Can Wall Street get by on only $18.4 billion in bonuses this year?

Prez Obama continues to prove that he just doesn't get high finance. Apparently he was a little miffed to discover that Wall Street mid to upper exec types escaped the market mayhem with a mere $18.4 billion in bonuses—kindly supplied by U.S. taxpayers, presumably those who haven't been laid off yet—at the end of 2008 after perhaps the worst performance in, um, history. Hey, that's less than we scammed, er, were awarded last year, the fat cats protest.

Perhaps we should start an emergency relief executive jet fund for these . . . gentlemen.

Maybe the U.S. bishops could add them to their list of woebegone folk to watch out for. First, however, the USCCB is asking Congress to remember the nation's most vulnerable as they rework the stimulus package and review a renewal for SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program). In addition to calling for extra $ for SCHIP, the bishops urge the program to be expanded to cover a U.S.  "child" from conception to birth.

OK, maybe we should bail out unemployed women and uninsured and unborn children first. But please, folks, don't forget the neediest Wall Street bankers when making your charitable contributions in 2009. Let's hope they get precisely what they deserve.

About the author

Kevin Clarke

Kevin Clarke is the chief correspondent for America magazine and author of Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out (Liturgical Press).