overwhelming...from both parties.
A viable third party is lurking. One that provides honest leadership instead of whoring for their party
Your RINO comment is darned ironic...it certainly snapped my head around when the RINO label was aimed at me.
It has commonly been a derogatory term used for liberal republicans...maybe not so much now. Those RINO shoes may fit my feet quite well...good stuff snoopy.
On a third party...I think it is closer to reality than many assume. While I was not a Perot supporter, he proved a third party could become viable very quickly. Before his lunacy meltdown he was in a dead heat with Clinton and Bush about 5 mos. before the election...all running about 33%.
"the stench from washington is overwhelming...from both parties". nice cliche, but the fact is that on the issue of limiting bonuses and compensation, the democrats have been for it, and generally, the republicans against. all the smoke and mirrors doesn't change that fact, nor does any fake outrage about going on jay leno, where obama explained his policies very well. that's what he's supposed to do. i guess if he took a month long vacation clearing brush that would be acceptable.
I don't know how you came to that conclusion and I don't know if AIG thought it was a "clear signal" (Did Liddy say that?). The Treasury recognized AIG's superior legal position in the instance of the bonuses; it had nothing to do with them being okay.
Do not bother the Right wing with facts because facts just get in the way of the way things are to the right wing.
How correct you are! The stuff coming out of the this and other neo-cons mouth is about a reliable as SoS they make up more talking points (lies) and pass them off as truth to the public. It is a good thing that we have Media Matters and other who put out their words verbatim and come pare them with fact that really pi**s them off. It is hard to argue with facts but they try they are making themselves out to be the laughing stocks of the trade but they have the 20% of the people who think that these people are speaking to god directly and carry these messages wherever they can to as many people who will give them a minute to spout off these lies.
>>Of course the bill did not proclaim that AIG "had" to pay the bonuses...but the Obama administration made it clear there was little they could do legally to prevent the payment because of contract law and the potential for huge legal costs...leaving the door wide open.
You realize that you are contradicting yourself, too, right? This quote shows the crux of the problem. If the Obama admin did not guarentee the bonuses already in place were given out, they would be subject to law suits. To quote you there "little they could do."
You do realize that your next case and your next clue will be your first, don't ya, little factually-challenged fella?
Let me introduce ya to a little thing we here in the fact-based community call reality, sport.
This is Bush's mess. This situation is a product of gop-scum incompetence and criminally-negligent, non-existent regulatory oversight. Just the way bush and the late, unlamented, gop-slime, rubber-stamp Congress who torched the joint wanted it.
Gops wanted no limits on compensation at all. Flush still doesn't. Gops still don't.
Dodd wanted limits. Gops cried socialism because only UAW contracts can be broken. Dodd caved. That was his mistake.
If these schmucks want their bonuses, fine. See ya in Court, schmuck. Let Flush argue for your bonuses. Try keepin' your name off the Court Docket.
At the end of the day, this is still shrub's mess. Obama is just the latest Black Man to get stuck cleaning up after him.
This situation is still the product of gop-scum incompetence and greed. That's not gonna change. Get used to it. You're not gonna get a chance to forget it.
Reality, little factually-challenged fella. Give us a visit. I'll get ya a rate on a room.
Are you sure you're responding to the right person?
Now that you mention it and upon further review, that should have been directed to wesley.
Thanks for setting me straight.
I have a better idea that a lie would cause the show to go to dead air for the remainder of that segment. Make it so that the radio or tv people could not put anything on you would find the most populare segments would be the dead air time.
Mild hell I want him jumping out of his seat so the neo-cons don't get mixed up.
Please don't tell me KO is one of the exceptions. As a liberal I'm embarassed that this dope is on our side. Journalism is dead in the US.
If you are truly a liberal then you would not have wasted your time picking out my little snipit about MSNBC and instead, you would have checked out the link I offered and commented on that...
Which was the point of my post.
As for KO... yes... he is my exception and I'm damn happy to have him basically on our side!
He, along with Rachel are really the only two voices we can get on any of the TV 'news' stations that will at least come close to letting us know what the heck is going on in the world!
I take in to account that he is subject to the corporate masters, so it is not as if KO can be blatan with the ful trutht, which I wish he could do, but would likely be fired if he did so and then we lose what little we have!
