Bailout and the Seven Deadly sins...

Lust involves obsessive or excessive thoughts or desires of a sexual nature.
Gluttony is the over-indulgence of anything to the point of waste.
Greed is a sin of excess applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular.
Sloth represents the failure to utilize one's talents and gifts.
Wrath is an inordinate and uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger.
Envy is an insatiable desire for something that someone else has.
Pride is the self-loving desire to be more important or attractive than others.

I once owned a 1989 Saab EMS. She was fun to drive and she was one of the last cars that still possessed that great old Saab look that they so lack today. She had a moon roof but very little else in the way of extra options. The day finally came when I could not repair the rusted supports and fix all the various safety issues. The car had heart. When the tow truck from the Kidney Foundation came to take her away, she had 300,000+ on the odometer. That motor would not quit! I actually got a little misty eyed as she left. Still puts a little lump in my throat.

I know how the CEO's of the Big Three feel. They don't want to let go of their private jets and be forced to fly first class! They do however want the U.S. taxpayer to give them a heap load o' cash to help them out in these hard economic times. They're not sure what they would do with it, but trust them, they will spend it.

Something has to give. The proverbial tightening of the belt needs to begin at the top. The average incomes of the highest-earning 1 percent grew 11 percent year-over-year between 2002 and 2006. The bottom 99 percent saw their incomes grow on average just 0.9 percent annually. The New York Times last April reported that average compensation for chief executives who served at least two years at some 200 major US companies grew by 5 percent in 2007, to $11.2 million. With their businesses often slumping, performance-based bonuses were down. But discretionary bonuses, not linked to performance, were up a bit. For CEO's, "things go well when things go up; they go well when things go down,"(..)

The more things change the more they stay the same. And we do nothing about it. But what can we do? Is it legal to tar and feather anymore?

Lets not forget AIG and their hosting of a $343,000 conference for independent financial planners at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak resort in Phoenix. "The Phoenix conference was at least the second time since September the company was involved in a six-figure event at a resort." They did cancel an appearance by the legendary NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw. Too bad, Terry, I'm sure you were the best part of the show. (..)

On January 27, 2007 I wrote about poverty statistics and the difficulties facing most of America. Balance that with "W" stating during the State of the Union address, "Our economy is healthy. Americans should not fear our economic future, because we intend to shape it."

Shape it into what? Bigger checks for fat cats and unemployment and food stamps for the rest of us?

There are many ideas being floated about as to what we (the taxpayer) should do about Detroit's slow implosion. I think that bankruptcy makes the most sense. But it doesn't settle well with me that labor negotiations and pension adjustments will bear the brunt of the auto manufacturer's attempts to get costs under control. CEO's pay needs to be brought down to a reasonable level. How much money is too much?

An annual report released in August of 2005 by the research group United for a Fair Economy and the Institute for Policy Studies reported that the growth in average CEO pay – which was $11.8 million in 2004 – to the growth in the minimum wage, revealed that had the minimum wage risen as fast as CEO compensation since 1990, it would now be $23.03 an hour instead of the current $5.15. And the average production worker would be making $110,126 a year instead of $27,460.

Ouch! That hurts!

Now, I'm not saying that anyone should abandon the free market system. But I get suspicious when we talk about bailing out Wall Street and possibly Detroit when we know that it is costing US and not those that really have more than they will ever need. Does that make sense? Who is really taking the hit here? Who is really tightening their belt? Who is making the money here? Unmistakably, we can agree that there is a fleecing of America going on here. But from whence does it come? Is it a government overrun by lobbyists and special interests? We keep hearing that the rich are getting richer; and the poor are getting poorer. And this is supported by facts!

The GOP states that taxes are the problem. Unions are the problem. Big government is the problem.

What say you?