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Snowe: Executive Pay Limits Are Out of the Stimulus -- Except For My Plan
We first reported yesterday on the looming removal of executive pay caps from the stimulus bill during final negotiations between the House and Senate.
As lawmakers were entering a closed-door meeting to sign off on the final details, I asked Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) whether the executive compensation limits were indeed taken out of the measure -- and Snowe said that only one of the original three pay limit plans had survived: her bid to limit executive bonuses, co-sponsored by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR). Notably, their plan was the only executive pay cap that was scored as a money-maker for the Treasury.
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Eric
I'm not entirely sure why lawmakers wanted to eliminate executive pay caps to begin with.
February 11, 2009 4:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Because those executives (and their companies) donate to their campaigns, PACs or parties.
Also because of the belief that if you pay the rich and/or let them keep more of their money (ie, cut their taxes), they'll spend more, which will eventually trickle down to the proleteriat below.
February 11, 2009 9:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
The *Republican* belief of trickle-down. Which only a fool would still cling to as fact.
February 12, 2009 8:09 AM | Reply | Permalink
But it looks like it was the Democrats that did this. Money is money and influence is influence, I guess. But weird anyone would go for it when Americans seem already to be pissed at how execs are abusing their new-found tax money.
February 12, 2009 11:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
"The amendment would require the companies to repay within four months any portion of the bonus above $100,000 or face an excise tax of 35 percent on the portion of the bonus above $100,000."
Huh? "Give us back the money, or else! Or else... we'll take a third of the money!"
This is an unusual use of the word "require". The companies will pay $0 of the "required" repayment, then (maybe) they will pay the excise tax. Why not just make the excise tax 100%? Or better yet 200%? Or, "require" the companies to repay the money, or else the executives and boards of directors go to jail?
February 12, 2009 10:02 AM | Reply | Permalink