Washington cracks down on bailout bank executive pay: High time

By Money Matters Editors


The Obama administration has decided to cut the pay of Wall Street executives at companies bailed out by the federal government, and Money Matters says, “It’s high time!”

The banks and financial institutions are against the crackdown, arguing that they need to continue to pay large salaries and bonuses to attract the top talent they need to run their operations.

Nothing could be further from the truth. There are thousands of unemployed investment bankers who would jump at the opportunity to work for a ‘mere $300,000 per year’ with a modest bonus.

Further, it offends the sensibilities of both the American taxpayer and the U.S. Congress that the very banks the American people are paying to stay afloat – and that have received hundreds of billions of dollars in federal money and guarantees – are at the same time paying their executives too much money.

Before these banks starting paying executives absurd sums of money, they will have to pay all federal money back. As the Obama administration said in so many words, if they don’t like the federal government’s terms, they can move to another country.