Life has it’s ups and downs. Mistakes happen. And we’re taught at an early age that we have to pay for our mistakes.

Wachovia made a mistake. 6,350 people will pay for that mistake right off the bat by losing their pay checks, their health care coverage… their livelihoods. The rest of us will pay, as we do with everything god damned thing our dumb ass government can throw at us, through taxation.

So how can someone make such a colossal mistake, and still expect a bailout from taxpayers? That’s easy - they’re wealthy. They are members of the American elite with which our government caters and bows to explicitly (except in rare election year instances).

Wachovia reports $8.86 billion quarterly loss

Bank will leave the wholesale mortgage business, cutting 6,350 jobs

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Wachovia Corp. lost $8.86 billion in the second quarter, and said Tuesday it was slashing its dividend and cutting 6,350 jobs after losses tied to mortgages soared.

Even excluding one-time items, the results substantially missed Wall Street estimates, and shares sank to mid-1991 levels. [...]

The so-called “Pick-a-Payment” loans, which Wachovia inherited from Golden West, have proved a headache for the bank and a lightning rod for shareholders, defaulting at higher rates than other mortgages.

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Waste, greed and idiocy isn’t just for the big dogs in higher up levels of government. You’ll see just as much, if not more, right down the street in your county’s court house.

Charlotte Considering Annexing Part Of Cabarrus County

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte city leaders are thinking of doing something they’ve never done before — annexing part of another county.

They’re close to taking Crosspointe On The Green. Part of the neighborhood is in Mecklenburg County, part is in Cabarrus County.

So, those residents would become a rare breed: Cabarrus County and Charlotte city residents. They have concerns.

Vince DiOrio said, “Well taxes. I don’t mind being part of the city of Charlotte but I don’t want to pay Charlotte taxes.”

Their taxes would go up more than $0.45 for $100 of valuation. That’s about $900 more each year for the average home there.

Students would still go to the same schools.

Charlotte City Council votes a week from Monday. If the annexation passes, it wouldn’t go into effect until next summer.

(HT: NC native, Cleve)

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Yeah, they are so doing it for the money it pays:

Bush paid $221,635 in taxes for 2007

WASHINGTON - President Bush and his wife paid $221,635 in federal taxes on an adjusted gross income of $923,807 for the year 2007.

The income total includes a $150,000 advance received by Laura Bush for the children’s book she co-authored with her daughter, Jenna.

Last year, the president and Mrs. Bush paid $186,378 in federal taxes on their income of $765,801.

Bush’s salary as president is about $400,000.

Why can’t we vote in someone that has a clue what it’s like for the rest of Americans?

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Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) (L) and her husband former U.S. President Bill Clinton look over the menu in Des Moines on the day of the Iowa Caucuses. (Reuters.)

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

Roughly eight years at $109 million… not too shabby!

Clintons Release Tax Returns

Bill and Hillary Clinton earned a combined $109 million between 2000 and 2007, with the former president and first lady parlaying their White House years into hefty publishing paydays, and with his oratorical gifts bringing in more than $51 million from paid speaking engagements.

The figures came with the release this afternoon of the Clintons’ joint tax returns, a move Sen. Clinton made after promising during a televised presidential debate to comply with requests from journalists and her Democratic rivals to share details of her family’s financial dealings.

The returns reveal how the Clintons turned global fame into a successful commercial brand, particularly through the former president’s speaking fees. The two also collected more than $30 million from book deals, the returns show.

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This is why America’s wealthy luvz them some Bushy:

Veto Threat Looms Over Oil Taxes Bill

WASHINGTON — If Congress passes legislation to roll back nearly $18 billion in tax breaks for large oil companies, advisers to President Bush will recommend a veto, the White House said Tuesday.

The tax legislation is scheduled to come up for a vote in the House on Wednesday.

The revenues from oil companies would be used to pay for tax incentives for wind, solar and other renewable energy sources including for ethanol produced from feedstock other than corn, and tax breaks for energy efficiency programs. [...]

Democrats anticipated House passage of the bill and hoped that the recent surge in oil prices to $100 a barrel and gasoline prices averaging well above $3 a gallon would help garner support for the measure, especially in the Senate, where it is expected to need 60 votes to overcome an almost certain GOP filibuster.

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You don’t need glasses to see that the American middle class is slowly fading into oblivion. With more and more folk living paycheck to paycheck, the poorhouse is just one unexpected expense away.

So it’s certainly wonderful to see our government has a plan.

Plan Would Let Seniors Work to Pay Taxes

GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there and after 43 years, she really doesn’t want to leave Greenburgh.

Greenburgh doesn’t want her to leave, either.

The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes.
[...]

Davison, who suffers from arthritis and sciatica and needs a walker to get around on her bad days, said she pays about $12,000 a year in property taxes - perhaps $2,000 to the town - and has already taken out a reverse mortgage to pay her bills.

Talking to Feiner last week at the town senior center, she said, “I would work as long as it was a job where I could sit.”

“You could be a receptionist!” [Town Supervisor Paul] Feiner said. “You could greet people right here, when they come in.”

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