Rewarding Failure

Leads to....more failure. Who could have guessed? 
U.S. bailout program increased moral hazard: watchdog Ω A must read!

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government's $700 billion financial bailout program has increased moral hazard in the markets by infusing capital into banks that caused the financial crisis, a watchdog for the program said on Wednesday.

The special inspector general for the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) said the plan put in place a year ago was clearly influencing market behavior, and he repeated that taxpayers may never recoup all their money.
The bailout fund may have helped avert a financial system collapse but it could reinforce perceptions the government will step in to keep firms from failing, the quarterly report from inspector general Neil Barofsky said.

Wow, these guys are real mental giants. 

And handing out oodles of "free" taxpayer money leads toooooo... Lots of people trying to get their own piece of the money pie! Surprise! Ω 

WASHINGTON -- The House ethics panel said Thursday that it is investigating Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat who came under scrutiny for allegedly helping a bank with which she had ties secure a meeting with Treasury Department officials about obtaining bailout funds.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year that Ms. Waters allegedly helped OneUnited Bank of Boston get a meeting with Treasury officials to negotiate a $12 million bailout. On Thursday, the ethics panel acknowledged for the first time that it is investigating her.

Sidney Williams, Ms. Waters's husband, was on the bank's board of directors until last year.

 Oops, another one.. Ω

Last November, Rangel and five other members of Congress took a junket to the Caribbean with $100,000 from Citigroup -- just weeks after Congress bailed out banks with $700 billion in taxpayer funds.

 Here's a chart I found interesting..


 
A link to view the full chart.  Ω   

And these people want to run health care.