Obama Praises His Pay Czar for Executive Pay Cuts
EmailABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: President Obama praised his pay czar Ken Feinberg today for taking “an important step forward today” by announcing that executive salaries will be severely cut at businesses with taxpayer financed bailout money. “He was faced with the difficult task of striking the proper balance between standing up for taxpayers and retuning a measure of stability to our financial system,” President Obama said of Feinberg’s role today while in the East Room. “Under these competing interests, I believe he’s taken an important step forward today in curbing the influence of executive compensation on Wall Street, while still allowing these companies to succeed and prosper.” Seven companies receiving "exceptional" amounts of taxpayer aid will slash the annual salaries for their 25 top executives by an average of around 90 percent from 2008 levels, per Feinberg’s orders. The president noted that Feinberg’s decision was an “independent judgment,” based on the task that his administration had given him in June he was appointed to look at on the executive pay packages for firms that receive extraordinary assistance from the government. “This is America. We don’t disparage wealth. We don’t begrudge anybody for doing well. We believe in success. But it does offend our values when executives of big financial firms, firms that are struggling, pay themselves huge bonuses even as they continue to rely on taxpayer assistance to stay afloat.” Obama said that “more work needs to be done” and called on Congress to pass legislation to give shareholders more of a voice. “I urge the Senate to pass legislation that will give company shareholders a voice on the pay packages awarded to their executives. I urge congress to continue moving forward on financial reform that will help prevent the crisis we saw last fall from happening again. The president made his remarks at the top of an event originally intended to sign the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act into law. -Sunlen Miller
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Well, on the bright side, it’ll keep future CEOs from seeking ANY bail-outs.
Posted by: John Coonen | October 22, 2009, 5:43 pm 5:43 pm
This is a no-brainer that even Republicans should be able to strongly support.
Posted by: jhw539 | October 22, 2009, 5:44 pm 5:44 pm
So how does he feel about the new CFO of Fannie Mae getting a $5 million compensation package while they received $51 billion in bailouts last year? Seems to me like the fox is guarding the hen house.
Posted by: DB | October 22, 2009, 6:10 pm 6:10 pm
So they force companies that don’t want to take the bailout to take it, then they cut the CEO salaries by 90%. What exactly do they hope to accomplish here? I’m not seeing a plan except to appease a public looking for someone to blame.
Posted by: Chiara | October 22, 2009, 6:22 pm 6:22 pm
If corporations floated by taxpayers’ money want to pay astronomical salaries and bonuses – pay back the taxpayers’ money – and then go ahead.
Monumental failure at the executive level should not be rewarded with astronomical bonuses, salaries and perks paid by money from companies kept afloat by taxpayer’s pockets.
Posted by: billyjessop | October 22, 2009, 7:19 pm 7:19 pm
History has shown us that corruption cannot be created nor destroyed, it can only be transformed from one form to another.
Posted by: young_voter | October 22, 2009, 7:28 pm 7:28 pm
The next step will be to be involved in management compensation control wherever any taxpayer dollars flow. The logic works..doesn’t it??
Posted by: Ralph | October 22, 2009, 7:49 pm 7:49 pm
“The next step will be to be involved in management compensation control wherever any taxpayer dollars flow. The logic works..doesn’t it??”
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No, the logic doesn’t work . . . however . . .
If corporations floated by taxpayers’ money want to pay astronomical salaries and bonuses – pay back the taxpayers’ money – and then go ahead.
Monumental failure at the executive level should not be rewarded with astronomical bonuses, salaries and perks paid by money from companies kept afloat by taxpayer’s pockets.
Posted by: julieterra | October 22, 2009, 8:38 pm 8:38 pm
This is a no-brainer that even Maoists strongly support, jhw539.
Ford Co. was smart and told Obummer to stuff it!
Posted by: Jeff | October 22, 2009, 9:15 pm 9:15 pm
“Ford Co. was smart and told Obummer to stuff it!”
Posted by: Jeff | Oct 22, 2009 9:15:54 PM
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Ford declined the bailout on Dec 19, 2008 – when Bush was President, not Obama.
The lesson as always, right wingers lie – or are too brainwashed to do some actual research.
Posted by: julieterra | October 22, 2009, 9:32 pm 9:32 pm
As a taxpayer one should be concerned about the debt incurred by this administration, the wasteful spending and the overt attempts at wealth redistribution. I didn’t realize it was the president’s job to cap executives’ salaries. Perhaps he could spend time curbing spending as, using leftist logic, it is tax payer money that is being spent.
Posted by: ConservativeWoman | October 22, 2009, 9:42 pm 9:42 pm
“I didn’t realize it was the president’s job to cap executives’ salaries.”
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If corporations floated by taxpayers’ money want to pay astronomical salaries and bonuses – pay back the taxpayers’ money – and then go ahead.
Monumental failure at the executive level should not be rewarded with astronomical bonuses, salaries and perks paid by money from companies kept afloat by taxpayer’s pockets.
Posted by: julieterra | October 22, 2009, 9:50 pm 9:50 pm
Mr. Obama’s actions are for show. Ken Lewis, BOA CEO, can make only $1 a year, but will take home $70M. Our troops were given a necessary mission in a war of necessity, but troops requests were delayed. Mr. Obama seems to replace pork with bull.
Posted by: young_voter | October 22, 2009, 10:02 pm 10:02 pm
“Mr. Obama’s actions are for show.’
