Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.
But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.
Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.
Hmmm. Now, why does that NOT surprise me? Stupid, stupid, congresscritters! When are you idiots going to wake up from your stupor and actually do something right for a change? And, just because Obama will be taking over in January, I don't for a moment think that congress will present itself in any stronger position. The only salvo is that the new president won't be such a lying asshole and things like the above won't be slyly "written" into legislation. Congress, however, will continue to be populated by idiots, most of whom couldn't differentiate between their right hand or their left hand when it comes to jacking off.
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