Freddie, Fannie bosses got big bonuses, taxpayers sucked wind

You know I'm all about paying someone what they're worth. Labor should be allocated through markets, at market prices.

I'm not so sure, though, that we've heard enough from politicians and mainstream media about executive compensation at Freddie and Fannie. Turns out that even in the midst of a government bailout, these folks were taking bonuses for performance. What performance?

They deserved those bonuses, folks. Really. Because their job, as given to them by HUD and Congress, was to lend to subprime borrowers. And they did so. Wonderfully.

I'm going to stop short of saying that their job was to bankrupt the American economy in favor of wealth redistribution. That would be too cynical.

Most Fed loans during crisis went to foreign banks: Bloomberg

It's hard to believe, but the Federal Reserve's special loan programs were heavily trafficked by foreign banks during the recent crisis. Who knew?

Well, as I've posted before, nobody knew b/c the Fed doesn't release records of which banks it helps. Which is done to prevent the market from collapsing those banks during a liquidity crisis.

I guess that rules got to change now too. Some reforms have already been made, but you can bet that Congress will be looking to change some parts of DIDMCA to make that nearly impossible in the future.

Politics of fear, we know thy name

In just the latest example, the progressives are using fear to try to control weak minds. In Congressional testimony, an administration official lists the number of children who we could expect to die from the current Republican-led attempt to cut the federal budget. Next they'll have to use the "if it saves only one" argument; that's the next one in their arsenal.

For all of those out there who depend on the government

Turns out a bunch of the EPAs radiation detectors weren't working, recently, right when we needed for them to be.

Anyone surprised?

Hard to believe: Outgoing House members paid big bonuses to their "staffers"

Wow, I can't believe that the people who were defeated in November (or just left) decided to put big bonuses in place for their outgoing staff. No way!

Next time I hear complaints about Wall Street bonuses I'll think back fondly.

Let's just fine airlines for delayed flights! Yeah, that's the ticket!

Article today about how airlines are canceling flights rather than pay fines for leaving planes on the tarmac, something that seems to be largely out of their control.

What did the morons who introduced the fines expect?

Another great example of how regulators/lawmakers expect to just wave their hands and get compliance.

Cato Institute on the REAL cost of public schools

Enjoy.