"If you are truly a liberal then you would not have wasted your time picking out my little snipit about MSNBC and instead, you would have checked out the link I offered and commented on that..."
That's not fair. It's entirely possible that he simply disagrees with your opinion of Olbermann. That doesn't suggest that he's not "truly" a liberal. Expecting all journalists to live up to certain standards is a principled position, and maybe he feels Olbermann doesn't live up to those standards.
hell even keith said that this whole attempt at taxing bonuses is unconstitutional. but fineman pointed out that the whole thing was a trap to draw out the neo cons and their bonus happy crowd.
I already know Fox is a joke. And I believe KO has a few good moments. That being said, I still believe he is still a dope. He's becoming more of a Hannity everyday. Please read the last few weeks of the dailyhowler.com for some examples about his dishonesty (eg, Newt's solution to teen pregnancy is prostition - link) and childish behaviour. As a true liberal I believe our country deserves better than this. It's nice to have somebody cheer on our team and make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, but has BobSomerby says our nation cannot run on dumb, and dumb is KO ... and so is Hannity, Rush, Dobbs, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Sean Hannity making things up? I don't believe it!
I heard that Sean Hannity once won an award for lying...
Psssst!
TARP inspector general says Bush administration specifically considered and approved AIG bonuses.
"I really don't want the government to take over these businesses and start telling them everything about what they can do." Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told ABC News in February, when asked about Obama's proposed limits on executive compensation. Senator Jim DeMint, who attacked the original bailout bill as "pure socialism," characterized executive pay caps as a dangerous government intervention. "I think it's a sad day in America when the government starts setting pay, no matter how outlandish they [sic] are," DeMint told the Huffington Post. "This is just a symptom of what happens when the government intervenes and we start controlling all aspects of the economy." DeMint's right-wing compatriot, James Inhofe, also equated limits on compensation with the demise of the American way. "As I was listening to [Obama] make those statements I thought, is this still America? Do we really tell people how to run [a business], and who to pay, and how much to pay?"
And who were the 90 who voted against today's bill taxing bonus money from bailout funds at 90%?
Well, well. 87 republicans voted against it, including Boehner and bachmann. Republians in italics. Hypocrites...
Akin
Austria
Bachmann
Bachus
Barrett (SC)
Bartlett
Bean
Bishop (UT)
Blackburn
Boehner
Bonner
Brady (TX)
Broun (GA)
Burgess
Burton (IN)
Buyer
Campbell
Carter
Chaffetz
Coble
Coffman (CO)
Cole
Conaway
Deal (GA)
Dreier
Fallin
Flake
Foxx
Franks (AZ)
Garrett (NJ)
Gingrey (GA)
Gohmert
Granger
Graves
Hall (TX)
Harper
Hastings (WA)
Hensarling
Hunter
Inglis
Issa
Jenkins
Johnson, Sam
Jordan (OH)
King (IA)
King (NY)
Kingston
Kissell
Kline (MN)
Lamborn
LaTourette
Latta
Linder
Lucas
Luetkemeyer
Lummis
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mack
Marchant
McCarthy (CA)
McCotter
McHenry
McKeon
McMahon
Miller (FL)
Minnick
Mitchell
Murphy, Tim
Myrick
Neugebauer
Nunes
Paul
Paulsen
Pence
Pitts
Poe (TX)
Posey
Price (GA)
Scalise
Sensenbrenner
Sessions
Shadegg
Shuster
Simpson
Smith (NE)
Snyder
Sullivan
Terry
Thompson (PA)
Thornberry
Tiahrt
Westmoreland
Wilson (SC)
What's this, the scum vote roll call?
My heads exploding. Now trickle-down is BAD, and the LIBRULLLS are FEAR-MONGERING!! I can't take it anymore. I can't take seeing Hannity and Rush ruling this site, although they earn it by their lies. But I can't read them anymore. What's that famous quote? "Never underestimate the power of stupidity."
Hannity is (and always has been, I think) a cosmic hack. This is only exacerbated by the fact that he seems to have no qualms making crap up if it supports his argument.
He doesn't rise to the level of cosmic. He never gets off the ground.
But his koolaid carrier is quite effective...
