Bailout Bill Redux?

It’s Sunday morning, 1st weekend of fall and as usual for this time of year, raining. I am enjoying listening to the talking heads (political shows, not David Byrne) and perusing the headlines for some fresh kill.

I see a picture of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson standing in front of a bunch of microphones. Looks like we have ourselves a ballgame…again!

Upon further examination, it appears as if the framework of a bailout bill is done, which could be voted on as early as Monday morning. That they are “working on the fine print” shouldn’t scare us since that is exactly what derailed this bill last week.

But hope springs eternal, right?

While most of the details are sketchy at best right now, one of the sticking points last week that seems to have been overcome was executive pay. One side wanted a cap on pay while the other didn’t want to get bogged down by trivial details like rewarding someone for trashing an organization.

Here’s the rub…

It seems (and the language could change) that firms seeking help from the bailout fund WILL be able to pay their CEO’s more than the $400,000. BUT, they will forgo certain tax deductions to do it. Now, forgive me, but I just talked about the lack of corporate tax responsibility in this country with the majority of corporations skipping out on their tax responsibilities to the tune of “0” liability. So, the first loophole has been discovered.

But let’s make it a positive!

Once the deal is done we can have an Easter egg hunt to see where else these bastards can screw us! It’ll be fun, you guys bring the chips.