Any government entity should have pay caps, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Why are they any different from the Post Office — including their power to screw things up royally? Otherwise, they quickly and easily become “legal” ways to pay off the politically-connected at taxpayer expense. The bonuses paid for poor performance at these entities is a total rip-off of the taxpayers, who also have to pay the costs entailed in the disasters they create.

Government funding of companies like Solyndra also merit very tight control of how such grants are made, and who is responsible for what and how much when they fail. The idea of making the money paid to Solyndra secondary to other investors and lenders should automatically put it in a different class. It is no longer an “investment” in any sense, but a pure gift. Imagine giving Bain Capital money on those terms in the “hope” they might create a few thousand jobs. They’d be hanging Romney from the nearest lamp post if he failed to pay it back. Unquestionably, somebody should go to jail for that deal. These days, politicians can get away with anything. Just look at Rangel, Pelosi, Reid, and yes our dear wayward John Edwards. Clinton was a pauper when he squeaked by in 1992. Today’s, he’s a multi-millionaire, and his wife is getting in line to repeat that performance. They got away from the White House with a lot more than the silverware. And pardoned a bunch of crooks as they left.

Arms length government contracts awarded on a competitive basis are a different story, but they’ve got to pass the smell test re: favoritism or again the taxpayer’s is in jeopardy. The proper way to view these things is to recognize that the taxpayer is, in effect, a shareholder in the government and deserves all the protection against fraud and abuse that ordinary shareholders are entitled to by law. It is our government. It must answer to us, or we are no longer a free republic. And, in fact, today we aren’t.