New Bill Would Ban All Bailout Bonuses

Rep. Barney Frank's Financial Services Committee will take up a new bill next week to ban bonuses at any companies benefiting from federal bailout funds. The legislation would amend last year's bailout bill to prohibit TARP-fund recipients from paying any type of bonus to any employee no matter what--even if the bonus is called a retention payment. The bill would also prohibit compensation that is "excessive" or not based on performance standards.

The legislation comes after a chaotic House vote on Thursday to levy a 90% tax on bonuses, and also after Sens. Ron Wyden and Olympia Snowe announced plans to introduce legislation providing a 35% tax on bonuses of more than $25,000.

Financial Services Committee spokesman Steve Adamske tells the Huffington Post that the new bill is complementary to the prior anti-bonus measures. It would add an additional layer in the burgeoning bonus prevention effort.

"We outlaw lewd and lascivious behavior," Adamske says.

The bill will be marked up in committee next Tuesday.

Comments

[Curbrunner]

.

Banks are corporations.
Here are some examples of early U.S. laws regarding the regulation of banks/corporations that now need to be revisited:

1.Corporat­ions' licenses to do business were revocable by state legislatures if they exceeded or did not fulfill their chartered purposes.

2.The state legislature could revoke a corporation's charter if it misbehaved.

3. The act of incorporation did not relieve corporate management or stockholders/owners of responsibility or liability for corporate acts.

4. As a matter of course, corporation officers, directors or agents couldn't break the law and avoid punishment by claiming they were "just doing their job" when committing but instead could be held criminally liable for their crimes.

5. State, not federal courts heard cases where corporations or their agents were accused of breaking the law or harming the public.

6. Directors of corporations were required to come from among their stockholders.

7. Corporations had to have their headquarters and meetings in the state where their principle place of business was located.

8. Corporation charters were granted for a specific period of time, like 20 or 30 years instead of being granted "in perpetuity" as is now the practice.

9. Corporations were prohibited from owning stock in other corporations in order to prevent them form extending their power inappropriately.

10. Corporations' real estate holdings were limited to what was necessary to carry out their specific purposes.

11. Corporations were prohibited from making any political contributions, directly or indirectly.
.

[Ciganka]

Yes, but somehow, creationists to the contrary, the corporations managed to evolve themselves into humans. Then the trouble started and it has been going great guns ever since. You are absolutely right, let's roll them back.

[maxdenn]

I'm taking the Lady out tonight for dinner and dancing. We're celebrating. We are celebrating the breath of spring that the President and the First Family are. Have a good evening folks.

[ivegotblisteronmefingers]

enjoy
and hoist one for me

[youngat80]

Have fun! Enjoy spring. Drink a toast to better days acoming soon,

[maxdenn]

I find the former president (GWB) disgraceful. And if think those still supporting his failed and discredited notions to be even more disgraceful.

[SCG]

Instead of "disgraceful", I'd insert "criminal" and "disgusting"

[maxdenn]

What are we to think of man sworn to uphold the Constitution who tries to deregulate almost everything, make his rich friends richer, reduces the middle class standard of living, is responsible for making the poor poorer, attempts to drown the government and lie us into a war resulting in the demise of thousands of our soldiers and the extinguishment of countless innocent lives?

[truthynesslover]

Which one?
EVIL inc has alot of members.

[NWRICK]

We should be thinking about a trial!

[allieq]

ok. maybe im confused. does that mean that some little teller @ a bailed out bank who gets a bit of incentive each quarter for referrals, sales, etc. won't get it now because it is determined to be a "bonus"?

[NWRICK]

No, I don't think so. That teller would not fit any of the criteria.

[allieq]

"The legislation would amend last year's bailout bill to prohibit TARP-fund recipients from paying any type of bonus to any employee no matter what"

that was the language that i am questioning in the article. i would just hate to think that a hard working teller who is barely getting by on 9 bucks an hour and is worked to the bone would suffer due to the big whigs who are calling all the shots and making all of the money.

[Teadye]

Depends on who that teller is married to and how the money is paid out.

[AN2009]

Are you trying to defend big-time crooks who steal millions of dollars in taxpayer money by using the example of a hard-working, small-time employee..­.

[allieq]

Not sure where you got that idea.

My point was I wasn't sure if this bill is now going to hurt someone like a teller because they are putting broad sweeping language into the legislation.

