Huckleberries Online

ITHO: US House? Or A Lynch Mob

Posted by DFO

March 24, 2009 9:23 a.m. • 9 comments

Thursday, as most members of the U.S. House joined a mob to impose a confiscatory tax on recipients of corporate bonuses from AIG and other companies receiving federal bailout money, Idaho’s two representatives fell out of formation. Good for them. Democrat Walt Minnick and Republican Mike Simpson might have found themselves in a minority, 93, compared to the 328 who supported the 90 percent tax, but they were right certainly in principle and most probably in law/Jim Fisher, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

A funding lesson: Charter vs. traditional schools/From The Editor
Wage inequality/IdaBlue
Missing big picture on Open Meetings Law rewrite/Kevin Richert
Never-say-die cold fusion scientists gather in Utah/Rocky Barker
Tuesday morning coffee/Unequivocal Notion

Question: Did you agree with the move by the U.S. House of Representatives to impose a 90 percent tax on AIG execs who received corporate bonuses?

Nine comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Aliasjax on March 24 at 9:56 a.m.
No.

Are the 328 congressmen & women gonna give back their pay? They should.
Cabbage Boy on March 24 at 10:07 a.m.
Gotta love the knee jerk, feel good reactionary legislation. How many of those voting for this received money from AIG and now are turning with the tide.
Charlie on March 24 at 10:16 a.m.
328 useful idiots! Are these people not familiar with the laws they pass? They should be flogged.
Arch_Druid on March 24 at 10:17 a.m.
My overall comments can be found at http://archdruidstakeonthenews.blogspot.com. I just finished posting a blog there about Cal Thomas and his latest unwillingness to face reality. He made the same argument about as aliasjack had, that members of Congress receiving campaign contributions from corporations such as AIG should simply hand those millions back to the people. Problem for Thomas is that he wasn’t opposed to members of Congress receiving those campaign contributions. Not until the global financial industry effectively collapsed. Talk about your hypocrite.

I can have my own questions about punitive taxation of those corporations that got TARP then proceeded to use those funds to pay those bonuses. Quite frankly, I think those companies should have been thoroughly investigated first as to whether they really needed the taxpaid for bailout. So, it may have taken time, but we probably wouldn’t see the ridiculous grandstanding going on now on Capitol Hill.
toadman on March 24 at 4:13 p.m.
Surprisingly, I actually disagree with this move on the part of the House. It sets a disturbing president, and smacks of scape-goating. Also, Barny Frank is a tool for asking for the NAMES of the people getting the money to be made public. There’s no need to single people out, no matter what we think of them.

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About this blog

D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.