Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Where your money goes
The U.S. is preparing to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two big mortgage companies. The CEOs of those two companies, whose bacon is about to be saved with our money, were paid (I'll make sure to avoid the completely inapplicable term which is more commonly used, "earned") $12 million and $10 million last year.
Barney Frank, respectable Democrat and champion of the working class, says that's outrageous. Why, he says, $2 or $3 million ought to be enough to pay for "talent."
Actually, there are people who run large organizations (ANSWER, UfPJ, AFSC, etc.) who get paid a lot less than that (if they get paid anything). $12 million, or even $2 million, isn't paying for "talent," it's paying to bind that person, whatever their origins, to the ruling class and to ruling class interests. It's to make sure their sympathies lie with their friends at the country club, and not with the people being kicked out of their houses.
