Obama Ally Introduces Bill to Cap Salaries of CEOS from TARP-Receiving Companies

I don’t understand how companies can collapse yet pay out some of the highest bonuses in their respective histories?
Doesn’t that point to a fundamental flaw in our compensation of this line of work?

Obama Ally Introduces Bill to Cap Salaries of CEOS from TARP-Receiving Companies
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Jake, shameful headline. She has a name and a title that she earned through election. Don’t be so dismissive.

I think alot of this posturing and dancing around is meant to take our eye off the prize. We need to make these folks do what they say they will do if we give them money. Right now if you said the CEO could only have say $200,000 a year with no bonus, they would find a way to add more; like have the company pay all the persons housing costs or kids tution or the wife clothes bill, its just like the tax code. You make it one way and all these smart guys figure a way to get a credit or a write-off or someway to not do what was ment. I deeply distrust all on Wall Street and banking they are from the same clothe and all can’t help being the slime balls they are.And the GOP wants it to stay this way they are bound and determined to not have change and to keep the fat cats in power. The people in Washington say one thing and do another, and I think soem want to have the rich only get out of this mess alive.

Guess this means that the CONGRESS should give back the pay raise they got this year for thier failures

Yeah… NY will love this…. since NYC gets a big percentage of its TAX income from these obscene salaries and bonuses

Go Claire, I voted for you, and I have known your family for years. Good, solid people. The only thing that might be better is to reduce their income for being so negligent at their jobs. They sure don’t deserve their regular salary, but certainly not any increase.

So … according to McCaskill, anyone who is in debt to someone, loses all their rights and the person/company they owe money to can dictate to them what they can and cannot do. Isn’t this like Communism?? Send her back to Missouri, she is ridiculous!!
Posted by: Francisco Cardenas | Jan 30, 2009 5:46:02 PM
If it is OUR money footing the bill to bail them out, then by all means they should cap these salaries and bonuses. Don’t you find it appalling that we bailed these companies out and they are still giving these outrageous bonuses?

So really, these huge bonuses were paid with OUR bailout tax dollars after the CEO’s lied about profits to begin with? Wouldn’t that make us–the U.S. public who will get stuck with the tax burden on this debt– into stockholders who can then turn around and fire these CEO’s with a proxy vote?

Nice political grandstanding…..she is so tough….. hehehehehe

Sen. Claire McCaskill is initiating a bold step to stop anyone who has taken bail out money from the tax payers from looting their companies. The last 8 years the self promoting CEOs and executives have created a bubble and mismanaged savings and investments of main street Americans and now it is time to stop the gravy train and ensure accountability otherwise they will have once again made off with millions in bonuses. In case of Ford, I think the CEO saw this coming and decided not to take a bail out for now and maybe empty the company’s treasury first and then beg Washington for funds.

It only makes sense – if a ‘bailout’ is required to shore up the banks and loans industry and that is public money being used – then it shouldn’t be used to pay ridiculous salaries in the millions of dollars per year range. Should it?

Hey, Jake,
How about having Brian Ross publish the total bonuses paid by company so we can all stop doing business with them!
These Wall Street guys are so out of touch. They see $18.9 in bonuses as their entitlement program, not as actual pay for performance as it should be.
For $18.9 billion, we could rehire 189,000 New Yorkers at $100K each.

“i live in ny. 40% of the taxes are paid by 1% of the population. if this sort of nonsense passes you will have to raise taxes on 60% of the population.”
Let me get this straight.
Right wingers are upset with the concept of TARP money but fine with it going to pay bonuses?

My hat is off to the senator from the state that gave us President Harry S Truman. Too bad the CEOs in question don’t seem to understand where the buck stops or they wouldn’t have showered themselves with such outlandish bonuses.
Yes, I think it is perfectly appropriate to place restrictions on a company that seeks loans from the public. The Board of Directors for these companies can’t be counted on to set the compensation for these CEOs. In most cases it is a matter of the foxes guarding the foxes guarding the hen house with the shareholders being the ones fricasseed.
Frankly, the CEOs of companies who come seeking loans should do the honorable thing and resign. The CEO of a company for which I worked often said if he couldn’t succeed, his successor would. Maybe his attitude explains why the company remained so successful.

