Wall Street execs who have presided over this mess are complaining that the congressioal limits on compensation will cause them to lose high performing personnel.

I've no idea how Wall Street measures performance but a quick look around suggests to me that Wall Street performance has been, at the very least, sub par.

Wall Street still doesn't get it.

They have failed miserably.

The idea that they are entitled to a reward for this level of performance is incomprehensible.

I hope Obama is paying attention.

Losing trillions of dollars isn't something that merits a reward.

It has become apparent that the bailout is a really big screwup. The payouts to the largest banks almost all exceed the actual value (market capitalization) of those institutions. For instance, Citbank has a market cap of about $19B but the bailout money Citibank has received so far is $45B. Simply stated that means Citibank is actually insolvent. The same applies to B of A and a significant number of other banks as well. The actual value (street value) of the toxic assets they are carrying on their books are products of investment instuments that should never have been allowed and which are the very ones that made this entire mess. It is pure financial shenanigans all the way.

There can be only one solution to this. That is to take over the insolvent institutions and work to get their finances in order and then resell them at a later date when this mess and the economy starts to get well. Sinking this amount of money into what are arguably failed instituions is ridiculous.

The way we are going about this is an attempt to preserve value where that value is vastly less than stated. In many cases that equates to 10 cents on a dollar and certainly less that 20 cents in the overall.

Taxpayers are being asked to make good on failed investments where the risk associated with those investments is simply being reassigned to taxpayers. This after the fact reassignment of risk is wrong in every way. There is no way that taxpayers have or can be construed to hold an interest in a failed investment strategy.
 
These losses will never be recovered because the losses were created by an intentional obfuscation of value. This is pretty much about falsely inflating stock values and profits. The companies responsible for this are now being made the recipients of taxpayer dollars where the actual fact is those companies committed fraudulent acts and should actually be prosecuted for those acts. It cannot be overstated how dysfunctional our system of finace has become. This is criminal all the way and there can be no argument that our major financial institutions were full partners in this criminal enterprise. And it is also quite obvious that the Congress of the United States changed laws governing the conduct of these intitutions which allowed for the creation of the financial intruments which have brought us to this end. The question the American people need to be asking is why did they do that and what were the circumstances upon which they made these changes.

It is becoming exceptionally difficult to ignore the overall circumstance of how this has occurred. The total set of events that have transpired over the years are contributors that set us up for this. I am having a very difficult time not connecting some obvious dots and arriving at some very disturbing conclusions. I don't see any of this as coincidental. It is too big a stretch to ignore all the things that had to happen which resolved to this mess. Accountability for this probably will never happen. Between government and the financial sector they collectively screwed the pooch big time. In my opinion this demands a complete isolation of the financial sector from government. That means they must be stripped from having any participation in the political process. I don't see any means to prevent a future occurrence of this except by eliminating the influence that undeniably has been a significant factor. There are those persons who will choose to close their eyes to this obvious condition but I don't see how they can do so. It would require a degree of dishonesty that is very much central to why this occurred to begin with. In fact anyone in our government or in the financial sector who might do so, in my opionion, is criminally liable. I know that won't be the conclusion. It is the fact though. Denying it is simply another lie. A whopper to be sure.

It looks as though taxpayers will be buying all the toxic mortgage junk held by banks.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29146768/ 

Banks and other holders of this trash have been pushing for this. They are delighted to sell us their garbage. And our government is stupid enough to buy it. Geithner is a Wall Street asshole all the way.

Granted I don't know the details of the portion of the stimulus that is the tax cut. I do know that recent tax cuts haven't gone to average income earners.

The thing that may well occur is the tax cuts will be viewed as free money for deep pockected individuals who will then turn around and take that money and plow it back into buying influence on capitol hill.

You can bet it'll be spent in ways that are decidedly in conflict with trying to resolve this mess. As in so many other instances, large financial institutions use our very money pushing a political agenda that is harmful to average wage earners. This is a highly probable scenario.

There can be little doubt that herein lies a huge ethical conflict. Using depositors money in pursuit of ways to politically disenfranchise them is way wrong. But that is exactly what goes on all the time. Handing big business a $350B tax cut is political and financial suicide on the part of taxpayers. We need to know up front where every nickel of the stimulus is going to be spent.

I have said this all along. As Joshua states the taxpayer is getting a rotten deal with the bailout. The valuation of these large banks is in the toilet because they hold huge chunks of toxic assets that are being peddled at far more than they are worth. Before this is done the taxpayer will have forked over $$$ that are well in excess of the market cap of these banks. We either need to get these assets at steeply discounted prices or nationalize the banks that are in trouble. From a financial standpoint nothing else makes much sense.

Who gives a hang if we have an aversion to nationalization? That's just a feeling and has nothing to do with the hundreds of billions of dollars on the line. You can bet your ass that a bank would never accept such a crappy deal. Why our government is inclined to take this stupid route on our behalf is reflective of the persons in government looking out for the interests of the banks and of Wall Street. If they can sell us a Chevy at a Mercedes price they'll do it in a heartbeat.

If ever there was a time for taxpayers to get on the bandwagon and call their representatives this is it.

Republicans say they want a tax cut.

Well guess what?

The one we'll get by forcing our lawmakers to do this sensibly and responsibly is the biggest one anyone alive today will ever see. Conversely, if we don't make this happen sensibly and responsibly it will represent the biggest tax increase ever in our history.

Call your rep today.

Or be screwed tomorrow.