S&L; Asset Sales Just More for Vultures

The Resolution Trust Corp.’s pandering to the American business aristocracy is just one more sign that the Bush Administration just doesn’t get the fairness issue in this country, “Pooled S&L; Asset Sales May Put RTC in Hot Water” (April 26).

The S&L; bailout agency is “bundling” billions of dollars in assets so they can be sold in bulk to wealthy buyers, often at much lower prices than offers that have been rejected from small investors. This enables the wealthiest segment of the country to keep the most attractive properties and other assets.

They will then repackage the second-rate products and retail them to the public (i.e. the rest of us) and realize built-in profits handed to them by their cronies in the Bush Administration.

Mind you, the recipients of this largess will include many of the same players--investment bankers, accountants and lawyers--who raped the American public the first time around. Many of these individuals have been forbidden by law to do business with the RTC.

To get around those restrictions and let prior offenders into the ballgame, the RTC simply brought in the middlemen so many of the same vultures who contributed to the S&L; mess can grab a piece of the pie once again.

The Bush Administration, more than any other Administration in history, is populated by wealthy business elitists. Their cavalier attitude is reflected clearly in the utterances of people like Lamar Kelly, the RTC’s senior vice president in charge of asset sales. He knows what’s best for America, and fairness and equal economic opportunity are not on the list.

Bill Clinton may have a personal character problem. George Bush seems to have surrounded himself with them.

KIP DELLINGER

Los Angeles