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Ear to the Ground

Slapping the Pay Cuffs on Execs

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Posted on Feb 4, 2009
Kenneth Lewis
bloomberg.com

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis may have to learn to squeak by on half a million dollars a year.

Amending current TARP rules and regulations, President Obama is expected to put a $500,000 cap on executive salaries at companies that receive large amounts of bailout funds. It would mean major pay cuts for the likes of Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis, who took home more than $20 million in 2007.

The New York Times:

The Obama administration is expected to impose a cap of $500,000 at top executives at companies that receive large amounts of bailout money, according to people familiar with the plan.

Executives would also be prohibited from receiving any bonuses above their base pay, except for normal stock dividends.

President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner plan to announce the executive compensation plan on Wednesday morning at the White House.

The new rules would be far tougher than any restrictions imposed during the Bush administration, and they could force executives to accept deep reductions in their current pay. They come amid rising public fury about huge pay packages for executives at financial companies being propped up by federal tax dollars.

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By Lester Shepherd, February 5 at 2:52 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Ken Lewis LIED!!!!!!  He was on 60 Minutes in the fall spouting off about how Bank of America did not need bailout money and further more that ML was a great investment.  Now it turns out, he took 25 billion because Hank told him to.  He was a coward trying to cover his ass with Paulsen and Bernanke.  What is this.  Fraud?  Criminal?  Hunter Thompson had it right with Nixon.  Burn his ass in a trash can and then throw the remains in the LA sewer system.

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By rwmenser, February 5 at 2:41 pm #

I really, really need an explanation why these thieving bastards should get anything.  It should be payback time boys and girls.  It should be take back time as well.  Attached the bank accounts and assets.  I feel a revolt starting to boil and with our current police state it’s gonna get ugly. 

Hold on let me pull my soap box over for a brief moment.

Faith based initiatives to be continued by Obama and possibly entended.  No, no, no.  Can we clone Thomas Jefferson to at least point out to these people the brilliant and insightful idea that politcs and religion do not mix.  Wait, we’ve got raft of examples all over the world that is evident of this.

Um, get Dennis Blair the hell out of your cabinet or sub-cabinet.  The man aided the mass murder of perhaps thousands in Timor in the late 1990’s.  He happened to be quite good friends with someone named Suharto.  What the F ane you thinking????? 

If you are truly concerned about change then put some change makers in charge.  Those few in Congress who are not afraid of voicing what is right, and not voicing what will get them elected next time around or worse playing the idiotic party politics.  Do something MAN….this can be a time of drastic change that presents itself ever so rarely.  Drop the kid gloves and put some 16 ouncers on.  Get out of Israel and get their damned lobbyists the F out of DC.  How about we do something real cool like drop this whole Middle East garbage (you know I don’t know who taught who be the US or Israel but we certainly know how to retaliate….expontntially. Or for that matter without provication.  Israel is too busy shooting fish in a barrel to be concerned about their standing in the world.  Back to the Middle East stuff….let’s leave everyone alone and then refocus our resources on the multiple genocides that are occuring in Africa.  By the way, get Chevron the hell out of the Niger Delta because that has become a murderous and environmental mess. 

You seem to be a smart guy with a pretty smart wife as well.  Get together and do something outside of that inbred DC box.

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By PSmith, February 5 at 2:14 am #

CONSPIRACY THEORY - aka TRAINING TO UNDERSTAND THE NEOCON FINANCIAL SCAM TO END ALL SCAMS

Blimey, it’s Jon Voigt in Enemy of the State - Pt. 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tS90ForH2pA

If you think that’s bad, you have NO idea what Bush Cheney Co and the boys have got for you. “Whatever you can imagine - it’s MUCH worse.”

But Mel Gibson has a clue - Conspiracy Theory, 1982 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PUybiuyOvg

Naomi Klein’s version - http://www.naomiklein.org/main

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By artie, February 4 at 4:36 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Capped for how long? I can wait a year or two, then take 5 times as much. So much offal for the gullible masses.

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By Spiritgirl, February 4 at 3:56 pm #

While I do believe that these incompetents should have been fired, the least that can be done is to cap their salaries!  These people have been living soooo far removed from the everyday working man - they don’t have a clue!!!  Well guess what: Dorothy you’re not in Kansas anymore!!!!!!!

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By Stephen Smoliar, February 4 at 3:04 pm #

Unless this is recognized as nothing more than a first step towards economic reform, then Eric’s “window dressing” fears will probably be justified:

http://therehearsalstudio.blogspot.com/2009/02/what-work-is-worth-500000.html

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By Eric L. Prentis, February 4 at 2:43 pm #

Proposed cap on executive salaries who receive TARP funds, I hope not but, it sounds like mere window dressing to placate the masses. Slimy-on-the-take, fascist/corporatist politicians don’t want to jeopardize their ability to stuff failed banks full of taxpayer money.

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By P. T., February 4 at 2:09 pm #

The incompetents who wrecked the banks need to be fired.

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