Let it be known within shouting distance that her statements and her bill were not done without the approval of the President. Everyone is so afraid that they are beginning to accept everything comeing out of Washington(either party)without the specifics of what is being claimed. Shame on all of us. Is this the lame duck information they will be feeding us about the various stimulus and recovery packages.

I want to see someone or a team appointed to approve each and every check these banks write. All bonus money should be earned through the performance of the individual. It doesn’t look like they deserve anything except a pink slip. If I don’t see a cut in salaries the elimination of bonuses for these guys, I’ll be witholding my tax money this year.

“As has been said before on this thread the idiots in DC have no understanding of business because they have NEVER been in a position where they had to make payroll or a profit to have a business which could sustain itself.”
Because “real” business man lie about losses and overleverage themselves on risky ventures then when said ventures collapse they seek a government bailout.
Hey for that kind of swindle they deserve their billions in bonuses!
God the right wing makes me sick with what the justify.

“no – i’m not a right winger – and i’m against both. big government is not the answer. which is what started this. barney frank and the agenda to expand loaning money to people who can’t afford to pay it back – followed by people who lent it (forced to) by the government.”
Claims of non partisanship ring quite hollow when followed by right wing economic dogma and snipes at 1 party.

vET193 wrote: “Guess this means that the CONGRESS should give back the pay raise they got this year for thier failures”
… you have a point there! Where are the Congress and the Senate taking responsibility? They gave themselves raises while the economy tanked and they did nothing to stop it!!

“It is not only inaccurate, but unfair to say (ALL) “”real” business man lie about losses and overleverage themselves on risky ventures then when said ventures collapse they seek a government bailout.”
That’s why real is in quotations there genius.
It was sarcasm.
Real businessmen don’t rip off their investors and their government then cry when their bonuses are limited.
But apparently right winger hate TARP money unless its going to pay off bonuses. Must be some bizarro ayn rand catch 22.

Where was this idea when the vote was being made as to whether they would lend the money in the first place? Are we trying to close the proverbial doors after the horses have escaped and run with reckless abandonment? As for you who are crying wolf over the thought of this being socialism or communism, answer me this. If this was a loan you were making (sound familiar yet?…cuz it’s your money folks!)to say, a child or other relative, would it not upset you if the money you loaned went to something along the lines of a big screen tv or something stupid like a hotel suite with dancing girls? YES Damn right it would. Where does this particular situation differ? I like the responsibility that is attached to the loans and the way it may persuade the weak to go away. Obviously a majority of those who have benefited from these loans this far are exactly that… WEAK. Let the weak ones wither and be bought out. Serves them right after the CEO’s, CFO’s COO’s schlepped their unearned bonuses into a big bank account, which BTW is probably not even being banked in the USA (for personal protection) and thus makes this situation that much less palatable. What an ugly, ugly situation. Go get ‘em boys and girls. Go get ‘em.

WOW we are all so damn intelligent that we know the answers . yup were all politicians here i guess . bottom line is things have to change one way or the other . so we cry about Obama being elected , we cry about Bush . we cry about socialism . bonuses . the blue hair on the fat old lady on the corner. so does no one have any super duper intelligent idea’s on how to actually be heard and listened to about these concernes ? or do we sit here and throw silly comments back and forth on how the country needs to be ran !

criminisakes
which is why I believe in consumption tax so everyone can pay as they go, no loopholes, no not paying because you don’t feel like it. No IRS, see smaller gov’t too.

ashley -
agree.

These rabid jackals should be tried in Federal Court,and repay every dollar they’ve STOLEN.I’m sure obtaining grants and loans under false pretenses,and lying to Congress is still a crime? The 750 Billion given to them by Bush in Sept.08 was regarded as a “Going Away Present”. The common citizen would be buried under the nearest prison,and these “Princes of Wall Street” deserves the same,if not worse.

That should read country not county

Businesses are already collecting sales taxes for the states.?

Hey you loud mouthed congress woman I agree with you but what about capping the IDIOT Congress Representatives pay. What the heck have they done for us???

Why would anyone want to reward a CEO for failing to do his job and keeping his company from needing Government assistance? DUH!!

BTW, the argument that outrageous compensation packages are “required” just cannot hold water anymore. The strongest argument for obscene compensation was that it was needed to keep the best talent. Obviously, if your company requires tax dollars to stay afloat, it couldn’t hurt to have the geniuses responsible for your company’s woes work for a competitor, now could it?

