Who ever would have guessed? But oh, we wouldn't want to be too forceful because then the teabaggers will scream "socialist." Oh right, they already do and will continue to do so no matter what. Ignore them. Why is it OK to change the tax law to encourage poor executive behavior and pay yet when anyone asks to move it in the other direction because the results were bad, it's suddenly socialism? So what did they call it when it was first being established in the tax code? Asking the corporate world to behave or proposing the silly "say on pay but your vote doesn't count" is a waste of time and does not work.
Quit fearing the teabaggers and get some spine, for goodness sakes. Does anyone in the administration know how to frame an issue instead of letting the nutty right do it? There is no evidence that suggests benefits for society when executives cram every penny they can find into their pockets at the expense of the rest of the company. It's great for a few people but besides that, the rest do not prosper.
The Treasury Department said it is not looking to limit the total pay executives receive. Kenneth R. Feinberg, President Obama's special master for compensation, wants to change pay incentives, giving executives a greater stake in the long-term performance of their firms. That would mean, for example, smaller up-front cash salaries and fewer perks, more compensation in the form of company stock and a longer wait to receive it.The list of poor behavior goes on and on. Once again they prosper while the rest of the country stagnates, at best.
"I see no indication whatsoever that the business community is paying any attention to the administration's suggestions," said Nell Minow, co-founder of the Corporate Library, an independent corporate governance research firm. "On the contrary, I think pay is worse this year than it's ever been."
American Express, for example, shifted much of chief executive Kenneth I. Chenault's compensation to cash. Even though his overall pay for 2009 dropped from the year before, Chenault received $11 million, or two-thirds of it, in cash. By contrast, more than two-thirds of his compensation in 2008 was in stock and stock options. His cash payout was $7 million.
