by Deb Cupples | Yesterday, a British newspaper said that Wall Street firms might not participating in the $700 billion Bailout they'd lobbied Congress for, partly because Wall Street executives (the human beings that make company decisions) resented the Bailout Bill's limitations on their ability to funnel tax dollars into their personal pockets.
Apparently, Wall Street firms didn't desperately need our help to save the economy; they wanted it only if execs could use our tax dollars to increase their own personal wealth.
Yesterday's New York Times reported that our federal government is now considering buying "vast amounts of the unsecured short-term debt that companies rely on to finance their day-to-day activities." Apparently, the Bush Administration can do it without Congress's approval.
That's one way to circumvent what little executive-accountability Congress managed to insert into the Bailout Bill.
If we taxpayers start giving companies cash in exchange for unsecured debts, what guarantee do we have that the human beings who make the companies' business decisions won't siphon our tax dollars into their personal bank accounts -- in the form of pay raises or bonuses of sorts?
Yesterday, the House Oversight Committee held a hearing about Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy: the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The Committee discovered that even while Lehman saw signs of rocky times, executives continued investing in terribly risky mortgaged-backed securities.
Even worse, Lehman's Board members and execs approved billions of dollars in employee bonuses, stock buy-backs and dividends -- money that could have instead been used to help prevent Lehman's collapse.
I understand that something must be done. But if no one insists on accountability as the Bush Administration scrambles like a headless chicken to "shore up" our nation's economy, what sort of consequences will we taxpayers and consumers face down the road?
Frankly, I don't know what the solutions are. I'm just crossing my fingers and saying Hail Marys, in hopes that our government officials will exercise due caution and aim to protect us ordinary taxpayers.
Other Buck Naked Politics Posts:
* Lehman Execs Re-Distributed Billions in Shareholder Wealth to Themselves
* CEOs Took Millions While Driving Companies into Ditch
* Fannie CEO Got $38 Million, Risky Buys Weren't his Fault?
* AIG Spent $61 Billion of Bailout Money and Plans to...
* Wall Street to Say "No thank You" to Bailout Funds?
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