The world's opinions
Here are excerpts from editorials in newspapers around the world that may be of interest to Royal Gazette readers:
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On the Net:
http://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/editorials/story/964582.html
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March 22
Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, on payments to executives at firms receiving bailout funding:
Save some outrage for other bailouts ... Don't let AIG madness blind you to the other ridiculously wasteful spending going on. ...
Consider, for example, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the twin mortgage finance titans that some people blame for setting the table for much of the current economic crisis.
The companies were seized by federal regulators in the fall and have sought out $15.2 billion and $44.8 billion in bailout funds, respectively.
So where is that money going?
Fannie Mae disclosed in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to The Associated Press, that it is planning bonuses of $470,000 to $611,000 for four top executives, on top of their base salaries this year. ...
What is wrong with these people? Who really thinks people who drive their businesses to the brink of extinction and the worldwide economy to the brink of collapse deserve bonuses in the half-million-dollar range?
True, these bonuses are spare change compared to what some of the boneheads at AIG received, but that doesn't make it any less deserving of your wrath. ...
When it comes to Fannie and Freddie, the money has not been given to the executives yet. And if Americans make enough noise to their elected officials, maybe it never will be given to them. ...
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On the Net:
http://www.courierpostonline.com/
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March 23
San Antonio Express-News, San Antonio, Texas, on border protection:
Facing grave domestic issues that dominate his agenda, President Obama must be given credit for devoting at least part of his attention to our southern neighbor.
The president said he would meet with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon, in Mexico next month, to discuss proposals on how to fight the drug wars along the border. ...
Soon after his inauguration, Obama pledged to help Mexico in its bloody battle against the drug cartels a vow that this trip may go a long way toward fulfilling.
Concrete proposals may result from the meeting, but the symbolism of the visit cannot be dismissed; it shows that both presidents recognize the problem must be assaulted on two fronts, Mexico and the United States.
The problem afflicts both countries, neither of which can resolve the crisis without the aid of the other. ...
Both the White House and Congress are being wisely proactive.
There is only one peril greater than the drug cartels and that would be the inability to see the threat as real.
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On the Net:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/
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March 20
Spartanburg Herald-Journal, Spartanburg, South Carolina, on bills to snatch back AIG, bank bonuses:
The government can't be allowed to pass laws levying extraordinarily punitive taxes on tiny groups of people, particularly not when it is doing so to cover up its own incompetence.
... (L)egislators tried to do just that, introducing bills that would snatch back "bonuses" paid to AIG employees and workers at other bailout-buoyed banks. ...
The fact that the Bush and Obama administrations both knew such bonuses would be paid, and in fact eliminated language in the bailout that would keep them from being paid (arguing it would cause massive lawsuits), hasn't stopped the waves of fake outrage.
It can seem like justice to tax these bonuses away. That's the populist point lawmakers are trying to make as they try to distract voters from the fact that they voted in favor of paying these bonuses. And no one deserves a bonus for doing a poor job, but there's more to think about ...
It has become clear the president and key legislators knew of these specific AIG payouts all along. It would be nice if the president and legislators spent a little less time on fake, retroactive anger at payouts they approved, and a little more time crafting the laws and policies that might prevent the next disaster.
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On the Net:
