The Government Bailout: 10% Used to Pay Bonuses

By Alexis Garrett Stodghill, BlackVoices.com

These people are protesting the economic bailout plan, in the days before it passed. Many people did not trust that this $700 billion loan would be used fairly and responsibly by the banks and other institutions receiving this huge instance of corporate welfare.

Already, the fears of these brash protesters are proving to have been amazing premonitions.

The government lent this money to banks so that they could continue to make loans -- the loans that allow people to start businesses and go to college. The loans that actually keep money flowing to Main Street, the real driver of our economy.

Instead of upholding this aspect of the social contract, banks are using more than half of their portion of the $700 billion sum -- $163 billion -- to pay dividends to investors, according to the Washington Post.

This is money that definitely will NOT be used to ease the pains of businesses, students and others who need cash during these difficult economic times.

This is an interesting tactic for our government to take, given the fact that in Britain and Germany, these governments insist that banks suspend the payment of dividends until loans from the government are repaid. Now THAT makes sense!

AOL Money & Finance is also reporting that $70 billion dollars of the bailout package can be expected to be paid to Wall Street executives in bonuses this year -- after they screwed up our economy? In addition, a former Goldman Sachs executive, 35 year-old Neel Kashkari, has received the Treasury Department job of doling out our tax payer money to "needy" Wall Street firms.

The lack of regulation placed on these fellows is an undisputed source of our current economic troubles. And now a Wall Street insider is getting his hands on the bailout funds as well? This unethical travesty continues.

Unfortunately, the expectations of many have been fulfilled -- the guys who started this mess are using our money, and our children's money and their children's money -- to enrich themselves before they fix the problem they created.

Following on the glee of Obama's win, learning these facts has been a forceful crash to reality. The economy is still in bad shape, and much of the bailout has already been poorly spent. The government has some explaining -- and extremely hard work -- to do.

Source

More:
+Banks to Continue Paying Dividends