President George Bush pushed the government into taking ownership stakes in major portions of private corporations. Think banks, unclassifiable financial institutions, and auto companies. Bush saw the role of government as one of simply giving these private companies tons of taxpayer money.  No controls. No strings. Just a mega-sized Christmas gift from Uncle. CEO's said "Thanks," and pledged to do better in the future.  Yet, they didn't change the way they did business: performance bonuses, parties, perks, kept flowing.  Super-sized Las Vegas junkets -- far more lavish than required for mere meetings or constructive work -- remained on the agenda.  Executive [...]