Monday, December 15, 2008

Will Georgie two shoes hide out in a bail out financed mega yacht?

Don’t expect any restrictions on the bonuses of the mega thieves leaving their bankrupt companies.

Do you wonder why the mega-yacht industry is ramping up production and the training of new crews? Is the $350 Billion give away going to pay for 90 foot plus yachts cruising the Mediterranean? Maybe W plans to hide out on one of those mega-yachts safe from the shoe hurling public.

Washington Post
Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless
Loophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt
By Amit R. Paley
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 15, 2008; A01
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 Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.
"The flimsy executive-compensation restrictions in the original bill are now all but gone," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), ranking Republican on of the Senate Finance Committee.

More at:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/14/AR2008121402670.html?hpid=topnews

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