Economic Insanity Continues, Part 2

Ah, what's new?  While Obama berates Wall Street and his pay czar dictates how much private businessmen can earn, he's simultaneously giving millions to CEOs of companies that he prefers (and, coincidentally, knocked over the first few dominoes of 2008's economic meltdown):

The two chief executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could get paid as much as $6 million for 2009, despite the companies' dismal performances this year which cost taxpayers more than $100 billion.

Fannie's CEO, Michael Williams, and Freddie CEO Charles "Ed" Haldeman Jr. each will receive $900,000 in salary, $3.1 million in deferred payments next year and another $2 million if they meet certain performance goals, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.

Oh, and there's more:

While most of us were at home waiting for Santa and his reindeer to arrive, a gift arrived for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as the Obama Administration lifted caps on how much bailout money they can receive from the U.S. Treasury. The old limits for the firms, both of which are under federal conservatorship, had been set at $200 billion each, though all concerned understood these were fictions. The new limits are… well, there are no new limits (which might be scored as a gain for transparency, at least). Moreover, requirements that the two shrink their portfolios were watered down.

Here's how a different report put it, making things more simply:

The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress.

The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama's current term.

But even as the administration was making this open-ended financial commitment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009.

Nice.  So, the leaders of these companies are granted millions for failing in their leadership, and the companies that should properly be bankrupt are being funded with a blank check from the federal government (translation: your taxpayer dollars).  Is anyone else getting a warm fuzzy feeling yet?

Coincidentally, most Americans now believe that Obama's 'stimulus' plan actually hurt the economy, a steady increase from the week it was signed into law.

Heritage posts a bunch of terrific charts displaying the economic carnage unleashed by Barack Obama and his radical Leftist agenda.  Among them are these:

Show of hands for everyone who thinks this is good economic leadership?

There's my two cents.


Related Reading:
Flashback: Obama in 2008 promising 'every penny' of TARP would go back to taxpayers
Another boondoggle bailout