Ask…
Share your views on hot topics
Bailout bonuses: Does the public have a right to know?
Email 
Print
Is it anybody’s business how much money you make?
When it comes to Wall Street and the meltdown that whacked financial markets and emptied investors’ pockets, the normal rules of etiquette don’t seem to apply.
Wall Street salaries seem to be everybody’s business lately. Nevertheless, the Obama administration’s pay czar may try to keep a large portion of the compensation plans he is reviewing under wraps.
It’s Kenneth Feinberg‘s job to review salaries at the biggest corporate recipients of government bailout funds.
How much of his report will become public is the multimillion dollar question.
Privacy laws and fears that highly compensated executives will become targets for an angry public argue for limiting disclosure.
“One of my clients makes $25 million a year and drives a Honda,” said Steven Eckhaus, of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP. “He tries to lead a fairly modest life and he would be horrified if what he makes appeared in the paper. Not only would his neighbors know, but his kids would know, and it would affect his ability to raise his kids. These are people, not a circus sideshow.”
Congressman Alan Grayson told Reuters he is unsympathetic to that argument.
“If this is the same top talent that caused their firms to be destroyed and put the entire U.S. economy at risk, I wish they would leave the firms and leave the country,” he said.
What’s your view?
Should top earners keep their privacy, or does the public have a right to know? Leave your opinion in the comment section below.
More:
Comments RSSPost Your Comment
-
Author Profile
-
If the people are working in a company that receives government bail out, it is fair to disclose their salary, since they are using the taxpayers’ money to rescue the company, and also their own job. If one doesn’t want the public to know how much he earns, he can simply quit his job and go to a company that doesn’t receive government bail out.
Once the Federal Government bailed them out and they accepted Taxpayer money, they become accountable to the taxpayers. I work for a county government and anyone can to a local newspaper and see what I make. Not what my job title makes, what I make, by name.
If they received a bail out – publish the salaries!!!
I agree with Congressman Grayson. If we had to pay, we have the right to know for what we paid.
ITS HARD FOR ME TO UNDERSTAND HOW THESE GUYS THAT RUN THE COMPANY INTO THE GROUND(broke) CAN BE GETTING A HUGE BOUNS OR ANY BOUNS AT ALL.NORMALY GOOD WORK IS REWARDED NOT ABSOLUTE FAILURE
There is absolutely no justification for keeping these salaries and bonuses secret. They took the People’s money in bailouts, so the People have every right to know how their money is being spent.
Oh, whoa is me… I make $25 million a year and I don’t want anyone to know I’m cheap.
When the pay czar comes into play it’ll be a simple process: the best will walk across the street and get another job, and all the money the fed pumped into these companies will go down the toilet because of the pay czar driving out the talent.A for profit business can occasionally incur losses, sometimes horrible losses. One should put money on a horse and then shoot it.
I do not feel it is the publics right to know anyones salary unless they have received bailout money or were a direct part of the economic collapse. That puts a whole new spin on things and then I would say yes, I feel they are accountable and we should know what heppens to the money we gave them.
If the government could re-assure me that the tax dollars have been spent wisely, i do not care. A suggestion would be to share the data after anonymising it and just mentioning their role.
They caused the problem, it is our money. We should know how much is given and to whom.If they can not stand the heat, then leave the country.
I’m sorry but if you got a bailout bonus of any amount, I deserve to know and maybe the reason you got it should be public as well. I don’t care how much they make only if they got a bonus. No excuse will do if you got a bonus from the taxpayers bailout.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!!!
my time energy blood sweet and tears are expended for income with which i must pay tax. yes i have aright to know how my life energy is being spent .
If the $25 million dollar man is so horrified that he makes so much maybe he should return it to the employees that don’t make enough.
Frankly I dont care what these clowns make, but because right now, NOBODY is worth 25 million a year in salary.(justify a person who builds roads that we all use, and some preppy that made a sale worth millions, whats really more valuable?) And these 1 percenters ar resposible for a much larger picture of failure, the salaries they make need to be watched and justified just like the rest of us. You make 25 million a year but want to be a “regular guy” then expect to be reviewed like us regular guys.
