We have this nagging question: Why did President Bush and Congress conveniently omit a “clawback” provision in their $700 billion bailout CARE package of Wall Street?

A basic definition of clawback is “Previously given monies or benefits that are taken back due to specially arising circumstances.”

Question: Why did they let the chairmen, CEOs, etc., of Fannie May, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns, AIG, Lehman Brothers, et al get away with keeping billions of dollars of ill-gotten extravagant salaries, bonuses and golden parachutes while we, the taxpayers, must now pay for their greed and corruption?

Answer: Because of the huge multi-million dollar campaign contributions these Wall Street firms made to GW Bush, Dick Cheney and the majority of the Republican and Democratic senators and representatives, who are beholden to them and is now “payback time.”

“What, me worry?” asks Bush, Cheney and 99 percent of Congress?

There is little difference in what Enron or WorldCom and these bailed out financial institutions did: Huge salaries, bonuses, etc., were paid in prior years on inflated profits or inflated stock performances because of either “cooking the books” or other illicit manipulations of financial data.

Only this time it's a much, much bigger financial fraud, yet no one is held accountable.

What's wrong with this picture?

Now that “almost” the real profits and stock prices are known, all of these executives should be required to return the extra billions in bonuses, etc. received in excess of the revised figures now available.

A little jail time wouldn't hurt either.

In doing so, we feel this would restore much-needed confidence in our government and the economy. It would show that Congress is at least trying to do the right thing by us taxpayers and not just their “boys” on Wall Street and K Street.

This could go a long way in putting at least a dent in the “pervasive sanctioned corruption” that permeates Washington and Wall Street.

It's your money.

Bill Balyszak

Auburn