John Hawkins and most of his commenters have apparently never heard of the Golden Rule: he who has the gold makes the rules. It would be absolutely stupid for Obama to allow the banks to pay their executives whatever they want while they have been known to pay out as much as $18B in bonuses and have already thumbed their noses at decency by lavishing themselves with gifts on taxpayer money. Much of that bailout money would end up in their pockets in a manner similar to how money from first world lenders to third world countries often ends up in the private bank accounts of politicians and their cronies.
There is a positive correlation between high pay and performance here. The higher the pay that the executive demands, the more likely he or she is to be some blood-sucking parasite out to rape the company. So, I say that if they are going to take my money to bail out these companies, at a time when my wife and I are trying to save for a house and start a family, the least Obama can do is a strap a fiscal flea collar to the necks of these corporations.
There is a positive correlation between high pay and performance here. The higher the pay that the executive demands, the more likely he or she is to be some blood-sucking parasite out to rape the company. So, I say that if they are going to take my money to bail out these companies, at a time when my wife and I are trying to save for a house and start a family, the least Obama can do is a strap a fiscal flea collar to the necks of these corporations.
Couldn't agree more. You take gummint money, gumming gets to call the shots. Don't like your decisions being second-guessed by politicians? Don't take taxpayer $$.
And I am deeply offended by the similarity in the 1930s bank bailouts and today...both gave money to financiers without oversight.
Perhaps the best thing that government could have done is not bailout the bankers, but give us all $700B in permanent tax cuts. That would instantly put money back into the hands of those who spend/invest/save the most wisely.
You do realize that in peace time, the federal government's core responsibilities, including for the sake of argument, transportation and the parks, costs only ~$900B out of over $2.5T. All it would take to get rid of the current spending mess would be to remove all pensioners and people with over $1M in 401k/IRA assets from Social Security. With that much money freed up in the budget, we could maintain Social Security for the few that need it (which would make it easier to defend in the political arena), and have probably $1T/year to pay off the national debt.