For any public company, or one that in the case of banks and lenders where they accept my deposit as an investment into the banks assets where they create loans and take risks based off the increased securities, Absolutely their salaries should be public knowledge. Checks and balances. If I’m getting charged outrageous fees for their services, just to find out their CEO makes more than the profit based off those fees, then they are going to have to tell me as an account/shareholder. They make as much as they can get away with, not how much they earn. And since they make the rules, how else are they to be judged then by a “pay czar” since the general public cares not, or does not understand the workings of the banks and institutions at hand.
They lost their privacy when they took government money.
The second they took tax payer money, was the second they lost all rights to privacy on how that money was spent, directly, or indirectly within those institutions.
How about the right to deny any bonuses for companies receiving stimulas monies! The corruption has gone way too far! Everyone should stop paying taxes until the PEOPLE regain the power. NOT THE BIG BUSINESSES!!!!!!
Anyone who makes $25 million a year IS a circus sideshow in comparison to most people. If it’s a publicly traded company, then full disclosure is required; if not, then it is private information. However, for those companies using taxpayer – OUR – bailout money, then the public has every right to know how much they are being compensated. We want to know how they are spending the bailout because Wall Street has already proven to be undeserving of public trust by completely failing any effort at self-governing themselves.
Emotionally, many people will want this info within the context of Wall St and bailout money. However, I am always concerned with that kind of power being yielded by the government over our personal lives. Once we are comfortable with having compensation made public we should expect that someday our financial life can be made public as well. I highly doubt people with low incomes want that made public either for their friends, family, and neighbors to know.
If you voted for McCain or Obama (which apparently represents a huge majority of Americans), you are a complete fool if you are outraged by executive pay. For these businesses, excessive compensation is business as usual, the exact thing that McCain and Obama said we had to preserve in the late fall of last year. They made it clear whose side they were on… if you voted for them, you also voted for these big paychecks. So please be quiet.
Yes they should have this made public. I was widowed an my husband took care of buying and selling of stocks and I lost GM,two more companies and one bank
hell it is our money that they used to rebuild with and not one of them paid for with prison terms. we need to know who is the making what and why
The pulblic has access to the pay levelof our servicemen from Private to President.If any private business receives public money,then the public should be given the total accountingrecords from custodian to CEO. When they took public dollars they should have been informed that their corporate pay records would be made public.The taxpayers have a right to know how our tax dollars are being spent. The circus is in the oversight and controls by our government. Who is in charge?
If American taxpayers bailed them out, making us collectively their employers, we have the right to know how much we’re paying them.
As a taxpayer and unwilling investor in the Wall Street bail-out,damned right I want to know. I agree with Congressman Grayson’s position; if these are the same people who put us in this position, I don’t want to see them get anything. And as far as the guy making $25 million being horrified – TOUGH! I fail to see what burden the publicity would place upon his ability to raise his children: if he sees his income as a corrupting influence, give it up. Sound more like he has something to hide.
I lost my job at the biggest Pharma company in the world so that they can spare some change (60 billion) to acquire another big pharma company. Without income I cannot pay taxes, and I’m not alone.Things have to change… my hope is with California so that the Pfizer acquisition of W. fails!
It was their Greed that caused Wall Street Melt down. Yes I certainly believe the public needs to be informed of their compensations and bonuses. I have no sympathy for them at all.
It’s wrong on multiple levels. Congressman Grayson assumes that just because people make good money means they are personally responsible for the economy tanking. By that logic, Bill Gates should be thrown under the bus.I would submit that it would be more relevant to post the salaries of government officials and their staff. And not just current salary, but their revenue over the past 10-years. There are MANY in government (either elected, or appointed, or staff, or FAMILY) who have questionable ties to private industry. These are the people who shape public policy (or have direct influence). We’ve seen over the years that spouses have ties to companies that seem to benefit from legislation/regulation. Axelrod is owed 2 million from a company that just received about 11 million to produce adds for the Obama Administration. We all have questions about Cheney and Haliburton.It’s the people’s responsibility to monitor those who have been elected. And we can’t be so foolish as to think that it’s just the ‘other party’. We need to be hawks on our own parties as well.As for wall street, I’d like to see their compensation package subject to a larger body of their shareholders. Let those who have their own money invested in a company have at least a bit of say in what the execs make. That would be far more compelling and would likely keep them a bit more honest.PEACE
What a joke. Hey, I would have no problem paying a few million in fines when I got caught if I had already received billions. Wake up people.
