Windfall for Lobbyists/Shaft for Us?

Now we know why there seems to be so little information available on just how the $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial industry will be doled out. The DC lobbyists, those folks everybody loves to hate, are swarming over the initial outlay like sharks after blood. That's right. The banks, savings and loans, and insurance companies that look to benefit from the bailout package have procured the services of what the New York Times calls "an army of hired guns" to make sure they get their fair share.

We also know this. All but $60 billion of the original $350 billion freed up by Congress has already been spoken for. The Treasury Department, the target of the lobbying zeal, has already had to pump an additional $40 billion dollars into AIG. Now they're hearing from, among others, boat manufacturers, Latino plumbing and home heating specialists, and even car dealers. Everyone, it seems, has their hand out.

Everyone, that is, except hard working Americans. Sure, President-Elect Obama has promised tax relief for the middle class. And Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are promising new, better deals for struggling mortgage holders. Yet it seems for many people, the government gives with one hand, and takes away with the other. Here in New York, the people that run the transit system are talking about closing a yawning, $1.2 billion dollar gap by raising the subway and bus fare by as much as a dollar a ride. That would be coupled with service cuts, by the way. City and state governments across the country are making hard decisions about education, health care, police and fire protection. The list goes on and on.

Sure, the financial system needs help. So does the automobile industry. But when all is said and done, how much will the shills, the lobbyists make? Isn't the feeding frenzy that has followed the bailout just business as usual? Will anything ever change?
You tell me, because to me it sounds like more of the same.