The government is moving to limit compenstation for top execs at seven firms that took bailout money. What do you think?

Don't like government involvement in wages of private business, but then theses are now no longer private. Ah, if only the board of directors had done the jobs they were hired to do.
Now we need some citizens to do their jobs and reduce the wages of the public and elected officials. Also do not vote for the incumbent in this years election, change the baby, its past due.

The government had no business bailing out the firms with taxpayer money, (the only kind of money the government has). Now it has no business reducing the wages of the top executives. How would you like it if your employer said to you, "You haven't earned what I paid you, so give 90% of it back". Last I heard the stockholders owned these banks and not the federal government.

This pay Czar is overreaching. He has no constitutional authority to dictate pay. Next, will they go after all corporations and after that to employees. And you think that this administration is not run by communist thinking individuals with the Marxist Messiah at the top? What Kool Aid are you drinking?

Thank God that I sold or liquidated all my businesses before this government took everything for wealth redistribution. Now if I could only sell my real estate holdings but in this market things are looking bleak.

This is a horrible idea. But, what else would you expect when Obama surrounds himself with Marxists and Mao fans.

This is the "remaking" of America that Obama was talking about. Catering to the Wealth Envy crowd.

Stay tuned, next we'll see anyone with talent leave these businesses for realistic compensation at other companies; which, is setting these companies to fail. Simply more proof that the Obama regime has no clue what it's doing.

the goverment will come after salaries from companies that did not take bailout money next......................if you dont believe me just wait and see

its getting hard to find someone that voted for Obama.............
mmmmmmmm mmmmmmmm mmmmmm

what a brilliant move. just think of all the taxes the government is losing by
this action. what about charitable contributions that will be lost.

government knows best, just ask people living in Cuba, China.

First, these clowns run their businesses into the ground. Then they take taxpayer money to stay afloat. Now they reward themselves with outrageous bonuses? Not with my money! They should get no compensation until their businesses are profitable again and have paid back every penny we loaned them – with interest.

wait until they draw up a pay scale that states how much each position in the private sector should be making.it's not as far-fetched as it was when i stated this 9 months ago,is it?

I just picture all of the Obama supporters who are expecting the administration to line their pockets with cash now that they voted him into office. They love this. They think this is fair.

It is bad and getting worse.
This is like an iceberg - the part you see is not more than 1/3 of the total.
Our great country is being destroyed by this evil Marxist and his minions and there does not seem to be anything we can do to stop him.

Until the majority of the press start doing their job and telling the whole truth about him he is going to keep on trampling freedom.

There is an old tale about how to catch wild hogs:
First you start putting some grain in a pile in the forest. After the hogs get used to coming for their free grain you put a fence around it. After the hogs get used to the fence and still come for their free grain you close the gate. Then you butcher the hogs.

People, he has the fence up already!

Kathy, so, would you work for no compensation? Isn't there a name for being forced to work for no compensation?

How about this? Let's not pay anyone that works for the Federal, State, and Local government until we turn a surplus instead of deficits. Do you think Obama, Pelosi, & Reid will work for no pay since they have done such a lousy job?

Everyone whose pay is being limited by the feds should sell whatever stock they own and resign immediately. No sense working in a place where you can't get paid.

Kathy--Please note that many of these firms did not want to borrow money from the government at above-market rates, they were forced to. This money was not a gift, it was a loan. Sort of like your credit card company making you, at gunpoint, max out your card and then refusing to let you pay off your balance.

Also, the government is not spending any of your money, even assuming that you pay taxes. Your money was spent years ago. Any money now being spent by the federal government is my grandchildren's money.

They should have to pay back ALL their bonuses for the past years and then be fired. Where is the outrage over their pay?

Socialists and Marxist have learned that you work within the system to corrupt it...not like the revolutionists in the past that advocated for outright military overthrow of a society...in today's America, that means to work to create the conditions for a crisis by passing laws to disrupt markets and when a crisis occurs, the solution is more government control. This is precisely what happened in the mortgage crisis...the Marxists and Socialists in Congress, along with President Clinton, passed the Community Reinvestment Act to force banks to make hundreds of millions of dollars in subprime loans to consumers who could not afford the mortgage...the banks, including BOA, were told by the activists group Acorn that if they did not give to Acorn, they would be singled out as being prejudiced against lending to certain ethnic groups...the Community Reinvestment Act went so far as to restrict banks from opening new branches if they did not lend to consumers who were bad credit risks. And politicians used their quasi-governmental banks, Freedie Mac and Fannie Mae, to hold hundreds of millions in subprime morgages as well...So the legislation that politicians like Chris Dodd and Barney Frank promoted actually created the conditions for the mortgage crisis that has fueled our current recession...they worked within the system to create the conditions for this crisis...and their plan worked...the mortgages went bad...the investment products that encompassed the mortgages went bad...and banks found themselves having to write off billions in bad loans and investments...so......in steps the government to solve the crisis they created...claiming they now have jurisdiction of the salaries of company officers of the firms that took taxpayer money to sustain their operations. And so the real story to learn here is not that the government is coming to takeover the businesses they sustained with our money through the crisis...it is to learn that the Marxists and Socialists are at work now to pass more laws to create opportunities to take more of our resources and liberties through their crisis/takeover strategy. Americans beware...the barbarians are at the gate...