These people ARE a circus sideshow. If you can wreak havoc on the US economy,like politicians, then you should be under the same scrutiny. If you are trusted withthe funds of American citizens, then you should be held accountable for the safety and security of those funds. Physicians are responsible for the health of American citizens,and if they violate standard protocol, they can face jail time and the loss of their license to practice.Same, same for these thieves.
while i think how much a person earns should be commensurate with his/her quality and justified by the amount of time and effort they put into their work, it is not wrong if the public have a knowledge of it especially in the world we live in now. so much scrutiny and even possible investigation should be directed to those who make so much while the institution they work for is experiencing a decline in fortune. in fact i consider it a moral obligation for someone to declare such things as how much he earns if he’s not a fraudster.
The public has a right to know. I do not believe these high salaries are based on the talent of the individual. I think these high salaries are given as incentive to promote an investment industry that works against most investors. I will not invest on Wall Street until regulations are put back in place that protect the average investor.
If govt can’t get these companies to open their books they’re not worthy of getting our hard earned tax dollars that they dole out to these high paid ‘experts’!
Once those companies accepted public help, they surrendered their privacy. The public has a right to know how the money is used, and that absolutely includes the obscene salaries. Of course they want to conceal the fact that they make a hundred times more dollars annually than the average taxpayer who was forced to help them.
When these companies are laying off the people who showed up, suited up and did their jobs, but continuing to pay millions of dollars to those at the top who didn’t do anything right – there is a public right to know. When these companies became national resources which serve our common good or have no purpose at all, the right to know shifted into the public domain. And, when they sold stocks to the public and into pension funds that are funded by the public – their right to privacy dissolved. It is the right of the public to know how much these executives are being paid and the sneaky ways they are getting money, perks, bonuses, pensions, paid insurance, cars, airplanes, homes, stocks, stock dividends, golf club memberships, favorable terms on loans and margin calls, etc., etc., etc.- cricketdiane, 08-24-09It is also the public’s right to know the stupid, short-sighted and greed-based unconscionable decisions they made which drove these companies into the ground, endangered the public and altered the future for all of us.
Absolutely, the compensation of every single employee of any company that received tax payer money should be made public!
ABSOLUTELY! The position and salary should be published for any company receiving public money. If there are bonuses paid the name of the individual and the amount received should be a matter of public record and published. They have become public employees and their salaries should become part of the public record.
Frederick Greenawalt says “If any private business receives public money, then the public should be given the total accounting records from custodian to CEO.”So… anyone who has received a personal bailout (unemployment, food stamps…) should also be made public, right?If they have been charged with a crime, I’m all for it. But if not, it should be private. But again, I would submit that their should be compensation boards within larger companies that consist of investors and staff reps. Some of these compensations packages are totally insane and should be regulated (from within).Most people work for companies that receive public funding (directly or indirectly)… so be careful what you wish for. Defense contractors? Hospitals? University? Researchers? Any company that has accepted stimulus money? Make all of their employee’s salaries public?Baseball receives special anti-trust exemptions. Should we have a say in how much they make? Mariano Rivera makes about $100k for each out (about $300/inning). Maybe we should get some of that back?Where does it end. Can’t be reactionary. There are idiots for sure. But maybe they are just extremely good at what they do (e.g. Bill Gates).Lizzy Bulman says “Yes they should have this made public. I was widowed an my husband took care of buying and selling of stocks and I lost GM,two more companies and one bank”Well, actually you lost GM because the President decided that the government could FORCE you to see your stock for pennies on the dollar. You got screwed for sure and I feel bad about that. It was wrong.We need to be smart folks. We can find a way to solve these problems without being vigilantes.PEACE
I agree with the comment about first posting the accumulative/current salaries of all public officials first: from the inefficient, rude woman at the DMV to the President and in particular those so called “representatives” in Congress and the Senate. Keep it public and keep it straightforward and simple.Then, it should be disclosed to affiliated owners and shareholders what the corporate executives make. Don’t blame the executives if you participated in a mortgage loan, Wall Street investment or are a shareholder. The owners of those corps – including stockholders – let it happen. We as a country buried ourselves in debt and caused this mess. The accountability should come at the corporate level only and to the owners of those companies.This information can then be made public record if those companies receive any bail out funds or tax dollars of any sort. Until then, buyer-beware, and it’s none of the tax payers’ business who makes what in this country. Politicians are just as guilty of perpetuating this mess because they are the ones that got duped into falling for the bail-out requests and are siphoning our tax dollars around. If I’m going to ax an exec for mismanaging a company, why the hell would i NOT ax a politician for mismanaging their damn budgets and decision making..????
