Senator Max Baucus got $26 billion for private equity companies -- the
vultures that buy companies, load them up with debt, collect exorbitant
fees, and then try to sell them to the unsuspecting public.
Senator Robert Byrd is getting $4.6 billion for clean coal. "Clean,
carbon-neutral coal can be a 'green' energy," Byrd said.
What the hell other crap is out there?
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/01/28-2
Drucker, Jesse and Peter Lattman. 2009. "Senate Provision Would Let
Buyout Firms Defer Taxes on Canceled Debt." Wall Street Journal (28
January).
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123310671578422199.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
"Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus included language in the
tax portion of the proposed stimulus package that would allow companies
to defer income taxes triggered when they repurchase their own troubled
debt at a discount. That would benefit a wide array of companies and
industries, but would be a particular windfall to private-equity firms,
which acquire companies using piles of debt in hopes of producing large
profits for their investors. Amid the economic downturn, many of these
deals have run into trouble and the firms are seeking to refinance them."
"The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the proposal would cost the
government roughly $26 billion over the next three years."
"A study by Boston Consulting Group found that, of 328 private-equity
portfolio companies, roughly 60% had debt trading at levels considered
"distressed"."
"To stave off default, private-equity executives have made reduction of
their companies' debt a top priority. The companies are asking investors
to swap their bonds for ones with lower values and longer maturities and
also seeking to settle debt with cash. However, reducing debt levels can
result in a big tax bill. For example, if a company issues $1 billion in
debt, but later runs into trouble and exchanges it for new debt worth
$600 million -- or buys it back for $600 million -- the remaining $400
million in cash is taxable income."
--
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA
95929
530 898 5321
fax 530 898 5901
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
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