These CEOs are working for us (as tax payers) and we should be able to decide how much they receive in salary. The old theory that if they don’t get compensated they’ll go some where else is fine-let them go and see if they can get it. In the meantime they should be rewarded by what they earn – not what they think they’re worth.

Girlie – agree also. There are morons in business. But that doesn’t mean you give the fed authority to wipe out the entire system.

YES!!! FINALLY!!!! If a company makes a profit….the CEO deserves a bonus! If the company fails….they deserve to be paid but NO BONUS!!!!!! This is how small business’ work…this is how big business should work. A bonus is for GOOD work.

*** ORIGINAL RESPONSE ***
There are corrupt business people. But capitalism shouldn’t be replaced by government, socialism, or redistribution of wealth. There are plenty of currupt politicians – maybe the private sector should run chicago for example.
*** MY RESPONSE ****
OHHH HEELLL NAAAWWW!!! Chicago would be rubble if this current situation could be used as a indicator for how the private sector would govern. Have you lost your marbles?…
Anyway, I don’t anyone in America wants a socialist or communistic style government. If I provide value to the company, quality and a high producer. I want to be paid the big bucks. Those who don’t perform well should be done away with like the dinosaur.
That’s why I say the big 3 should have failed and someone should encourage google and Microsoft to make cars. Well GOOGLE anyway.. Microsoft cars would require alot of repairs after the initial purchase. Ha!!! LMAO…
Just playing I like Microsoft’s OS because it evolves just like UNIX but in a different path and method.

But capitalism shouldn’t be replaced by government, socialism, or redistribution of wealth. Posted by: criminysakes
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What kind of capitalism has the captains of industry turn to taxpayers for cash? If anything, it’s Wall Street that’s been begging for capitalism to be “replaced.”

The idea of capping compensation as a prerequisite for Federal assistance sounds good on paper, but will fail miserably. The executives will refuse the bailout money, collect their guaranteed salaries and bonuses, and let the company fail and take the employees with it. The unemployees can then vent all they want about crooked bosses but it won’t change the fact that their jobs are gone. Also, why should the salaries be arbitrarily capped at what the President of the United States makes? The jurisdiction of the President ends at the US border. Corporations and their executives operate worldwide and in some ways affect people more than any government does.

**** ORIGINAL POST ****
The idea of capping compensation as a prerequisite for Federal assistance sounds good on paper, but will fail miserably. The executives will refuse the bailout money, collect their guaranteed salaries and bonuses, and let the company fail and take the employees with it. The unemployees can then vent all they want about crooked bosses but it won’t change the fact that their jobs are gone. Also, why should the salaries be arbitrarily capped at what the President of the United States makes? The jurisdiction of the President ends at the US border. Corporations and their executives operate worldwide and in some ways affect people more than any government does.
*** MY RESPONSE ***
Then what is the role of the Board of Directors if they allow that to happen; especially, for the investments made by their stockholders? They should fire the CEO and get someone within the organization they feel have the capability and tenacity to turn the company around.

BTW…
Current CEO’s are not the only smart individuals in this country. Board of Directors need to get off their lazy bums and do their jobs by finding the talent with the capability and tenacity to turn their company around.

Pfft. CEO’s? At least they provide jobs. How about capping Congress’ pay to $1 per year until they actually do the people’s work instead of enriching themselves at our expense? Oh, and Pelosi can fly commercial instead of her cushy Gulfstream. We all need to sacrifice, Nancy! Let’s start with you.

As a Republican, I actually agree with Obama on this one. The only concern I have is that the CEO’s of these companies won’t stay long and there’s no guarantee that a good one will take that job at such a “low” salary. This may force these companies to go under.

Cap salaries for all executives..and while we are at it. Limit the number of kids that welfare moms can have. Why not, the rest of us who are not on welfare HAVE TO, or HAD TO limit the size of our family…

This is fantastic! This will be the last time Wall Street will ask for the tax payer’s help! Bring on the restrictions and see corporate America fleeing from Washington!

Legislator who haven;t done a bit of hard work in their lives shouldn’t be telling people who run major corporations how to do their job. Granted you can’t take govt funds and then pay out bonuses for a job well done. But the board of directors are the ones that set compensation. Some of these legislators should try to solve business problems. So by setting an artifical limit, some institutions may not take the money from the govt. Sure some of these execs have an entitlement attitude very similar to our legislators. But when your business is not doing well, you don’t get a bonus. That was the problem.

