Where Are the Wall Street Patriots?

As the United States moved from the miseries of the Depression to the exigencies of World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt called upon a corporate version of his ''brain trust.''

They were business executives who would help to mesh the functions of government and the functions of industry into a mighty war machine.

And they were paid... a dollar a year. Their income became their identity: "Dollar-a-Year Men.''
It's still a symbolic gesture made by men of means who become men of service. One of the things most Angelenos consistently remember about the tenure of mayor Richard Riordan is that the multi-millionaire took a symbolic salary of only a dollar a year.

Now we have, in the nation's time of crisis, men (and possibly women), captains of industry, who have already made many multiple millions in a freewheeling market -- and who may be positioning themselves to rake in even more, on the public's nickel.

That any of the billions in the federal rescue package might go to enlarge these fat cats brought the attention, and to some extent the scorn, of the Senate Banking Committee, which is neither tone-deaf nor stupid when it comes to the political dissonance of taxpayers losing jobs and homes but still footing the bill for the bailout.

The bailout moolah rules declare that the monster golden parachutes of bull markets past are now things of the past, but since it's our money, theoretically we can further dictate what happens to it -- and we definitely should.

Committee chairman Chris Dodd warned that Congress could limit pay and benefits. He called for ''restraint and modesty'' in executive compensation, surely knowing that those concepts seem to have fled the corporate world. Who can forget Dennis Kozlowski's $6,000 floral shower curtain and $2,200 gilded wastebasket?

Sayeth Dodd, "The acceptance of public funding carries with it a public obligation. [The taxpayers] are entitled to expect that those who benefit from their sacrifices will act with appropriate restraint and purpose."

Why so restraiined? I'm sure the threat had these CEOs crying themselves to sleep on their Porthault sheets.

If Dodd and his colleagues are indeed going to follow through on this, I have a suggestion for a ''restrained and modest'' salary for these business titans. A buck a year, paid quarterly, in quarters.

Minus taxes.

Comments

[schatsie]

Gordon Brown got 12% on the money, caps on CEO compensation AND BOARD REpresentation...

And in Great Britain the millionaires pay at least twice as much per dollar of salary...

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THIS COUNTRY...CAN THEY NOT SEE THE SINKWHOLE of POVERTY COMING?

[SangZe]

There are no Wall Street patriots. That's the problem. That's why we voted for change. Obama must act on this quickly and forcefully if he expects us to continue our support.

[PT6]

IF YOU TAKE BAIL OUTS YOU HAVE LOST THE RIGHTS OF CAPITALISM and HIGH INCOME!

A whole new set of RULES kicks in once you have managed your company into the need for a BAILOUT!

If your performance indicates you Deserve such HIGH PAY PACKAGES then not many would care!

But in a Bailout you have proven CLEARLY that you may KNOW LESS than many common sense people running small businesses!

Salary Caps on Executives should be applied to every company receiving Taxpayer BAIL OUT funds!

Unless you can somehow justify the need for $10 to $100 million paintings and LAVISH parties it is NOT clear that anyone should be paid over $5 or $10 million, and even that seems excessive!

If you have run your company so badly you need a BAILOUT then take the CUT!

That goes for Financial and Auto Executives who need to prove they want to be PART of the Solution!

Better yet as Patt suggests here donate your time!

[sposton]

There is nothing patriotic about pursuing the best returns on your investment. These people have made financial decisions that ended up deindustrializing America because it made financial sense to close a factory in Ohio and reopen it in China. They've been provided with the economic theories to rationalize their actions and a legalized framework so that they don't end up in slammer. Now you want these same people to act patriotically? They would not know where to begin even if they had to. Patriotism is for us, the suckers who join our military to die "serving their country" but in reality they serve the interest of these utterly apatriotic people. Disinterested public service and noblesse oblige are outdated concepts - these people live in a world beyond nation state and owe their allegiance exclusively to the Great God of Globalism (G3).

[RedneckDem]

Hear, hear!

[mulegino]

There was a time when patriotism was something that was taken seriously by most Americans, whether they were rich, middle class, or poor. Sure, everybody had their pet peeves and prejudices, but the concept of " self-interest" was not so all pervasive as to relegate to oblivion those who were suffering acutely from economic downturns. Today, there are, apparently, only winners and losers, and the losers far outnumber the winners, in this Randian free for all, and true economic patriots are about as popular as a bastard at a family reunion, i.e., those who would dare to express solicitude for the working and middle classes of this nation.

[dadw5boys]

Millions of Americans now dead paid Trillions in as taxes and never got to even ehnhoy Social Security.
Now Regean, Daddy Bush and G.W. Bush has used all the excess funds from every program for tax cuts for the wealthy.
Your grandfathers money going to support these Wall Street Theives.

[kingmiller]

Ahem, we are all in this together, after all. Any Financial titan who is priggish enough not to pitch in in a national effort ought to be voted off the island!

[GTGTGT]

No just stripped of their wealth.
I checked the IRS statistics for 2006 and the top 1,500 adjusted gross incomes totalled $450 Billion which became $399 Billion in taxable income and paid $91 Billion in taxes. That is only 20% on the AGI. That is a lower percentage than working families in the $100,000 a year range

[dadw5boys]

Guess the Patriot Act does not apply to corporations that can drive the USA in to bankruptize !!!!!!

Just us poor slobs who demand our Freedom of Speech and use it.

[proudem]

What started out as FDR's "Brain Trust" were often the Great Grandfathers and Grandfathers (no women involved...boy's club) that raised the children and grand children that are currently responsible for the plunder of Wall Street, The sense of entitlement from these industry leaders far surpasses those of the so called Welfare recipients. This me me me and everyone else be damned mentality is at least partly to blame for our economic mess. These people have no sense of honor or integrity. They also have no idea of how to fix this mess. They are continuing to do what they do best which is to greedily gobble up everything in their path.

It is up to Congress, as watchers of taxpayer money to fix this situation that has devastated this nation. First rule: NO BONUSES AND SALARY CAPS!! If a company has money to pay bonuses and top dollar salaries to their executives then they don't need a loan from the Govt.
Second Rule: The Executive Board shall be personally responsible for repayment of govt money with penalties of loss of all personal property and imprisonment.
Third Rule: Every business move must be used to inject capital into businesses that will create jobs (with union type pay scales and insurance benefits) and better society as a whole.
Fourth Rule: Regulate! Regulate! Regulate! Our elected officials need make sure that this never happens again.

[ProudNeoCon]

Sure as long as you keep the goverment away from any company which did NOT take the bail out money... Get bailout money - no bonuses and salary caps; did not get bailout money - pay as much as you want

[wittgene]

You are absolutely right. There was a commentator on Fox News who said, "that the banks run this country". What is wrong with this statement? I thought it was the US government. On January the 20, 2009, any corporation who receives tax payers monies, the Obama administration must put Rules, Regulations and Restrictions on that bailout money!

[LeftCoaster64]

Patt love your show in SoCal. Great idea too. I do remember Riordan and I was happy to see him supporting Barack Obama this election. Unfortunately, service isn't cool, and the power of greed is too great. Patriotism is now passe among the fat cats.