Bush Thwarts Limits On Executive Pay

You would think a lame duck like Bush would have a limited ability to do too much mischief before he steps down from office. Now I have learned my lesson. Never underestimate the ability of George W. Bush to line the pockets of the already rich and otherwise screw over the little guys, us!

Remember that TARP money intended to buy up troubled assets from financial institutions? Well, it really hasn't been used for that. Instead it had gone to the troubled firms rather than to aquire troubled assets. A small change? Yes but there is method to the madness.

Congress was rightly outraged, or at least the public was, at the multimillion dollar pay corporate executives were getting from the very firms that they drove into the ground. To avoid this in the future, there was a string tied to the TARP money that said the government would have oversight in executive compensation. At least that is how Congress originally wrote it.

Bush in his infinite ability to bend over to corporate fat cats, changed a few words in the bill prior to its passage that specified this oversight was only for firms whose assets the government was buying. A small change, but so far the Treasury has yet to buy any troubled assets. What does it mean?

Well, it means the businesses we, you and I as taxpayers, are helping out can continue to reward their inept executives with eye-popping paychecks unhindered by government regulations. Bush does it again!

January 20 can not get here soon enough!