Capping CEO salaries is communism. If you commies want this sort of crap why are you going after CEOs? Why not start with Hollywood? Also after your new Treasury Secretary pays his back-taxes you need to get him to donate his $500K bonus to Greater Socialism.

Here is what is in the STIMULUS PACKAGE, which looks more like Spending. Spending and nothing but Spending. Can you spell HYPERINFLATION?
$1 billion for Amtrak, which hasn’t earned a profit in four decades.
$2 billion to help subsidize child care.
$400 million for research into global warming.
$2.4 billion for projects to demonstrate how carbon greenhouse gas can be safely removed from the atmosphere.
$650 million for coupons to help consumers convert their TV sets from analog to digital, part of the digital TV conversion.
$600 million to buy a new fleet of cars for federal employees and government departments.
$75 million to fund programs to help people quit smoking.
$21 million to re-sod the National Mall, which suffered heavy use during the Inauguration.
$2.25 billion for national parks. This item has sparked calls for an investigation, because the chief lobbyist of the National Parks Association is the son of Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wisc. The $2.25 billion is about equal to the National Park Service’s entire annual budget. The Washington Times reports it is a threefold increase over what was originally proposed for parks in the stimulus bill. Obey is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee.
$335 million for treatment and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. $4.19 billion to stave off foreclosures via the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The bill allows nonprofits to compete with cities and states for $3.44 billion of the money, which means a substantial amount of it will be captured by ACORN, the controversial activist group currently under federal investigation for vote fraud. Another $750 million would be exclusively reserved for nonprofits such as ACORN meaning cities and states are barred from receiving that money. Sen. David Vitter, R-La., charges the money could appear to be a “payoff” for the partisan political activities community groups in the last election cycle.
$44 million to renovate the headquarters building of the Agriculture Department.
$32 billion for a “smart electricity grid to minimize waste.
$87 billion of Medicaid funds, to aid states.
$53.4 billion for science facilities, high speed Internet, and miscellaneous energy and environmental programs.
$13 billion to repair and weatherize public housing, help the homeless, repair foreclosed homes.
$20 billion for quicker depreciation and write-offs for equipment.
$10.3 billion for tax credits to help families defray the cost of college tuition.
$20 billion over five years for an expanded food stamp program.
Republican leaders say the stimulus package will add 32 new government programs at a cost of $136 billion. They object that many of the programs, once established, are likely to continue indefinitely.
Most media outlets are reporting the cost of the package at $819 billion. As Newsmax revealed yesterday, however, the Congressional Budget Office calculates that the interest on the debt generated by the bill’s spending will cost another $347.1 billion, making the total cost approximately $1.17 trillion.

The capping of salaries and bonuses on companies that RECEIVE TARP MONEY is *NOT* communism you FOOLS. These caps are temporary requirements on companies that are getting billions of PUBLIC funds because their idiot management teams were too STUPID and GREEDY to keep the companies profitable and instead leveraged themselves 40-1 into the hole.
And to the person who is worried about “hyperinflation”. Study some economics, for just 10 minutes. The US is on the verge of a DEFLATIONARY spiral and it needs HYPERINFLATION to ensure the economy doesn’t implode.

Obama announces the closing of GITMO with no plan to deal with the terrorists. He announces restriction on hiring of lobbyists, then promptly hires 2, he hires a treasury secretary who cheated on his taxes for 4 years, then he announces support for unionization when every unionized business has moved overseas from cars, electronics goods, steel manufacturing, and shipbuilding. No he wants a pork loaded “bail-out ” bill which does nothing for employment but does a great job of financing welfare. Basically , Obama is a complete and utter screw-up.

The crooks on wall street should be in handcuffs and orange jumpsuits along with most of our elected officials who were greased.

Why is this being considered now? There was NEVER any doubt in anyones mind what would happen. Isn’t this like reducing the Titanics speed AFTER we hit the iceberg. I swear, I could go to any cemetery and find people making better decisions than our leaders; AND THEIR DEAD!!! God needs to step in. We need a real leader for a change. I vote for me. Asleep, I make better decisions.

