Taxpayers Beware ~ Do Not Feed the Bear

A letter to the editorial board of the WSJ from a special reader (yes, my mother) on the Fed buyout of Bear Stearns:

So, are the taxpayers of the United States of America now shareholders in Bear Stearns? It seems only right. As taxpayers we are once again being asked to feed the Bear market, when we seem to only get feces from the Bull market.

Bear Stearns CEO Mr Cayne will leave with only a mere $13.4 million from the federally guaranteed sale of the company to JP Morgan this past week. However, he earned $156 million in the past five years and a total of $232 million during his 13-year tenure at Bear Stearns. Their current CEO as of January 2008, Alan Swartz earned $141 million and their former Co-President Warren Spector, who had been ousted just after the hedge fund fiasco reaped $168 million.

Nonetheless, the United States Federal Reserve, which in essence is the taxpayer, will fund and guarantee the bailout of Bear Stearns faulty investments.

How about paying for this investment debacle by recalling the obscene bonuses paid the executives of Bear Stearns?

In the last quarter of 2007 Bear Stearns lost $859 million. In the same quarter of 2006 Bean Stearns had profits of $558 million. I don’t recall when Bear Stearns was sitting high, riding the Bull we taxpayers got any free rides, yet now that the Bear is lumbering about we are supposed to dig in and feed him our crumbs.

Taxpayers Beware: Yellowstone National Park’s brochure explains to visitors the danger of feeding the Bear.

“Enjoy them at a distance, because of their protected status they have lost their fear of man. While this may make them appear tame, actually in this state they are more dangerous.”

Hmmmmm, consider yourself warned.

Couldn't have said it better myself. And all the while I thought the big money, low corporate tax, small government, Wall Street conservatives opposed wasteful government spending?