Obama caps executive pay tied to bailout money

inmytree

good

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090204/ap_ ... cutive_pay

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama imposed a $500,000 pay cap on some senior executives whose firms receive government financial rescue money, a dramatic intervention into corporate governance in the midst of financial crisis.

Standing with his Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Obama said the United States doesn't disparage wealth nor does it begrudge those who succeed, but lavish bonuses for executives at companies seeking taxpayer dollars was unfair.

"What gets people upset — and rightfully so — are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers," the president said in the White House foyer.

The cap on executive pay would not apply to banks in good financial shape that receive federal assistance.

soulsinging

I was just about to post this... about fucking time!

decides2dream

*applauds*
kudos obama!


you want a government bail out? well then, you have to abide some new rules. seriously, just about everything this man has done thus far in office is right on target.

kenny olav

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

Lizard

LOVE IT!!! Wonder why that other guy didn't do this.

:roll:

stickfig13

decides2dream wrote:

*applauds*
kudos obama!


you want a government bail out? well then, you have to abide some new rules. seriously, just about everything this man has done thus far in office is right on target.

If you think that giving government money to failing companies is a good idea

JOEJOEJOE

They should have a government examiner approve all major expenditures at the troubled banks....treat them as if the are in bankruptcy status.

decides2dream

JOEJOEJOE wrote:

They should have a government examiner approve all major expenditures at the troubled banks....treat them as if the are in bankruptcy status.

absolutely!
accountability, such a novel concept.

VINNY GOOMBA

How about getting rid of fractional reserve banking so we don't get into this mess ever again?

Sludge Factory

VINNY GOOMBA wrote:

How about getting rid of fractional reserve banking so we don't get into this mess ever again?

What a novel concept!

Commy

Kenny Olav wrote:

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

I am. that's a great idea.

yoke

decides2dream wrote:

*applauds*
kudos obama!


you want a government bail out? well then, you have to abide some new rules. seriously, just about everything this man has done thus far in office is right on target.

except maybe appointing tax cheats to his staff :roll:

also, why we are at it.. Cut the Unions and benefits for GM and Chrysler. Lets get those contracts opened up so that these companies who asked for money can make some back and maybe pay off thier debt faster while they "retool" for the 21st century.

Cosmo

yoke wrote:

decides2dream wrote:

*applauds*
kudos obama!


you want a government bail out? well then, you have to abide some new rules. seriously, just about everything this man has done thus far in office is right on target.

except maybe appointing tax cheats to his staff :roll:

also, why we are at it.. Cut the Unions and benefits for GM and Chrysler. Lets get those contracts opened up so that these companies who asked for money can make some back and maybe pay off thier debt faster while they "retool" for the 21st century.

...
Sell G.M. and Chrysler to China. Their products already meet the 'Crappy Chinese Junk' standards. Let them be a burden on some other country for a change.

know1

I would have STRONGLY opposed this until they limited it to those crooks who received the bailout money from those other crooks (our government).

NoK

Kenny Olav wrote:

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

Half a million seems awfully generous for someone who ran his company to the ground. I'm with you only make the cap at $250K and spread the wealth even more. I don't see why anyone can't live a very comfortable life with such an amount. With the money saved, along with cutting a lot of useless spending, you could probably afford giving each family a house and each individual free health care as a condition of citizenship. Heck if the Israelis do it using American money then I'm sure you guys are entitled to the same in your country considering its your money.

JaneNY

NoK wrote:

Kenny Olav wrote:

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

Half a million seems awfully generous for someone who ran his company to the ground. I'm with you only make the cap at $250K and spread the wealth even more.