[bacaja]

It's so strange. If you make 10k,20k,30k, whatever, and you get laid off and apply for
unemployment, the Gov't knows your whole work history, how much you made, and
how much your entitled to collect and for how long. But, the same Gov't dishes trillions
of dollars out to financial institutions and has hasn't the vaguest idea where any of it goes,
how is that even remotely possible.

[AtomicSplash]

Corporate entailment fought for and won the lack of accountability.

[ivegotblisteronmefingers]

and personhood

[AtomicSplash]

entitlement

[bygollymissmolly]

That is remotely possible because Bush/Paulson signed bailout contracts with the banks GIVING them the money without any restrictions or requirements or oversight. The Democrats put a provision in the TARP bill demanding oversight of any money allocated, but Bush/Paulson conveniently didn't bother to fill the position of the person who would be auditing the bailouts. Now the Obama Administration is trying to get the banks who received the gifts of taxpayer money from Bush/Paulson to tell them what they did with the money and the banks are resisting saying that "they don't have to tell the, it wasn't part of their contract".

[truthynesslover]

And they pay less a % in taxes than you too.
Funny how that works huh?

[MNmommy]

Poor GrumpyOleUnclePat, he's so, so old fashioned!

[breakingnews]

It's unreal that MSNBC thinks his opinions are relevant in 2009. During his time with Nixon, the fancies gadget out there was the remote control. He does not understand the new world.

[youngat80]

It is quite possible that he didn't understand the real old world, either.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Tro//s are leaving in droves must be time to leave the workplace where they were pretending to do work and instead were blogging all day. What a bunch of underworked and overpaid hypocrites.

[breakingnews]

Paid K street lobbying trolls, I am sure. They get here at 8am on the dot, leave at 5 and have the same talking points.

[SCG]

Most likely, they have to defend their spot at the trough.

[Jezdukowski]

And convince no one about their l. i.e. s. What a colossal waste of time...

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Can you imaging McCain as president he would be on constant rage watch with earmarks and bonuses. Off course his tax cuts would have given these people at AIG TAX CUTS instead of tax increases. Palin would likely be president by not because McCain's heart would have probably expl oded so we would have grandma in the white house raising the baby of her unwed teenage daughter. Oh wouldn't that be a hoot for you tro//s? Palin would have oil derricks on the lawn of the white house looking for more oil.

A so called "bad day" with Obama as president is already better than a "good day" with Bush as president. Then again the top five bad days of my life were when Bush was president. 9 1 1, the day we found out Bush was leading us to an unnecessary war in Iraq, the day we found out people were tor tured in Abu Ghraib and the day we found out that the banks had collapsed all on Bush's watch. And those are just the lowlights.

One thing I have learned from surviving cancer and heart failure because of chemo is that you have to have perspective on life as bad as things are with the economy right now knowing that there is someone in the white house now that sees the big picture and knows what to do to fix it is far better than no hope in sight.

[WeTellTheTruth]

KQSK

I am sorry for you that you have placed so much of your faith ..........­.in a Politician.

It will be difficult for you and many others to accept the fact that Obama was bought out by wall street....­........

But looking past the present = [no accountabi­lity].....­...to some poppycock future....­.......wit­h butterflies and barrels of free money will not solve our problems.

[NWRICK]

President Obama will get thing to where they need to be, in spite of people like you and the GOPers.

[bygollymissmolly]

And you, cupcake, are entitled to your fantasy. If it helps you live with yourself, more power to you.

[army193]

30 years in the making...I­mpeach Obama he had 60 days in office to clean this up.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

LOL great satire.

[truthynesslover]

Their job is done now.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!
And they get the added benefit of being able to blame Obama right?

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

new thread... not much different from the oId thread

[parrotkisser]

American International Group, Inc. forever!

[BeyondGoodAndEvil]

This compensation story seems to be manufactured outrage designed to whip the masses up into a frenzy to distract from the fact that there's still no regulations in place.

[daxster1]

How come Congress doesn't have to pay 90% tax on lobbyist donations? Why can't we give them a 20% paycut or lay them off for being so incompetent to give insolvent banks money without laying down the rules ahead of time

[ThunderclapNewman]

Because the law isn't written that way.

You far-right-wing extremists are always whining that taxes are too high---yet here you are wanting to raise them.

Your ignorance shines like a beacon for all the other troIIs.

[BlueStateMan]

Are you claiming that AIG is a bank?

