Look at GWBs original bailout package. Let me give B$700 of your money to my finance and banking mates. We dont tell you who was given what, nobody gets sacked, and you do not get any ownership because nationalisation is always bad. Dem controlled congress wasnt going to accept that. And yes there were plenty of Republicans who wouldnt as well. But it was their glorious leadership that came up with the scheme.

I stand by my statement that little will be done to sack and humiliate the financial cowboys while the GPO have the presidency. Notice though that I did not claim that the Dems will necessarily do anything either. But the public mood is changing quickly. Anything may be possible.

First I think the problem is not so much investor apathy as the lack of investor voting rights in the US. There are a few and more and more examples in Australia of investors rejecting executive largesse (Telstra and OZ Minerals, Becton and Transurban almost).

Many Aussie instos are in effect mandated to vote in line with eg the Australian shareholders’ association (or some other body)’s recommendations. Where the responsible doesn’t want to, he has to prepare a memo to his boss explaining why he is voting differently.

On the more serious bit of preposterous assumption, how can you possibly think the GOP is any worse than the Dems in this regard? If anything they are better – one can easily name anti-wall-streeters like, hey, McCain! Also people like Coburn, for example, and any number of Representatives and Senators from ‘fly-over’ States. Equally the Dems are more than well-represented with ne-plus-ultra-pro-wall-streeters, like Barney Frank and Charles Schumer and Ted Kennedy and indeed all those Representatives from the East and West coasts.

The Dems are about as much in hock to hedge fund managers these days as they are trial lawyers and unions. Not saying that the Republicans are necessarily better (although I think they might be a half-a-nose ahead thanks to a possibly unrepresentative group of conservatives), but it is absurd to paint this as the problem of one party.

Even more so as recent evidence highlights more starkly than ever how not hell nor high water, and certainly nothing so trivial as partisan differences, can come between our politicians and our money.

Btw, short natural experiment for you – who has the majority of both Houses these days? Where is the legislation combating executive largesse? What did I miss?

The US government are now in a position to stop such rorts at AIG at least since they pretty much own it. But you will not find much is done while the GOP are at the helm. The whole idea of elite dark suits skimming off the cr