Got to agree with the Dems on this one

[mhall]

Fellas let's put away who got what out of who, blah blah blah, just for a moment. I don't know who's fault it is I'm not smart enough for that. All I am saying is if we are going to bail people out of the hole, CEO'S SHOULD NOT be walking away with millions of tax payers dollars and that is exactly what is happening. They have to legally disclose these figures for the public record and what these thieves are walking away with is past sinful. Forget about politics just for a bit and look at this for what it is, INSANE at best. The American taxpayer should be outraged, I know I am, it's sickening.

[mhall]

I did read the other day where John McCain warned anyone who would listen that Fannie and Freddie both were on the road to disaster, this was over two years ago. And this was a liberal writer who wrote this so if he said something positive about McCain it must be true.

[Devils Horse]

Fellas let's put away who got what out of who, blah blah blah, just for a moment. I don't know who's fault it is I'm not smart enough for that. All I am saying is if we are going to bail people out of the hole, CEO'S SHOULD NOT be walking away with millions of tax payers dollars and that is exactly what is happening. They have to legally disclose these figures for the public record and what these thieves are walking away with is past sinful. Forget about politics just for a bit and look at this for what it is, INSANE at best. The American taxpayer should be outraged, I know I am, it's sickening.

Mark, don't see how 'who got what out of who blah blah blah' can be put aside, since that's pretty much what it all usually comes down to.

I assume you're calling for government regulation to keep CEO's from walking away with millions while companies' employees are layed off and their retirement savings wrecked. If you want to forget about politics, how would you have us fix it? Armed rebellion?

I agree something needs to be done, I just don't know what. The federal government has already proven they can't manage our money, let alone properly regulate private interprise.

Maybe a simple new federal regulation saying the officers of a publicly traded company can only make up to X amount in salary including bonuses and stock/options. There is a minimum wage, maybe it's time for a maximum wage.

That sorta gives me the creeps though, I'm leery of the very notion of too much government involvement with companies, mandatory salary caps, etc.

[know1]

I absolutely oppose the bailout. I think it's wrong to do this and even more wrong to use our tax dollars for it.

Where does the government draw the line at bailouts, anyway? I suppose my company is too small to bailout.

I guess if the government is going to bail them out, I do agree that the executives shouldn't walk away with bunches of money, but then again what is too much? Should the regular employees' pay be cut too as long as we're at it? I do not think the government should have anything to do with telling private businesses how to operate and how much to pay people.

[DJD]

I don't know the details but does this mean they own these business'? Did they just give them a low interest loan to cover the potentially bad upcoming debts? I guess I need to bone up on what they have done because the more I think about it the more cornfused I get.

[MrSplitshot]

I also don't claim to be anything but confused on this deal, but the notion of the government regulating the "maximum" amount that some stuffed shirt who runs a company can make bothers me a little bit...but at the same time, the thought of the government bailing out some company that failed while the CEO walks away or gets to keep a job making millions bothers me too.

Neither seems "right" to me at the core, so it's a toss up. I think everything coming to a head 40 days from a Presidential Election is making things worse, because both sides are using it as a focus point for political pot-shots.

Nobody's there to bail me out when I've mismanaged my money during the month, bought too much fishing stuff at Backwaters, and can't afford to pay my electric bill. It's my fault - Maybe I should have to sit there in the dark with my new spinning rod and read Bassmaster by candlelight. I wouldn't expect DJD and Devils Horse and Mhall to take some extra money out of their paychecks to pay my electric bill for me. Maybe that's too simple a way to look at it, but maybe it's not.

Bottom line: You aint going to pay Paul without robbing from Peter. I'm afraid our messed up government is the kind that will rob from Peter, then write a cold check to Paul.

[TimE]

I also don't claim to be anything but confused on this deal, but the notion of the government regulating the "maximum" amount that some stuffed shirt who runs a company can make bothers me a little bit...but at the same time, the thought of the government bailing out some company that failed while the CEO walks away or gets to keep a job making millions bothers me too.

Neither seems "right" to me at the core, so it's a toss up. I think everything coming to a head 40 days from a Presidential Election is making things worse, because both sides are using it as a focus point for political pot-shots.

Nobody's there to bail me out when I've mismanaged my money during the month, bought too much fishing stuff at Backwaters, and can't afford to pay my electric bill. It's my fault - Maybe I should have to sit there in the dark with my new spinning rod and read Bassmaster by candlelight. I wouldn't expect DJD and Devils Horse and Mhall to take some extra money out of their paychecks to pay my electric bill for me. Maybe that's too simple a way to look at it, but maybe it's not.

Bottom line: You aint going to pay Paul without robbing from Peter. I'm afraid our messed up government is the kind that will rob from Peter, then write a cold check to Paul.

wHILST i rarely can follow Devils Horse post with wiser words,Splitshot you done pretty good.

[BarkelyPup]

I also don't claim to be anything but confused on this deal, but the notion of the government regulating the "maximum" amount that some stuffed shirt who runs a company can make bothers me a little bit...but at the same time, the thought of the government bailing out some company that failed while the CEO walks away or gets to keep a job making millions bothers me too.

