Maureen Dowd's January 31, 2009 column in the New York Times reflected the rage of millions when she exclaimed, "The president's disgust at Wall Street looters was good.  But we need more.  We need disgorgement."

Dowd then defines disgorgement as occurring "when courts force wrongdoers to repay ill-gotten gains.  And I'm ill at the gains gotten by scummy executives acting all Gordon Gekko while they're getting bailed out by us."  

The columnist points out the towering difference between the Tom Daschle flap over $140,000 in back taxes alongside the gluttony of Wall Street bankers giving themselves $18.4 billion worth of bonuses for last year.

Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri demonstrated the same outrage in introducing a bill to limit the pay of anyone at firms taking federal money to no more than the $400,000 yearly salary made by President Obama.