The Wall Street Bailout Fallout

The following comes from an article by Amey Stone, titled "Eight Ways the Wall Street bailout is adding insult to injury."

1) It is estimated that $70 billion of the $700 billion bailout will go as bonuses to bankers this year. Ms. Stone says "the goal was to provide funds to shore up banks' capital bases so they would start lending again. It wasn't to help them fund the bonus pool." Oops.

2) The person in charge of dispersing this pile of bailout moola is "Neel Kashkari, a 35-year old former Goldman Sachs whiz kid who believes in free markets." Isn't that sort of like hiring an awfully young fox to guard the chicken coop?

3) AIG received an $85 billion line of credit. Soon thereafter, the company held a $440,000 retreat at the St. Regis resort in Monarch Beach, California. Another retreat was planned, but cancelled when the project was leaked to the press.

4) How about ex-bankers getting bonuses to stay at the banks "that acquired their divisions in bankruptcy proceedings?" Yup. Some Lehman ex-bankers getting money to keep their jobs.

5) A number of CEOs of firms that failed got fired, but...they got a few million buckeroos to help them over the rough spots.

6) Pity the poor CEOs who screwed up, like Leman's ex-boss, Richard Fuld, who's lying awake at nights wondering what he did wrong. And poor Alan Greenspan. Pity poor Alan, who "made a mistake." About 8 gazillion people are suffering from Greenspan's mistake...how 'bout a little pity and a few mil for them?

7) If you thought the banks had to use the largess they received in the bailout to help the economy, think again. They can do any damn thing they want with it, like "buying other banks -- not adding it to the lending pool so they can make more loans and end the credit squeeze."

8) And guess who really wins - the lawyers!


Read all of Ms. Stone's article here - and weep!