I agree 250K would be even better, but the good part here is I believe it is the first time there has been a cap at all. Even with this quite generous amount, it still sends an important message that the government is taking a watchful interest in how hard-working taxpayers' money is being used in the bailout, and that it expects results instead of executives using the money for their personal benefit.

kenny olav

NoK wrote:

Kenny Olav wrote:

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

Half a million seems awfully generous for someone who ran his company to the ground. I'm with you only make the cap at $250K and spread the wealth even more. I don't see why anyone can't live a very comfortable life with such an amount. With the money saved, along with cutting a lot of useless spending, you could probably afford giving each family a house and each individual free health care as a condition of citizenship. Heck if the Israelis do it using American money then I'm sure you guys are entitled to the same in your country considering its your money.

I'd be OK with $250K. You're right, that's a very comfortable life. I suppose for those who are greedy, $500K wouldn't be enough anyway. The point is, we need more equitable pay. It just ain't right to have a multi-millionaires and billionaires when millions (or billions when you look at the whole world) of working people aren't getting paid when they deserve. I feel like what I'm saying here should be the equivalent of something obvious like 1+2=3 but in our world 1+2=0. No sense. The more we have people that are treated fairly, the more we will have people who are happy, and the happier we will all become as individuals. Why can't we do what is fair? We're only hurting ourselves. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about this for a moment and get pissed off.

The President's salary happens to be $500K. Should anyone be paid more than the President? Does anyone have a more important job than that?

xavier mcdaniel

I'd have liked to see it be less like 200K or 250K, but just the fact this was signed into law is noteworthy. I'd imagine that 500K was done in order to get more tax revenue on all the levels from these people.

know1

Kenny Olav wrote:

NoK wrote:

Kenny Olav wrote:

Good! I wish there would be a $500K cap on all salaries, bailout or not. But so far, not everyone is down with my socialist schemes.

Half a million seems awfully generous for someone who ran his company to the ground. I'm with you only make the cap at $250K and spread the wealth even more. I don't see why anyone can't live a very comfortable life with such an amount. With the money saved, along with cutting a lot of useless spending, you could probably afford giving each family a house and each individual free health care as a condition of citizenship. Heck if the Israelis do it using American money then I'm sure you guys are entitled to the same in your country considering its your money.

I'd be OK with $250K. You're right, that's a very comfortable life. I suppose for those who are greedy, $500K wouldn't be enough anyway. The point is, we need more equitable pay. It just ain't right to have a multi-millionaires and billionaires when millions (or billions when you look at the whole world) of working people aren't getting paid when they deserve. I feel like what I'm saying here should be the equivalent of something obvious like 1+2=3 but in our world 1+2=0. No sense. The more we have people that are treated fairly, the more we will have people who are happy, and the happier we will all become as individuals. Why can't we do what is fair? We're only hurting ourselves. I don't think a day goes by that I don't think about this for a moment and get pissed off.

The President's salary happens to be $500K. Should anyone be paid more than the President? Does anyone have a more important job than that?

Most people in the world would be happy with $12K per year. What if we cap it to that?

soulsinging

xavier mcdaniel wrote:

I'd have liked to see it be less like 200K or 250K, but just the fact this was signed into law is noteworthy. I'd imagine that 500K was done in order to get more tax revenue on all the levels from these people.

I don't know about going that low. I'm all for eradicating wealth disparity, but knocking CEO's down to levels that my classmates will make out of law school seems a bit too far. If we're going to go that low, we need this to be a national thing, not just a string attached to bailout money. Otherwise, we're setting up those companies we're trying to bail out for failure.

xavier mcdaniel

soulsinging wrote:

xavier mcdaniel wrote:

I'd have liked to see it be less like 200K or 250K, but just the fact this was signed into law is noteworthy. I'd imagine that 500K was done in order to get more tax revenue on all the levels from these people.

I don't know about going that low. I'm all for eradicating wealth disparity, but knocking CEO's down to levels that my classmates will make out of law school seems a bit too far. If we're going to go that low, we need this to be a national thing, not just a string attached to bailout money. Otherwise, we're setting up those companies we're trying to bail out for failure.

That's true, I didn't think of that when I initially posted.