Well gee...I guess our money can't pay blue collar folks but it's fine to use it for executive pay bonuses.

Bush inserted a last minute change that will make that possible.

Nice eh?

WASHINGTON — Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future.

Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.

Full story at http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/nation/epaper/2008/12/14/a10a_pay_1215.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=0

I keep waiting for my bonus but have to keep making concessions to keep my job. Funny thing if you add the increase in insurance and wage freezes I haven't got a raise in 10 years!!!