Hurrah for Senator McCaskill!! Just think, the waste basket, drapes and a few other knicknacks might have paid off my mortgage. CEO’s who allow failure of their company should be embarassed to collect a check at all, and accepting one with more than 6 digits should be considered obscene. Don’t they have a conscience? It sure isn’t evident if you spend $28,000 on drapes and $19,000 on a wastebasket while children are going to school hungry. This is so unAmerican and to have the Republicans in the Senate actually stand up for these creeps is just so…well, it is just so “George Bush-like”.

I think this is a great decision and I’m proud that we have a president that is finally doing something about the greedy and disgusting CEO’s. I work for a small company that gross’s over 20 million a year, only has 25 employees, and everyone is paid under 40 grand annually. The people that run these businesses are taken advantage of and mistreated, and I’m happy to finally see some justice.

Baywatch posted: “If you cap the bonuses of everyone at these companies, they will lose all of their talent (researchers, analysts, traders, portfolio managers, etc) and the firm will completely fail.”
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Something tells me that there is lots of talent out there willing to take less than $83 million a year and would have more personal integrity than to order his office redone for $1 Million while receiving bailout money because of his mismanagement of the company..

As to baywatchs comment all I have to say is if they were so talented why are they now bankrupt and stealing my money to give themselves pay rasies and continue to further damage there companies and then just probibly leave which is there plan at the end of all this im sure. The american people should be outraged and if they werent such lazy sheep should be taking control of there government like the founding fathers intended. They wanted the government in the hands of the people not the hands of rich and powerful CEOs

Gorgegirl4 – The politicians are a large part of the problem, if they kept their fingers out of it the system will correct itself. It was their medling with the Community Reinvestment Act on Clinton’s watch which started it all. Some how they thought that the constitution said that every one had to have a house instead of that everyone had the right to work hard and if they had enough money they could buy a house. Some of the firms would have gone under but in the end we would be better off. There is not a person in charge in DC who could pour p**s out of a bottle even if the directions were written on the bottom of the boot.

Sen. Claire McCaskill has made government accountability the focus of her Senate goals. She has only been a senator since 2007.
Shortly after her election, she publicly spoke out against earmarks and refused to ask for any earmarks. The initial response was attacks by Republican Senator Kit Bond and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) for not doing what was best for Missouri. Cleaver – everyone does it. The media picked up on the story. After her interviews with major media, the Congressional attacks against Claire stopped. Her statements resulted in a major emphasis on earmarks.
On the senate floor, Claire noted that a bill included a Nancy Pelosi earmark for salmon. Many people thought the move was career damaging, but it was not.
Claire took considerable heat from Emily’s List for supporting Obama rather than Hillary Clinton.
She had a long and successful career in Missouri. She was the State Auditor for many years. She was also the first woman Prosecuting Attorney in Jackson County (Kansas City).
Claire will also speak out when she does not agree with Obama. From what I read, it is not certain that Obama knew about her bill in advance.
A few days ago she made a non-committal answer about the Stimulus Bill. She has one of the highest records for voting against her party.

One other comment: do you want me to give my bonus back? I think not – if you think you’re paying for my bonus, fine, but that’s the least of our problems if we give an entire state $45 billion dollars for being foolish.

Just let the banks go out of business. Who needs them!

“Just let the banks go out of business. Who needs them!”
The US. You. Businesses.
the AIG “spa” trip had already been paid for, again, prior to any sort of melt down.
The bailouts are all loans. The US government OWNS 35% of Bank of America stock, which means when dividends are paid, they will get dividends. They also are getting interest on a $45 billion LOAN. These are loans, it’s not money simply given. It will be paid back, eventually. The US government will make out nicely on these deals – the tax payer, not so much.
With that being said, yes, you should be angry about the waste and excesses, but you need to fully understand the situation before spouting off. I’m more concerned about the waste and excesses of congress than I am of formerly private companies.
One last thought: when you take a business loan from a bank, do you let them determine what percent of the profits you take? Hmm…I didn’t think so. Do you pay the loan payments with interst? Yes. Do you still buy yourself a Mercedes? Maybe, if business is good. Do you see my point? The government has no place in private companies, even if they have LOANED billions in taxpayer money.

