Rag Hand

From the BBC –The heads of US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac may each receive pay packages of up to $6m (£3.7m) for 2009, depending on company performance.

The government has put $111bn of public money into the companies since taking them over and the awards go against moves to curb lavish pay packages.

But the regulator which decided the pay levels said the awards were 40% lower than before the government bailout.

Meanwhile back at the ranch: The folks at AIG not only are keeping the bonuses they promised to give back they say they are willing to sue to defend $198 million in retention bonuses due in March.

One former Financial Products executive said some of his colleagues had stayed with the company only because they expected to receive bonus payments this coming March. After that, he said, they will have “no reason at all” to stay. “There’s no more carrot,” he said.

Explain to me why this works the way it does:
As I understand it, if you run the company into the ground, the government gives them billions, and they in turn give you millions to keep you from leaving.

Now it’s come out that companies like Goldman Sachs bet against their own investors through the sales of CDOs -collateralized debt obligations- to their clients coupled with a bet against their success. Read About it Here.

These companies take the bailout money and the near 0% interest government money and profit at the expense of the American taxpayers all the while paying themselves enormous bonuses.

—–And the beat goes on.