a very good reason why the public doesn't trust our officials

This could be a continuing series.

In just this decade, which you could also lede as 'in just this century alone', but that would be too grandiose.....in just this decade, there have been a number of major American insitutions that have taken huge hits on the credibility front.

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it shows the range and breadth of the fields hit by real issues that were either self-perpetuated, or for which the field did not have a response.

Starting with the infamous Enron scandal from 2000, there's the missing WMD in Iraq, Barry Bonds and his insistence that he did not take steroids, Marion Jones' steroid confession, as well as that of other track starts, Mel Gibson's racist rantings, and even the revelation last week that Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was attempting to cash in on his office and his authority to appoint a successor to the U.S. Senate seat recently vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

But indulge me if you will, for I think we have something that might be a new winner, in need of a category all to itself.

Remember the $700 billion financial services industry bailout Congress authorized and the President signed way back in September of 2008. Of course you do. Not only your grandchildren, but their grandchildren will be paying off Chinese bonds for years to cover this debt. So this is dear to you, or at least it should be.

Well, it turns out that a central tenet of this legislation, the restriction on executive compensation (you know, bosses making $10 million a year, on top of corporate benefits and golden parachutes), is a toothless tiger.

According to this morning's Washington Post, the Treasury Department, after initially fighting any language that would restrict executive pay, came up with a supposed workable solution. Firms would be penalized for going over certain pay levels for executives only if those firms had received bailout money from selling thier troubled assets to the federal government in an auction.

So what does this mean, you ask. It means that if auctions were being used to sell troubled firms, and bail out their investors, then the government would have taken over, and restrictions would go into effect for executive pay. But the Treasury Department switched gears after the enactment of the bailout bill, and has instead opted not to use auctions, and has rendered the executive compensation language literally meaningless. No longer would their be automatic penalties for high pay, much in the way Major League baseball has a luxury tax. Now, as structured, firms can continue to do as they wish, paying senior executives whatever they can negotiate, without having to worry about the threat of their government partner questioning the pay scale.

With all the talk this past week about the pay scale of unionized American auto workers, it's remarkable that the billions that will go out the door as a result of this loophole uncovered by the Washington Post, a loophole that has not yet garnered the attention it deserves.

Where's the anger over this one?

And in case you're wondering, yes, this is another reason why there's less faith in our officials and our institutions than ever before.

You may now return to your previously scheduled diversion.