Definitely yes. Public companies as the name suggests belong to public. Every share-holder is entitled not only to know, but have a say in CEO’s salaries and compensations. I believe that their pay is currently determined only by who they know not what they do or even can do. I am really fed-up by not seeing any reform on this. The index number (average CEO pay divided by the lowest paid worker) has risen by thousands since 25 years ago. And then we are wondering why the moral of the workforce is going down the …
If these firms recieved bail-out money, it is in the public interest to know what bonuses are being paid out. These firms caused the crisis and the sharp eyes of scrutiny should be upon them.
Yes. Full disclosure of pay must be available to the public for companies receiving bailout money and who owe that money back to the public. Bailouts amount to partial nationalization, like it or not, so the Freedom of Information Act should be made to apply. Let’s keep ‘em on a short leash at least until all their bailout monies have been repaid.
All income should be public. The highest paid to the lowest. Along with how much income tax was paid and charitable donations. And while we’re at it, what their credit limit and debt load is. Seriously though, without knowing what people did, how can you judge what they are worth?
Absolutely not. The salaries of the top earners should remain private because they are the leading lights in our system of democratic capitalism. It is the system upon which the US is founded upon, and what we uphold to the rest of the world as the ideal economic and political system. The financial institutions that received government aid have been at the vanguard of perpetuating our capitalist values, and all the government did was to support them in their time of need. It is their right under our cherished system to earn huge profits and distribute the wealth to its top executives and shareholders in any way that they see fit.It is to safeguard this right that our children, largely from inner-city neighborhoods and middle-income families, are sacrificing their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. To ask that the salaries of the beacons of the capitalist system be revealed to the public would be to undermine our values and belief in our economic system. Worst of all, it would be the greatest disservice to our troops who are valiantly waging a war to defend it.
If people really want them to release the info, simply boycott their companies until they do release it. There is no need for some government official to step in and use unconstitutional force in the matter.
If public funds were used to pay them then the public should already know. I hope everyone remembers these things when it comes time to vote. Hopefully we’ll have an American or two in office soon.
Some basic math to consider……..No disclosure = no accountability.No accountability = more pay.Company mismanaged to near bankruptcy = more pay.Company well managed = more pay.More pay = no incentive to improve the company.More pay = Directors not working for investors.No accountability to investors = more pay.Oh, and lets not forget more pay for the government incompetents mismanaging the mismanagement…. what a mess. BETTER STILL – publish executive management agreements on-line for the world to see. Accountability is LONG overdue.
Incentive pay that rewards superior earnings are in the best interest of shareholders (owners) and make sense. However, Wall Street has created its own correllary to that idea, namely that when performance is horrible, bonuses still get paid because otherwise the so-called “talent” would leave and go work elsewhere.Setting aside the question of where “elsewhere” is when the global financial system is melting down, the bottom lines are that (1) it is always the right of shareholders to know what compensation is being paid; and (2) when taxpayer dollars are being put into companies, taxpayers become de facto shareholders and also deserve to know what compensation is being paid.
