Posted by
The CL Project on Thursday, March 19, 2009 3:14:57 PM
A great post from the Reason.com Blog noting that in today's Washington Post, former director of the Congressional Budget Office Douglas Holtz-Eakin pretty much says it all about the AIG dust-up and much else:
The ... lesson is that no matter how bad you think market capitalism is, the federal 
government has proved it is worse. Congress originally banned these very bonuses, then stripped the ban out of the stimulus bill and is now threatening confiscatory taxes on the lawful recipients. The Treasury knew about the bonuses and vouched for their legality but now wants double the money back somehow. How, exactly, the Treasury expects any straight-thinking financial entity to enter into a voluntary public-private "partnership" to solve the financial crisis given this track record is a mystery to me.
Yes, indeed.
Exit Question: As the Corner points out, Obama and the Dems explicitly protected the AIG bonuses in the stimulus bill. So why are the Republicans allowing them to get away with their faux outrage? Not a single House Republican voted for Pordulus and only three Republicans in the Senate did. Obama owns it.
Update: Sen. Dodd Admits Adding Bonus Provision to Stimulus Package. Dodd says Treasury forced him to add language to the stimulus bill last month that specifically excluded executive bonuses included in contracts signed before the bill's passage.