Stop Outrageous Executive Pay: Why Businesses Can't Be Like the Yankees

This guy's a shmuck. Anyone who things government has any say in executive pay, or in fact ANY pay on private companies is a statist socialist pig. Government has no say in anything private industry. Government should never have bailed out any of these firms. Let capitalism run it's course. Let the crappy banks and companies fail and let newer firms emerge from the ashes.

It would be nice to use those bonuses for the lower income employees. The Ceo makes one year but the lower employees have to work for life.

His last sentence says it all: Frauds pay better. I watched it for 30+ years at a SP500 corporation.

I don't understand how the guys that Mr Black is proposing to regulate took banks "off the cliff." My experience has been that manufacturing companies must compete internationally in making and selling a product and making a profit before a bonus is paid. The need to borrow money to sustain a manufacturing business is evident by the "superstar" at Ford that mortgaged everything and set up a line of credit before the bubble burst. GM and Chrysler got into trouble when they couldn't borrow to sustain production and finance a dealer inventory of unsold cars.

what's happening to the "Almighty USA"?? Going to hell in a handbasket!!! While China, Russia and others like are slowly adopting capitalism... America is going the wrong way down a one way street!! Say goodbye to the American dream.... ask yourself what America will look like 20 years from now if it adopts all the moronic government intervention being proposed... never mind, all the bailouts to-date... right now I thank God I don't live in America nor fell for the "American dream"... albeit, I am an active investor/trader in some of America's best companies....

The main issue is that these executives are in a big club that have each other cross sitting on the other Board of Directors and vote each other the excessive pay packages. Congress won't change this because Wall St. owns Congress. So the root of the problem is again Congress. This isn't about talent it's about CRONYIZM. The solution to clean house in Congress. No Senator should be in office more than 2 terms (12 years) and no Congressmen/women should be in office more than 3 terms (6 years) otherwise they do too much harm to us all. VOTE OUT the INCUMBENTS in 2010.

There are plenty of good excutives out there that can turn around companies ... with hard decisions being made ... without millions in pay. If a company can survive without tax payer help ... give the executives whatever the hell you want ... If I am paying, find someone that can do the job for less.

Talent? Are there any talents in the financial industry? An average street person would not do those stupid things they did that brought down their companies and the entire economy.

This guy is 100% spot on ... our system encourages these high pay without any tie to actuall performance. The life cycle of a CEO in these companies is very short ... so they leave when the ship starts rocking with millions in thier pocket ... awesome job!

A person should only be allowed to sit on the Board of Directors of one public company unless that person is a major (more than 6%) shareholder in a company. It's a simple rule that would limit the cross cronyism on excessive executive pay. Also all shareholders should be required to vote for the board of directors and shares held by mutual funds, pension funds, financial institutions, etc. should be voted by the fund holders not the fund managers. Again Congress would not institute this because Wall St. owns Congress. No Senator should be in office more than 2 terms (12 years) and no Congressmen/women should be in office more than 3 terms (6 years) otherwise they do too much harm to us all. VOTE OUT the INCUMBENTS in 2010.

I like the idea of letting them fail, but what about the risk of systemic damage? I do think the government should have some sort of clawback law. If the person writing the CDO's has taken his bonus and left before it all implodes they should have the ability to take back all his fraudulent gains and perhaps more than just the bonus.

What a joke, the fed allows these goof balls to run these companies into the ground and then bails them out. Heads must roll or it will be buisness as before. America take a stand against the greed that grips OUR country, we need real men and women running wall street not the spineless scum that is there now. MAKE A STAND!

When everyone's vote is equal to the vote as Bill Gate or Warrent Buffet, then the system will be just like a mess. The elected officers are busy to BUY VOTEs. The system will not be like the great Microsoft or Berkshire Hathaway where the Bosses work for the company besides themself.

Shareholders should have more of a say on executive pay, so from that standpoint yes, gov't should have a say on the firms still holding bailout money. But for the rest of companies (publically traded) shareholders should have a vote on exec comp. After this bailout crap ends, the gov't shouldn't be a shareholder anymore (and ever again), but for the time being, let them cap pay for the tarp recipients.

They should worry more about high government pay and pensions than private industry.

Cafeteria capitalists pick and choose debating points to suit their agenda, with little or no consistency. The global competition argument is used when it suits them and totally ignored in other cases. Activists for more commonsensical executive pay, including the Federal Government should put more effort in comparing outlier compensation packages to benchmark domestic/global companies and nations. How outlandish are these U.S. outliers to Berkshire Hathaway, Toyoda or executive pay in the Scandinavia counties? If that outlandish, relative to performance, these benchmark comparisons with give stockholders, boards of directors and non-executives ammunition to actually bring the culpable executive to the “global table of reality”.

This is dancing around the real issue which is that Wall St. is making out-sized 'profits' though mechanisms that are essentially a racket. Take away these ill gotten gains, turn Wall St. back into the mundane business it used to be, and all those massive pay packages go away! A few simple measures that aren't allowed to be discussed will do this: 1) bring back Glass-Steagall, 2) a tax on every trade, 3) ban derivatives, 4) severely limit the leverage allowed to buy financial assets. Voila! The end of the Wall St. Racket!

His ideas are great, but it's not the government's problem. WHERE ARE THE STOCKHOLDERS? WHERE IS THE BOARD? Where I work, I was asked to take a 15% pay cut while my CEO got a 4.2 million bonus because we ONLY lost 12 cents a share.

William, the Chinese government sinks $9 billion PER MONTH in their PRIVATE clean energy sector. And, sure enough, China (along w/ Japan & Germany) are crushing the U.S. in terms of developing the clean energy & energy efficiency industries, which will soon be making a ton of $$ on that investment. So, tell us, what's the lesson there?

Not much we can do- our elected officials are in bed with the crooks. Take your money out of big banks.. take your business to local credit unions.