Incidentally, I am disgusted by the comments of Hubert M. Bug, in which he asserts that to disapprove of endless greed is a dishonor to American soldiers.Mr. Bug, soldiers like me do not fight and die to protect the profits of top executives. We serve to protect their families and country, out of duty to ideals that I see you hold in little regard.
It’s no different than a bank asking to see how much money you make in a month in order to secure a loan.We (the american taxpayer) are the bank in this instance as we are paying for this.I think we should have the right to know what these people are making as it’s our money we are giving them.It’s a no brainer.It think it’s very alarming to see that americans keep losing privacy (patriot act) and the upper eschelon of society seem to get more privacy.Remeber the golden rule:He who has the gold makes the rules.
I agree with smc; the compensation of private citizens receiving public assistance shouldn’t be disclosed. Though executive pay is what some would consider unfairly high, it’s not enough to bring a company down; there are other more significant root causes that have a greater contribution to failure, and creating hype and jealousy over the pay scale would only distract from addressing the real issues.I do think it’s fair to implement some transparency as to how companies spend public funds so as to guard against questionable investments, but then again I wouldn’t be against auditing students receiving grant money to ensure that the money is used for school either.Of course it’s now after the fact, but I’m opposed to the government bailout of private companies in general. All this talk of corporate greed and failing companies giving executive bonuses would be a non-issue if the companies were actually allowed to fail. Without a safety net, I think we’d see more responsible business decisions, and those executives that do run their companies into the ground for a short term gain would be unemployed and unemployable (what corporate board of executives would hire them?). Let ‘em fail, and in the case of banks let ‘em be responsible for maintaining enough capital to cover their customer’s accounts.
Yes, we have a right to know.When public funds are used to bail them out, it is a no brainer that all the financial dealings of that entity be public knowledge until the bailout money is repaid in full.
I think we, the people, should a shout to:AFL/CIO, SEIU, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, UAW, NAFTA, NATO, etc for your significant contributions for our domestic free markets towards global expansion. Thanks to their sincere efforts, we now have China presiding as primary owner of our U.S Treasury bonds.
The salaries of academics at publicly supoprted colleges and universities are availabile to the public. I see no reason why (and the BS about the country being founded on the principle of anything you can rip off you deserve does not persuade me) that the salaries of (usually overpaid) CEOs, traders, etc on WS at firms that have been saved by tax dollars should not have their $$ published. The resistance to this is more telling than any argument they may make. It says, pure and simple, that they recognize they are engaged in theft and fraud. If they actually believed the right wing econobabble about value/talent/retaining key employees, they would have no hesititation in publishing this data.
How about the excesses of Congress? How do 60,000 a week for traveling expenses for Mrs Pelosi sound?
The CEO’s think that we as taxpayers who are supporting their bailouts shouldn’t know what they earn? Stockholders are told aren’t they, so when we are using taxpayer dollars to bailout these companies, then we become shareholders too.Now, I’m not disagreeing that these people work for free. But if they’re taking home a salary greater than $5M, then that’s too much. Sure, they had a bad year like the rest of us, welcome to the club. Hopefully they saved for their estates mortgage, or they could sell a few items down at the pawn shop or thrift store to make up the loss.
I want to see the full financial reports of everyone on welfare, everyone who draws social security, everyone of Medicare etc etc. After all, they are taking “our” taxpayer money right? So, if we are going after companies with that reason, why not these people as well?
Of all the stupid ideas.The majority of tax income comes from big business or the upper class.In effect, they bankroll society. They employ you, they provide goods for you, and they pay the taxes that finance the American lifestyle.If anything, they should demand OUR financial information. To see if THEIR tax money is being spent properly by the Government.Or is that politically incorrect to point out? At the moment, fatcat bashing is the socially accepted norm.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, does not work on Wall Street! I and others demand to know.
Companies that accepted the bailout should a provide full accounting of how they are using public funds – including salaries and bonuses.Companies that do not want to disclose, can repay the government.Companies that cannot survive without bailout money can go under like all the other too-small-to-save companies that mismanage their business.It’s simple, really.