[kdublya]

But but but anyone but the masters of the universe.

But but but the market cycle only goes up up up

Blah blah blah teleprompter etc.

[Lavafalls]

Same reason we can't tax stupidity. Laws just aren't written to take posts like yours into consideration.

[lokywoky]

The money that AIG got last year was given to them by the FED. Congress had no say. If you want to yell, start with Hank "Goldman Sachs" Paulson.It is that money that has absolutely zero restrictions.

Money from the second part of TARP which has really not gone out yet will contain a lot more restrictions.

Not that I think Timmy Geithner is much better.

[daxster1]

The "politics of envy" is an extremely slippery slope to start down on. Ok, so lets say that people on the Wall Street or financial markets are overpaid. What about sports figures or actors or musicians? Does anyone care that some guy makes $10 million to make a movie or hit a baseball. Who will be the next "overpaid" class of citizens. Wake up people, you do not want our government making rules about how much money we can make.

[WLA]

Try and get a grip, wingnut. This is about the bailout money.

[breakingnews]

But. but the "slippery slope" someone may start cloning babies with bail out money...

[BlueStateMan]

is there ANYTHING you EVER have to say that wasn't PROPELLED out of LIMBAUGH'S @$$ first?

[PDXTransplant]

Ha! Love it.

[ThunderclapNewman]

No one is suggesting any such thing---except you.

The government is putting appropriate limits on money lent to businesses.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.

Once again, you reveal yourself as completely ignorant of the facts.

[Coinyer101]

are those people getting bailouts from taxpayers? find something reasonable , please. cuz that is a lame argument.

[kdublya]

I don't recall Bo Jackson torpedoing any 401Ks. Moreover, I don't recall any recent "performance" in the financial industry stock prices on which to base bonuses.

However, I do understand the concepts of fiduciary responsibility & malfeasance.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

We have become a nation paralyzed by the short term thinking because of the 24/7 media and the never ending campaign.

In good times all we care about is instant gratification and in bad times we are in a state of perpetual outrage. This means 100% of the time we are reacting on emotions and belie logic. The BIGGEST thing that got us into this mess and will prevent us from getting us out of this mess is short term thinking. I voted for President Obama because he is not a short term thinker. He is a strategic thinker and is thinking years down the road not just about the next day.

If we do not fix things like our incredibly expensive health care system that is estimated to cost $12,000/person by 2012, our crumbling school system from the bottom up and create a brand new manufacturing sector based on renewable domestic energy President Obama knows there will be no real change and we will go from bubble to bubble. The financial sector use to be 10-15% of the economy at it's height it got to around 40% so we have become an economy of money changes that produces little.

Sure President Obama needs to reregulate and restore the financial sector to get the economy going for now but without a long term plan we are stuck in a perpetual cycle of decline.

[truthynesslover]

And we belong to a party that LET bush STEAL 2 elections.
NOW thers proof.
KY Election Officials Arrested, Charged With 'Changing Votes at E-Voting Machines'

Circuit court judge, county clerk, and election officials among eight indicted for gaming elections in 2002, 2004, 2006

County uses popular, unverifiable ES&S touch-screen voting systems.
Guest Blogged by Mitch Trachtenberg, with Brad Friedman
Blogged by Mitch Trachtenberg on 3/17/2009 11:06PM
Diebold Admits Audit Logs in ALL Versions of Their Software Fail to Record Ballot Deletions
Startling admission made during public hearing in CA to consider decertification of the company's voting and tabulation software..­.

But we all knew that didnt we?
The republicans would have torn this country apart.
And we DID NOTHING!!

Wadda PAHDEE!!

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

You belong to no party but the whaaaaambulance party. I understand completely how we got in this mess.

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

I still wonder what exactly this has to do with my post at all.

[daxster1]

How about 90% tax on every congressman who voted for the bailout? 100% for Dodd

[TiffanyHusseinBanned]

Why are you such a boring Republitard?

[BlueStateMan]

is there any other kind?

[Lavafalls]

You are going to have a long, miserable 8 years there dax. you should take up a hobby that gets your mind off politics.

[BlueStateMan]

Like bathing.

[WLA]

We're actually considering taking all of your tax money and giving it to ACORN.

[breakingnews]

And buying teleprompters

[BlueStateMan]

How about a 100% tax on moronic dittoheads?

How will you live?

[KQuarksSuperKollider]

Amen to that.