Congress passed a 90% tax on bonuses given by bailed-out companies, and thus does Congress underscore the important principle: when government steals money and decides to hand it out again, the recipient holds a politically conditioned loan that can be taken back at any time. It means that if you are subsidized, you are nationalized in principle.
The question I have is why taxpayers should somehow feel better about this solution. How does it constitute a fulfillment of any principle of justice that the thieves still keep the loot, and, in fact, are demanding trillions more? Moreover, it seems like the level of public outrage is proportional to the pettiness of the numbers involved. $165 million is a bloody outrage but $1 trillion is just good public policy.
