And Speaking Of Taxes
“There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.” – Robert A. Heinlein
I’m no economist, financial expert or pundit. I am, however, a 15+ year veteran of the mortgage industry and have been a taxpayer for 23 years. As such….the current “plan(s)” for bailing out all of these banks really pisses me off. Yes, that’s official industry lingo.
You can see the complete Bailout Report HERE.
One of the many things that upsets me about all this bailout money is that it’s our money and it’s being given to corporations that are still being run by the same CEOs and management teams that ran them into the ground and caused our current economic crisis. Why are these people still employed (and receiving ridiculous bonuses)? My understanding of bonuses is that they are to be rewarded to individuals who have done a good job. Am I missing something here? Why aren’t they fired and under investigation and being prosecuted for their shady business practices?
Another of my major problems with this is that these companies are not creating jobs. They are busy, at least the branches located here in my little corner of the world. I have interviewed at several of the companies that have received bailout funds and they all told me up front that anywhere from 10-20 hours of overtime per week, including mandatory Saturdays, would be required. I have several friends currently employed by these companies and they are, in fact, working ridiculous hours. I also recently took a very unofficial and anonymous poll of folks currently working as Mortgage Underwriters. The results were astounding…
- 46% of the respondents are required to work overtime every week
- 13% of the respondents are required to work at least every other Saturday
- 54% of the respondents are paid time and a half for overtime
- 63% of the respondents indicated that their employer does not appear to be hiring in order to eliminate the need for overtime
Some of the comments were alarming as well….
- Several mentioned that their employer is still pushing through bad loans.
- Several mentioned that their employer has told them that if they don’t like the fact that they have to work overtime there are plenty of folks willing to replace them. This is true. One person even responded the he/she is grateful to have a job and so is not bothered by the overtime one bit.
While I do understand (believe me!) the sentiment behind being grateful to have a job, is it really necessary to work employees like dogs? Don’t they deserve to have a balance in their lives? There is no shortage of qualified, unemployed people who would be happy to have a job so there is no reason for this sweatshop environment.
Furthermore, isn’t it their responsibility to taxpayers to create jobs when possible, since we are footing the bill for their managerial ineptitude? In fact, wouldn’t it be more cost effective to hire more employees at forty hours per week than to pay time and a half to the employees they have? Don’t the taxpayers have a right to expect them to run the companies as efficiently as possible?
Finally, they are still pushing through bad loans, at least based on the opinions of some of the Underwriters who responded to my poll. This is simply inexcusable. It’s yet another short-sighted attempt to keep their own jobs and bonuses.
That’s all from my soapbox for today. Thanks for stopping by!
Amen! Couldn’t agree more…
Well, you knew I was going to have an opinion on the subject! ha!
Just one correction, it is actually our grandkids who will be paying for this bailout. The debt that is being created and the assets being leveraged in order to supply these companies with the bailout funds will severly affect the future of our kids and thier kids, and so on.
As for these companies and how they are treating employees – my brother a 20 year veternan of this business was recently layed off from the loan department of a large home builder. Having a wife and child to feed, he took a temporary position, as a loan processor making half his past annual income, with a well known bank. He says he feels like a trained monkey.
I am not sure of the answer, but I do know more than money is needed to fix the problem. The bailout money was supposed to be used to put cash back in the hands of the “people” instead credit lines are being pulled and loans declined. Guess what the funds are not being handled responsibly…but are we really shocked by that????
All I can say is AMEN sister. Someone in another forum that I visit pointed out that we’d be way better off if instead of all of these bailouts, they should have given every taxpayer $100k. That would be enough to pay off a house or other debt, start or expand a small business – talk about stimulus! The banks would have capital (’cause most of us would put at least some of it in our checking accounts), people would have enough to also spend, and it would have been a true way for the market to determine which of these companies (financial and auto) would survive.
I know. This makes me so mad, too. And the fact that these incompetent CEO’s know that their jobs and bonuses aren’t on the line, and more money is being thrown at them to mismanage makes it even worse than it was before.
Great article (as usual) and I agree with it 100%. I was thinking of researching whether or not there are any “sweat shop” laws on the books that would protect us poor slobs from be required to work excessive amounts of overtime? If there isn’t, there should be. And companies should be required to pay overtime for anyone (other than managers) working over 40 hours per week. Nobody but manager should have exempt status (which is how they arrange not to pay OT).
I would expect nothing less of you.
You’re right, it’s not just the current taxpayers but the future taxpayers that we’re raising and they’re future taxpayers that will be paying for this.
Your brother’s situation is not uncommon. I hear about crap like this every single day from friends. It’s ridiculous and unnecessary.
Yes, that’s a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, everyone involved is really just looking out for number one and not actually the American taxpayer.