Its about time somebody does something with these Arrogrant Corrupt over educated CEOs, Enough is Enough !!!!!!!Their outright Pathetic and an utter Disgrace to this Country, their Communities, and the Employees they should be serving !!! They set a poor Example, and so do those who sit on the Board of Directors anymore !!

This is good! Their salaries should be capped! In fact they should be cut! Maybe their companies wouldn’t be in so much financial trouble if they didn’t pay their executives so much! The companies should also sell all of their jets and company owned limos and make their executives use commercial airlines when they travel and pay their travel expenses themselves! They should also stop paying for the luxury vacations that their executives take at their company’s expense! If they would do all of that maybe they wouldn’t have to beg the government for more money! In fact the government shouldn’t give them another penny until do all of that! I will never forget the ceo’s from GM, Ford, and Chrysler flying into Washington in company owned jets and then arriving at the capitol building in chauffer driven limos and wearing expensive tailored suits, to ask for money! That took nerve! I guess they just didn’t think anyone would notice how they got there! THEY WERE WRONG!

Oh yeah, that’s it Obama and flunky’s….cap the Ceo’s salary so companies are stuck with Ceo’s as bad as Obama who know nothing.
Why not try something half way intelligent………automatic seizure of assets and jail time for corrupt Ceo’s and POLITICIANS.

Getsmart: I agree, the billions they had spent on bonuses,could have been utilized to save jobs but the cash was used maintain their LUXURIOUS exorbitant lifestyles while sending many hardworking Americans to the food pantries. The insidious aspect of this, in some instances, after laying off Americans, these jobs are outsourced. And to sell to the Saudis? I wasn’t aware of it-however, if so, regardless of one’s wealth, nothing will save their greedy butts from a impending terrorist attack-Status CEO or high level executive does not grant them special status (they are American pigs like the rest of us-)…if one or two Al Quaida agents are working amongst them-who knows. Just a means to generate cash short term for the next diabolical plan.

If you come begging to Washington for bailout money, then this should be the cost of borrowing. Try going to a bank for a loan and see what they want for collateral, this isn’t any different.
I agree completely with this bill and it should be passed before another dollar is given to any business.
The American people deserve accountability.

I Agree with Sen. Claire McCaskill
There should Tough Limits on CEO’s as well as Wall Street in general.
Obama has to Address the over 40 Million Uninsured Americans, as well as the the 400,000 or more newly Unemployed Americans, who will need Health Care, as well.
Universal Health Care was the focal point of his Campaign and the Bailout Package should include or have allocated funds for Universal Health Care.

The simpiler solution is to freeze everyones salary with total compensation packages totaling more than 200K a year. This way all middle management as well as upper management get the message that when you company is feed from corporate welfare it is not business as usual. This should also happen at the federal and state levels. Until they balance their budgets and return to sane fiscal policy they will get no salary increases. It would make an interesting bill.

Added to this request All federal and state employees wages should be frozen until they balance their budgets and return to sane fiscal policy. No one in government will recieve salary increases until the budgets are reworked and balanced. Obama must lead BY example. LOL.. Like that will happen. Obama policies so far. Consumer confidence since he took office lowest in decades. Thank you Mr President you have achieved your goal of wrecking the economic engine.

so i want know where the change non taxpaying Polictian and Lobbist getting in the white House after Waiver’s Mr. Obama and his change Yea right . i guess i goe to work now to pay my taxes So Mr. Obama and trhe gangest Don’t Have To Pay there and worry about me losing my job to an illegal because there right mean more than mine the tax payer

I believe that not just salaries but total compensation should be capped. I agree with some of the other posters on this board who as well say that compensation for others who have inflated salaries should also be capped. A lot of civil law is about what offends the sensibilities of the population at large. It is about time that these rediculously high salaries start offending people. There is no way anyone can tell me that a business leader, pro sports player, actor, etc is worth what they make. No one needs 20 million a year. Are any of these people more important than our military personnel? Our police force? Our educators (who put them there in the first place)? Nope. And what is sad is that most of these freaks could not care less about the average schmuck. So, yeah, let’s cap all of this out of control compensation and redistribute it so we can put a whole bunch of much more derserving people to work!

Shady … what?

Francisco Cardenas, if I owed you, oh, I don’t know, let’s say 50,000 dollars, would you be alright with it if I took a 2-week vacation to Hawaii and the Bahamas and whoops, me bad, I didn’t pay you back????
And you best not dare dictate to me whether I can or cannot take vacations. None of your business.

