Bailout vs. Stimulus

So, let me get this straight. American taxpayers give (repeat, give) money to certain banks. Certain banks then give the money to their friends in the form of bonuses and whatnot. Then certain banks decide, under oath, they do not have to tell the American taxpayers what they did with this money.

And, on the other hand, we have the non-free give away call the stimulus package, that has all the Republican's tidie whities in a bunch!

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a motion Monday asking former Merrill Lynch Chief Executive John Thain to provide more information about bonuses paid out on the eve of the bank's merger with Bank of America last year.

Cuomo's office alleges that Thain is not answering the questions under instructions from Bank of America , and as a result, the bank is interfering with its investigation of the bonus payments.

In a deposition last week, Thain refused to answer questions about how the bonuses were determined for certain individuals, citing instructions from Bank of America attorneys.

And speaking of giving out free money with no strings to corporate friends instead of helping real Americans, we have this little tidbit from AIG.

Remember when the Republicans insisted this was going to be a money making venture? They were laughing and counting the profits. Money making in terms of bonuses, perhaps, but in terms of capitalism and customer revenue, not so much. Those Republicans are the same ones hiding from their responsibilities today and offering nothing other than obstruction. Don't worry though because CNBC's Rick Santelli is surely preparing a massive online protest where he will try and do better than the dozens of new fans he rallied to protest rewarding bad behavior. If anyone would understand the value of providing billions more in addition to the $150 billion already handed over to AIG - a single company - it will be Santelli. The report from CNBC is that they will announce an additional $60 billion in write-downs. Yes, $60 BILLION!