Progressives all over the country are waking up from the nightmare of the Bush presidency and are asking themselves, “What did I eat before I went to bed eight years ago?” In point of fact, we have suffered from collective indigestion going back more than 30 years. Read more »

Alisa Gravitz, Executive Director of Co-Op America , recently wrote to members of the organization to say that corporate greenwashing has her seeing red. Gravitz cites the following examples of corporate offenders offending her with their greenwashing:

Dawn dishwashing liquid’s "Make a Difference" campaign encourages people to protect marine animals. Meanwhile, Dawn’s maker, Procter and Gamble , refuses to remove potential carcinogens from its products…lobbies against minimal labor standards in China…and – you guessed it – tests their products on animals.

Gravitz goes on to explain that her organization seeks nothing less than to expose multi-billion dollar greenwashers and promote businesses that are truly green. Co-op America has a Responsible Shopper program that does just that. And apparently the program is working because Unilever called the organization to see how they could improve their practices to get a better rating on Responsible Shopper.

She concludes by saying "Greenwashing is not an innocuous PR tactic. It is a con game…" Indeed when profits come before people and planet and a corporation pretends that it is the other way around, their behavior is nothing less than criminal. We at Global Investment Watch stand by Co-op America in their efforts and we will continue to do our part in exposing corporate malfeasance.

Co-op America is based in Washington DC and will change its name to Green America in 2009. Over the years the group has employed four strategies:

• Empowering individuals to make purchasing and investing choices that promote social justice and environmental sustainability;
• Demanding an end to corporate irresponsibility through collective economic action;
• Promoting green and fair trade business principles while building the market for businesses adhering to these principles;
• Building sustainable communities in the US and abroad.

Co-op America’s agenda has similarities to that of an Obama administration. With a new green-friendly administration taking root in Washington DC, Green America’s uphill battle may level out just a bit. Let’s hope so.

How the Bush Treasury Department Helped its Friends and Screwed America

In the waning days of the criminal enterprise known as the Bush Administration, it has been revealed that the Treasury Department has granted massive tax breaks to corporations while world attention is focused on other matters. A windfall of possibly $140 billion was achieved when a provision of the tax code was changed by a slight of hand.

No one in the Administration is taking direct credit for this fraud. However, the ideological underpinnings can be traced back to a 2007 memo written by two tax policy officials, Eric Solomon and Robert Carroll. The elimination of the “offending” rule serves as tribute to the infamous “torture” memoranda issued by the U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, which was used as the legal underpinning for allowing waterboarding and other forms of prisoner abuse.

The Treasury Department memo sanctions the elimination of an I.R.S. rule that was established more than 20 years ago. In 1986, Section 382 of the tax code was established to limit the sheltering of profits through the creation of shell companies whose only “value” were the losses they held. This situation arose often in situations where a company acquired another company that was losing money. The losses from the acquired company could be used to offset profits made at the acquiring company.

While the idea of offsetting profits from losses incurred by buying another company may be subject to some debate and regulatory evaluation in the arcane world of tax policy, the Bush Administration and the Treasury Department bypassed the whole exercise through executive fiat.

Rather than go through a regulatory review process, consult with Congress or engage in some other form of democratic process, the Treasury Department wiped the slate clean and opened the door for a massive gift to the banking industry. The rule change came just 24 hours after Congress voted down the original bailout legislation in October. A number of experts named by The Washington Post suggest that this move was patently illegal.

Benefiting from this change were several major banks that have reaped the rewards of this fraud. Wells Fargo Bank is at the top of that list.

The Wells Fargo Ruling

Wells Fargo Bank was looking to acquire Wachovia Bank. Wells Fargo had made some furtive attempts at acquiring Wachovia but had walked away from the deal because the numbers didn’t work. However, once Section 382 was eliminated, it created a $25 billion incentive for Wells Fargo and the deal went through within hours.

According to the Washington Post, two more bank mergers were completed on the coattails of this regulatory scheme. PNC acquired National City and saw a $5.1 billion savings from the repealed regulation. Banco Santander bought Sovereign Bancorp and is expected to see a $2 billion savings from the change in the law.

By one account, this questionable regulatory action will cost taxpayers as much as $140 billion in lost tax revenues. Unfortunately, the floodgates have been opened and to disallow the tax breaks granted to these companies in the current economic climate would ensure a possible meltdown in the capital markets. Somehow, hearing Treasury Secretary Paulson announcing to the public that “we made a mistake and the repealed tax rule will now go back into effect. Wells Fargo, you now owe us $5 billion in taxes,” sounds like financial suicide even to the economic anarchists amongst us.

The Means Justify the Ends

I am reminded of an interview I heard on National Public Radio shortly after 9/11. Interviewed by Diane Rehm, Lynn Chaney, the wife of Vice President Chaney made the argument that the use of torture was justified as a means to an end – the protection of America – regardless of it illegality under the Constitution. The trumpets of corruption blare as the anthem for all subsequent deregulation, refusal to enforce laws and convoluted interpretation of the law that have been the hallmarks of this administration.

Undoubtedly the Treasury officials responsible for this fraud believe that the means justified the ends. However, when the rule of law gets tossed out the window, far greater risk is imposed on the American system of government, which is in tatters from its many years of manipulation by the Administration and its friends in high places.

Of course, we are now learning today that this shadow governance is not limited to the financial world. In today’s papers, it’s reported that George Bush’s Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld issued a secret memo that authorized incursions into other countries to pursue terrorists.