White House Set To Appoint Pay Czar

Wall Street Journal:

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration plans to appoint a "Special Master for Compensation" to ensure that companies receiving federal bailout funds are abiding by executive-pay guidelines, according to people familiar with the matter.

Read the whole story: Wall Street Journal

Comments

[AProudLiberalDem]

08:18 AM on 06/12/2009

An idea whose time has come, but not in the way it is being proposed. We are a free market system, so leave the private sector alone. Barney Frank has said that the government should regulate people that get compensation in spite of how well or badly their company does.
Let's do it, but have a pilot program. Let us start with our public officials. Let's start with Congress. They are generating trillions of dollars in debt and not doing a very good job of stewardship with our money. Not only do Congress get paid in spite of this, but they retire to large paying private sector jobs from lobbyists or special interest groups. (Ever wonder how Barney Frank who makes $150,000 is worth almost $1,000,000?).
Let us regulate the pay of the people who work for us. Let's start with Barney Frank who helped lead the federal government into backing those bad housing loans to people who couldn't afford them resulting directly into the economic mess we are in now. The state of Massachusetts won't fire him, so let's dock his pay. Based upon his part in bringing this recession, he not only should be paying us but also should be giving back some of this past pay checks. Let's get these political hacks more concerned about what is fiscally right for us and not for them!

[starkcr31]

11:53 AM on 06/08/2009

If this doesn't prove we're becoming socialists, I don't know what does.

[olmossy]

04:58 PM on 06/08/2009

So you would have us hand failing banks 700 billion with no say , in how it is spent, like Bush did ?

[starkcr31]

11:42 AM on 06/09/2009

I think that was a mistake too.

[butterfliesblossom]

10:36 AM on 06/08/2009

This is not enough, the only way to fix the market is to continue to pressure Washington for a better solution in Executive pay. .TARP Banks.now can pay the government back. Exec pay needs to be capped for all institutions. Execs do not need millions per year. . Execs in the US make 3 times more than other countries. THis is not socialism, this is limiting greed. History has shown when this is not done and large gaps exist between the elite few and the average this discord will occur often with violent results. It is not true that all Exec can get a better paying jobs elsewhere, some may, many will not.

American need to continue to demand correction in Exec. pay and demand to have a congress that can not be bought by these Exec. Why doesn't anyone learn from history.

If America was abiding by true capitalism, companies would be allowed to fail without government bailout. And anyone with money in any bank which failed would have lost their savings because there would have been no FDIC protection. Anti-trust laws are not true capitalism, but it allows for breakup of monopolies so that there is competition and with competition there are benefits such as new ideas and new products.

[PhilipTaylor]

02:12 PM on 06/07/2009

The true terr0r!sts wear $5,000 suits and have $100 Million + incomes!

[PhilipTaylor]

02:10 PM on 06/07/2009

Why only for Bailout Companies?

We all know these EL1TE Few have skimmed and pilfered their companies leaving them primed for Taxpayer money!

Apply INCOME LIMITS similar to Japan's Executive Incomes to all Executives and employees!

1980 WS Executives made 20 times average Worker
2008 WS Executives made 400 times average Worker
NOW Canada Executive made 20 times average Worker
NOW Britain Executives made 22 times average Worker
NOW Japan Executives made 11 times average Worker

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

10:35 AM on 06/06/2009

Poor confused Mr. Talbott. How about structuring pay incentives so that they make sense.

'For instance, the Federal Reserve is considering rules that would curb banks' ability to pay employees in a way that would threaten the "safety and soundness" of the bank.'

Hello, Mr. Talbott, are you listening?

Why don't you simply start by accepting the fact that making sense isn't automatic? I must admit that I didn't read your collected works, but why don't you simply start by making clear that you understand what the problem is with skewed incentives?

As in: encouraging bets on black swan type events? aka the trader's option. aka heads I win, tails the shareholder (first line of defense) and taxpayer (second line of defense) loses?

Come on. It's not that hard to grasp. Start making sense.

[RJII]

05:05 PM on 06/05/2009

WH appoints Main street bailout Czar.

[ron ray]

11:20 AM on 06/05/2009

when you're a welfare case, and that's what these bank ceos are, you don't get to set your own pay (or let your friends on the board do it for you.)

Obama's not talking about setting all pay levels, just the welfare cases.

[ktchvl]

01:12 PM on 06/05/2009

A la fascism.

[MaidinMossyCreek]

11:05 AM on 06/05/2009

Barack likes his czars.

[Liberal2]

11:02 AM on 06/05/2009

Controlling the compensation packages of executives will never work. One reason is executives are only part of the problem. Why is a football quarterback worth tens of millions per year, whereas a medical researcher is around 90K.

For those who whine, "It's how the free market values the QB," your thinking will change if you're diagnosed with cancer.

The question of pay levels would be solved by pre-Reagan, or pre-Kennedy, tax rates. Funnel that money in to research.

[vegasobserver]

10:20 AM on 06/05/2009

Very soon, we'll need a "Czar Czar" -- a czar to manage all the czars.

[JohnIII]

10:55 AM on 06/05/2009

Be careful what you wish for. lol.

[starkcr31]

11:51 AM on 06/08/2009

Lol!

[Joethepauper]

10:11 AM on 06/05/2009

There is no need for a "pay czar". Pay them by the hour like everybody else. Don't pay them the usual $8,000.00 per hour that they are accustomed to.....they are also accustomed to ruining the entire world's economy, also.

[RightWingMarine]

10:00 AM on 06/05/2009

This is indeed a troubling road we are taking. First our elected officials give our money to companies that couldn't spend their own money wisely then we force banks that don't want our money to take and then refuse to let them repay it. Now we are decided that since these banks took our money our govt will decide how much those banks are permitted to pay their employees.

Has there ever been a situation when a govt agency or bureaucrat decided they had too much power and wanted to give it back to the people?

President Ford warned us that a govt that had the ability to give us everything also had the ability to take away everything

[conserv47]

10:35 AM on 06/05/2009

President Ford was paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson.

[Jaywalkker]

04:00 PM on 06/05/2009

"...and the road to hell is paved with good intentions." - paraphrased St. Bernard of Clarivaux

No matter the original source of a quote it doesn't address the point RWM was raising.

Last fall every bank and financial institution was jumping on the free money, lax oversight TARP funds. When the government came down hard on exactly what hoops they'd have to jump through to use/get/keep the money a bunch immediately wanted to pay it back and get off the dole so they'd retain autonomy. I'm cool with that, pay your CFO a million an hour and go bankrupt in a couple of months and fold if you want or dance with the devil and follow his lead cuz he's keeping you afloat. BUT if the bank wants to return the money, and the government refuses to accept the return and still insists that they follow their demands, that's problematic.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124156005555589031.html

[Melissa]

04:20 PM on 06/06/2009

This adminstration is getting to be a huge joke!

[Badfickle]

09:33 AM on 06/05/2009

Can we stop using the term czar?

[Joethepauper]

10:16 AM on 06/05/2009

I second that motion. One of our recent "drug czars" didn't know what a b0ng was! Seriously!! To be a czar, don't you have to know something about the subject you are czar-ing over? Apparently not!

[fcsakes]

09:21 AM on 06/05/2009

I guess I'm wondering where they will get this person. Another Geithner from the banking world?