Law of Unintended Results: Outrageous - Bailout $$ Being Misused

CARELESSNESS, ERROR, OR BOUGHT OUT?

Below is an article I find astounding...not only is the bailout money being spent in ways that were not intended, but Congress itself, after all the talk, vows, promises - NEVER put a restriction in the Bailout Bill to forbid the use of the money for executive salaries and BONUSES! (My reaction..."Are you serious").

This was a major issue that Congress said they were against, but then quietly left out any salary or bonus restrictions. Again, it isn't what you say, but what you do. Think about this when you vote this year. Were they careless, duplicitous, or just bought off by the banking lobbyists. This is an outrage. Are you getting a bonus? Are you getting relief with your mortgage?

Do you think Congress just over looked it; or again trusted people who have beenshown to be heartless and greedy. Or were the lobbyists just too effective?

A lot of thinking to do before election day.

Gloria


Bailout off track
Money being spent in unintended ways

Remember the original bailout bill, sold by the Bush administration to Congress as a way the government could soak up the toxic mortgage debt crippling banks, thus unclogging the credit market and rescuing the economy?

That notion looks downright quaint now.

Only $100 billion out of that $700 billion bailout measure has been set aside for that purpose this year. So where’s the rest going?

The government just decided to pump $250 billion into buying equity stakes in banks, again with the idea that our money would flow into loans to boost business and the economy.

Somehow, this veered off track — with bankers reportedly looking at the prospect of purchasing other banks, paying dividends and even doling out salary increases and executive bonuses.

Citizen outrage over eye-popping Wall Street bonuses when the financial meltdown began surely will bubble back to the surface.

Whatever happened to the alleged safeguards enacted in the final bailout bill?

Now comes word that Congress did not write anything in that law to prevent banks from spending taxpayer money in this manner.

Appalling. Congress failed us again.

Upon hearing about federal money going into bank acquisitions, Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate banking committee, uttered this response: “beyond troubling.”

Well, yes, and look who we have to blame — Congress and the Bush administration playing fast and loose with our money.

Bankers didn’t sit on their newfound riches long, either.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. pocketed $7.7 billion in rescue money in return for company stock, then turned right around and announced a $5.58 billion purchase of National City Corp. We can only hope that all our taxpayer stock gets a good return.

But remember AIG, the country’s largest insurance company facing massive losses to pay off mortgages and other assets it guaranteed?

American International Group, bailed out by the government to the tune of $123 billion, earned our scorn for shelling out $440,000 for a spa outing mere days after securing that rescue package.

Now the company is paying lobbyists millions to stifle pending regulations of the mortgage industry. Our money is being spent to fight off rules that would protect us? Executive greed and arrogance knows no bounds.

And that, too, is “beyond troubling.”

AIG now claims that $123 billion is not enough.

Can we trust a company with such a dubious track record? Every executive should be replaced and every financial record examined.

Other insurers are rushing up to the government trough, with the Hartford, Prudential and MetLife leading the way.

Automakers got in line for $25 billion, with $5 billion of that possibly heading to seal the deal on a merger of General Motors and Chrysler.

How much of the hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer money will trickle down to the average citizen? Those of us who lost our jobs, our savings, our homes?

The numbers are telling.

So far this year, the nation’s economy has lost 760,000 jobs.

More than 2,700 Americans lost their homes to foreclosure every single day from July through September.

With stock markets around the world on a roller-coaster ride for the ages and the Dow Jones sinking to its lowest close Monday since this financial crisis began, we’ve lost hundreds of billions in our savings and retirement accounts.

We cannot claim to be wizards on the economy, but something’s out of whack here.
The government should prop up failing industries else they collapse and put even more employees out of work.

But where’s the bailout for the average American?

Last month Senate Republicans shot down a $56 billion stimulus package for infrastructure projects.

That money would have led to tens of thousands of jobs for a construction industry already battered by the loss of some 35,000 jobs across the nation.

The loss of that stiumulus is also troubling. Congress should reverse course.
If we can allocate hundreds of billions to Wall Street, surely we can put a fraction of that into Main Street.