I know I'm not too smart but, didn't the GOVERNMENT create this situation to begin with? Didn't the Fair Housing Act force banks to make risky loans under threat of heavy penalties if they did not BUT they were assured Fannie & Freddie would back those loans? So, that banks get into trouble and have to take TARP funds to survive and now are penalized and demonized using the old Class Envy ploy?
Working for no pay is called SLAVERY.

Why are they getting a bonus? They didn't make the right choices, the banks didn't make money and they get a bonus for what, showing up to work? It is not the government's job to decide a person's income. Was that a part of the deal when they were given the banks the money? Is the government changing the rules as they go? Watch out, one day there will be only one class of people and we will all be working for the government? Oh isn't that communism, socialism, call it what you want, that is where we are heading. Hold on and tighten your seat belts, we are in for one bumpy ride the next few years. GET OUT AND VOTE YOUR VOTE DOES COUNT

I wish WBT would report more often on stories like the one on the woman who was denied payment for her breast tumor treatment. I have been a victim of insurance companies and found that it is simply not true that we have the best system in the world. Insurance companies will do anything to avoid paying for treatment. They are criminals and need to be controlled.

Nobody is forcing these executives to work – they can quit. But, keep in mind, they are getting paid, just not the billions they got before. I strongly suspect that if they were to leave, the companies would actually be better off. So, I am not worried about any brain drain.

Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
The Obama administration is rapidly seeking absolute corruption. Our nation is based on free enterprise. This is communism. Just as the USSR failed under communism, if we don’t take back our nation now… History will reflect the communist failure of the United States of America. Obama has no clue what is in the constitution and is a traitor.

Correction dlr it was the Community Reinvestment Act not the Fair Housing Act. Have you heard that the White House has just announced a new program to provide mortgages for lower income people who don't qualify for regular mortgages. Isn't that exactly what got us in this position in the first palce? Won't politicians and this administration ever learn?

Christine, maybe WBT doesn't report more stories like that one simply because there are not that many of them.

No Joe, Obama knows exactly what is in the constitution. He just believes that it was written wrong to provide limits on the government and he has said so in the past. He believes the government should have unlimited powers and have the authority to allow some rights to the individual.

The constitution of the former USSR was based on our constitution. The difference was it limited individual rights and granted any rights not specifically granted to the people to the central government. Exactly the philosophical position of Obama.

If they're the losers who drove the company to needing gov't help, they ought to get down on their knees and thank God they're still employed. This so called "talent" whose outrageous salaries we are all supposed to be worried about saving are the cause of the downfall of this beautiful country and they should be thrown in prison with the losers who they lent all that money to.

They are the reason everyone got all weepy and wanted to believe that Obama was not a typical Chicago political thug.

Remember how Bank of America did not WANT the bailout money? They knew what the result would be. Even though the amount of the bailout funding was huge, it is NOTHING in comparison to the yearly amount of business posted by any of the largest banks, and yet it gives the Federal Government the power to decide what compensation for executives will be. I agree with previous comments pointing out much of the bad loans given out by these banks were, in large part, a result of arm-twisting tactics by, you guessed it, the Federal Government forcing lending institutions to loan to those who normally would NOT qualify. So many who cheer this government initiative quite simply do not have a CLUE about what makes businesses, and therefore our economic system successful.

Mary and kathy, you two are the biggest hypocrites ever. We, REAL Americans who believe in capitalism, said NO to giving the businesses the money. But you liberals and your european ways wined and said "The economy would have been alot worse had it not been for the bailouts." That may have been true, but at least the freemarket would be at play. You people are the main proponents for evolution. What ever happened to "SURVIVAL of the FITTEST." Now you are complaining that you want your money back? We all know you are on welfare, kathy-the money belongs to people who get off of their ass and work.

What saddens me most is to hear from people who want to determine how much salary/compensation I should earn--simply because I earn more than them. I thought that was the job of the company that hired me--to make my salary and compensation commensurate with my degrees and experience. Did those people offer to work any of the 3 part-time jobs I held down in college? Did they make a dinner for me so that I would have the time and energy to earn good grades, to earn a degree, to earn a high-paying job, so that my salary now contributes to society not only through my taxes but in volunteering situations? They weren't. How can a stranger proclaim that I earn more than I need. It is none of their business. The government needs to stay out of contracted salaries between an individual and their boss.

There is nothing outrageous or inappropriate about how much anyone is paid, as long as their employer or employers freely agree to pay it, without coercion.

Only a fascist government would take such action as this. Pray we have a chance to vote them out before they complete the shredding of the Constitution and seize the entire economy.

Hey, hey, hey! Don't lump me in with Kathy. I didn't say I want the gov to regulate and I'm NO welfare recipient. I pay all my bills even thru 18 months of unemployment. I have not received one red cent in unemployment comp. - long story. I'm simply tired of people talking about how 'execs' possess some sort of 'talent' that is worth millions of $$.

