After Bailout - Let the Good Times Roll at Taxpayers' Expense!

THANKS TO BAILOUTS, corporate America did not experience the hardship of economic crisis that many families across the country did and still do.  Large bonuses and expensive company functions, including elaborate vacations, continued, funded by taxpayers. Some of those very taxpayers lost their jobs and homes, but for AIG executives and banking corporations, happy days are here again! Here are examples of what taxpayers' bailout money bought.

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WashingtonPost.com
October 7, 2008

After Bailout, AIG Executives Head to Resort

Less than a week after the federal government offered an $85 billion bailout to insurance giant, AIG, the company held a week-long retreat for its executives at the luxury St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., running up a tab of $440,000, Rep. Henry Waxman   (D-Calif.) said today at the the opening of a House committee hearing about the near-failure of the insurance giant.

Showing a photograph of the resort, Waxman said the executives spent $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 for the spa.

"Less than a week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation," Waxman said. "We will ask whether any of this makes sense. "  See full article at this link:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2008/10/after_bailout_aig_executives_h.html?nav=rss_email/components

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When elected officials speak of reducing the country's financial burden, they usually discuss cutting social programs, such as entitlement programs that benefit distressed families, including children living in impovished circumstances, college students, and the working poor.  However, it appears that the collective budgets for all such programs do not compete with the nation's revenue spent in repeated bailouts for Big Business. 

Corporate welfare is generally excused from conversations about cuts in federal funding, because getting a free ride is apparently acceptable for the FAT CATS.

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FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES, HERE IS ANOTHER NEWS STORY

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Distraught man who could not find work killed 5 family members and himself

Oct. 7, 2008

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- A man distraught because he could not find work shot and killed his mother-in-law, his wife and three sons and then killed himself inside a home in an upscale San Fernando Valley neighborhood, police said.

Authorities said the man had an MBA in finance but appeared to have been unemployed for several months and had worked for major accounting firms, such as Price Waterhouse.

The two-story rented home is in a gated community in Porter Ranch, about 20 miles northwest of Los Angeles.

"The shootings were discovered after 8:20 a.m. Monday, after a neighbor called police to report that the wife had failed to pick her up to take her to her job at a pharmacy," Deputy Chief of Police Michel Moore said.  (Full article at this link: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/10/06/california.murder.suicide/ )

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AND THE BEAT GOES ON . . .  Detroit's former autoworkers should take banking courses.
MUSICAL VIDEO - They're Shuttin' Detroit Down  - http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22605.htm

See the article below, and consider changing your major.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIgUh3Tv5ycg

July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., Merrill Lynch & Co. and seven other U.S. banks paid $32.6 billion in bonuses in 2008 while receiving $175 billion in taxpayer funds, according to a report by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo

Cuomo analyzed 2008 bonuses at nine banks that received Trouble Asset Relief Program financing from the U.S. government. New York-based Citigroup and Merrill, which has since been taken over by Bank of America Corp., received TARP funding totaling $55 billion, Cuomo said.

“When the banks did well, their employees were paid well. When the banks did poorly, their employees were paid well,” Cuomo’s office said in the 22-page report. “When the banks did very poorly, they were bailed out by taxpayers and their employees were still paid well. Bonuses and overall compensation did not vary significantly as profits diminished.”

The study, called “No Rhyme or Reason: The ‘Heads I Win, Tails You Lose’ Bank Bonus Culture,” comes as Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission examine whether to limit the compensation paid to top corporate executives.

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More about the economic crisis and its impact on workers is at anohter article by this writer:

150,000 USPS Job Losses? ~ Workers Hold Sony France Boss Hostage
http://my.nowpublic.com/tech-biz/150-000-usps-job-losses-workers-hold-sony-france-boss-hostage

Please see more articles by this writer by clicking the dogs icon or using this link:  http://NowPublic.com/duo

YOUR feedback is welcome in the rich text comment field below.

Mary Neal
Website:  http://wrongfuldeathoflarryneal.com

Assistance to the Incarcerated Mentally Ill
Visit Online at:   http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/AIMI 

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.  ~ Matthew 25:37-40

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More from NowPublic.com on the AIG executives scandal

• After Bailout, AIG Execs Head to California Resort
  
  
• AIG after bailout scandal, executives party in California