Smells like communism……
Reading an article this morning out of the Herald Tribune and took this little snippet about how Obama intends to limit banking executives, who received government funding, salaries:
Obama was also taking steps in response to the growing public anger over revelations in recent days that Wall Street firms paid more than $18 billion in bonuses in the midst of the severe economic downturn in 2008.
The Obama administration plans to limit pay to $500,000 a year for executives of government-assisted financial institutions in a new get-tough approach to bankers and Wall Street, a senior administration official said Tuesday.
Obama plans to announce the new limits with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner at the White House on Wednesday.
I think that while a get tough approach is needed, the US government needs to be sure that it is not dampening the democratic nature of Capitalism. As a major shareholder in these institutions you should be calling the remuneration committees together and meeting with them to discuss executive remuneration. I cannot see that slapping a blanket ceiling on their packages is the answer. It is a short stride from this step to fully controlling the economy and from there an even smaller step to changing from a democratic country into a communist state!