I'm somewhat torn on this issue. I don't think the government has any place meddling in business. I am generally of the school of thought that if a company needs government assistance, something has gone awry. I am fully aware that these bonuses are being paid because the company is bound by contract, but I also understand how the public and the D.C. warriors are up in arms about the whole issue. After all, without the government offering assistance these employees wouldn't have been getting bonuses from a company gone bankrupt.
This is where things get a tad scary. Congress is now introducing bills that would tax any bonus amount above $100,000 at a rate of 100% if the company has received federal bailout money.
Senator Chris Dodd said "One way or another, we're going to try to figure out how to get these resources back," Senator Tim Ryan added that they would use "Any means necessary".
With the amount of greed that got these companies in this situation, the government should have known that something like this was going to happen, but again we see a lack of accountability and enforcement on what companies could and couldn't do with bailout funds.
Some companies are even using boosting base compensation levels to get around the 100% marginal tax rate on bonuses.
I'm afraid of what this means for the future of American businesses and how much control Washington really has.
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