Reply to Roberts post (August 25th, 2009, 3:14 am GMT).Robert, how many people can a welfare program, social security and Medicare support with $25,000,000?
I think their salaries should published.The bankrupt the nation and get bonues? I guess next election I would voting in a cow from the republican party and not obama
Yes, it should be disclosed as long as the company being bailed out by my tax money.
There is nothing gained by the taxpayers by publishing bonus figures. A better solution would be to require the companies to report the bonuses to the government and the govrnment should then require an amount equal to the bonuses to be paid back immediately as the companies obviously did not need that money for their survival.
If I have a private agreement with a bank or individual to invest and manage my account, then his/her salary is their business. But if I have to give them money so they can have a job with no assurances or other recourse to recover my “donation”, then you bet their salary is my business.
If this “top talent” is receiving super-sized corporate paychecks courtesy of the government bail-out, that’s my tax money at work! I have a right to know where and to whom it’s going.
The companies which recieved bail out money ceased to be private corporations after they failed to stay affloat. If it wasn’t for the bail out money, (which comes down to taxpayers money) most of the large corporations and many bank would have colapsed, and in an effort to save the economy, a bail out was thought out to save these companies.Why should the public not be allowed to see what they are paying for?Although wall street workers and top executives have long run their lives unscapped and the public was not demanding to know, once it becomes a public issue and we realise that without the public money, these companies would today have failed.It should be natural that every company who have recieved public money no have an open window policy with the public as it is their money paying ultimately for those top executives and for the company to stay alive.The truth is, we all expect it to be shocking. If the public has just bailed out a multibilion dollar bank whose business model was too weak to stand a recession and we learn that the top executive is making 200 million dollars in benefits, it put back into consideration why we didnt just allow the bank to fail in the first place and allow it to get replaced by thousands of smaller ones which would fill the demand left by the bigger one.In retrospect, the only people against divulgation of head executives and CEO’s are themselves, for the simple reason that they cannot justify the paycheck they earn at the end of the day.When someone can justify the salary they make yearly and the public accepts it, that is when you have a normal economy which can run justly. When you take a look at the public sector, every salary is published and it is possible to see exactly how much your neighbour is making.When it comes to private enterprises, if you wish to keep your information anonymous, you better make sure you can keep your company functional otherwise when you fail (and in this case the government decides it would be too harsh of an impact to have on the economy) you better get ready to show exactly what kind of money you want to make and be able to justify to the entire population that you deserve their tax money for performing your job.
the government does ask for that. It’s not public knowledge because nobody cares. Honestly do you need to know that I make $900 a month?
Rep. Grayson is indicative of our problems with leadership. Rather than keep his mouth shut about a subject on which he is ignorant, he uses guilt by association, a priori assumptions and makes a hateful comment. This is fascist, my friends.
No brainer. We always have absolutely every right to know how our public money is being spent.
Does the public really want to know EXACTLY how its money is being spent: absolutely !!Publically owned banks/companies MUST disclose remuneration.Others can do as they please
The way of a lot of other values in this country, so goes Pay For Performance. Why is it so tough to tie pay to performance in these financial companies?
I’m sure after Kenneth Feinberg has reviewed the salaries (and presumably, bonuses) he will be able to call for an Inquiry which will no doubt look into and report back on the findings at some time in the future, after which the government will need to decide what, if anything, to do about it. They might even need to form a committee and call in experts and consultants on pay and remuneration to quasi-publicly owned corporations to analyze the situation.
Why?It’s obvious from the other comments here that people already believe the bonuses are too high. There is no possible way that after they’re made public someone will look at them and say “Oh, that CEO only got a $20 million bonus instead of a $25 million bonus? Well, I guess I can’t be outraged by that anymore.”
As long as they have not paid back the bail out money their pay should be controlled and the public should now. Our money is what is keeping then going and we have had no control over how that was spent but they need to be accountable to the U S Citizens.
