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| Home Front: Politix |
| Obama Set to Appoint Pay Czar |
| 2009-06-05 |
| WASHINGTON -- 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. Feinberg's appointment could be announced as early as next week, when the administration is expected to release executive-compensation guidelines for firms receiving aid from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. Those companies, which include banks, insurers and auto makers, are subject to a host of compensation restrictions imposed by the Bush and Obama administrations and by Congress. Wall Street has been anxiously awaiting more details on how the rules will be applied. "The law is confusing and a bit ambiguous, and so we're looking for certainty as to how to structure pay incentives," said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs for the Financial Services Roundtable, a trade association. The move comes amid a series of sometimes-overlapping efforts to curb pay at financial firms following perceived industry excesses that led to the lending boom and bust. The Obama administration earlier this year issued guidelines that include limiting salary for top executives at some firms receiving TARP funds and requiring that additional pay be in the form of restricted stock, vesting only after the company repays its debt, with interest, to the government. Congress then chimed in with even tougher rules curbing bonuses for top earners at firms receiving TARP money. As part of that effort, lawmakers barred those firms from paying top earners bonuses that equal more than a third of their total compensation. The White House has been wrestling with how to marry those two efforts, which in combination are more punitive than administration officials had intended. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #15 More Czars? I wish on Obama (and his band of thugs) the same fate as the Romanoffs. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2009-06-05 20:33 |
| #14 As long as they pretend to pay us, we pretend to work. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-06-05 19:29 |
| #13 I think he's hoping for the title 'Caesar' for himself. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-06-05 16:33 |
| #12 i was wondering when he was gonna start calling himsellf czar |
| Posted by: funky skunk 2009-06-05 14:50 |
| #11 Great idea - all these Czars.... that really worked out well for the Russians, didn't it? |
| Posted by: Pearl Cholunter3789 2009-06-05 13:18 |
| #10 One small step towards dictatorship, the correct way, meaning disguised as a positive measure. |
| Posted by: Mstrmech 2009-06-05 12:37 |
| #9 This is unconstitutional, bypassing Congressional approval for the nominees. When Bush did it we were told it was wrong ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-05 12:25 |
| #8 Aything we can do? Some golf, some smoke cigars and some yet watch TV. In a word: no. |
| Posted by: badanov 2009-06-05 12:15 |
| #7 This is unconstitutional, bypassing Congressional approval for the nominees. Obama has usurped power, abusing his office in unprecedented ways. Aything we can do? |
| Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 2009-06-05 11:57 |
| #6 Close Glenmore but the hook that they're either intentionally setting up or will soon recognize is that any firm receiving stimulus funds indirection (e.g., as loans or lines of credit from bailed out financial institutions) is equally in need of oversight as the lenders themselves. After all, we wouldn't want excessive compensation downstream to sour the loan portfolios of TARP recipients and thereby endanger their ability to repay the taxpayer's money now would we? |
| Posted by: AzCat 2009-06-05 11:49 |
| #5 More czars than the Romanovs, and with about the same effect ... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2009-06-05 11:09 |
| #4 Oh, joy. Can we say "Comparable Worth"? Wage and price ontrols are just the start. All aboard the social engeneering express. Next stop--Fail! |
| Posted by: N guard 2009-06-05 09:42 |
| #3 Can wage and price controls be far behind? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-06-05 08:49 |
| #2 Directive10-289 |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-06-05 08:40 |
| #1 The Pay Czar's office will ultimately be responsible for regulating ALL compensation. After all, if a worker gets to keep ANY of his pay he is receiving a bailout from the government and so is subject to government jurisdiction over his compensation. It's not significantly different, Constitutionally, from the concept that Eminent Domain can be applied for the sole reason of increasing tax revenue. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2009-06-05 08:30 |