Instead of writing about economic indicators and stock market movements for my weekly wrap this week, I thought I would take a look at how political involvement is helping to improve the bailout situation.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
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.
The administration is expected to name Kenneth Feinberg, who oversaw the federal government’s compensation fund for victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to act as a pay czar for the Treasury Department, these people said.
I’m not even going to comment on this. But, I know someone who will.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c |
| F#@ked or Fixed – Economic Crisis | |
I can’t wait to see what happens next week. According to CNNMoney.com:
Obama is scheduled to outline his plan for financial reforms Wednesday. The White House and Treasury Department have spent months crafting an overhaul of financial-market rules, and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair to discuss the effort.
But, a silver-lining can be found in even the darkest cloud. One positive aspect of government involvement in free enterprise is that business leaders will become even more motivated to escape the absurdity of it all. This can already be seen with the extreme urgency at which bankers are paying back their TARP loans.
So, maybe the more absurd politicians make the bailout process, the faster we can put this whole fiasco behind us. We shall see.
Comments 2
Something I was thinking about the other day, was the idea of stock-options as alternative executive pay. Is this trend seen as a catalyst for reckless short-term corporate behavior, as the execs try to pump up their companies’ stock, thereby increasing their own personal wealth?
I know there are laws and regulations preventing insider trading, but as the SEC so plainly demonstrated with the Madoff case, they aren’t really on the ball.
Oh, and I can never say enough how much I love the Daily Show. Somewhere past the vulgarity and silliness is always a nugget of truth.
Posted 15 Jun 2009 at 10:12 am ¶I guess John Stewart called this one correctly. It sure didn’t take Citigroup long to capitalize on that loophole.
Citigroup Has a Plan to Fatten Salaries.
Posted 25 Jun 2009 at 6:28 pm ¶Post a Comment