Welfare For Billionaires?

By PAUL GRAY/

A report from the Resolution Trust Corporation is expected this month, and it figures to stoke congressional ardor to find scapegoats for the S&L mess. The report will examine transactions during 1988, when private investors, at the government's request, scooped up troubled S&Ls and then received whopping federal subsidies for doing so. In 94 cases, entrepreneurs like Ronald ! Perelman, owner of Revlon, and Texas billionaire Robert Bass wound up reaping, on average, $78 for each dollar they invested. Some who received this windfall have argued that their intervention was cheaper than allowing the bankrupt S& Ls to pile up losses. The House and Senate have scheduled hearings to question whether such generosity to the wealthy was really necessary.

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS