Cleaning up executive pay for these banks, Wall Stree, should not be required by the government, period. The government should not have any say, AT ALL, about what private institutions do, as long as these companies follow the law. But we are in different waters, at different times.
What AIG did with their carelessness of ramifications to the financial markets in this country is still unbelievable. I know many are just angry, including myself, at the bonuses, but should anyone be surprised? Overall, I am not. President Obama made the best explanation of what AIG did when he sat on the couch chatting with Jay Leno from the Tonight Show. It was a small division of the company, AIG, including some overseas, who gambled the bank and came up very short. In fact some on the board and higher up claimed that they were unaware of what was going on and happened, but believe that if you believe the moon is pink. Thus, it meant that an emergency influx of cash to keep AIG solvent was made in September, 2007, beginning the crap shoot of saving a company that destroyed itself because we were told, "They are too big to fail....."
Here comes the oversight of executive pay.
I feel like this, since Wall Street and these banks are getting taxpayers money than they should be the first to be overhauled. It is these institutions that have put this country where it is at. We must be honest here, what happens to Wall Street affects us down to the very job we have, lost or trying to find. If the financial market is not stable, job freezes will continue, credit will not open up, and what is happening now will continue.
The irresponsibility of these companies has hurt us all. I don't blame folks for being angry at these executives, but the Obama Administration needs to do more. Most of these people need to be fired, removed from their office, so this country can try to move forward, especially with the AIG debacle. The Administration has not handled this well, let's be honest, they have not. I appreciate President Obama and his steadfastness with his Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, but Geithner has shown that he does not have the communicative savvy or the gravitas, yet, for this job.
Geithner is a tossup here, for many. I find his excuse for not knowing about AIG bonuses rather laughable, because he was right there in the fire when all this went down about AIG. Next the lame excuse of AIG and their contracts is another rolleyes. Contracts in this country are broken every single day; ask the automotive industry that is what mediation and courts are for. Lastly, Geithner did not show the gravitas, strength to tell AIG where they can kiss it, in professional terms, of course. How can you tell them where to go, when you were in the kitchen helping to create the stew that gave them the bonuses?
There is a disconnect here. A total disconnect. Too many in this administration have been too close to Wall Street, thus we saw what happened with AIG or what did not happen to AIG. Did the President know all the details, intricacies? No, I do not believe Barack Obama read every single contract regarding AIG, that is what cabinet secretaries and staff are for, but congress did not read all the tall-tell signs about AIG, either. Most in congress have not even read many of these bills that are presented in conference the ones they vote on the floor about, that is what their staff is for. Congress stated that they did not know that the bonus element was removed, some did and has started to come out with the admission of Senator Chris Dodd's involvement. As for the others who knew, it will come out. And, the D.C. outrage is manufactured bullshit, really it is. The premise that they did not know, or understand, is not believable, only laughable.
President Obama has a hard job ahead, extremely hard. One thing I do think he is doing right, that is taking it to the American people, stepping over Washington, DC. D.C. must understand, though they are all about ME, is that the American public is not in the D.C. area. The American Public is the rest of this country. Many are angry about the AIG fiasco, while many do not blame Obama for it. We all must remember, in the end while President Obama is taking the responsibility, all this bullshit was left by the Bush-Cheney crowd. Bring up Bush-Cheney and many on the right will shut up right away. In the end, there is nothing to say about it, because it is true.
Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.
It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.
The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort.
The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation.
One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company.
The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Hard for any politician to not agree with what the Obama Administration is attempting above. In this bastion climate? When folks are thrown out of their homes, losing their jobs, small businesses cannot get credit? You think congress will not go along with this? They may try, but they better be very careful because the public outrage is hot and on fire.
And Chris Dodd? The banking chairman on the hill?
Well, he has his own problems starting back during the primaries. But, my beef with him has been his coziness with Countrywide and AIG. Too close for my comfort. Hard to regulate and vote against the problematic source that has given you millions for your campaign coffers and who knows what else. Dodd has a hard road next year to win. If he is that much of a liability and knowing Connecticut, maybe he should be primaried out. Dodd has been in that seat for a very long time, maybe it time for fresh eyes. Isn't this what the change campaign was all about?
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