The Online Investing AI Blog

Vice President Joe Biden and a score of governmental officials recently announced their shock and disgust at news that Wall Street businesses were handing out billions–about$18 billion–in bonus money to executives, employees and assorted empty suits.

The disgust is legitimate: how can you pay people extra money for bankrupting their businesses and, at worst, fleecing their shareholders?

There’s buzz in Washington about throwing the CEOs who are behind these business failures in jail. There’s more talk about docking their pay and limiting salary to $400,000 for executives who take part in the bailout funds.

But before the government officials from state and federal governments get too comfortable in the saddle of their high horse, they should look take a rake to their own backyards.

Each year taxpayers bailout government programs that don’t work–or haven’t solved the challenges they’ve been charged to solve.

Billions of dollars each year are given to government officials and government contractors as bonuses. They should be held to the same rules. For instance, if a government-sponsored road project is not finished on time, or goes over-budget, there should be no bonuses and salaries should be restricted. That should apply across the board.

Programs that are a continual focus of taxpayer bailouts–Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid, Education, the Pentagon, etc.–should similarly be targeted.

The public has been poorly served by executives in the financial market, but the government has let the people down, as well.

It’s time to take make ALL segments of our society accountable.

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