From a Businessweek.com article about the money pit Merrill Lynch deal with Bank of America:

"On Thursday, Thain resigned under pressure after reports surfaced that he rushed out billions of dollars in bonuses to Merrill Lynch employees in his final days as CEO."

"Bank of America later received an additional $20 billion from the government, in part to offset the unexpected Merrill losses. The brokerage lost $15 billion in the fourth quarter and more than $27 billion for the year."

Citizens pay taxes to the government.
The government pays a bailout to Merrill.
Merrill CEO gives billions to his employees.
The government pays even more to Merrill.
The citizens are victims of blatant theft.

Where do I go to complain? Where do I march with pitchforks and torches? When can I stop paying my taxes in revolt?

Personally, I'm thinking Taiwan.....

Staggering, without a doubt.

The interesting question is whether the Obama administration, pushing out the second round of TARP money, will apply more stringent controls to prevent this sort of embarrassment.