House To Vote To Tax Executive Bonuses Today-- Lame... Unless They Also Claw Back Campaign Donations To Crooked Politicians

Corrupt Arizona Senator John McCain is the only member of Congress to accept money directly from corporate career criminal Edward Liddy

Today every member of Congress will have an opportunity to vote against the unpopular banksters and Wall Street career criminals. The finance/insurance/real estate sector, which has led the economy into the toilet-- thanks largely to the deregulation that they bought and paid for-- has spent over two billion dollars to directly bribe federal elected officials. (The same 3 industries spent another $3,443,208,346 on lobbying.) So almost 6 billion dollars since 1990 on "influencing" our politicians to allow them to rob the country blind and no one is talking about campaign finance reform-- just about not allowing a few measly bonuses. I think most Americans would prefer prison sentences-- for the bribers and the bribees-- but how about some campaign finance reform so that this doesn't happen again and again and again? Fat chance members of congress will vote to limit what they can take to enrich themselves from corrupt companies! Our entire power elite is corrupted to an extent endangering democracy itself.

They'll probably pass a silly bill that will mean little and probably not even get through the Senate or turn out to be illegal if it does, that taxes excessive bonuses (anything over a quarter mill) to executives working at companies the taxpayers are subsidizing. They'll need two-thirds to pass it-- no amendments allowed-- so they may actually fail, since enough hardcore obstructionist Republicans may actually oppose it to hoist the leadership on their own petard. That might even be what the leadership wants!

So will Republicans put their money where their mouths are? They've been play-acting this whole populist thing to make voters think they're leading a parade that's about to run them over. How can they vote for a tax-- aimed directly at their campaign donors? Early this morning Boehner was still running around like a chicken without a head trying to figure out what to do. But by early afternoon Boehner said he opposes the bill (big surprise) but doesn't have the guts to whip it. Meanwhile Senate Republican extremists are just trying to capitalize on it by blaming Obama-- for what they and Bush allowed to happen. Crackpots way over on the extreme right are afraid that if we tax the bonuses next thing you know the government will try to make other rich parasites pay their fair share too. Still, how many Republicans, in this climate, want to see ads on TV saying "Charlie Dent [to single out one corporate shill who's on the verge of losing his seat] voted to protect the AIG bonuses again?"

Yesterday Republican hacks were crowing how the bonus mess would somehow help their corporate candidate in NY-20's election in 2 weeks, presumably by generating populist outrage against Obama (for something Bush initiated and Republicans backed). I have a suspicion that if radical right Republicans like Texas' extremist kook Jeb Hensarling and Wisconsin's pathetic right-wing robot Paul Ryan sabotage the bonus tax, as they are vowing they will do, it will further sink Jim Tedisco's rapidly diminishing chance to win a race that was viewed as a slam dunk just one month ago.