I just came across this, and my jaw hit the floor! Some of us on the fringes have been talking about the concept of a maximum wage for a while, but this is phenomenal timing!
Claire McCaskill this afternoon proposed a stunning bill that would limit Wall Street Execs who accept TARP funding to not making more than the president of the United States.
How about them apples?
From Sam Stein at HuffPo
McCaskill took to the Senate floor on Friday to put an end to the surrealism. In a bill that came to the surprise of reporters, her colleagues, and the White House alike -- there was no coordination with the Obama administration, she said -- the Missouri Democrat called for compensation for employees of bailout recipients to be capped at $400,000 a year.
"They don't get it," McCaskill said on the floor. "These people are idiots. You can't use taxpayer money to pay out $18-billion in bonuses... What planet are these people on?"
What planet indeed. Think of it, if you take taxpayer money to prop up your corporation, you can't make more in annual compensation than the president!
When asked about the bill:
MCCASKILL: I've been mad for a while, when first there was talk -- even within weeks of when we passed the initial half of the TARP money, [there were] rumors about bonuses, the fact that too many of these guys were holding unto the jobs even though they were running these companies into the ground. Reality didn't seem to be the order of the day. This culture, this idea, that these guys are entitled not just to their jobs but to excessive compensation, even when their companies were in moments of extinction because of the decisions they had made, just seemed unreal to me.
While I am not sure if this could be worked out to include incentive/bonus pay, I think that it is an important first step.
Let's do like the dude from Network....go to the windows, open them, and
shout at the top of your lungs...
[Update]
...and if any of them think its a hardship to take the salary of the President of the United States, I dare them to say so out loud right now.
Here's the video of her firey speech
"I'm mad as hell and I am not going to take it anymore!"
[Update #2]
I think everyone should go give Senator McCaskill some support for this gutsy move. And you should urge her to include all compensation in the bill instead of just salaries!
Senator McCaskill can be reached here
[Update #3]
Everyone who supports this bill should contact their Senators! Give them hell folks!
[Update #4]
I find it curious that some people believe that several levels of management will simply pack up their toys and go elsewhere if this is passed. Where will they go? Who would be able, much less willing, to pay them their pre-cap compensation in this day and age? How many positions are available for even someone of their supposedly impressive experience in running profitable corporations into the ground? No, I think a scene something like the following would await them if they were foolish enough to walk out the door instead of accepting a temporary restriction on their compensation....
[image of a breadline, circa 1930s]
[Update #5]
The text of the bill is available here (warning pdf content)
Hat tip to Yerba Buena
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cap Executive Officer Pay Act of 2009’’.
SEC. 2. LIMIT ON EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION.
(a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law or agreement to the contrary, no person who is an officer, director, executive, or other employee of a financial institution or other entity that receives or has received funds under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (or ‘‘TARP’’), established under section 101 of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, may receive annual compensation in excess of the amount of compensation paid to the President of the United States.
(b) DURATION.—The limitation in subsection (a) shall be a condition of the receipt of assistance under the TARP, and of any modification to such assistance that was received on or before the date of enactment of this Act, and shall remain in effect with respect to each financial institution or other entity that receives such assistance or modification for the duration of the assistance or obligation provided under the TARP.
SEC. 3. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.
The Secretary shall expeditiously issue such rules as are necessary to carry out this Act, including with respect to reimbursement of compensation amounts, as appropriate.
SEC. 4. COMPENSATION.
As used in this Act, the term ‘‘compensation’’ includes wages, salary, deferred compensation, retirement contributions, options, bonuses, property, and any other form of compensation or bonus that the Secretary of the Treasury determines is appropriate.
258 words, short and sweet.
[Update #6]
Just checked Thomas.gov and the bill has been given number S.360
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.