Just another day

I don't understand how our government can provide massive bailouts to failing companies while demanding so little in return. Ownership stakes, such as the one finally being extracted from AIG, are all well and good, but many of these companies suffered from poor leadership by executives who received ridiculously outlandish salaries and bonuses.

So, will my tax dollars continue this nonsense? If these people were worth what they were paid, why didn't they see the trouble beforehand? Was there no contingency planning? Help them if we must, but I believe if we are going to provide tax dollars we should be extracting guarantees of changes, most especially control of executive salaries and bonuses.

As for bailing out the American auto industry - I know we really don't have a choice because to not help them would cause the loss of 1.7 million jobs in a trickle down effect. But come on, GM, Ford and Chrysler have been ignoring warning signals for at least two decades. Didn't they notice back then when sales of domestic automobiles began falling and consumers started purchasing foreign made cars? How far did their blinders extend past their glasses?