U.S. Government Looks To Set Salaries In The Private Sector

Welcome to the United Socialist States of America. Socialism is in full bloom, both at the White House and in the Congress, so all of you folks that voted for Barack Hussein Obama and the promised "Change" well....one of the changes you will be getting is that the U.S. government, Big Brother, will be deciding how much you make for a living no matter who you work for. The limiting of executive pay at private sector companies is just the first step in the government deciding what each of you makes each year in wages, so let me ask you this...is this the change you REALLY wanted? You're a truck driver making $82,000 a year....the government just may decide that for the greater good, you really outta make $58,000 a year - how's that vote for your "Change" looking now?

Don't be fooled by the statements about "executives" here in this article at Breitbart - have you EVER known the U.S. government's bureaucrats stop in enacting a new policy? Here's a bit from the article...first let's look at what the Obama administration is planning:

Instead, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that the administration plans to seek legislation that would try to rein in compensation at publicly traded companies through nonbinding shareholder votes and less management influence on pay decisions.

The administration named Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as a "special master" with power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at the seven companies with the biggest injections of public money. Feinberg also would have authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms.

Geithner said the administration will ask Congress to give shareholders a nonbinding voice on executive pay and to require corporate compensation committees to be independent from company management. That second provision would give the SEC authority to strengthen the independence of panels that set executive pay.

Now, if that isn't bad enough, let's hear what the insane Congressman, Barney Frank, seeks to do concerning salary caps in American private enterprise:

To Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner's plan doesn't go far enough.
"It is not the government's business to discourage risk taking," said Frank, D-Mass. "But neither should we allow systems which have existed up until now whereby decision-makers are handsomely rewarded if they take big risks that pay off, but suffer no penalty whatsoever if those risks result in losses to the company."

Frank said he didn't think strengthening the independence of compensation committees would do enough. Noting the "inherently close relationship" between top executives and boards of directors, "it is very unlikely that you will ever get the degree of independence that will allow the boards of directors to be left completely on their own to set compensation," Frank said.

Remember how during the 2008 Presidential campaign how many of us on the Right kept asking the question: "What exactly is this 'Change' that Barack Obama is talking about?" Well, now we are finding out and hopefully, 100% of the business executives that voted for the "historic" President will now be paid back, pardon the pun. But like I said, this will not end here because this is what that Obama "Change" means to all of us:

1. National healthcare will mean the government telling you which doctor you can see, when you can see that doctor and who will receive treatment.
2. Pay compensative review committees will decide how much your salary or hourly wage will be - your performance and effort are no longer a factor.
3. The government, since it owns General Motors, will now decide the size of the vehicle that you can buy - if you drive a pickup truck or an SUV, get ready to be forced to move into a Smart car.
4. With the government managing healthcare, you will be informed of what foods you can and cannot eat...so if you have a penchant for a DQ Blizzard, you better get your fill in quickly.

I will end with this - there is probably no one person more at fault for the setting off of the current economic crisis than Congressman Barney Frank and yet, this brazen asshole (don't get too turned on by that last word, Rep. Frank) continues to push his Socialist and Marxist agenda - it's time....it's time to see every avenue possible under the Constitution to seek Frank's removal from office.

White House, Congress seek to rein in exec pay

WASHINGTON (AP) - As the Obama administration takes a half-step toward taming executive pay, Congress might consider a fuller stride.
The administration, which has maintained that excessive compensation in the private sector contributed to the nation's financial crisis, has rejected direct intervention in corporate pay decisions.
Instead, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced Wednesday that the administration plans to seek legislation that would try to rein in compensation at publicly traded companies through nonbinding shareholder votes and less management influence on pay decisions.
To Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Geithner's plan doesn't go far enough.
"It is not the government's business to discourage risk taking," said Frank, D-Mass. "But neither should we allow systems which have existed up until now whereby decision-makers are handsomely rewarded if they take big risks that pay off, but suffer no penalty whatsoever if those risks result in losses to the company."
On Thursday, officials from the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission planned to testify on the issue before Frank's committee.
That Frank would so quickly call for proposals beyond those laid out by Geithner illustrates the caution with which the Obama administration is approaching the fundamental issue of compensation packages. But it also underscores the shifting ground beneath the private sector in the midst of a financial crisis.
The administration drew a sharp line between the overall corporate world and those institutions that have tapped the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.
It issued new regulations Wednesday that set pay limits on companies that receive TARP assistance, with the toughest restrictions aimed at seven recipients of "exceptional assistance." Those firms are Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., General Motors Corp., Chrysler LLC, American International Group Inc., GMAC LLC and Chrysler Financial.
The regulations limit top executives of companies that receive TARP funds to bonuses of no more than one-third of their annual salaries.
In a significant expansion of authority, the regulations call for a special compensation overseer who will burrow into the pay practices of some of the country's biggest enterprises.
The administration named Kenneth Feinberg, a lawyer who oversaw payments to families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as a "special master" with power to reject pay plans he deems excessive at the seven companies with the biggest injections of public money. Feinberg also would have authority to review compensation for the top 100 salaried employees at those firms.
"We do not believe it's appropriate for the government to set caps in compensation," Geithner said. "We're not going to prescribe detailed prescriptive rules for compensation. All those things would be ineffective, could be counterproductive in some ways."
Geithner said the administration will ask Congress to give shareholders a nonbinding voice on executive pay and to require corporate compensation committees to be independent from company management. That second provision would give the SEC authority to strengthen the independence of panels that set executive pay.
Geithner also laid out a series of guidelines that encourage corporate boards to adopt pay packages that reward long-term performance rather than short-term gains and to better manage the relationship between risk and incentive. Those guidelines, or principles, are not enforceable but are meant as a message to corporate boards and to shareholders.
Frank said he didn't think strengthening the independence of compensation committees would do enough. Noting the "inherently close relationship" between top executives and boards of directors, "it is very unlikely that you will ever get the degree of independence that will allow the boards of directors to be left completely on their own to set compensation," Frank said.