What, Again? (Surprise, Surprise)

This truly amazes me. After the brouhaha about Citigroup going ahead with the purchase of a corporate jet subsequent to receiving taxpayer bailout money, then having to back off the buy when it received a somewhat less than cordial phone call from the White House, we discover Wells Fargo & Co. is going ahead with a 12-night Las Vegas junket at two expensive hotels. Despite the fact that their handling of a $25 billion taxpayer bailout is being heavily criticized.

As I pointed out in my last post, this is nothing but pure, unadulterated Arrogance. Another excellent example of my postulation that the corporate bigwigs think they are “The World” and anything they do should not be scrutinized. Of course, the corporate heads were aware of the Citigroup fiasco. Yet, they still plan on this expensive junket as if nothing is amiss.

Now that the Vegas plans are out in the open, the corporate bozos are “reconsidering” the expensive junket. One of my pet peeves about the press is that we never get specific names of these clowns who are treating the country like we’re interfering with their lavish lifestyles. I believe that every one of these stories comes with the name of the CEO and the top execs so we can identify those who believe they are above the “unwashed.” We need to hammer their names into the public conscience. A pox on all of them.

As I wrote last time, who knows how many of these unseen massive expenditures are being incurred at this moment? We must keep uncovering these corporate shenanigans every time. If they even think of spending frivolously, we should be on their butts hounding them to no end.

We need to pass a law (if that’s what it takes) that the U.S. can inspect every penny of any corporation that feeds at the trough of taxpayer money. To the last detail. The accounting expenditures and profits should be in the public domain for every citizen to peruse. No exceptions. They want our money, they pay that price.

One day, there will be a corporate straw breaking the back of U.S. citizens whereupon they will finally say “Enough!” Perhaps then we can totally rewrite the way corporations do business. The Washington political circle is absolutely in bed with these corporations, thus it will take a major protest of the people to enact changes. I hope it’s not too late.

Update: Wells Fargo has canceled its foray into Las Vegas. But as I wrote, no names of the deciders were given. Who made the original decision for the junket? Who exactly decided not to go forward with the trip? These executives cannot continue to be faceless. Let's get those names out in the open. We need to know who to target to get terminated from these positions.

Another thing I want to mention. I realize that these peccadilloes (junkets, salary bonuses, etc.) are not the meat of the problems the financial institutions are in the middle of. However, they are symptomatic of the institutions' overall egregious behavior. By keeping tabs on these smaller issues we are sending a message that I hope they will understand. Of course, with their "We are the world" mentality, I seriously doubt it. We need to oust these guys and bring in new blood.