The Independence Caucus will be releasing the findings of their research into the TARP Funds money trail. This from Monte Bateman of iCaucus:
The Independence Caucus has been engaged for some time in a research effort to show the connection between ALL of the Senators and Congressmen who voted in favor of the bailout AND the recipients of the TARP funds. We will be doing our “Research Reveal” broadcast on Thursday, May 7th at 7pm MDT, 8pm Central on http://www.Justin.TV/icaucus and we invite you to come and watch and then report on anything you find blog worthy. Here’s is a preview of our findings:
- In 2006, the public approval rating for our Congress was a meager 16%, and yet in spite of the low rating, 94% of all incumbents were reelected.
- In 2008, the public approval rating sank to an all-time single digit low of 9%, and even after the American public registered 1000 to 1 against the bailout in phone calls and emails, 96% of all incumbents were reelected, AND 98% of all incumbents who voted in favor of the bailout were reelected.
- With 8,533 financial institutions in the United States, only 25 institutions (21 banks, 2 car companies and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) received 93% of the TARP funds.
- Those 25 institutions are responsible for 60% to 70% of ALL the total campaign funds of every single Senator and Congressman who voted in favor of the bailout.
- Those same 25 institutions are remarkably bipartisan with donations on both sides of the isle being about equal, ranging between 47% to 53%.
- Thursday during our broadcast we’ll be naming 12 Congressmen and Senators (6 Republicans and 6 Democrats) who are some of the largest recipients of donations from those 25 institutions. Some of the names will surprise you. While no one will be amazed that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are well fed from that trough, however one may not expect Bob Bennett’s, or John Boehner’s names to appear on that same list with campaign receipts just as high or higher than those the Democrats receive. Want to see where John McCain and Barack Obama stand in total donations? Stay tuned.
- In our research we go way beyond what the media and the FEC reports for campaign donations, and have peeled back 10 different layers through which those 25 institutions are able to give those candidates way beyond the “maximum contribution” AND we expose the “multi-donor clause” which allows those 25 institutions to double down and donate twice as much as you can, to every single candidate each election phase.
We look forward to your involvement in this, and if you are willing to help promote this event through Facebook, on your blogs and anywhere else you can, your help is greatly appreciated. If you would like to see more information, you can go to the following sites:http://www.icaucus.org (watch Article II part 1 to start and advance from there–takes about an hour and forty minutes to get through all the videos, so perhaps just watch a couple at a time as you have the time.)
http://www.tellyourneighbor.com/icaucus/ – this was the early results of our research; gives a little more background on the seven points I just made in this email.
http://www.tellyourneighbor.com/icaucus/invite/ – Invite others by sending them to this page.
Again, please tune into http://www.justin.tv/icaucus to view, and if you want to participate in the conversation in the chat board, you’ll need to register for a Justin.TV account (registration for Justin.TV is recommended before Thursday so we don’t crash any servers).
I really hope this event becomes the kick-off moment for real change in Washington D.C., instead of Barak Obama’s phony status quo change.