For publicly held companies the shareholders have the right to know what all of the top earners are paid. This compensation should be expressed as a portion of the share holder value to put it in context.If you need to protect privacy group top earners group them.Top 10 employees paid $X, X% of shareholder value.Top 100 employees paid $X, X% of shareholder value.Top 1% of employees paid $X, X% of shareholder value.Top 5% of employees paid $X, X% of shareholder value.
As far as bonuses. We have wittnessed the devistation that unbridled wages have created. When anyone’s wages are tied to their performance and they are playing with someone elses money bad things will happen. They will take risks that normally they would not take. I surely do not want any bank or broker taking these kind of risks with my money. Maybe some of you who read this had money given to you and you can afford to lose it, but I cannot. It is all public money that is being used for these risks, and it has to be protected. If it is their own money I do not care if they flush it down the toilet, but not with public money.
Why shouldn’t they be published? School Teachers have their salaries published and the entire community gets to chime in when they want a raise – and teachers actually WORK.
Feinberg in charge as pay czar is just one more example of the good old boys club protecting themselves. What value does a lawyer like Feinberg add to the economy? Nothing. Nothing is produced, nothing of value added to our society. In the end, so to speak, the taxpayer gets screwed once more. This is public money —- taxed from the sweat of our labor every hour of every day, or borrowed on our behalf by reckless politicians, so we also labor to pay the interest on something called the national debt. Is something wrong with this picture??
it’s simple… there are conditions to the contract these companies now have with their primary investors (insert american public here). sounds like they’re not used to that. stings a bit i bet.
“Privacy laws and fears that highly compensated executives will become targets for an angry public argue for limiting disclosure.”Fear of an angry public??? Damn right they should fear them! Usurping tax dollars to prop up businesses which on a fair field of endeavor would go belly up calls for accountability! Accountability which is long overdue. These “captains of industry” have unashamedly exploited the American workforce and cried poverty for decades. The way these guys throw money at political figures while leaving the working men and women behind is downright ugly behaviour. Millions for campaigns but not a dollar for better wages and healthcare for the rank and file. Yeah,, I’m sympathetic!
Response to Robert..I’m sick and tired of hearing Social Security described as something people take from our system without earning it! As long as it’s coming out of my lifetime’s worth of paychecks I damn well want it when it’s my turn! The government has collected these monies for years and from time to time the government “borrows” from it. There’s the problem,,government misappropriating or allowing corporate weasles to steal and overcharge the people of this country. Visit another country and see how much better things can be done.
There’s nothing wrong with hiding everything these days. We are certainly headed toward a socialist form of government, as every other developed nation has experienced. The American people have just exactly what they want with this government mess, or they’d demand change. I’m glad I’m old and don’t have too many more years left to deal with these issues. It’s every dog for himself for a while longer, then things will change most assuredly.
It´s completely unfair for individual employees compensation to become public on a name by name basis.It´s fair for the public to know what the pay distribution curve looks like at these companies.Not that it matters though. companies have to compensate their employees in line with what the competition pays. Otherwise they will simply jump shimp and go elsewhere.
I work in finance. I used to work with some “financial brilliant minds”. Majority of them just pushy people who really gamble with others people money without second thoughts.Capitalism doesn’t mean anarchy or free ride for jerks.Capitalism was over when these ‘proud CEO’ accepted public fund. Today they are paid by public and must act accordingly.1. Corporate law shields top level executives from any responsibilities for wrong/bad decisions. For years investors failed to gain transparency. Handpicked corporate boards tend to protect executives rather than investors. That is the root of unjustifiable salaries.2. We saw these brilliant minds at work:Lehman – CEO failed to act quickly to sell the back.Merrel – CEO was busy with $5,000,000 office renovation on the middle of collapse.Bear – CEO bailed out failed hedge funds without looking into financial statements.AIG – “we will never loose a cent” 2 mo before collapse.These CEO are gone but their lieutenants still run the show. If they cannot stay public light they must go.
If said CEO’s and employees receive any public funding whatsoever, I don’t care if it’s even a penny, then it would be a crime to NOT report their salaries.They are taking my tax money, therefore I now have a say in what happens to their company or business.
Hey great article way to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!