I agree with you on this one. If you take the bail out money, you get no bonus. As a taxpayer, that means I am a stockholder now in these companies and I vote that NO bonuses get paid until we get paid back first. Ford is not taking any bailout money, if those execs turn Ford around and make them profitable then they deserve huge bonuses. Same as any other successful business.
Two problems. First, a few of the banks took the first round of bailout money unwillingly. Sec. Paulson didn't want the public to know which banks needed the money and which didn't so everyone had to drink the poison Kool-Aid.
Second, if the federales buy GM but Ford is able to avoid it, how hard will the regulators come down on Ford compared to GM. Will the capitalist company be crushed by the GM/government complex?