Wednesday, February 4, 2009

A Bit More on Obama’s Executive Compensation Stand from The Washington Independent


Following up on Mary's post, it's also worth noting that the $500,000 executive-pay limit for bailed out banks to be unveiled today by the White House seems to apply to total compensation — meaning salary, bonuses, stock options, everything.

That would be a sharp break from the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout bill, which did very little to rein in the enormous pay packages enjoyed by Wall Street executives, even after they'd run their companies into the ground. Under TARP, for example, the limits on golden parachute retirement packages applied only to the five top-paid employees of the bailed-out firm — and only if the firm accepted more than $300 million of taxpayer funding.

The Obama team's limits also seem poised to go further than the TARP-reform bill passed by the House last month. That proposal, which the Senate never considered, would have limited executive bonuses and incentive-based pay, but not salaries — a loophole that would have allowed bailed-out firms to pay their executives anything they pleased.

rest http://washingtonindependent.com/28902/a-bit-more-on-obamas-executive-compensation-stand

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