Why Should America Subsidize John Thain's New Mansion?

In examining Obama's budget, Left, Right & Center's moderator and center, Matt Miller, poses a compelling question:

Conservatives cry “class warfare.” But the truth is that current arrangements actually represent plunder from above (an enduring feature of America's tax history, as I show in this chapter of my book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas). As a moment's reflection shows, the ability to enjoy more tax savings because you’re in a higher tax bracket is perverse; why should America subsidize John Thain’s mansion more than it subsidizes the average homeowner—or the average renter, for that matter, who gets no subsidy at all? As the GOP cries foul, I'd put Obama out in town-hall meetings to pose this question: “Why in America should a millionaire’s mortgage be worth more to him than yours is to you?” Plus, as Bob Greenstein of the Center for Budget and Policy Priorties cleverly points out, this takes the value of these deductions back to what they were under Ronald Reagan (when the top rate was 28 percent). Can the Gipper really not have been doing right by the top? Read more.

Of course, conservatives argue that the John Thains of the world are superior and deserving because they are the "job creators."

Check out a video of Bob Greenstein, who calls Obama's budget courageous, on NewsHour here. 

Greenstein points out that people who make over $1 million a year right now get a $150,000 tax cut, courtesy of Bush. Obama's budget lets Bush's tax cuts expire. It also adds an additional tax increase on the top 5% of Americans to help pay for healthcare, on top of Medicare savings, and it gets rid of tax loopholes that most corporations exploit.

Here's Obama's budget guy Peter Orszag discussing the budget.

Greedy Banker John Thain Who Used a Toilet on Legs Resigns

MSNBC: Former Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain will resign from Bank of America, effective immediately.

Earlier, Bank of America’s shares fell sharply after a report that executives are meeting to discuss Thain’s future with the company.

A report on CNBC followed news that Merrill, which was about to report a $15.45 billion fourth-quarter loss, decided to move up its year-end bonuses, doling out cash just days before it was officially acquired by Bank of America on Jan. 1.
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CNBC has also learned that Thain spent $1.22 million redesigning his office — including $35,115 for a "commode on legs" — when he became CEO of Merrill Lynch a year ago. Thain also paid his driver $230,000 for one years work, which included the driver's $85,000 salary and bonus of $18,000, and another $128,000 in over-time pay, documents show. Drivers of top executives are often paid about half that amount.

Such expenses would have followed $12.2 billion of net losses at Merrill in the second half of 2007 as writedowns on mortgages and other toxic debt began to mount. Thain became chief executive in December 2007.

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