The bailout's silver lining

By: Jennifer Foster | Opelika Auburn News
Published: September 24, 2008 | 0 Comments | Post a Comment

As a follow-up to my earlier post about the government's $700 billion bailout plan for the financial services industry, I am pleased to say ...

YAY!!

Both presidential candidates have addressed the factor that is glaringly and obnoxiously missing from Henry Paulson's original bailout plan. .

If you missed it, here's what I said earlier today:

Here’s what I want to know: Among all the potential “fixes” and tweaks being considered by lawmakers ... why isn’t anyone proposing an eligibility requirement that would make these CEOs forfeit their $25, $30 million bonuses for their bankrupted firms to be part of the bailout?

Admittedly, the amount of the bonuses won’t right the financial companies. But it’s the least those companies should be required to do as a show of good faith with the American taxpayer, who is now left to clean up the mess left in the wake of their willful, reckless disregard for even the most elementary principles of responsible lending.

Actually, calling it “good faith” might be a bit euphemistic. Because requiring failed corporate CEOs to give up multi-million bonuses to be eligible for a government bailout program is really just asking them not to poke us in the eye while they steal our wallet.

Here's what the candidates said:

In Clearwater, Fla., today, Barack Obama outlined the principles he said he wants to see incorporated into the bailout plan. From the Associated Press:

Companies that take financial aid from the government must slash their executives' salaries, he said. Taxpayers must be treated like investors who can share in any Wall Street recovery, perhaps with an ownership stake in the companies that are bailed out, and a new fee on financial services should be created to repay the government aid.

"This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives," he said at a news conference.

Decisions on how to spend that $700 billion cannot be left solely in the hands of the Treasury secretary, Obama added. An independent, bipartisan board should "provide oversight and accountability at every step of the way."

In Freeland, Mich., John McCain also called for a cap on executive pay for companies getting federal help as part of his five-point bailout fix-up plan (whew; say that phrase five times fast), according to CNN:

Senior leaders of any firm bailed out by the federal government "should not be making more than the highest paid government official," he said.

McCain also wants included a mechanism to help taxpayers recover the $700 billion planned for the bailout, complete transparency in regard to crafting and implementation of any legislation, an earmark- and pork barrel-spending-free bill and -- perhaps most importantly -- greater accountability, CNN reported, including a bipartisan board to "provide oversight to the rescue."

"That oversight is absolutely essential," McCain said, also arguing against the unprecedented power granted to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in managing the plan.

No, I don't know who actually said what first, and I don't care. My only reaction was, "Good; they both agree on the executive salary issue. Now, let's see if they actually work to get it into the bill."