Archive for March 24th, 2009
In Short – Middle Ground for the Corporate Pay Question
President Obama this week is clamoring on restricting the pay of corporate executives, riding on the coattails of the corporate populist ballyhoo of AIG paying out bonuses to people who were contractually entitled to the bonus. Lately, though, the liberal government’s need to regulate how companies pay their people is really approaching socialism. Now I can see the government stepping in with a voice when federal taxpayer money has been committed to bailing our a company that’s deemed ‘too big to fail’. But Obama wants to do this across the board.
Of course, we don’t worry about limiting the pay of professional athletes who make $5 million to hit or throw a ball as a pro sports all star, but the Dems want to penalize corporate all-starts/executives by capping their pay.
Anyway, here’s an idea. Since America’s political strength is in our ability to reach compromise, I propose the following as a solution:
Any company receiving TARP or whatever Federal bailout money should agree that, within 90 days, they call a meeting of their shareholders and put the subject of executive compensation on the meeting agenda. The shareholders vote as to whether the CEO making $800,000/year is too much. The results of the vote are reported back to the government before any dispersal of money.
To me, this sounds reasonably fair. The decision of compensation is left to the one to make the decision – the corporate shareholders, and the government can call it regulated because it ensured that the people who make the decision are given the opportunity to make the choice for themselves.
Think I’m off base? Shoot me a comment.
(Side note: The Dems have been squawking about corporate bonuses being paid out by contract to AIG employees, yet we don’t give any consideration that UAW and other unions are basically extorting the auto makers for nearly half of their revenue to pay for people who no longer produce anything. Yet we don’t see the Dems all over that)
