Saturday, January 31, 2009

Of course Obama won't

Obama and his team brightened my day when they decried Wall Street bonuses. But then I realized, they were just empty episodes of name calling. Will they follow up with action? Probably not.

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From Reuters:
Obama unlikely to toughen Wall St. pay rules

Sat Jan 31, 3:37 am ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Obama administration is not likely to impose tougher restrictions on executive pay on most firms receiving aid under the government's $700 billion financial rescue program, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.

Citing a source familiar with the administration's deliberations, the Post said officials are concerned that harsh limits could discourage some firms from asking for aid.

President Barack Obama and some members of Congress have strongly criticized recent bonuses given out to executives at Wall Street companies that received government assistance.

The issue of executive compensation is part of Obama's plan to rescue financial markets. While some details need to be hammered out, the strategy is likely to be laid out publicly in about a week, the paper said.

While relatively healthy firms are unlikely to face stiff restrictions on executive compensation, companies that need more dramatic government assistance would face more punitive terms under the plan, it said.

Under the original rescue program approved by Congress in October, executives at financial firms faced federal limits on their multimillion-dollar pay packages. But those restrictions are unlikely to significantly reduce executive pay, analysts say.

(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Dominic Evans)