The New Untouchables. Break the law, get a bailout. Break the law again, get a tax subsidy.

[phantom power]

As if more evidence was needed that Wall Street has rigged the game in its favor, the IRS is going to allow the banks that engaged in a massive nationwide program of mortgage fraud to write off their settlement:

The Internal Revenue Service regards the lenders’ compensation to homeowners as a cost incurred in the course of doing business. Result: It’s fully tax-deductible.

The New Untouchables. Break the law, get a bailout. Break the law again, get a tax subsidy.

At least one lawmaker, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, wants regulators to bar the tax deductibility of the lenders’ costs..

“It is simply unfair for taxpayers to foot the bill for Wall Street’s wrongdoing,” Brown wrote in the letter dated Thursday. “Breaking the law should not be a business expense.”

But it is Senator Brown. In fact, breaking the law is not just a business expense for Wall Street, it’s their business. The Finance, Insurance, Real Estate (FIRE) sector of the economy does not actually produce anything. The only way Wall Street can make tremendous profits is through fraud and chiseling.

http://news.firedoglake.com/2013/01/18/taxpayers-picking-up-tab-for-foreclosure-fraud/

[JDPriestly]

1. K&R. Sherrod Brown is so right.