U.S. taxpayers, who feel they own a stake in Wall Street after funding a $700 billion bailout for the industry, don't want executives' bonuses reduced. They want them eliminated.
The article quotes numerous outraged Joe Schmoes who are aghast that the blank check their elected officials handed to Wall Street was used for unintended purposes. My question to the newly outraged: Did any of you exercise your Constitutional right to petition your elected representatives to oppose the bailout legislation? Or were you spooked into acquiesence by the volatility you were seeing in your IRAs?
I wrote about this misuse of bailout money on Oct. 29, and not just because I happen to know something about how our government spends money. If bonuses have already been paid the government would probably have to launch criminal probes to recover any money. Bonuses that remain to be paid would have to be impounded by federal regulators to ensure compliance with the bailout law. I just don't see any of that happening. What's done is done. The taxpayer got the hosing he deserved for believing Secretary Paulson's sales pitch.
