Dean Baker reminds us of the obvious.
David Brooks Thinks the Government Can Only Be Trusted to Hand Out Money to Banks, Not to Put Conditions on It
That is the implication of his complaints about the government setting salaries for the corporations that got big government bailouts. Undoubtedly the government will not get the pay scales exactly right, but it has no choice. By bailing out the likes of AIG and Citigroup the government over-rode the market determination that the correct salary for the bosses at these bankrupt institutions is zero. Since it had over-ridden the market judgment it had to develop some basis for deciding salaries even if that means paying David Brooks' friends less money.
--Dean Baker
:-)
Cheers,
Scott.