Are you kidding me???

From CNNC.com

“Every year those big Wall Street bonuses become the talk of the town, but this year it could be for a whole new reason.”

There’s rumblings on Capitol Hill that lawmakers might look to limit or even do away with bonuses this year.

The first salvos were fired late Tuesday when Rep. Henry Waxman, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said he sent letters to the first nine major banks set to receive a capital injection from the government, seeking information on their compensation and bonus plans for 2008 and other years.

He wrote, “I question the appropriateness of depleting the capital that taxpayers just injected into the banks through the payment of billions of dollars in bonuses, especially after one of the financial industry’s worst years on record.”

And it seems many on Wall Street are expecting some big money. Rich Layne of eFinancialCareers tells Fast Money, “I thought you’d be interested in the results of post-bailout survey of Wall Street professionals on their bonuses expectations. 2/3 are expecting a 2008 bonus; 36% are expecting that bonus to be higher than their 2007 bonuses. There’s even a minority – 10% – that expect this year’s bonus to the 33% higher.”

LINK to article and video.

Congress: Don’t use bailout for bonuses
Leaders from both parties expressed concern Wednesday that a taxpayer-funded bailout of the financial industry will be used to pad the pockets of executives rather than get the economy rolling again.

“News reports have suggested that six major financial institutions participating in the program have plans to pay their executives billions of dollars,” they wrote.

Link to AP article.