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Loophole May Jeopardize Executive Pay Limits
The Page by Mark Halperin —
... A last-minute Bush administration change to the $700 billion bailout may turn out to be a giant loophole for regulating executive pay limits. ...
The only war they can win…
Firedoglake —
Is a class war.
While using blue-collar workers as scapegoats to facilitate the coming of "Herbert Hoover Time" the GOP shows just how concerned they really are about equity and fairness. ...
The Only War the GOP can win...
Rising Hegemon —
Is a class war. While using blue-collar workers as scapegoats to facilitate the coming of "Herbert Hoover Time" the GOP shows just how concerned they really are about equity and fairness. Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules. But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a ...
They really are stuffing their pockets on their way out the door
Brilliant at Breakfast —
In case you had any doubts that George W. Bush is going to make sure his base, the haves and the have-mores, are taken care of before he leaves office, here you go: ...
Bush included bailout loophole to allow CEO payouts
AMERICAblog News| A great nation deserves the truth —
Helping friends until the bitter end. Only this Congress - who has been much too shy about taking control during the end of one of the most failed administrations in decades - could allow this to happen. The Democrats are going to have to do much better than this because the only thing they have going now is chaos within the GOP ranks. The Democrats make it so hard to respect them as a power when they blow every imaginable opportunity that they face. ...
Loophole Eliminates Limits on Bank Executive Pay
Taegan Goddard's Political Wire —
The Washington Post reports that "at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change" to a provision in the bank bailout bill which has now "effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives." ...
Nobody Could Have Predicted
Eschaton —
Well, you know, except everyone. But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money. Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for ...
ThinkFast: December 15, 2008
Think Progress —
... A loophole in the bailout legislation may allow executives at Wall Street companies to continue to earn large compensation packages. Due to a last-minute change in legislative language sought by the Bush administration, Congress’ efforts to limit pay may prove toothless. “The flimsy executive-compensation restrictions in the original bill are now all but gone,” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said. ...
Quite a loophole
Political Animal —
... firms accepting bailout funds could not, in turn, lavish their top executives with multi-million dollar salaries and/or "golden parachute" severance pay. The president wanted no such restrictions. At first glance, it was a fight Democrats appeared to win, and strict limits were included in the final legislation. Indeed, there was even an IRS mechanism that mandated a close review of executive compensation, and tax penalties for companies that failed to comply. Apparently, lawmakers neglected to read Bush's fine-print . [A]t the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on ...
Executive Pay Limits in the Financial Bailout are Dead Letter
Ace of Spades HQ —
Executive Pay Limits in the Financial Bailout are Dead Letter First, let me just say what a sad reflection on the Bush Administration and congressional Republicans it is that I have to specify which bailout I'm talking about. Okay? The real story is that the executive pay limits which were part of the financial bailout turned out to be worthless : Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break ...
The Daily Muck
TPMMuckraker —
... The Washington Post chronicles yet another example of oversight of the bailout bill. Congress required that executives receive limited bonuses -- but only for those companies that receive federal money through the Toxic Asset Relief Program. Since the Treasury has shifted gears on how to use the money, the pay restrictions "are now all but gone," says Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). (Washington Post) ...
No More Mister Nice Blog — ... I'm pleased that The Washington Post is bringing this outrage to light, but this kind of news is still reported with absurd sentences like the one I've highlighted: ...
Veto Points and the Bailout
Lawyers, Guns and Money —
... when he attributes Republican opposition to the bailout to "ideology." This implies that there's some "free market" principle at stake. As today's news again reminds us, the GOP doesn't seem terribly concerned about much more problematic things like the disgusting, virtually no-strings-attached re-re bailouts of Citigroup and AIG. Rather, Republican senators want to drive down wages for American autoworkers and create competitive advantages for their right-to-work states so much that they're willing to inflict massive blows to the American economy to do so. (As Molly Ivors ...
Wall St. Bailout: Exec Pay Limits 'Effectively Repealed' By WH
Daily Kos —
At the same time that the Bush Administration won't say whether or not it will use TARP funds to save the auto industry, we learn that it has eviscerated the regulations in the original bailout bill limiting executive compensation: Executive Pay Limits May Prove Toothless Loophole in Bailout Provision Leaves Enforcement in Doubt Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation ...
Good faith
Political Animal —
... . But at least it wasn't a deliberate scam that Democrats fell for. Or, on second thought ... [Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson] repeatedly told lawmakers that he did not plan to use bailout funds to inject capital directly into financial institutions. Privately, however, his staff was developing plans to do just that, Paulson acknowledged in an interview. ...
Congress Screws Up Its Oversight Role Yet Again
The Sundries Shack —
This is not a promising proof of the ability of Congressional Democrats to oversee the massive financial market bailout plan, like they said they could. Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules. But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to ...
If Not GM, Then AIG, Citigroup, JP Morgan et al
PoliPundit.com —
If Not GM, Then AIG, Citigroup, JP Morgan et al TARP Phase I was down to the last $15 billion and that money was going to be spent somewhere. There was no way that Treasury was going to close the books on TARP with $15 billion not spent. That happened at the time, we discover that TARP has no effective restrictions on compensation. From The Washington Post; Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that ...
Bush, Big 3: Nope, you can't pin this on the 'little guy'
The Reaction —
... This alongside the recent revelation that Bush included a one-line loophole to allow excessive executive pay in the financial bailout package. From The Washington Post: ...
Oh noes! George Will discovers that the Bush-Cheney "admin" sucks!
Daily Kos —
... ahem... paid out as exactly the kinds of bonuses the legislation supposedly outlawed (but really didn't), even as the "administration" prepares to ...
Fooled Again
The Republic of T. —
... quarterly financial report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday. But some compensation experts and AIG stakeholders yesterday said they considered the exodus of $503 million in AIG money dubious at a time when the company is drenched in red ink. The company reported losses this week that brought total losses to $37.63 billion for the first nine months of the year.
By mid December the bailout had grown to $700 bilion, but the compensation rules had yet to grow teeth.
Congress wanted to guarantee that ...
