This is why John Edwards sucks
jlew24asu
Posts: 10,118
http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0264756620080102?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true
In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina said that if elected president he would cap untaxed chief executive pay, require companies to enroll employees in retirement plans and force firms to honor pension promises to workers, even in bankruptcy.
I hope this guy doesn't win. or become a running mate.
In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina said that if elected president he would cap untaxed chief executive pay, require companies to enroll employees in retirement plans and force firms to honor pension promises to workers, even in bankruptcy.
I hope this guy doesn't win. or become a running mate.
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Edwards is a goofy liberal who apparently thinks that government should be running businesses.
I notice that he wasn't opposed to personally making assloads of money based on the size of his palace. I guess he's just opposed to heads of corporations doing so.
who could possibly disagree with this dead on message?
By Bill Rigby
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Democratic presidential contender John Edwards on Wednesday mounted an attack on excessive executive pay and soaring oil company profits, promising a series of moves that he said would "restore balance between America's corporations and America's working families."
In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, the former Democratic senator from North Carolina said that if elected president he would cap untaxed chief executive pay, require companies to enroll employees in retirement plans and force firms to honor pension promises to workers, even in bankruptcy.
On the campaign trail in Burlington, Iowa, he tore into corporations profiting as crude oil hit a record above $100 a barrel, spicing up his message that corporate greed is crippling the U.S. middle class.
The opinion piece and oil rhetoric mark the most vehement challenge against corporations so far from Edwards, a former plaintiff's lawyer who specialized in suing U.S. companies.
Edwards is currently running third in Iowa's Democrat presidential nominating contest, according to the latest Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll. The Iowa caucuses will be held on Thursday night.
"The problem is that the successes of our economy are no longer shared," wrote Edwards in the Journal opinion piece. "Forty percent of all economic growth over the past 20 years has gone to the top 1 percent of American families."
Chief executives now earn 400 times the average salary, according to Edwards, while the share of corporate profits going to CEO pay has doubled since the 1990s and the real value of the minimum wage has fallen.
"CAP COMPENSATION"
To counter the growing wage gap, Edwards said that as president, he would "immediately cap untaxed deferred compensation for executives."
He also promised measures to give shareholders the power to call shareholder meetings, remove directors and "have a say on executive pay."
He said he would also create "a new universal retirement account," requiring every company to automatically enroll its workers in some form of plan.
Edwards promised workers protection from companies that seek to offload pension obligations by going into bankruptcy.
"As president, I will ensure that corporations honor the pension promises they've made to workers, by giving workers a claim for lost pensions, just like lost wages," he said.
HITS AT OIL GIANTS
Edwards took time on the stump to swipe at oil companies, as the price of crude topped $100 a barrel for the first time.
"If you want to have some idea of what corporate greed is doing to America, well oil just hit $100 a barrel," Edwards said in a speech in his 16-stop tour of Iowa, which his campaign is calling a "36-hour marathon for the middle class."
"Exxon Mobil's profits last year were at record numbers," said Edwards. "At the same time, all of you know what you are paying for gasoline at the pump and it's not getting better."
Edwards also criticized drug and insurance companies, arguing that their search for profits has taken control of Washington through lobbyists and has strangled the middle class.
His latest attacks, while more specific than previous comments, did not come as a surprise to Wall Street.
"It's much better balanced than I would have expected from Senator Edwards, given some of his past comments," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at New York-based fund manager Federated Investors, commenting on the opinion piece.
"I am not sure how Senator Edwards would achieve these things, but they are all worthy goals," said Orlando. "My concern is that there is a lot of disconnect between what he would like to achieve and what that would cost and how he is going to fund it."
dead on? so you agree CEOs should have their pay capped? and businesses should be forced to pay pensions and whatever bullshit he says?
step back for a second and think about how you would feel about that if you were a business owner. or someone you strives to become a CEO..(or head of a corporation)
government shouldnt run business. its as unamerican as the wire tapping of overseas terrorists that you cry about.
i wouldnt have a problem with it... my employer provides me with a pension and i am very grateful for it oh yeah, thats right... the american dream... i think i would do fine with $30 million... you act as if they will be in the street starving... and agian i believe he os reffering to the massive bonus and retirement packages that they are recieving that skirt around the tax laws and pay a smaller % then they should... i thought you were the economics guy? :rolleyes:
business should not run government, and that is exactly what is happening right now in front of our eyes... it is blatant and disgusting... corporate interests dominating the interests of our government and politicians... that has to be stopped and the corporate copntrol and exploitation of america has to stop... cheer it on if you'd like... i prefer the interests of the people start getting served i am not going to comment since apparenty you are struggling with the difference of opposing domestic wire tapping without warrants and me being osama bin ladens right hand man... so i guess your a fan of warrantless domestic wiretapping and data mining? that is the definition of "unamerican" whatever the fuck that means
"Well, you tell him that I don't talk to suckas."
"Power to the people!" "Workers of the World unite!"
