Part II of II of this interview with John LeBoutillier, the former U.S. Congressman and author of Harvard Hates America. John joins Mike Siegel on the Boss Business Brief to discuss tax reform and how it impacts small business. What will congress do? What impact will it have on you?

About John:

John LeBoutillier is a former U.S. congressman and a nationally recognized political commentator. LeBoutillier has been a prolific writer and he has contributed to many major newspapers and magazines. In 1980, LeBoutillier was elected to represent New York's 6th District becoming the youngest member of the 97th Congress. He also has been a frequent commentator, host and guest of many media programs.

Transcript:

Siegel: And back we are. Good to have you with us as we get into the conversation again with Congressman John LeBoutillier, who is here as a former member o f the United States House. He is from New York. We are talking about the dilemma of where we are. I was asking you, Congressman, as a former member of the House, you are watching this now as an observer, there are many who are talking about yet Senator Evan Bi leave because of the vitriol and things not getting done. I think most would argue, at least as far as democrats would go, one of the most moderate fellows in the Congress in the United Sates Senate, much more tolerate, let's say, than Russ Feingold who got beat. But now you see this situation where they it is very acrid, visceral, angry. You saw Tip O'Neil and Ronald Reagan battle each other all day long and then turn around at 5:00 o'clock and have a martini together. .That stuff just doesn't happen any more. How badly has it gotten since you left the House?
Congressman: Well, it is not fair to judge, but I think it is all overrated. I think that it is a lot of show for the TV cameras and that on a personal level everybody gets along alright. It is not that bad. This is high stake stuff and throughout American history we had people caning each other on the floor of the House, almost killing each other. I mean, there has always been strong feelings against positions on certain issues. So, I wouldn't have us focus on that. I don't really think that is a problem. I think there is a bigger problem, which is liberals have a different view of the role of government in society. They really do believe that the government is here to redistribute money, the rich have too much, the poor have too little, and the government and the democratic leadership of the government is the hero here that comes in, takes from the rich and gives to the poor. Well, in reality that never happens. The rich are too smart to have their money taken. So, what the government and the liberals do is take the money from the middle class and give it to the poor. When you talk about small business owners, that is the middle class. They are the ones that get screwed every year on this stuff. They don't get bail outs. They don't get TARP money given to them. They pay for it and some rich Wall Street idiot who didn't even know what his company was doing, and I am specifically talking about the mortgage bond fiasco and the credit swap defaults, if the heads of those banks… Mike, they didn't even know what was going on in their own bank. Did they get fired for this? No. They got a bail out, a bonus, and they get to keep their job. It is an incredible story.
Siegel: That would never happen in small business. But look at a guy like Ken Olson at Bank of America, who look the other way when 3 billion dollars in bonuses was given to Merrill Lynch employees a week before he took over control of Merrill Lynch at Bank of America. He allowed that to happen to tax payer money. You can go on and on with those lists, but the fact is that it was not just lack of knowledge, there was some criminal activity here. I talked to a professor at University of Kansas and he was telling me that there is no doubt in his mind there were criminal acts, even by Standard& Poor's and Moody's and Fitch, which gave triple A ratings to those mortgage backed securitizations which should have never gotten any ratings whatsoever, or when Goldman Sachs and others would sell those to their investors knowing they were bad investments. And as you say, all these people do all of this and they come out smelling like a rose financially and small business people in this country working hard every single day are burdened with every other problem that was created by somebody other than themselves as a small business group. It is outrageous.
Congressman: It is unbelievable. It is a disgrace, and if there were criminal charges… you know, if there was criminal behavior, the justice department under Bush and now under Obama has not brought charges. There are all these investigations, the FCC, but no one is getting charged from this thing. I read a book, you probably read it, "The Big Short," by Michael Lewis, about the whole mortgage bond thing and he does a great job explaining to an idiot like me what went on in language I can understand and it is quite clear, when you read that book, that very few people understand what went on, know how it happened, were aware of it when it was going on. I mean, you talk about Moody's, I don't think they were criminal. They are just second rate. They don't really even know what was going on in the mortgage bond business. It was evolving right in front of them. These synthetic bonds. The second rate people inside Moody's, they didn't even understand it. John Mack, the head of Morgan Stanley, he didn't understand it when he was asked in public shareholder session. This guy did not have a clue what was going on. He was just ignorant of the complicated nature of these things.
Siegel: Well, and then question then is, it is really, if you come back to commonsense, if you know that a massive portion of new jobs are created by small business, not the big corporations, and that is where the jobs are, you would think t hat even in your own self-interest, democrats or republicans, you would want to help small business to do job creation which would be politically palatable to the American people, because that is the biggest issue in the country today is jobs. Yet, they have done nothing to help small business create jobs with any kind of program and now we are several years into this administration. Again, we have seen no alternative program laid out clearly by republicans to do that. What is your sense of where we are going? First of all, we have about a minute and a half. What is going to happen if the Bush tax rates are not extended?

Congressman: Well, it would be a damper on the economy. I think they are going to be extended. If it doesn't get done in the next 12 days of this month when the congress ends, the new congress will come in on the 4th or 5th of January and the first thing they do in the House and in the Senate will be retroactively to extend them. They will probably get other things put in there, too, that they couldn't get now. So, the democrats will get a less good deal than they are getting today. I have a feeling Obama will go along with all of it, because he might have caught a little does of religion now and sees he has got to do something to juice up the economy quickly if he wants to get himself reelected in 2012.
Siegel: Which is very hypothetical at this point, since he has got undercutting from his own party. That was my other question.
Congressman: That won't be an issue. He will be the nominee. No doubt about it. He will be the democratic nominee and these liberals who are complaining will all vote for him.
Siegel: Well, then, given that point, as we wrap up here, about 30 seconds…. Do you anticipate anything happening with regard to small business getting any benefits or tax breaks in the new session?
Congressman: I do. I think that republicans will get to that quickly after they get the present deal taken care of. I think they are listening more to the small businessman and to the tea party movement, which is comprised of small business people. I would look for other tax breaks to be talked about in the next few months.
Siegel: Congressman, from your lips to God's ears, as my mother would say, I thank you very much. We will talk to you again soon. We appreciate you being on the program.
Congressman: Thanks for having me, Mike.