And who out there doesn’t like the sound of “toxic debt” in our budget? Now that we’re about to be the proud owners of hundreds of billions or even a trillion worth of rubbish from Wall Street, a very small details are coming out. It’s still debatable whether we’re actually paying an inflated or fair price or if we will ever see the dreamy returns (12% over two years, hooray!) on our AIG bailout. (People are hearing what they want to hear on AIG and I remain unconvinced so far.) Democrats have thrown in a good issue to this bailout debate, which is that we ought to control the level of executive compensation for firms involved in this oh-so-sweet, lifestyle saving deal.

That’s not a bad starting point, but hello, has anyone looked at annual compensation throughout those companies? I have repeatedly said we are funding their lifestyle and yes, even if we cut back the money at the top, the money being made in this industry is well above the norm. What part of “they made a killing by selling trash” are people not understanding here? Even fresh out of school youngsters with no experience are easily raking in $150,000+ because there was so much profit from selling trash to the world. Why should everyone in America, who just financed tax cuts for the wealthiest and who fund oil-rich Iraq and who bailed out Freddie, Fannie and AIG, also continue to fund this money craze on Wall Street? This lifestyle of luxury goes so much deeper so let’s quit pretending that we don’t have any say in this, because we do.

We effectively own Wall Street’s future so let’s debate this through while we have their attention and some control. I’m not comfortable with former Goldman Sachs executive Hank Paulson making these decisions. He’s a Wall Street insider who has a soft spot for his friends. He’s not an elected official and should not make this call. I understand that greed is what makes Wall Street tick and to a large degree I’m fine with that. When proper oversight is present, the system generally works well for the US. However, when that greed becomes our collective problem, this is a completely different story. It is more than fair to ask “what are we getting out of our bailout and toxic debt purchase?” Rushing through this process to save their sorry asses is no excuse. The taxpayers of America have saved the day for the Wall Street spongers and free market phonies so now could not be a better time to have this discussion. Asking for our fair share back makes sense, but so does altering this dysfunctional system that is dragging us all down.