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Nonsense. This administration knows full well when taxpayers’ dollars are used to bail out a crashing financial structure, astronomical salaries of executives of those companies will not be tolerated by the public – and rightly so.
Posted by: julieterra | October 22, 2009, 10:16 pm 10:16 pm
“I have been in office for just nine months — though some days it seems a lot longer.”
–Barack H. Obama to the UN General Assembly, September 23, 2009
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | October 22, 2009, 11:45 pm 11:45 pm
“I have been in office for just nine months — though some days it seems a lot longer.”
–Barack H. Obama to the UN General Assembly, September 23, 2009
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Well, he’s worked quite hard. You’ll remember Bush had already taken 3 weeks holidays at his ranch by September of his first year (2001) and returned to Washington in time to be caught completely off guard by 9/11.
Posted by: julieterra | October 23, 2009, 12:05 am 12:05 am
This country was so gullible in electing him president? Why did we want him in charge so badly???????????????????????????
Posted by: JV | October 23, 2009, 2:19 am 2:19 am
This country was so gullible in electing him president?
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No the country was gullible in believing the previous administration’s lies about ‘the smoking gun being a mushroom cloud’ and other such fear mongering contrivance.
Posted by: julieterra | October 23, 2009, 3:13 am 3:13 am
Get ready for Obama to control everyone’s salary. This is but the first step.
Oh, and by the way, Obama is looking to control and tax the internet.
Posted by: drjohn | October 23, 2009, 7:19 am 7:19 am
How come nothing here about how the WH tried to stiff Fox. All the news organizations in turn said, No Fox, no us.
That’s admirable. And the WH is despicable. The threat needs more attention.
Posted by: liz | October 23, 2009, 9:06 am 9:06 am
At julieterra:
Slow day at the White House? Obama letting you guys work the blogs now?
Posted by: Shirley | October 23, 2009, 1:11 pm 1:11 pm
The law of unintended consequences is about to be unleashed if they decide to implement these cuts
1. Top people will leave the affected banks and accept job in other companies. They will cripple the companies from being able to recruit top people/etc.
2. The government is only a majority shareholder in 2 companies. They cannot legally bypass the boards of directors where they are not majority shareholders…. but hey! It’s the Chicago Way!
And the old, “Use a hammer to fix a clock” routine. It would be funny if it was a Marx Bros. movie.
Posted by: SjB | October 23, 2009, 1:55 pm 1:55 pm
“The law of unintended consequences is about to be unleashed if they decide to implement these cuts”
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If corporations floated by taxpayers’ money want to pay astronomical salaries and bonuses – pay back the taxpayers’ money – and then go ahead.
Monumental failure at the executive level should not be rewarded with astronomical bonuses, salaries and perks paid by money from companies kept afloat by taxpayer’s pockets.
If these companies make a profit – reward the executives – AFTER the taxpayers’ monies are returned.
Posted by: julieterra | October 23, 2009, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
julieterra: you’re all for pay cuts, what about Fannie and Freddie, how about GE (Jeff Immelt) but I’m sure you have an excuse for those.
Posted by: Lizzie | October 23, 2009, 3:41 pm 3:41 pm
liz: “How come nothing here about how the WH tried to stiff Fox. All the news organizations in turn said, No Fox, no us.”
I was wondering the same thing, and then thought they probably don’t want to share the same fate as Fox News and end up on the White House press shun list. Heaven forbid the press report anything negative about the administration. Sounds like someone’s a little insecure.
Obama reminds me of the child raised by parents (the mainstream media) who couldn’t find it in themselves to actually parent and reprimand him when necessary. If you give the kid a free pass for too long, he’ll come to expect it. That’s what we have in Obama — a spoiled brat! With the rest of the media showing solidarity with Fox News, the parents have finally put their collective foot down and said, “no, go to your room, Barack Hussein Obama, and don’t come out until you can play fair!” If only such resolve would last.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 23, 2009, 4:34 pm 4:34 pm
JV: “This country was so gullible in electing him president?”
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julieterra: “No the country was gullible in believing . . .”
Still living in the past I see. Well at least you don’t deny Obama voters have proven gullible. Then again, at this point, I don’t think anyone could. LOL!
Posted by: Anonymous | October 23, 2009, 4:43 pm 4:43 pm
There is no good argument that can be made to support this action by the WH?
There is something called Bankruptcy, that takes cares of monumental failures?
The problem is if you are going to have one decide what someone gets paid, then where does it stop??
Why should Tiger Woods be earning billions of dollars? I don’t hear anyone complaining about his salary? He is an entertainer, what positive effect doe he have on our economy or society? What about all those bleeding heart entertainers? I don’t hear anyone complain about Brad Pitt’s earn per movie??
Why you don’t hear anything is because this is just another attempt to move our country into a socialist state pure and simple.
Anyone who argues otherwise is blind.
But move on Comrade Obama…
Posted by: The Truth | October 23, 2009, 5:18 pm 5:18 pm
julieterra: “Monumental failure at the executive level should not be rewarded with astronomical bonuses, salaries and perks . . .”
In the same token they shouldn’t be punished so harshly that they can’t retain the talent needed to dig themselves out of the hole. The 90% cut is excessive, spiteful, and over-punitive. Then again, maybe that’s the point — ensure failure long-term.
Posted by: Anonymous | October 23, 2009, 5:26 pm 5:26 pm