Category — bailout

How many millions did unions spend getting Democrats elected this season?  They must be livid that Democrats can’t shove the auto industry bailout through:

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd said he knew of no Republicans who would support the Democrats’ $25 billion proposal and said he was disinclined to move a bill without bipartisan support.

“I’d want to be careful about bringing up a proposition that might fail,” given that a rescue plan would likely fare better under a President-elect Barack Obama administration, Sen. Dodd (D., Conn.) told reporters on Capitol Hill. “There’s some political considerations that need to be made over the next few days.”

What political considerations?  If it’s the right thing to do, get your Democratic majorities moving.

More from Pelosi:

A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi said Thursday that Democrats were “hopeful” they could get a package passed but that the chances hinged on support in the Senate and from President George W. Bush, who hasn’t indicated whether he would sign the legislation.

Maybe the Democrats aren’t going to get much done after all.  I suspect the days of trading safe Republican votes so Democratic Congressmen in more conservative districts can vote no on issues like illegal immigration are over.  First, the compassionate conservative is gone, so there’s nobody undermining the party from the inside trying to drag votes across the aisle.  Sure, guys like McCain will always play the sap, but he won’t drag Republicans with him like a sitting president can.  Second, as the minority party, Republicans must now clearly delineate what separates them from Democrats if they ever hope to return to power.  “I voted with the other guys” isn’t a very compelling campaign slogan when you’re asking people to make a switch.

Democrats better get their house in order if they’re going to govern.  Republicans have no incentive to rescue you guys.

Wall Street should nix their bonus programs this year.  There’s simply no way to justify them given their performance and hundreds of billions in taxpayer funded bailouts.  For example:

Citigroup, which received $25 billion from the government last month, has reported $26 billion in expenses for compensation and benefits in the first nine months of 2008, up 4 percent from the same period a year ago. The New York-based bank has reported four consecutive quarterly losses.

Compensation up 4% year over year with 4 straight quarterly loses.  Sounds like the employees and management at Citigroup are really sharing in the pain.

Sadly, nobody on Wall Street understands that bonuses should be linked to performance:

At Goldman Sachs (GS) the figure was $11.4 billion, Morgan Stanley (MS) $10.73 billion, JPMorgan (JPM) $6.53 billion and Merrill Lynch (MER) $11.7 billion. At Morgan Stanley, the amount put aside for staff compensation also grew in the last quarter to the end of August by 3% to $3.7 billion.

With the exception of JP Morgan, these firms are down huge this year.  I have no idea what makes any of them think they deserve bonuses.  They’re basically looting taxpayer money that was suppose to be used to make loans and shore up balance sheets.

Ordinarily, I adhere to free market principles, but clearly these compensation schemes have no grounding in reality.  Therefore, I hope somebody (Congress) steps in and puts a stop to it.  You simply can’t let these pigs continue feeding at the trough given the wreckage left in their wake.

The House rubber stamped the Senate’s bailout today.  Why did they initially fail to act on what Warren Buffett described as a “financial Pearl Harbor”?  The first bill didn’t have billions in earmarks.  Add some pork and suddenly all the swine want to feed at the trough.  It’s a good thing we didn’t have this rogues gallery during Pearl Harbor.  They wouldn’t have declared war on the Axis Powers without a few payouts.