Government Mandated Pay
Reports are that Kenneth Feinberg, Barack Obama’s pay czar, has developed a plan to cut the compensation of the 25 top executives at seven companies that received a substantial amount of government bailout money. According to the Fox News article the total compensation of these executives would be cut by about 50 percent, while the highest paid would have them cut by about 90 percent. The companies reportedly impacted are AIG, Bank of America, Citigroup, General Motors, GMAC, Chrysler and Chrysler Financial.
Talk about a slippery slope. Are these seven companies a test run for Feinberg so he can see public reaction before moving on to others that received bailout money? At the risk of sounding like a conspiracy theorist, that is exactly what this feels like.
Several smart, conservative people I know and respect reacted to this as though it were a good thing, like these top executives were getting what they deserve. That is scary. Don’t get me wrong, I believe many of these top executives are grossly overpaid and are some of the most self-serving, greedy people in the world (second only to Washington politicians), but government intervention is NOT how we handle it. This sets a terrible precedent and before long the pay czar will be setting up a compensation schedule for other companies and then other industries and before you know it the government will be setting salaries for everyone. Again, given the actions of the current administration I don’t believe this is merely conspiracy theory.
If I think that a company mishandles funds by paying out excessive compensation, I won’t do business with them. AIG, Bank of America, GMAC and Citigroup are all public companies, owned by shareholders. There are annual shareholder meetings and a board of directors in charge of approving compensation. If you don’t like how much a company’s executive is making, don’t do business with them and don’t buy shares of their company, it’s as simple as that. Take responsibility for your own actions. How can you complain about executive pay at Bank of America while standing in line to deposit your check at their bank?
People have been warped by the media to believe that big corporations are the enemy and that the government is here to look after you when that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The government is simply after control. The more that they can control, the more power they have. The government was never meant to be as powerful as it is today. Our founding fathers were very skeptical about giving a central body any sort of power for fear of what is happening today. We are quickly moving from a government of, by and for the people to a government full of politicians that believe they know what is best for the people and are capable of controlling every aspect of your life.
If you are truly concerned about the audacious actions of the administration of Barack Obama and today’s out of control government this is not a victory, this is a slap in the face of capitalism and one more step towards socialism.
Tags: Control, Czar, Government, Lawmakers, Lies, Obama, Politics
