Kevin Madden
Poor Kevin Madden. Sometimes the TV news business dictates that its members have to defend positions that are largely indefensible, and such was Madden’s plight on Wednesday evening’s edition of AC360, leaving Madden with nonsensical rejoinders to Democrat strategist James Carville‘s defense of the latest move by the Obama administration.
The Obama administration will soon be seeking pay cuts for executives at seven firms that received federal bailout money to keep them in existence. The move is backed by roughly three-quarters of Americans, according to surveys, who evidently see something wrong with these executives receiving multi-million dollar pay and bonuses while we are being told that public assistance is needed to keep their business afloat.
The premise is simple: if you received federal bailout money, you will be held accountable. If you did not receive federal money, you can continue to do as you want and are responsible for your own survival.
Having received the federal money is the key to the federal government being held accountable, but with no other argument to posit, Madden tried to make it a case of government interference in private enterprise, which apparently was not a problem when the government was GIVING the money with no strings apparently being attached.
White House Pay Czar Kenneth Feinberg
Perhaps Madden is now serving some sort of penance for having served as Mitt Romney’s public spokesman during the 2008 presidential campaign. Whatever the reason, he came off looking foolish and somewhat moronic in his stance on Wednesday evening’s show, leaving Carville somewhat perplexed at what Madden was asserting.
Carville, on the other hand, was asserting the obvious: if you want government help, you must also act responsibly, not only to the government, but to the people who ultimately are the government. Periods of greed come and go within societal cycles, and the period of conspicuous consumption and irresponsible spending is now swinging towards having gone to far. Much similar to Teddy Roosevelt’s trust-busting attempts in the early 1900s, President Obama is now seeking to bring some sense back to his nation’s fiduciary practices. As expected, the American people are overwhelmingly supportive of his planned efforts. – George Curcio
The News Machine
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1 Comment
October 22, 2009 at 10:25 am
While I agree that the companies who received the bailouts should be held accountable, don’t they always find a way to get around these things and they will find it again this time.
The companies say they need the best and the brightest to get them out of trouble so they can win, win, win, but they have yet to show me that they have common sense. Look at the CEOs of the Big 3 when they went to DC to request bailout money, they took private jets, what happened to the best and the brightest advising them that they were not going about it the right way. My feeling is that, as strange as it may seem, they need to communicate with the common man. What does a multimillion dollar a year CEO know about what the average person is going through, nothing. Maybe a talk with me or someone like me would give them insight, they wouldn’t need to take my advice, just listen.