Obama caps executive pay tied to bailout money ZT

AP – President Barack Obama looks on as Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner speaks about executive compensation, … WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed $500,000 caps on senior executive pay for the most distressed financial institutions receiving federal bailout money, saying Americans are upset with "executives being rewarded for failure."

Obama announced the dramatic new government intervention into corporate America at the White House, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at his side. The president said the executive-pay limits are a first step, to be followed by the unveiling next week of a sweeping new framework for spending what remains of the $700 billion financial industry bailout that Congress created last year.

The executive-pay move comes amid a national outcry over huge bonuses to executives heading companies seeking taxpayer dollars to remain afloat. The demand for limits was reinforced by revelations that Wall Street firms paid more than $18 billion in bonuses in 2008 even amid the economic downturn and the massive infusion of taxpayer dollars.

"This is America. We don't disparage wealth. We don't begrudge anybody for achieving success," Obama said. "But what gets people upset — and rightfully so — are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers."

The pay cap would apply to all institutions that have negotiated agreements with the Treasury Department for "exceptional assistance." Those would include American International Group Inc., Bank of America Corp., and Citigroup Inc.

Firms that want to pay executives above the $500,000 threshold would have to use stock that could not be sold or liquidated until they pay back the government funds.

Generally healthy institutions would have more leeway. They also face the $500,000 limit if they're getting government help, but the cap can be waived with full public disclosure and a nonbinding shareholder vote.

Obama said that massive severance packages for executives who leave failing firms are also going to be eliminated. "We're taking the air out of golden parachutes," he said.

Other new requirements on "exceptional assistance" will include:

_The expansion to 20, from five, the number of executives who would face reduced bonuses and incentives if they are found to have knowingly provided inaccurate information related to company financial statements or performance measurements.

_An increase in the ban on golden parachutes from a firm's top five senior executives to its top 10. The next 25 would be prohibited from golden parachutes that exceed one year's compensation.

_A requirement that boards of directors adopt policies on spending such as corporate jets, renovations and entertainment.

The administration also will propose long-term compensation restrictions even for companies that don't receive government assistance, Obama said.

Those proposals include:

8226; Requiring top executives at financial institutions to hold stock for several years before they can cash out.

8226; Requiring nonbinding "say on pay" resolutions — that is, giving shareholders more say on executive compensation.

8226; A Treasury-sponsored conference on a long-term overhaul of executive compensation.

Top officials at companies that have received money from the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program already face some compensation limits.

And compensation experts in the private sector have warned that such an intrusion into the internal decisions of financial institutions could discourage participation in the rescue program and slow down the financial sector's recovery. They also argue that it could set a precedent for government regulation that undermines performance-based pay.

"It's not a government takeover," Obama stressed in an interview Tuesday with CNN. "Private enterprise will still be taking place. But people will be accountable and responsible."

Still, some elected officials were pushing for the stricter caps.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., has proposed that no employee of an institution that receives money under the $700 billion federal bailout can receive more than $400,000 in total compensation until it pays the money back. Her figure is equivalent to the salary of the president of the United States.

Even some Republicans, angered by company decisions to pay bonuses and buy airplanes while receiving government help, have few qualms about restrictions.

"In ordinary situations where the taxpayers' money is not involved, we shouldn't set executive pay," said Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee.

"But where you've got federal money involved, taxpayers' money involved, TARP money involved, and the way they have spent it, with no accountability, is getting close to being criminal."

所有跟帖： 

• 最高工资不得超过$50万。共和党总统恐怕不会这么坚决出手 -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:12:20

• 这个工资说发是误传。 -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:24:29

• 这个数目包括许多非工资的费用. 没见哪个民主党人说这个工资是正常的 -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:29:51

• 有过详细报道的。你要看清楚再发言。不要人云亦云. -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:36:23

• 长滩码头工会没用纳税人的钱买喷气飞机吧 -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:32:10

• 为奥巴马喝彩, 赞一个!. 要继续努力和美国的腐朽势力斗争 -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:34:30

• How is this change? -doitright- ♀ (708 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 09:53:21

• Too early to say whether it will work or not. Bush likes bailout -www.wxc.com- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 10:00:13

• How is this change? -noso- ♂ (34 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 10:12:53

• forgot your med today? -noso- ♂ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 10:23:31

• Be careful when you scream. watch your false teeth:D -doitright- ♀ (0 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 10:30:48

• 回复：Obama caps executive pay tied to bailout money ZT -ca2004- ♀ (32 bytes) () 02/04/2009 postreply 10:55:33