The bailout train is getting crowded

Now America’s mayors want a piece of the bailout money. But really, who can blame them. Financial institutions, like AIG, got free money from the American taxpayers and have yet to start lending funds. Workers at a plant in Chicago are protesting the close of their plant. The owners closed the plant and let workers go without 60 day notice, leaving them with no severance or health benefits. The owners are blaming Bank of America, recipient of $25 billion in bailout funds, for terminating their line of credit and prompting the plant closing. The workers are getting support. The governor of Illinois says that the state will stop doing business with Bank of America. This could cause the bank millions of dollars.

Let this be a lesson to Congress. The requirements you have in place for the big three American automakers should have been in place for the financial institutions. It’s obvious they are misusing the funds they were given.

As if the greed of financial companies couldn’t get worse, the CEO of Merrill Lynch would like his $10 million bonus. He claims the company would be worse off without his leadership in the past year. Newsflash to the Merrill Lynch CEO: Your company lost $12 billion and had to be acquired by Bank of American to remain viable! How about you do like the CEO’s of the American automakers; take a dollar and have a nice life.