Bank of Canada bonuses for bad work

I just mentioned that Canada is not in good shape economically. But the Bank of Canada, despite missing a lot of obvious signs along the way (signs people with a modicum of economic knowledge could see coming), was still giving out raises and bonuses. Why?

WalMart announces bonuses thanks to Trump Tax Cuts

Some Democrats (I'm looking at you Elizabeth Warren) are still hollering that the Trump cuts in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 have to be reversed.  I wonder how WalMart employees are feeling about that after the company announced (like many others) that it's bonusing employees as a result of the tax cuts. Oh, and Walmart is also raising it's minimum wage, so this is not a one-time pacifying thing. 

Walmart's workers will soon reap the benefits of the recent tax law changes, as the world's largest private employer raises its starting wage, creates new benefits and distributes bonuses to eligible workers.

The big-box retailer announced Thursday it will increase its starting wage rate for hourly employees in the U.S. to $11, and expand maternity and parental leave benefits. Currently, Walmart's starting wage is $9 until workers complete a training program. Then, they receive $10.

Walmart will also pay a one-time cash bonus to eligible employees of as much as $1,000. The payouts, which should total roughly $400 million, will result in a one-time charge that the company will take in its fiscal fourth quarter.

Apparently tax law matters and lower taxes can benefit both employers and workers.  In other words it's not a zero sum game. So, are you still expecting a Democrat wave in 2018? Stop looking in the rear view mirror.

Bailout Backdoor on Rules

According to the Washington Post,

The Obama administration is engineering its new bailout initiatives in a way that it believes will allow firms benefiting from the programs to avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, including limits on lavish executive pay, according to government officials.

Administration officials have concluded that this approach is vital for persuading firms to participate in programs funded by the $700 billion financial rescue package.

The administration believes it can sidestep the rules because, in many cases, it has decided not to provide federal aid directly to financial companies, the sources said. Instead, the government has set up special entities that act as middlemen, channeling the bailout funds to the firms and, via this two-step process, stripping away the requirement that the restrictions be imposed, according to officials.

Let's count the ways the hypocrisy exists.

(1) Transparency. Will they tout this decision with a press conference? Not likely.

(2) Equality of application of rules - AIG executives were practically forced at gunpoint to return their bonuses. Now? Well, not so much. You could argue Democrats learned from their mistakes, but there are two problems with that (1) they aren't going to give back the AIG confiscatory taxes they took because it all comes down to whatever buys them the most votes, and (2) they never learn or they'd have repudiated not only Marx by now but also Keynes.

(3) Sidestep the rules? Honesty. Accountability? Enough said.

(4) Bi-partisanship. The whole working with Republicans got lost somewhere on or before day 6 of the new administration. It's not directly relevant here (exactly how the Democrats feel about anything involving the GOP) but it's going to be a recurring theme of this Presidency - Republicans, take a walk.

(5) Blaming Bush,

At first, when the initiative was being developed last year, the Bush administration decided to apply executive-pay limits to firms participating in this program. But Obama officials reversed that decision days before it was unveiled on March 3 and lifted the curbs, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.

Oh, yeah lest we forget, this is still all President Bush's fault.

Surely there are more hypocrisies than that, but that should be enough to get everyone who reads it and still needs one, the grain of salt required to take with the Obama pontifications.