"Surprise, surprise, surprise," said Gomer to Sheriff Taylor.

Hell, astute bloggers, including WUFYS, were reporting this back when this feeding frenzy started.

It's taken to now for the princes of journalism to catch up?

Better give MSNBC the "Judith Miller Award" for investigative integrity.

Why do I get a sinking feeling that somewhere in the world, something is about to go BOOM?

Executive pay limits may prove toothless

Loophole in bailout provision leaves enforcement in doubt

WASHINGTON - 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 Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.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.

The modification reflects how the rapidly shifting nature of the crisis and the government's response to it have led to unexpected results that are just now beginning to be understood. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, issued a critical report this month about the financial industry rescue package that said it was unclear how the Treasury would determine whether banks were following the executive-compensation rules.

Michele A. Davis, spokeswoman for the Treasury, said the agency is working to develop a policy for how it will enforce the executive-compensation rules. She would not say when the guidance would be issued or what penalties it might impose. But she said the companies promised to follow the rules in contracts with the department.

That tax provision, which amended the Internal Revenue Code, was the only part of the law that contained an explicit enforcement mechanism. The provision means the IRS must review the pay of those executives as part of its normal review of tax filings. If a company does not comply, the IRS can impose a tax penalty. The law did not create an enforcement mechanism for reviewing the other restrictions on executive pay.

Probably about time for some "random" act of violence, to keep us unwashed masses from putting two and two together. That's always a good distraction... or some sex scandal involving some Hollywood goofball.

When the names of the executive's getting OUR tax dollars is released, it will read like a Bar Mitzvah guest list.

Executive pay limits may prove toothless

Posted by willyloman on December 15, 2008

(The last minute, one sentence addition to the $700 billion TARP Bill, proves that Bush and Paulson never had any intention to force the recipients to use that money to unfreeze the credit and get lending jump started. It was a heist from day one. Where is Patrick Fitzgerald’s righteous indignation when we really need it? Such a clear and obvious fraud committed this administration, and what is the focus on this morning? Blagojevich? Draw your own conclusions.)

Submitted by Greg Bacon on Mon, 2008-12-15 15:16

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