On Accountability and Bailouts

During George W. Bush’s freebooting capitalist days, he was a flop. As an oil man, and then as the owner of an NFL franchise, he had to be bailed out by his father and friends of the Bush family. As President, he was responsible for no-bid government contracts going to cronies of various neo-con officeholders. He was responsible for the lies about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. He was responsible for the torture of prisoners of war. He was irresponsible when, with the aid of signing statements, he subverted the intention of almost every legislative act that he signed. George W. Bush did not have to pay for his mistakes as a capitalist. Worse, he probably will never be held accountable for anything he has done as President of the United States.

Now come the presidents of the Big 3 automakers (a stupid nickname for companies whose management has run them into near bankruptcy), asking Uncle Sam to bail them out of their difficulties. They spent the last decade as freebooting capitalists. Their corporations paid almost no taxes as they flooded their markets with gas guzzling SUVs and handed out huge bonuses to their executives and kept their workers’ wages as low as possible. Like George Bush, these executives have never been held accountable for what they have done, and they want the U.S. Government to pay for their mistakes.

The U.S. Government—that is, we U.S. taxpayers—have already committed ourselves to a $700 billion bailout of the financial services and housing industries. It is likely that the Congress and the President will give the auto executives what they want.

Members of Congress will vote for whatever the executives ask for, because almost all members of Congress are obligated to those corporate execs and their PACs for all the money they have contributed, loophole by loophole, to election campaign funds. In Congress, accountability is not to the voters, but to the contributors who are now begging relief from the free-market woes that they brought upon themselves. They want to feed from the public trough that is underwritten by Joe the Plumber, Max the Machinist, Adele the Administrative Assistant, and Nancy the Nurse.

I am ready to support the bailout, but the executives, stock holders, and boards of directors of these companies must be held accountable. Any legislation authorizing the funding of this bailout must insure detailed government oversight of the money spent by the companies. The companies must accept the following rules.

When the U.S. makes the loan to the automakers, none of the money may be spent on directors’ fees, executive compensation and bonuses, or dividends to stockholders. Nor on executive stock options, or any other perquisite that comes with their position. For example, they must give up their chauffeur-driven limousines, their executive dining rooms, their company-owned vacation resorts. Any use of corporate transportation will be limited to business travel, and must be recorded and justified. No family members may use any form of company-owned transportation.

All presidents, chief executive officers, chief operating officers, vice presidents, chief financial officers, comptrollers, chairmen and members of the various executive committees, financial committees, and boards of directors must accept a fifty-per-cent pay cut and forego all bonuses and salary increases for the next five years. All the officers covered by this legislation may not retire or leave the company for five years.

The companies must immediately undertake the development of automobiles that will have a minimum gas mileage of thirty miles per hour in the city and forty miles per hour on the highway. The cars must be available by the fall of 2010. By the fall of 2015, the companies will have to produce autos that use alternative energy, such as ethanol, electricity or water.

If they want our money, they will have to perform. If they fail to meet any deadlines, the executives each must pay a fine of no less than $3 million. If auditors find that they are misusing the money for personal gain, they will be charged with embezzlement.

How do we make Congress accountable to voters instead of to donors to election campaign funds? That’s the subject of my next blog entry.