Deanbob wrote: “I’d like to see Obama do something he promised he’d do – Go thru each bill line by line and cut out the pork.”
Candidate Obama did, in fact, promise to do that. Yet, apparently, no one told him that the Line Item Veto was ruled unconstitutional. The President does not have the authority to cut out pork from a bill. All he can do is try to convince the Congress to cut it out or threaten a veto of the bill.

Democrat Franklin Raines ran Fannie Mae and collected $50 million.
Democrat Jamie Gorelick worked for Fannie Mae and took home $26 million.
Democrat Jim Johnson hauled in millions from his Fannie Mae CEO job. From Wikipedia: “A 2006 OFHEO report found that Fannie Mae had substantially under-reported Johnson’s compensation. Originally reported as $6-7 million, Johnson actually received approximately $21 million.”
Notice a pattern here?
All contributed to the cooking of Fannie Mae’s books. All were protected by Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. They were all complicit in creating the subprime lending disaster, which kicked off the credit crisis.
If Obama were really “outraged” about corruption, he’d start with righting the wrongs at Fannie Mae. But he won’t because the corruption was caused by his own cronies (and even advisors in the case of Raines). So he misdirects the public and moves on to Wall Street. And the mainstream media goes along with it.

Tony D. That is outrageous. And, of course, this kind of corruption exists on both sides of the house. I wonder if there is a way to separate the good from the bad in Congress? Probably not. Perhaps we need to just start over. Get rid of them all. Reformulate our policy-making engine. Bring back the philanthropist. And jail those who violate their oath to serve the American people. The problem is that the American Congressman has changed from public servant to public despot over this years. This is just as nauseating as the overcompensation issue.

Pay for performance I agree, including the greased inept moron’s in the house and senate. If Bush,Pelosi,Frank,Reid and Dodd were handling the Gambino families finance’s well enough said.

And how about examining those bonuses that the federal and state governments pay to contractors, whether or not the contracts have been fulfilled. Those bonuses need to be investigated and capped. Interesting how the new Minnesota bridge was finished ahead of schedule when millions in bonus monies were promised for doing so. Why can’t schedules be met without dangling “carrots” in front of contractors? Greed over satisfaction in a job well done?

James Dailey …. Actually we should impose term limits for Congress.
They should of done this a long time ago. So you don’t have drunken disgusting slobs like Ted Kennedy running things as a senator.

I don’t get the headline, it says that an Obama ally introduced this measure. But nowhere in the article does it say if the measure was introduced by Chavez, Castro, Kim Il Jong, Ahmadninjad, or bin Laden. Which Obama ally introduced the maesure??

maybe we could cap obamas pay no recovery no pay lol

I think they should ban companies from paying their executives, or any employees, with the company’s stock. That would take away a lot of incentive for them to fudge the numbers and artificially inflate the stock prices, and it would make it clear to everybody how very much they really are making.

This is a fundamentally bad idea.
On one hand, there should be consequence when companies verging on bankruptcy make outrageous payments to insiders, liquidating dividends, or take other actions that are not it the public interest.
On the other hand, draconian measures to limit executive pay will keep the talent that is needed to fix the problem out of the game.
Rather than setting a limit of $x, consider a couple things …
… use tax policy to discourge excessive compensation
… require compensation over $x to be made in stock with a minimum holding period of say 3 or 5 years so that the consequences of business decisions have played out before the cash is paid out … that would be a much more effective way to ‘recover’ compensation for irresponsible actions.

No matter what they do, these CEOs will find a way around it.

Let’s see… in my company, if you fail miserably, you are fired. These guys, in their million dollar offices get multimillion dollar bonuses when they run their companies into a pit and take the nation’s economy with them. Capping their salaries is a slap on the wrist. How ’bout firing the entire executive team when they have to ask for tax payer money and then make their replacements sign statements of accountability?

These businesses become so behemoth that they “can’t” fail, for fear of dragging the economy down with them. So, they’re bailed out. Then – when their is accountability required (for being handed millions in taxpayer money), the trouble begins.
Too much mismanagement of these massive companies, and then they’re not allowed to fail. Do we really want the government being so involved with so many businesses – to the point of practically owning them and being able to dictate the terms of their existence?
These bailouts are becoming a MESS, all the way around.