Neither seems "right" to me at the core, so it's a toss up. I think everything coming to a head 40 days from a Presidential Election is making things worse, because both sides are using it as a focus point for political pot-shots.

Nobody's there to bail me out when I've mismanaged my money during the month, bought too much fishing stuff at Backwaters, and can't afford to pay my electric bill. It's my fault - Maybe I should have to sit there in the dark with my new spinning rod and read Bassmaster by candlelight. I wouldn't expect DJD and Devils Horse and Mhall to take some extra money out of their paychecks to pay my electric bill for me. Maybe that's too simple a way to look at it, but maybe it's not.

Bottom line: You aint going to pay Paul without robbing from Peter. I'm afraid our messed up government is the kind that will rob from Peter, then write a cold check to Paul.

Well Said. I have finally found somthing that I do not agree with My Republican Party on. Don't get me wrong I don't agree with the Libs either. I think These companies should be allowed to fail. Period. We may go into a depression or we may not. But just because ignorant people made bad decisions is no reason for tax dollars to bail them out. Tax Dollars should be spent on 3 things. Defense, Roads, and Garbage Pickup. Let the free market work. Now if taxes are raised as b.o. wants to do on these so called rich companies then we will for sure go into a recession. You will see buisnesses fall left and right. Especially small ones. Now for what its worth I don't care who is to blame. I have a good idea who is but we as a people need to stand up to put an end to this. Somthing has to be done about Politicians hands in all the lobbying cookie jars. When money is involved Politicians have no buisness taking a dime from them. It makes them look guilty. What was it that was said about a pig and chapstick or somthing like that. Well it still squeels in the dark. Anyway you get the message or at least I hope you do. Now. Who is with me on getting politicians hands out of cookie jars? Ohh yeah let me know how you think we can do this too.

Thanks for Reading and May God Bless

bP


McCain - Palin '08

[know1]

Well Said. I have finally found somthing that I do not agree with My Republican Party on. Don't get me wrong I don't agree with the Libs either. I think These companies should be allowed to fail. Period. We may go into a depression or we may not. But just because ignorant people made bad decisions is no reason for tax dollars to bail them out. Tax Dollars should be spent on 3 things. Defense, Roads, and Garbage Pickup. Let the free market work.

I absolutely agree with this 100%

[Devils Horse]

Didn't mean to come off like I was firing back at anybody either Mark, just frustrated. You have every right to be hopping mad, the rest of us are too.

It's criminal what's happened with Fannie and Freddie even if no charges can be hung on anyone under the law. The deeper you dig, the more disgusting it is.

It's way wrong when top management in companies like Shearson Lehman make obscene money even while the company fails. Then they pull the ripcord on their multi-million dollar golden parachutes after bankruptcy. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

The point I was trying to make was I don't know what to do about it.

One thing's for sure, we taxpayers shouldn't allow the federal government to spend 700 billion of our dollars to put a band aid on a sucking chest wound.

Anyways, the posters in this thread have some good points, especially Split. I love BarkleyPup's 3 expectations from the government.

[roadrunner]

O'Reily said it best you can not regulate what a private company pays anyone but the minute you have to put tax payer money in the company all bets are off and any golden parachutes will not be honored. I will go one step more and say going back three years the parachute's will have to be returned.

[mhall]

Jim (DH) I wasn't meaning to seem like I was firing back at anybody. I guess sometimes I try to simplify things too much and that is a slippery slope. We unfortunately live in a time now where if you do wrong you can still be rewarded. In my day when we did wrong we got whacked on the rump and sent to our room. In school we were told that our poor efforts just weren't good enough and to try harder next time. In sports we had coaches scream at us and ask us if that was the best we could do than to just go home. If we got our feelings hurt, well so what. Now a days it's coddle, kiss, smooch, pat on the head and please nobody tell my boy or girl they just aren't good enough. I guess that has now leeched over into the business sector as well. So let me get this straight so my simple country boy mind can understand it. Major companies in this country can have their upper level management run their companies in the ground and make decadent salaries doing it to the toon of millions of dollars. They have Carte Blanch to perform insane business practices in order for them and their cronies to make exsuberant bonuses and salaries 5 times higher than that of the upper 20% of the American people. Then when it all blows up and the companies go belly up like a gullet hooked bass in 85 degree water they just cry for help and the government pats them on their little heads and bails them out. Now we aren't done, because they ran the company in the ground and my hard working family and my hard working friends and fellow fisherman must bail them out with money we really don't have. Oh yea I almost forgot lets allow them to walk away from a BANKRUPT government bailed out company with BONUSES and severance packages to the toon of MILLIONS of dollars in some cases for several or groups of the morons that did this to the company in the first place. Now I totally understand and it all makes perfect sense to me, I'm happy to help these poor individuals out so they can continue to live the Sultan lifestyle they have became so use to living. I'm glad we had this conversation as I'm feeling much better now.