From Pine View Farm

Contract Killing 2

Matt Browner Hamlin (emphasis added):

The hypocrisy of how the contracts of Wall Street executives are being treated versus those of union workers is simply stunning. All I want to see in an economic crisis is fairness. If contracts are inviolable, they are inviolable for everyone, regardless of whether they are between blue collar workers in factories, white collar workers in office complexes, or the multi-millionaire executives on Wall Street. If the economic crisis demands that auto workers take a haircut on their pay, benefits, and pensions, Wall Street executives must be held to the same standard. Conversely, if the contracts between big banks and investment firms and their top executives simply cannot be changed, then it’s time to go back and honor the contracts between the auto industry and organized labor. It’s that simple.

If you slurp at the public trough, expect public strings. Frankly, it’s about time (or even much too late) that these bozos realized our money kept them in country club memberships:

The Treasury Department yesterday ordered seven companies that received billions of dollars in government bailouts to halve total compensation for their top executives. But the big reductions will not apply to pay earned before November.

Kenneth Feinberg, the Treasury official leading the pay review, said average salaries for the top 25 executives would be cut 90 percent starting next month.

The action will apply to the top executives at Bank of America Corp., American International Group Inc., Citigroup Inc., General Motors Co., GMAC L.L.C., Chrysler L.L.C., and Chrysler Financial.

Aside: Am I the only person who finds the expression “take a haircut” to refer to taking a loss somewhere on a continuum between stupid and fatuous?

Hamlin link via Eschaton.

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2 comments

  1. Karen

    October 23, 2009 at 7:02 pm

    Did you see the mention somewhere (I forget where) that the AIGFP division execs who said they would return their bonuses, haven’t?

    No words for the cluster that the financial district is in.

     
  2. Frank

    October 24, 2009 at 7:32 am

    Yes, I did.