My error in my posting was in not naming the Fed. Gov't as complicit in this disaster. We must use our capitalist system and show these companies by our patronage or none what we think of them.

But thanks for saying I have european 'ways'.

Will,
As always, well said. Dems just don't get it. They make the problem and then whine when the result doesn't suit their intentions. Leave it alone King Obama and cronies. We have healed before wthout GovCo and we can again. The more they try to "help" and move forward, the worse it gets with their ill advised agendas and the farther back we go.

Let's see how this works--executives do a poor job running their company, company loses money, result is reduced pay for executives by 90%.
I like this idea better--government officials, bureaucrats, elected office holders do a poor job running the country, country goes broke. Lets reduce their pay 90%. Better yet, lets just fire them altogether and vote them out of office!.

You're all either worried about it being right or wrong to change someone's salary while your government is about to head fake you all and pass health care reform while you bicker with each other. Yet another distraction by the purveyors of change and hope. I dont hear anyone bitching and moaning about the recent 20 to 30 cent rise in gasoline prices. Doesnt Obama control gas prices? Why do I assume that? Because didnt BUSH control gas prices when he was in office? Wasnt HE responsible for why gas went up to $5/gal? Since Obama INHERITED this gas control ability, as well as the other crap he moans about, couldnt he just turn down the dial a bit? I was hoping to see prices south of $2/gal by the end of the year but now they're skyrocketing. Hmm.. Seems like he doesnt give a crap about us. And why isnt anyone asking about the jacked up interest rates on our credit cards? Is there any reason we have to pay 27% interest on our cards?? Any reason we have to have our credit lines slashed down to just above our outstanding balance? Any reason that our credit scores are being artificially destroyed by these financial institutions that you're all so concerned with those buffoon CEO's salarys? Worry about your own job and salary and let those CEOs defend themselves. They're big boys and know how to wipe their own butts. Care about what affects YOU day to day. Gas prices, food prices, credit card rates, FICO scores falling through the floor, home prices lowering but property taxes staying the same..... people wake the F up. Your government is destroying this nation and is putting you all into a position where you'd have no alternative to NEED them. I think its time for a completely new government.

Vin for Prez! Curse words and all! Go Vin!

Kathy,
I got a better idea. Lets limit actors and tv personalities pay as well. How much does Oprah make for appearing on TV? How much do you think George Clooney gets per movie? He gets paid regardless of if the movie fails or not. How about you're job, lets only pay you if you succeed. Anytime you screw up because you take advice from your boss, you don't get paid that year. Yes they make obscene amounts of money, but guess what that's for the SHARE HOLDERS to be mad about. The government, or more specifically the pay czar does not have ANY right to control the salaries of any employee that is not specifically employed by the fed. This is beyond unconstitutional. This is a power grab to the extreme. This isn't even Congress, this is one man appointed by Obama and not certified by Congress. Congress could make laws forcing public companies to disclose C class executives contracts to share holders, they could write laws to tax compensation over a certain amount, but they have no control over what a company can pay it's workers. That is the first step down a very slippery slope...

Great point, Dan. Adding to that, Obama said he had no intention of controlling the private sector, and that he got angry when people accussed him of doing so. Well PROVE IT!!! Call off your dogs, the "czars." Leave the private sector alone if you really want us, the people who actually THINK, to actually take your comments seriously. So far, however, we do NOT.

This president is a JOKE.

Dan, Oprah did not take my money to stay afloat.

Will, these companies are no longer private. Apple is private, and Obama is leaving them alone. See, he keeps his word.

Vin, I have no idea why you are paying 27% interest. I pay far less. What's your credit score?

KB, right on! Elections are the way to go.

Rick, Americans are the employers of these CEOs now, because they failed and we had to bail them out. Since we are the employers, we can set the salaries. That's what our President is doing.

Ed, no, I don't remember that. Where did you hear that rumor? If they did not want the money, why did they take it?

Kathy, Ed is correct. BofA was FORCED to take the money. It was on PBS, in fact, Frontline. It is TRUE.

Will, you are missing the point. The government can't force a company to do anything. A company is a legal construct. PEOPLE at BoA decided to take the money - why? Nobody knows for certain. But, I know that if people are involved, they have free will. So, they OPTED to take the money. No force. This was not GITMO.

sorry Kathy, but they were given no choice. they were forced to take the bailout.

zepica, what kind of force was it that broke them? They had a choice. They could have left the company.

it's funny (and sad) kathy that you and so many Americans are so eaten up with Wealth Envy that you don't seem to see how wrong it is for the US Government to first dictate, by the force of a gun, that first a corp has to take bail out money or the top execs will lose their jobs and once they do take it they are dictated to as to what they maximum salary can be. you scare me kathy.

kathy, liberal policies on lending put us where we are now for the most part, not decisions made my the bank execs. think about it, why would ANY banker willingly give a home loan to someone that they knew would never pay it back?