Posted by
Prysson on Thursday, February 05, 2009 10:30:19 AM
...
Democrats will ride together to the resort on a chartered Amtrak train at a cost to taxpayers of about $70,000, the Hill reported. Taxpayers will also foot the bill for security helicopters to fly above the train. The caucus will spend thousands: In 2003, for example, they spent $11,200 on food and $6,900 on entertainment, the paper said.
The trip comes after several Democratic lawmakers criticized American International Group Inc. executives for spending nearly $500,000 at a company retreat in California just days after the federal government bailed the company out with $85 billion in taxpayer funds.
This falls under the whole "symbolism over substance" argument.
Unlike some conservatives I have to admit that I don't really have a problem with the notion that an institution coming to the government for bailout money (taxpayers money) because they have basically mismaneged their companyto the point of insolvency would have a stipulation to that money that the same idiots who got them into trouble in the first place NOT be granted multi million dollar compensation packages at taxpayer expense as a reward for their incompetence.
Having said that however it needs to be noted that this is NOT any kind of meaningful solution. Limiting CEO pay does not in any way shape or form solve or lead to solutions for the current economic mess. It doesnt create one job it doesnt put one person back to work and when the government is trying to spend a trillion on pork barrel pet projects ceo pay is really not even a drop in the bucket..more like a single water molecule in an ocean of waste.
What is even more aggravating about it is that it is clearly nothing more that a demagogic play on the publics anger when you consider that the same sort of activity that is apparently so OUTRAGEOUS that politicians run in front of the cameras and lecture the nation on and proclaim "They wont allow it by god!!!" as if they were some kind of dictator instead of an elected offical...well apprently that same sort of activity is engaged in by the same people who are outraged. Hello kettle...my name is pot.