Oh YEAH!
This whole issue might be the most pathetic display of politics in many many years.
Why don't these people and those like them just go away. Shooo, fly, shooo.
LOOK OUT OBAMA THE RIGHT, CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, CBS AND MOSTLY FOX THANK THEY GOT YOU NOW WITH THIS AIG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO LOOK OUT IF THE STOCK MARKET GOES DOWN AGAIN THEY WILL BLAME YOU AGAIN ONLY IF THE POLLS THAT THEY ARE TAKING NOW SAYS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE DON'T BLAME YOU OR THE DEMS FOR THE AIG MESS BUT IF THE POLLS SAY THEY BLAME YOU LOOK OUT THE AIG STORY WILL BE TALKED ABOUT ON RADIO AND CABLE 24/7. AND LOOK FOR THEM TO TRY TO GET RID OF TIMMY BOY TOO WITH THIS AIG STORY. HEY I CAN SAY THIS AGAIN"HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN" NOW JUST WATCH THOSE REPORTERS FACES ON CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC,CBS AND MOSTLY FOX IF THEY HAVE HAPPY FACES THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE BUYING THERE LIES AGAIN AND THEY WILL BE SHOWING THE POLL NUMBERS 24/7!!!!!!
Once again, the well-funded Republitoad Screechmonkeys have managed to shoehorn another Big Lie into the conventional wisdom.
Joe Scarborough and his sidekick Meeka this morning were bloviating about how the Democrats caused this problem by not allowing anybody to read the Stimulus Bill. What unmitigated BullSh*t.
The Wingnuts are all aflutter over this, and asserting that Obama is either incompetent for not knowing about it, or lying. The Toadies are beginning to see this as a scab they can pick at.
Where was all this outrage from the chattering class when we spent hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives chasing phantom WMDs in Iraq, leaving Afghanistan to simmer in its own juices? Seems to me that the outrage in those days was pretty much limited to the internet and a few Liberal Talk Radio hosts.
Bush and Cheney were never held accountable for that obscene waste of lives and money, yet these overpaid TV Puffers are ready to hang Obama out to dry over some AIG bonus contracts? GMAFB
Hannity still can make my jaw drop occasionally .
Last night Hannity suggested that Obama's interest with Basketball Picks is distracting him from doing his job ...something to the effect: Doesn't Obama take any time for work? ...
wow
anybody remember the Bush Work/Vacation Ratio?
I am pretty sure Obama's work schedule/hours to this point already surpasses the previous administration
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One of the things that always amazes me about Sein Hail ity and Limbaugh is in all their claptrap about the productive class vvs. we serfs is that neight of them product a damnned thing. They blither a lot.
How frightening to think either of them were to descide how to save the economy or actually protect America.
Well wait we serfs would make good fodder.
The danger in these fools is their appeal physiologically to the ID. The more base pre-socialized survival instinct of the individual less the group. Thereby their appeal to so many in frightening times.
Name calling (venting) at a discussion board is not the same thing as editorial policy. Seems to me "left" and "right" are somewhat trivial denotations.
to digress: last week Chris Matthews hammered it out and argued points with Ari Fleischer for a _significant_ amount of time.
Sean Hannity never even discusses points with reason on his program,
even with those whose side he is on... it is no wonder he gets called names.
Now we have the what they call themselves the Centrist Democrat's (I call them the undercover neo-cons) they don't want the only thing that can stop all the filibusters of the Republicans the use of the nuclear weapon which makes it impossible for the Republicans to use the filibuster against our most important issues health care, raising the tax on the rich a puny sum of going back to what Clinton had, I of course think it should go back to what we had after WW11 to pay for the wars and the mess our economy is in because of the war and that was 90% (they still would have more spending money then most of the people could even think about), regulating capitalism, creating the best education system in the world, sustaining our social network, and all that was voted for equality to all people in stead of the few. These 15 are in the Senate and can stop all bills going through they for gods sake did not get the message when they were voted into Congress that we want change for the good of all people we need to find out who each of them are and let them how we feel about their cross over or whatever they want to call it.
W. Buffett said "there is a class warfare going on and the rich are winning". He goes on to say he pay less % of taxes then his securtary does and it is wrong.