crisis is not good.
i read negri.
so what do you read?

Ordinary workers will only take so much before they get a little angry. There is some disturbing news from France today that the leftist groups are fermenting dissent amongst workers there. Politicians and business leaders can take the lead and be seen to be sacrificing like we all will need to, otherwise the fruit of dissent will be there for the picking in the US as well. (www.jwsgoldsilver.com)

Greed! Those Wall Street guys paid themselves (18.4 billion) as much or more than our country spends on one social program annually. I can’t stand the hypocrisy of conservatism. Greed! Also, I find it strange that these billionaires share a party with strong christian fundamentalist…more hypocrisy. If they were truly christians and they tithed 10%, our churches would be very wealthy. Imagine the grand cathedrals and priest bonuses!!

Those shameless greedy CEOs are just like vampires that suck all the blood from innocnet people.

'Retention bonuses' for overpaid financial types are a cynical, venal joke in the best of times. In current conditions, they cross the line to mind numbing immorality. This is why a much sharper progressive tax is needed in the US.

Retention bonuses???! ! While AIG employees in Asian insurance subsidiaries (who totally had no hand in this mess) are facing possible job loss b/c the subsidiaries are being sold. What gall!

Yes, its the ordinary people who suffer. And during these times we it is very hard to understand the logic of the actions taken by governments bailing out those largely responsible for the financial mess the world is in.

we just saw the decline and fall of capitalism, so it is time to embrace another ism..

Those Wall Street bankers, blinded by their greed, have lost track of reality. After creating such a mess, all they care is still how to fill their own pockets, without realizing that average Americans are struggling to hold one to their jobs and the survival of many companies. The American taxpayers have the rights to be angry. Wake up, the Wall Street bubble has burst, for good.

There seems to be a disconnect with reality in the financial services industry. The industry has been changed fundamentally by the events of the past year. How can they not understand that it is no longer the same industry it was even six months ago?

The idea of "retention bonuses" is laughable. Which cash-rich, high-flying competitor is going to offer exorbitant salaries and bonuses to whisk away their treasured employees? Investment banks exist no more, the majority of the risky instruments the industry hawked for massive profit no longer have any (positive) value. and the remaining players are struggling to stay afloat.

How can they justify bonuses they would have never received without the government's handout?

Top management sure has learned their lesson! Not!

Bonuses during 2008 or even the end of 2007 are total B.S.!

$18 billion of bonuses in 2008 is simply criminal! Specially if these same companies have received government assistance.

This is what happens when the government gives money without strings attached. There should be NO BONUSES paid to anyone. Bail out money is supposed to SAVE the company from foreclosure and NOT reward people that caused the losses in the first place.

I would LOVE to see Congress pass a bill that would automatically disallow CEO's from getting bonuses etc if their company isn't making a profit.

Obama would be very correct if he froze the money already pledged to these businesses until they agreed to use it properly and not pay bonuses to high level execs who worry about missing a payment on their daughter's Ferrari.

The goverment can make all kinds of laws, why not one that elimiates all bonuses for any institution receiving any taxpayer bailout money. Simple and easy.

Disgusting – disgraceful – after receiving a bailout, AIG and bankers paying out a bonus to their top executives. The American Citizens should go on a rampage and demand their tax money be returned. If the Senate approves the 851 billion stimulus package, it's the same thing all over again. Only the Democrats could be so ignorant to approve this package.
Where is the bailout of the people out of work? Losing homes and not able to pay their rent while the bailed out idiots get bonuses. No wonder the U.S. is approaching depression. Greedy CEOs and executives – where are the bonuses for the people that do the work?
Get the names of these Companies who are paying $3M for 30 second ads at the Super Bowl. No wonder the TV stations have money to throw around. These same companies will be screaming bailout later on. The world is blaming the U.S. for the financial condition and with incidents like this, no wonder.
Pres. Obama says it is shameful what they are doing – and yet pushes for another bailout with his stimulus plan instead of helping the citizens, again bailing out businesses. In the old days when the businesses couldn't manage or control, they went bankrupt. That should be happening today, especially with the big 3 and their Unions.

Obama said "shameful".

That's what it is.

On CNN this morning I was delighted to hear about a congresswoman from Ohio who was encouraging people whose homes were in foreclosure to stay put – in effect, to sqat. The congresswoman referenced real estate law as having unexplored areas to help people keep their homes. I was relieved. My family is not at risk of losing our home, but I can imagine the panic a family experiences upon losing theirs.
Along these lines, I also read an article on your website that quoted an official from the banking community who alluded to a rather social Darwinian dynamic regarding homeowning - something like, "it is not the best plan of action to bail out homeowners, because they may not have the financial health to maintain a home" etc, etc... Capitolism in motion. But, the same economic warning needs to be given to the companies the US government has bailed out. GM and Bank of America may not have the economic health to maintain themselves after a bailout. Where did such blatent hypocracy originate? In the Bush Administration. Those people have much to answser for, though they will not be confronted by our country. Their greed has crippled our nation.

http://mail.isp.netscape.com/email/scripts/index.pl

Here comes the more of the same.

It is such bull for these CEO's and coporate heads to be able to pay themselves the ungodly amounts they do for bonuses. Why should the tax payers bail them out on private enterprises just so that they can live high on the hog? This is an outrage! People losing there homes, can't buy food, layed off work or cutting back hours and these heads live the luxury life. There is something terribly wrong in this country for our government to keep allowing this to happen. These people should be made to pay back all their bonuses so that the people who lost their savings could breathe a little easier. When will this maddness stop??

President Obama is certainly being nicer to Wall Street and the big business types than I ever would have been. After all, they got us into this mess, along with their friends in the Republican Party, and now all they have to offer is more of the same.

Maybe the time has come to start nationalizing some of these big banks and make them operate as a public service, like gas, water and electricity. Maybe we need a National Investment Bank owned by the government to replace these corrupt and failing institutions. Other countries are doing that, and certainly the common people of the US need a banking system that serves their needs and not just those of a privileged aristocracy.

Frankly, I am amazed at the patience of the American people. Our Founding Fathers would have long ago started another revolution, but perhaps we no longer have the courage they had.

Compliments for this issue being brought up.

I am not an economist, so I don’t know if this is ridiculous, but can people that have extra savings volunteer to offer it up as a new kind of investment? I will gladly invest 20% of my savings into a private venture capital project to get lending going again if it will save us from ruin.

Can there be a drive, marketing, and advertising for such a thing to happen? I want my kids to grow up in a safe and healthy society. The return is a qualitative incentive that goes beyond any material self interest. I don’t want my kids, grandkids and their grandkids to pay for all the debt that is being generated. I am scared seeing social disorder break out.

The best and the brightest could head it up. No government, no red tape, no greedy bankers, just people trying to save our nation and perhaps the world. Foolish..never work? What the hell do I know?

I’m just nauseated watching this crap happen to people.

To believe that life's meaning revolves around 'the market' and that workers take the brunt of the careless decisions to the concept that 'the business of business is business' shows that The Free Market has put really meaning to the concept of 'slavery' where you 'owe your soul to the company store'.