[ari-freedom]

RUSH: Okay, first off, the corporate jets. It's a moot issue now because these guys have announced that they're going to carpool to Washington for the next round of hearings when they present their term paper. Now, bank executives skipping their bonuses. When he says, "I think that if you're already worth tens of millions of dollars and you're having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, 'I'm willing to make some sacrifice as well because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off who are going through some pretty tough times.'" Here's the sad thing about that. This is as meaningless and as pointless as worrying where the moon is right now, except if you're interested in tides. It is just pointless. You could take all of these bonuses, you could take the salaries of the Big Three and their bonuses and all these Wall Street firms, and you could pool that money together, and it wouldn't lower the price of gasoline a dime. It wouldn't help. It's not going to elevate any employee's income at any of these places. Yet people fall for this because "fairness, fairness, fairness" is how the liberals pursue their agenda, because who's opposed to fairness?

[freekitty]

Obama is a fake and phoney. If I were these executives; I would ignore him.

[ari-freedom]

“...the only beneficiaries of this are people like Obama and Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and other Big-Government liberals who are getting what they want outta all this, and that is not even more money. You start raising taxes on people and the money to the Treasury shrinks because a lot of little guys are going to get laid off and fired. No, what they like about it is the cementing of power and specifically securing a little bit more loss of individual liberty and freedom because these people are about empowering themselves, and once they get it, holding onto it. “

[Bobalu]

Obama is a dangerous fool. :-(

How is it possible that such a dunce was elected president??
I’d be shocked if his IQ is much above average.... we deserve better than a man who cannot dare let his school records see the light of day.

we are doomed, doomed I tell you.

[ChiMark]

B.O. opted out of public finance for his election.
He gathered $700 Million for his war chest and no one
question his lack of ethics!

[DrC]

“You could take all of these bonuses, you could take the salaries of the Big Three and their bonuses and all these Wall Street firms, and you could pool that money together, and it wouldn’t lower the price of gasoline a dime.”

In my state, there’s a lot of hand-wringing over the $3.1 million paid to the president of Blue Cross Blue Shield, a non-profit corporation. This plan covers more than 3 million North Carolinians. In short, we COULD-in the name of “fairness”—tax 100% of this person’s compensation and plow the savings back into reduced premiums: of 8 cents per member per month!

It would be nice if the U.S. education system—which I presume is likely to be the most expensive per capita on the planet—would at least teach its students some basic critical thinking skills.

[Red6]

Will he rip into people making six figures or even millions that never had a job in their lives? Will he rip into those making a living off of race baiting etc?

[Brilliant]

The main reason these guys get the high salaries in the first place is that they set their own salaries. They should be required to get shareholder approval for their salaries. That would put an end to it.

[lucysmom]

RUSH: Okay, first off, the corporate jets. It's a moot issue...

The thinking behind using corporate jets to get to Washington to ask for a bailout is probably the same thinking that is behind the need for a bailout in the first place - they're not good at understanding their customer base.

[mysterio]

I only start caring what the idiot CEOs make when they :

a. ship out all of the jobs so they can get a bonus.
b. require a government bailout.

[bvw]

The mottos of Obama, as determined by observation of his actions, and his word:

• "All honor and gifts to ME, and none for thee."

  -- By Actions: Lavish Inauguration, Lavish campaign trip to Europe, Lavishly-appointed custom painted campaign jet, Lavish Sidwell Friends School for daughters vs slavish failing public schools for other DC residents.

• "Mine is mine, and yours is mine"

  --By Actions: Refusal to provide birth certificate, college records, the attempted Annenberg Challenge cover-up vs the most invasive and extensive job application ever for jobs in his administration.

  --By Words: When Joe said he wanted to buy a buiness and grow it bigger than 200K a year Obama replied, yes I'll raise your taxes because : "It's not that I want to punish your success, I want to make sure that everybody who is behind you, that they've got a chance for success, too. I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody." The Obama's made $4.2 million in 2007 according to tax records. Those same records indicate that only $1.7 million of that $4.2 million was spread around in taxes and charity. That is, they KEPT $2.5 million -- more than 10 times that paltry 200 K Joe wished he could someday achieve. Obama is so kind.

* * *

Malkin: Where are all the Anti-Inauguration activists now?

President Obama’s Chicago machine is kicking into high gear to plan and fund his massive, unprecedented inaugural festivities. He just appointed an inauguration planning committee that includes his hometown cronies William Daley and Penny Pritzker. They’ve got a campaign-style website counting down the days to the massive party in Washington. To deflect attention from the costs, the One’s party planners are patting themselves on the back for limiting inaugural donations to individual contributions of $50,000 — a move they say is historic. But Bill Clinton also refused corporate money for his second inaugural and capped donations at $100. (Bush raised $42 million for his second inaugural, mostly from corporate donors, capped at $250,000.) The DC Examiner recently reported that the Inaugural Celebrations of Hope and Change will strain the district’s beleaguered pocketbook:

Soaring costs expected to accompany huge crowds in town for the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama could stick cash-strapped Washington, D.C., with a record-breaking bill for services. Security and capacity measures recommended by the District’s congressional delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and others will almost certainly surpass the $15 million the federal government gives to the District each year to defray the cost of events, Norton said.