The compensation issue (bonuses, etc) comes as banks and other financial institutions oppose efforts by the president and Congress to put in place regulations designed to prevent the kind of financial meltdown that began last year. Is this the sort of behavior or attitude that people will allow those institutions to have, the same ones who were largely responsible for causing the meltdown and were, apparently, the ungrateful recipients of the public's largesse when Joe the Plumber and Sally the Secretary are up to the eyeballs in alligators?

The government CAUSED the financial meltdown to begin with by relaxing the loan requirements for buying real estate through Ginny Mae and Freddie Mac. This was caused by the CRA (Community Reinvestment Act) which was initiated by Carter and expanded under Clinton. Bush attempted in 1981 to change this, and again in 1985 but was opposed by Democrats, including Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, and others.

The government should get out and stay out! If a bank does stupid things- let them fail! Free enterprise is the only answer, and the government's role is no more than referee to make sure everyone is playing fair.