Rudy To The Rescue-- Defending The Rights Of The Rich To Plunder The Rest Of Us

You think whips and furs grow on trees, bub?

I guess Giuliani has four choices in front of him: running for the Senate, running for Governor, running for someone's vice president or just raking in the bucks by continuing to kiss up to big corporate honchos. One of the ways he kisses up to Big Business is by taking a leading role in the vicious war against America's working families. Giuliani can always be counted on to bash unions and oppose everything and anything that turns back the Republican jihad against workers. But yesterday's report from Andrew Cuomo's office about the $18.4 billion Wall Street banksters stole in the form of "performance bonuses" and "severance bonuses" out of the $300 billion TARP bailout the Bush Regime made disappear without a trace, gave Giuliani an opportunity to stick his head up Big Business' ass again.

President Obama referred to the recent bonus heist as "shameful" and both NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the congressional panel trying to get a grip on overseeing TARP want the $18.4 billion returned to the taxpayers. Republicans should like that, right? I mean aren't they always crying about the taxpayers. Yeah, but they only mean the precise taxpayers that actually looted the $18.4 billion. In fact, the payroll tax cuts for working people in President Obama's Stimulus... well, to Republicans that's welfare. So... no.

Instead Giuliani is calling the billions in bonuses for some of the country's richest-- and most corrupt-- citizens a wonderful thing and a boon to society.

"If you somehow take that bonus out of the economy, it really will create unemployment," he said on CNN's "American Morning." "It means less spending in restaurants, less spending in department stores, so everything has an impact."

...When Giuliani ran for the GOP presidential nomination, pundits said his stances on issues like abortion rights separated him from self-proclaimed Reagan Republicans in the field. Not up for debate is Giuliani's alignment with the 40th president on "trickle-down economics," the theory that keeping the rich wealthy creates jobs and solvency for the lower classes.

"Those bonuses, if they are reversed, are going to cause unemployment in New York," the self-described fiscal conservative said. "I remember when I was mayor, one of the ways in which you determine New York City's budget, tax revenue is Wall Street bonuses.

"Wall Street has $1 billion, $2 billion in bonuses, the city had a deficit. Wall Street has $15 billion to $20 billion, New York City had a $2 billion, $3 billion surplus, and it's because that money gets spent. That money goes directly into the economy. First of all, it gets taxed as income. Secondly, it gets taxes again when somebody buys something with it."

Well... in case you weren't sure who's side he's on.