Bailout-Bush: "No Bail-Out for Speculators" / By Stephen Pizzo

[Demeter]

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_stephen__070904_bailout_bush_3a__22no_ba.htm



George W. Bush – commented last week on the nation's mounting mortgage mess. He noted that lots of innocent folk bought houses with mortgages that should never have been made and now over 2.5 million face foreclosure. He offered to help 80,000 of them. (The other other 2.49 odd million are on their own.)

But – and he was firm on this -- he not going to lift a finger to bailout reckless lenders or greedy speculators:

“The Federal government will not bail out lenders -- because that would only make a recurrence of the problem more likely. And it is not the government's job to bail out speculators, or those who made the decision to buy a home they knew they could never afford.” (Full)


What? Hey, George, why this sudden change of heart, dude? There was a time, not all that long ago, when the Bush family not only welcomed lender and speculator bailouts, but encouraged them. In fact – and I am not going out on a limb here either -- nearly every dime in the coffers of George and his two siblings, Jeb and Neil, is the fruit of one bailout or another, some of them funded by you and me.

Let's review. Since this is an old story, I will be mercifully brief.

Jeb Bush:
Jeb Bush defaulted on a $4.56 million loan from Broward Federal Savings in Sunrise, Florida. After federal regulators closed the S&L, the office building that Jeb used the $4.56 million to finance was reappraised by the regulators at $500,000, which Bush and his partners paid. Federal banking regulators, then working for Bush's dad, forgave over $4 million, accepting just what they could get the building when they sold it at a foreclosure sale. Jeb Bush and his partner never had to repay the balance. (More on Jeb's other highly questionable buisness deals here.)

Who paid the Broward Savings money back to Uncle Sam? Well you did, silly.

Neil Bush:
Neil Bush may be the Rainman of the Bush clan, but he redefined the term “conflict of interest" after he was named a director of Silverado Savings and Loan in Denver. It was 1985 and Neil was just 30.

First Neil received a $100,000 "loan" from friend and business partner, Ken Good, of Good International. It was not the kind of loan you or I would get, since there was no contract requiring Neil to repay the money, and he never did. It was, in reality, a bribe.

At the same time Ken Good purchased a large number of shares in Neil Bush's oil exploration company JNB Explorations, a company that never found a drop of oil. Neil then encouraged Silverado S&L to approve Good International for a $900,000 line of credit. The two men kept their business relationship secret.

When buying more stock in JNB got dicey, Good funneled more bribes to Neil disguised as “salary, bonuses and consulting fees.”

But it didn't end there. Eventually Good, with Neil's help, was able to squeezed over $32 million in loans out of the thrift. Neither man bothered to mention that Good kicked back $3 million from those loans to Neil through Good, of course, defaulted on the entire $32 million in loans.

You repaid that money too.

But wait, there's more. Neil had another friend in need, Denver wheeler-dealer, Bill Walters. Neil helped Walters bag $106 million in Silverado loans. And, like Ken Good, Walters returned the favor by investing some of those millions into JNB.

Once again Neil never disclosed his business relationships with Walters, Oh, and guess what? You repaid the $106 million Walter's borrowed from Silverado.

Just 36 months after the youngest of the Bush siblings arrived at Silverado the joint was insolvent. You bailed those investors out too. Your tab that time -- $1.6 billion.


(Neil was forced to leave a small tip though. He was charged with wrongdoing but was allowed to settle out of court for $50,000. When investigators asked Neil whether he thought it was strange or suspicious to have Ken Good just forgive the $100,000 loan, Neil looked puzzled, paused and then answered, "Sir, no I didn't think it was strange. It happens all the time." During one hearing a defense psychologist described Neil as suffering from a kind of “ethical disability.”)


George W. Bush, the man who last week thumped the podium and scowled at the very notion of bailing out “speculators,” is himself the product of such a long string of bailouts that I can only refer you to a long piece I wrote years ago that lists them in painful detail. You can read all about those deals here. SEE LINK FOR FURTHER LINK

Or you can just be satisfied with my assurance that George W. Bush never made a nickel through any thing real he ever did. Every one of his companies was failure, and every one of his companies made him tons of dough. Every dime he owns is the product or byproduct of bailouts financed by Bush family friends, confidants, toadies and sycophants. Every dime ... culminating in Bush's “purchase” and resale of the Texas Rangers baseball team.

I only mention all this to put it in context. G.W. Bush is now against bailing out speculators. He figures they took their chances and deserve their knocks. His demeanor seemed to evidence that he understands that speculators are predatory creatures and deserve to take a beating when their greed spills over and causes trouble in the larger economy. Bad speculators! Bad. No fruit cup and bailouts for you.

And, if anyone would know a bailout of seedy speculators when they see one, it would be a Bush.



Additional reading (should you have the stomach for it.)

Neil's Messy Divorce Papers
How Neil Succeeded in Business Without Really Trying
Bush Family Values
Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans





Authors Website: NewsforReal.com

Authors Bio: Stephen Pizzo has been published everywhere from The New York Times to Mother Jones magazine. His book, Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, was nominated for a Pulitzer.

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