Edwards sounds like a socialist's wetdream. Punish the rich. Universal this. Force that.
sounds like you don't want larry h parker to run your life.....why?
No Fee ... unless we recover for you!!
Well said.
kevinbeetle: "Yes. When her career washes up and her and Gavin move to Galveston, you will meet her at Hot Topic shopping for a Japanese cheerleader outfit.
Next!"
How anyone can argue against pensions being honored is beyond me. An employee agrees to exchange his time and effort for pay and benefits from an employer. When the employee does not uphold his end of the deal he is fired. When an employer does not uphold their end of the deal (pension) the employee has no form of retribution. It's wrong and sickening.
I don't believe Edwards was hinting at required pension programs. I believe he was just saying that every employee should have a 401(k), or some other similar retirement account where the employer will match a portion of employee deposits, offered through their employer. Any young person should be happy to hear this. You can say that government has no right to force businesses into this but they're already forced in SS, same as the employees.
I'm not in total agreement with the rest of your post, but that's how I read what Edwards is proposing, and I don't disagree with him (at least on this issue).
I hate our income tax system, but it is what we have in place, so we should all fall under it. If a company wants to pay executives a huge bonus, it is their right to do that, but I do think that that bonus should be subject to the same tax as his/her normal salary.
was like a picture
of a sunny day
“We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
― Abraham Lincoln
As many people prolly know, Edwards isn't my first choice. That being said, what's wrong with any of these theories? Sounds right to me.
Wait i guess its cool for CEO's to line their pockets by the blood sweat and tears of their employess while at the same time fucking them out of retirement and pensions. Work 'em to death and then fuck their corpse below the deck of your largest yacht. Yeah, that sounds like a better plan. Fuckin' SHEESH!
As for what Edwards said here (cap on ceo pay, pensions honoured and so on) I couldn't agree more. But you know, if all those companies dont wanna have pension plans forced on them, the state could always do it, and up the tax a bit. I'm sure they'd love that.
I'm generally in favour of social security type welfare, so that your (future) health does not depend on your job and status primarily.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
just sad how you far left libs want government to control your lives.
You are on the mark with this comment. It is sickening and disgusting how corporate interest dictate domestic and foreign policy, but the way to rectify the problem is not to have the pendulum swing all the way in the opposit direction.
CEO pay is grotesque. Yes the people who manage a corporation should be paid for the job they do but it seems that the amount of money they are making is astronomical. Also when a company starts performing badly more times than not it is the lowly workers who loose their jobs while the people making all the decisions on top stay put with their fat salaries. A perfect example of this is Washington Mutual. My girlfriend works for them and they recently laid off over 1,000 employees because their mortgage division was going under. Yet the top executives in charge of the division are still employed, still making the 6 figure plus salaries while it was their policy that to offer large equity loans to high risk clients that sunk the division.
Back to the point. The way to remedy this is not by having more government control over business. I don't have an answer to how to fix the large disparity but I'm sure Edward's plan is not the answer. Though I do agree with him that employers should honor employee pensions, especially in situations where corporate mismanagment (ie. MCI WorldCom, Enron, Tyco, etc…) is involved. Why should the average worker pay with their pension for the actions of greedy underhanded executives.
I agree. Edwards seems to be the only candidate that recognizes this... or at least talks about it. That is why I support him.
I have no problems with salaries..and the government can't get involved in free market economics........but all pay taxes.
And the best way to remedy this is by insituting a fair tax.
they shouldnt recieve untaxed pay. but I dont want to government to be able to CAP their pay either.
and I also have a problem with governments requiring companies to enroll employees in retirement plans.
what I do agree with however, is government forcing companies to honor pension commitments.
A: Stop paying their insane salaries. CEOs don't print money. They get it from us. Don't buy their products. Don't invest in their organizations. Share your choices and the motivations for them with anyone who will listen. But don't pretend for a minute you have a right to prevent others from making different choices. Don't pretend that your definitions of "need" or "enough" are objective measures, lest their subjective realities get turned on you.
Q: How do I protect my retirement?
A: Take ownership of that retirement. Don't push the responsibility of it onto another person or organization and then be surprised when they screw you over. Neither your company nor your government has the same incentive as you do to help you retire comfortably, nor does anyone owe you that retirement. Save and invest your money in your own retirement vehicles. Forgo "employer matching" with strings attached and demand from your employer a comparable raise instead. Learn about compound interest. Discover ways to invest before taxation. Try to understand why the one dollar saved in 1968 has now turned into $15, but is only really worth $2.57.
Q: Why do corporations run our country?
A: Because you let them. You put nearly unlimited power into the hands of a few hundred people, put all those people in a few buildings in the same town, demanded that they serve a mushy and undefinable concept known as "the common good", and now you're surprised when they serve someone else's definition of that concept? Shame on you. You've created this game of influence peddling and you still worship it when it helps you and ignore the fundamentals of its nature when it hurts you. Examine your philosophies and think about what can be done with them in the hands of those with different values than your own.
That's what the Fair Tax basically is.
*sigh*
I truely hope that you are just kidding.